Discouraging home remodeling

[Siobhan]

Rocky shredded the curtains, so I got new ones. Inexpensive, because I assumed he would shred them, too, and he has begun doing so. But now he has also decided the ones nearest his cage are not allowed to hang up at all, and he keeps yanking them down. Then he starts gnawing on the window frame and sill. He has an abundance of toys, including 2x4 sawed into chunks, to chew up. I know, move his cage. The thing is, our living room is only so big, and if we move it back to the other end of the room, where he can't reach the windows at all, he guards the door into the hallway, and ambushes the poor dogs when they want to walk by. Any ideas for discouraging this? He's just coming out of his shell after an abusive past, and I want him to keep doing that. I just also want him to stop destroying the window. LOL The curtain isn't a big deal. Curtains are easily replaced. But woodwork isn't.

 

[gracebowen]

Perhaps cover the wood with hard plastic. My tiels and budgies remodel my house too.

 

[Scott]

It's hard to tame the 4 primary drives of a Too:

1- Eating
2-Cuddling
3-Chewing
4-Mating

For some there is a 5th, and that would be screaming!

Chewers will chew; the best you can do is provide an alternate source in the form of plentiful and varied toys. But Toos have a keen sense of fashion and can't resist altering YOUR environment. The best you can do is either move the bird from the crime scene or simply capitulate and give them their pleasure! (making sure the item about to be destroyed is safe)

 

[Siobhan]

There isn't a good place to move him to, so we are going to get a piece of Plexiglass this weekend and cover that window and frame with it. That way he can see out, the sun can come in, but he can't remodel the woodwork. He'll be mad, but maybe I can soothe him with a new toy. He has a million toys already, but he always wants new ones.

 

[AmyMyBlueFront]

It's hard to tame the 4 primary drives of a Too:

1- Eating
2-Cuddling
3-Chewing
4-Mating

For some there is a 5th, and that would be screaming!

Chewers will chew; the best you can do is provide an alternate source in the form of plentiful and varied toys. But Toos have a keen sense of fashion and can't resist altering YOUR environment. The best you can do is either move the bird from the crime scene or simply capitulate and give them their pleasure! (making sure the item about to be destroyed is safe)

Ha ha ha Scott,screaming...that's number one thru infinity with Jonesy..

Jim

 

[Siobhan]

Yeah, screaming is high on Rocky's list, too, but normally he only pulls that out of his bag of tricks if our attention wanders from him. Like, you leave the room to go to the bathroom or, heaven forbid, hang out with the other parrots in the back of the house.

 

[Sucre]

Mini blinds seem to be Sucre's favorite thing to destroy, and she is sneaky about it, too. Apparently, she likes to look outside...So I started pulling the blind all the way up to her favorite window when she is out of the cage (the one with the view of all the cats in the neighbors yard). This seems to have pacified her for now, but I have a couple of extra blinds in the closet, just in case!

I noticed wood splinters all over the place one day, only to discover that she had chewed a shelf all to pieces. I feel like I have a 2 year old again.

I spent $100 on toys for her cage the night before we picked her up. I thought they looked durable enough.

They were demolished within 24 hours. Now she has pvc pipes with ropes run through them, dog rope pull toys, dog choker chains, and a couple of the dog toys that are supposed to be indestructible.

 

[Siobhan]

We covered tje window, frame and all, with plexiglass today. Rocky was not pleases. LOL But he got over it and worked on tearing up some paper instead.