Am I wasting my time?

[scott4687]

I have a 13 month old male eclectus parrot. He used to only stay on top of his cage and play. Now, he roams all around the cage and always wants to go the side of the cage and bite at the heated perch. For obvious reasons I won’t let him do this and will put him in the cage. Now, Buddy is like any parrot and hates being in the cage if I am home. I thought that if I did this enough times he would learn not to bite at the perch cord. I put him in the cage 10 time a night. Am I being unrealistic here? Is this something a parrot could learn? I’ll put him in the cage for 10 minutes at a time. Is this too short of a time? He’ll scream at first and when he quits I let him out. Any advise you can give me will be appreciated.
Scott

 

[Gandolf]

Hello Scott,
"Now, he roams all around the cage and always wants to go the side of the cage and bite at the heated perch."

He is becoming more and more comfortable with his surroundings and that is why he is wondering. It is a possibility that the heated perch may be making a hum or noise that is frightening him. Just a thought. My suggestion would be to move or remove the perch. If he is like many of my flock he will turn his attention to something else. Let me know how it turns out

 

[Pedro]

I have a 13 month old male eclectus parrot. He used to only stay on top of his cage and play. Now, he roams all around the cage and always wants to go the side of the cage and bite at the heated perch. For obvious reasons I won’t let him do this and will put him in the cage. Now, Buddy is like any parrot and hates being in the cage if I am home. I thought that if I did this enough times he would learn not to bite at the perch cord. I put him in the cage 10 time a night. Am I being unrealistic here? Is this something a parrot could learn? I’ll put him in the cage for 10 minutes at a time. Is this too short of a time? He’ll scream at first and when he quits I let him out. Any advise you can give me will be appreciated.
Scott

I would remove the perch from the cage completely. If you keep putting him in the cage you are sending him the wrong message he does not know he is doing something wrong. It's your responsibilty to keep your birds environment safe. If you feel you really need a heated perch in his cage is it possible to remove it & only use when necessary.

 

[suebee]

i'd remove perch to, like pedro says, also electrical items do make a very low hummin sound as gandalf says, and the flex must be very tempting to chew because of its texture.

though with nut, i don't put her back into cage when she is doing or on something she shouldn't be, i shooo her of with a wooden spoon, so when she is chewing the walls, i wave the wooden spoon at her, but with saying that she is not afraid of the spoon! she just seems to know she is not ment to continue removing plaster, when i wave the spoon of disapline at her, this also works for when she over preens our guests, as they will put spoon to cover there ears or nudge her away, she will beak the spoon, and i make certain there is never any contact as such between her and the spoon and that the guest know, it is NOT to hit/tap her with

we currently have a spoon in the kitchen and family room, and waving of spoon is under very specific curcumstances

but please what ever item, it needs to be something the bird is not afraid of! i know nuts not afriad of the spoon as she will beak it, go to it when its on desk etc or i can cook with other wooden spoons and she is happy to sit on my shoulder to watch

 

[MikeyTN]

I would definitely remove that heated perch!!! I hear this a lot about other people's Eclectus screaming. My Eclectus pair rarely ever screams. But they will let you know when they want out if they haven't gotten to come out yet, that's when they would scream. But for a very short period. They come out all the time to play, they love playing on top of their cage as much as they like playing on our shoulders and arms. They also talk a lot and make funny noises....They're precious birds!!!!