G2 Questions...

[jaimmorr]

LOL you knew this was coming!

1. Whenever I look at him, he dances and I dance with him. Is it okay to encourage this behavior? I believe it's because his owner told me he loves to dance so I was using it today at the vet to kind of lighten his mood and make him feel better and now that's all he wants to do when he sees that I'm looking at him, he's soliciting attention. It's not screaming, though! So I'm assuming it's alright to encourage it and dance along with him to make him happy?

2. When I give him head scratches/chin scratches, which he loves, he sometimes (he's done it twice today) does this weird shuddering/jerking movement. It almost looks like he's having a seizure. I asked the vet about it, but she said without seeing it she doesn't know for sure. She said she's assuming it's just stress or a quirk of his. Anyone know what this could be?

3. When he's walking around (and sometimes when he's just sitting on a perch), he looks at his foot. Just stares at it and then sometimes will pick it up and chew it a bit. The vet said this could be that it's itchy or painful. She gave me some pain meds for it just in case I felt that he was in pain, but I haven't given him any yet because it doesn't seem to bother him when he's distracted iwth something else. Any suggestions for this one?

Thanks

 

[ConureCrazy]

Well, I'm sorry, I don'r read up much on 'toos, but I read somewhere that if you scratch/tickle/rub they're cheek or ear, it may cause them to regurgitate and/or almost regurgitate. (Like the jerking he was doing) I know very little about this, but it may be it. I don't even know if it's true... I'm sorry I'm not much help, just wanted to throw that out there!

 

[jaimmorr]

THanks for the tip! Anything helps lol. I know that if you rub their ears they usually yawn, hmm...

ALSO, one more: He hits his beak. On anything and everything! The carpet, his cage, my hand, his food bowl, his water bottle, his perches, toys, etc. Just slams it down. I've seen a LOT of videos of Goffin's doing this, but I was just making sure it's not anything that I should be overly concerned with.

 

[luvmytooo]

As long as you are not encouraging him to scream its fine , dance away
Does he start to scream or act like he may when you stop dancing or don't dance and just stand there and watch him ?

The shuddering is a baby thing. He really is enjoying what you are doing and it gives him that warm , fuzzy feeling he remembers from his baby times.
Are you stroking him down his body at any time ? If I do that with my Yoshi he will shudder too. Or if I hold him closely . Stroking him can stimulate him too. Just be careful not to stimulate him sexually or you will create problems. I'm sure you know where to pet and where not too
If he does start to regurgitate , ignore this , don't make a fuss , just clean it up.

The foot staring is strange. But if he does it when just standing there , maybe it's because he is putting all his weight on it and that's when it hurts most ?
I would give him some meds just to see if it makes a difference. I would hate to see him in pain. Birds don't fake pain. I think he just doesn't understand why it hurts and he is looking for something visibly wrong thats causing the pain.
Just my two cents
The beak tapping , the way you explained it is odd. I have seen my Yoshi tap things but not slam his beak down on anything , so I can't help you with that.
Maybe you can make a video of him doing this ? I would be very interested to see this behavior . I plan on making a video of my Yoshi soon . His antics will have you rolling, lol.

 

[SillyBoy]

My Goffin loves to dance as well. I always dance with him. I don't think there is anything wrong with it, it gives them something to do and a busy bird is a happy bird.

Mine also does the quivering thing. He is 3 and just started it this year. He does it when I scratch his neck and head.

Murray also beak taps. To him, it is a way to get attention or if he is in a bad mood it is how he beats up things.

He also foot chews. He does this because he has very dry feet. I found that spraying his feet with aloe juice 2x a day helps ALOT. If yours doesn't have dry feet, the aloe juice might still help and it is harmless to the bird.

 

[melissasparrots]

LOL you knew this was coming!

1. Whenever I look at him, he dances and I dance with him. Is it okay to encourage this behavior?
2. When I give him head scratches/chin scratches, which he loves, he sometimes (he's done it twice today) does this weird shuddering/jerking movement. It almost looks like he's having a seizure. I asked the vet about it, but she said without seeing it she doesn't know for sure. She said she's assuming it's just stress or a quirk of his. Anyone know what this could be?

3. When he's walking around (and sometimes when he's just sitting on a perch), he looks at his foot. Just stares at it and then sometimes will pick it up and chew it a bit. The vet said this could be that it's itchy or painful. She gave me some pain meds for it just in case I felt that he was in pain, but I haven't given him any yet because it doesn't seem to bother him when he's distracted iwth something else. Any suggestions for this one?

