Eating habits

[SunMommy]

Pyro will only eat when he is outside of his cage. He has 4 dishes in his cage for food and water and 3 on his play top. He spends a lot of time outside of the cage and by this I'd say about 80% of his awake time. He usually just sits on top of the cage and eats for hours it seems. The problem is that when we leave the house and he has to be in his cage, he doesn't eat. He has an empty crop when we get home and then when we let him out of his cage, he goes straight for the food bowl. I put the same foods in his cage bowls that are in his play top bowls, so I don't really know why he does this. I'm just worried that one day we will be gone all day and he wont eat . Does anyone think this is a possibility?

 

[roxynoodle]

That probably isn't good. Some day you may want to go on vacation or be in the hospital. And like you say, when you are gone all day. Can he get back into the cage from his playtop? If so, I think I would only put food in his cage, so when he wants to eat he has to go back in and eat. That way he can probably be retrained shortly to eat in the cage.

As much as we do to cater to our critters, we have to expect pet sitters may not want to, or may not be able to handle our bird to let it out. And most of us do want to visit people, go shopping, go somewhere for fun for the day, etc.

My parents had birds most of their lives, but they are kind of scared of Rowdy, lol! And my mom freaked totally when I told her I got the amazon. So non bird people would be even more intimidated by them. And the birds may not cooperate with others the way they do for us.

 

[SunMommy]

That probably isn't good. Some day you may want to go on vacation or be in the hospital. And like you say, when you are gone all day. Can he get back into the cage from his playtop? If so, I think I would only put food in his cage, so when he wants to eat he has to go back in and eat. That way he can probably be retrained shortly to eat in the cage.

As much as we do to cater to our critters, we have to expect pet sitters may not want to, or may not be able to handle our bird to let it out. And most of us do want to visit people, go shopping, go somewhere for fun for the day, etc.

My parents had birds most of their lives, but they are kind of scared of Rowdy, lol! And my mom freaked totally when I told her I got the amazon. So non bird people would be even more intimidated by them. And the birds may not cooperate with others the way they do for us.

I do leave his cage door open so he can go in and out, if he pleases. He never seems to go in unless I put him in there for bedtime or when we leave. I might be okay as far as a pet sitter goes. My MIL comes over frequently and Pyro seems to like her. She's not afraid of him either. I don't think she will be here for as much out of cage time, when we do go on vacation, so I really want to be sure he will eat in his cage. I will try taking away the food from his play top, so maybe this will force him to eat in the cage.

 

[lene1949]

Max only gets food in his cage, so when he gets hungry, he'll just go back in there... He also gets a treat (a nut) every time I put him back in the cage... His cage is always available, as I roll it into whichever room we're in..