LeahMart
Checking out the neighborhood
- Joined
- 2/22/24
- Messages
- 1
Hi all!
I need help with the clinginess/separation issues with my bird.
Kira is approximately 10 years old, fully tame, Derbyan parakeet male. He was always attention demanding, but recently it started to become a problem and he seems really agitated. He will scream loudly even if I am working at my desk right next to him, scream or drop whatever he was doing and chase after me or my partner if we walk a bit further from him or out of sight when he is outside the cage. He also refuses to do almost anything inside his cage now - he has lots of destructible, foraging and puzzle toys of different designs and materials, but will touch them only sometimes when he is outside the cage and right next to us. We let him out everyday for hours and interact with him or let him join our activities (Kira loves watching the dishes), but it seems to just make matters worse as he is becoming even more clingy. He now interferes with me working, cooking, showering etc. as he will just scream demandingly even if I talk to him from a distance to let him know that I am still here. It is even worse with my partner as Kira follows him everywhere and will crawl, clean, sleep on him and become extra agitated if my partner is not around. I am very anxious and worried about this behaviour change/worsening and I just want all of us to find a way out of this stressful situation.
I know one of the advices is to go to the parrot when it is quiet and not when he is screaming to teach him that screaming doesn’t get him attention. However he screams most times now or starts to scream as soon as he hears me coming closer. Also it is not really an option anymore since our neighbour started screaming back through the wall or banging on it instead of talking to us…
Please give me any helpful advice regarding this situation. What can be done? Would it be too late, given his age, to try and introduce him to an actual flock-mate, that he can spend time with doing parrot things? I would love to provide a home for an older rescue as long as it doesn’t make Kira’s situation worse and hopefully only better.
I need help with the clinginess/separation issues with my bird.
Kira is approximately 10 years old, fully tame, Derbyan parakeet male. He was always attention demanding, but recently it started to become a problem and he seems really agitated. He will scream loudly even if I am working at my desk right next to him, scream or drop whatever he was doing and chase after me or my partner if we walk a bit further from him or out of sight when he is outside the cage. He also refuses to do almost anything inside his cage now - he has lots of destructible, foraging and puzzle toys of different designs and materials, but will touch them only sometimes when he is outside the cage and right next to us. We let him out everyday for hours and interact with him or let him join our activities (Kira loves watching the dishes), but it seems to just make matters worse as he is becoming even more clingy. He now interferes with me working, cooking, showering etc. as he will just scream demandingly even if I talk to him from a distance to let him know that I am still here. It is even worse with my partner as Kira follows him everywhere and will crawl, clean, sleep on him and become extra agitated if my partner is not around. I am very anxious and worried about this behaviour change/worsening and I just want all of us to find a way out of this stressful situation.
I know one of the advices is to go to the parrot when it is quiet and not when he is screaming to teach him that screaming doesn’t get him attention. However he screams most times now or starts to scream as soon as he hears me coming closer. Also it is not really an option anymore since our neighbour started screaming back through the wall or banging on it instead of talking to us…
Please give me any helpful advice regarding this situation. What can be done? Would it be too late, given his age, to try and introduce him to an actual flock-mate, that he can spend time with doing parrot things? I would love to provide a home for an older rescue as long as it doesn’t make Kira’s situation worse and hopefully only better.