Thanks

Its okay to dance and bounce up and down with him. Just realize that quite a few cockatoos get over excited and bite from too much jumping around. Personally I keep dancing sessions kind of short and I watch their body language. If they are already riled up, then dance at your own risk and probably keep an eye on them regardless. Some birds are more trustowrthy than others. I trust my sulfur not to get really aggressive more than I do my goffin's. My sulfur seems to know when she's getting over excited and catches herself before she really puts the pressure on. The goffin's is more likely to get totally wound up, fly around like crazy, land on my shoulder and then take a swipe at my face. Dancing is good, just get to know your bird and know when to be careful.

The shudder with head scratches thing. Hmm, are you sure he's a boy? Girl cockatoos are known for doing a little shuddering, sometimes with some heavy breathing and squatting. Sometimes just part of that when they are sexually stimulated. You said he was on the smaller side. Could this possibly be a girl bird? I've heard that male cockatoos will do this too, but its much more typical female behavior. My sulfur does it if I pet her in certain places around her cage. My goffin's just squats without the shuddering.

The foot issue, it does sound like he could have some pain or itching there. Both of my cockatoos have itchy and plucking issues which I've now got pretty well elminated through various means. One of the ways I know its an itch vs. a behavioral pluck is that itchy birds will suddenly stop what they are doing and stare down at some body part like they have ants crawling all over and biting. They may or may not yank out a feather or dig at themselves during this time. Otherwise, if its a behavioral boardom thing, try giving him lots of foot toys to hold in his foot. Little wood or plastic bird safe beds. Maybe some smallish(too big to swallow but small enough to manipulate with the beak) beads tide to a short section of cotton, sisal or polly rope that he can hold in his foot and untie the knots and twirl the beads around with his tongue.
Melissa

 

[luvmytooo]

I agree with Melissasparrots . The toys with beads on them attract my Yoshi like crazy.
He loves this butterfly bead toy I found in Jersey , so I picked up a few more just in case they break it , lol. And any acrylic toys seems to really attract them as well
If he isn't eating or climbing around in his cage , he will have a part of this toy in his beak playing with the beads , lol. Definitely try these kinds of toys. I found it at
TODDMarcus Exotic Birds in Delran and at Bird Paradise , I think....

I also bought a awesome toy at MSBS made out of shoelaces
They go crazy over it . My Yoshi always loved to play with my sweatshirt hood strings so I saw this toy and all I said was "jackpot" ! lololol.

But if it's pain , and you give him some meds and it stops , you will need to look into it further next time you go to the vet. And I'm sure the vet will ask about too. This way you can tell her if it worked or not.
If its itchiness , the meds wouldn't do anything. JMHO.

 

[TortoiseLady17]

Our U2 will slam his beak down on things. Sometimes he taps it multiple times, sometimes he does it once (what seems to me to be pretty hard) and just holds his beak on it for a minute. This usually precedes dancing, or a lot of talking.

 

[luvmytooo]

Thats funny, i haven't noticed my Yoshi doing that at all.....hmm..I will watch closer next time..He is out a lot and I don't think I ever seen him do that.

 

[mrob]

Hehe. Im not sure if this will help cos hes not a G2, you but my eccie is extremely enamoured with his foot. He holds it up in front of his face, stares at it, croons to it, chews on it.........sometimes it must look at him funny though because he will also growl and attack it. He will then hide it in his feathers and then go 'looking for it', when he flushes it out of its hiding place he goes back to wooing it again. To the point of regurgitating on it.

he is very weird. It cracks me up. Vet seemed to think it was just a quirk of his...

He also smacks his beak on anything and everything especially if it makes a noise.

Its great you have him home - if you are dancing together already he obviously thinks you are pretty awesome!

 

[MikeyTN]

Your vet obviously don't know about Cockatoos! They do crazy stuffs sometimes. They will nip at their feet, chewing and carrying on. Don't over medicate your bird if you don't need to! IF your talking about where they're turning their head around in like a circular motion but it goes up and down. That's them being silly. IF it's pushing head back and fourth motion, probably trying to regurgitate. They LOVE banging on stuffs and grab stuffs to bang on too. They love to dance, watching you dance is probably entertaining to him.