Baby Attachment

[Puck]

So my sunny Bevo has become very attached to me even though I regulate our time together and encourage independent play (unsurprisingly being a baby and the only bird in the house).

The good things:
-As long as I am in the room she usually is happy to sit on a playstand and play with toys for hours without trying to reach me or calling out to me or even paying me any attention.

-She is willing to sit on/be held by other people, though she usually tries to return to me after a few minutes.

-She spends plenty of time entertaining herself in her cage.



The problems:
-If I leave the room, she screams VERY loudly for 10 minutes or so. This happens every night when it's bedtime, and if I leave her on a playstand to go to the restroom or do some other short task where she cannot see me then the screaming begins.

-She will occasionally leave her playstand to get to me, though I wouldn't really consider this a "problem" since it is so rare.




Bevo does NOT like treats of any kind, as strange as that is. She is not interested in seeds, veggies, bird bread, or anything else I have tried to offer her. She only likes her Zupreem food and chop, and she will eat that only from a bowl. As such, I have been dealing with this by trying to quickly return when there is a short break in the screaming (she usually shrieks then pauses for 2-3 seconds then shrieks again) and leave again if the screaming starts once more, rewarding her with my prescence. If she switches to a soft, happy call then I also stay.

I want her to be independent and not feel like her world is crashing down when I leave, but I am not sure what else to do. She has plenty of very interesting toys to occupy her, and she has no problem happily playing with them away from me as long as I am still in sight. She is also fine with me gone after 10 minutes or so and will happily entertain herself once she gets tired of screaming. But obviously I would prefer she not feel the need to scream at all just because I leave the room. Any suggestions on what else to do?

 

[plumsmum2005]

This is manipulation to get you to come back. I played a game with Plum by just popping out of sight and then at the first noise came back, go again but call to him. Keep repeating this so that he gets the message that you are coming back. Vary the amount of time you are gone, from seconds to minutes. Plum now isn't bothered and certainly no screaming or screeching to be heard. Obviously when you leave a bird unattended it is necessary to double make sure that they are safe. The funny thing is now when I get ready to go out (Plum in cage) he says "see you later" so no problem there!

 

[Allee]

Mitch, it sounds like you and Bevo are making great progress, you're doing everything right. You're wise to be concerned about the screaming becoming a habit but I'm thinking she will adapt to your routine and grow out of some of the baby clinginess. She's already playing and entertaining herself, that's a bonus.

 

[Printer bird]

Our GCC was the same and we minimized it somewhat by only responding to him with a wolf whistle as a contact call and then only engaging him with the same call or popping our head back in the room when he wolf whistled but not when he yelled at the top of his head. It helped him be a bit more calm (although he was always a bit crazy when we left the room). Our WCP just whistles loudly and we reply - she rarely does it for more than a minute or two and the whistles are spaced apart. Try getting him to respond to a certain sound which might help to calm him down when you're out of the room. Sounds like you guys are doing great!