Has anyone else ever had this problem?

[caliopi]

From the start Puffin has had a fascination with the compartment his food bowl sits in. The first problem was when he climbed in to the compartment when I had the bowl out preparing his food and he got so stuck we had to unscrew the entire section and take him to the vet where he had to be sedated so they could get him out!

After that we noticed his next trick was to play around with the bowl until he could lift it out and he would drop it to the ground. In the end we had to weld three notches to overlap the bowl so he couldn't get it out.

Now his latest trick is to stick his beak out of the cage and he hammers at the door latch of the compartment until it loosens the latch and he can push it back and open the door and out goes the bowl! My husband had to find a bolt that we now have to screw and unscrew with a screwdriver each time he is feed that overlaps the door so even if he gets the latch undone the door can't open but it seems to be really agitating him as he is hammering at it all the time!
We are seriously at the point of getting a new cage even though this is perfectly fine but it cannot be good for him and I am worried this is now an obsession. Has anyone else had a similar problem?

 

[Didomum]

My Quakers left their water bowl out and drops it every time they feel it needs changing. Which is about 6-8 times a day. And my IRN has found how to open the door on the food bowl so we have a little padlock on it (the combination lock type ) we did the waterbowl and doors as well, as well and as long as he don't learn the number I think we will be ok. I think mostly once they learn something they just don't want to stop.

 

[Mare Miller]

When Mi Amigo came to us, he had missing bars from his cage, not enough to allow him to get through but just missing. His previous owner said that this was Amigo's work. After bringing him home, we discovered that he was very adept at breaking out of his cage by dislodging the food or water bowl holder and then climbing through.

My thoughts are, your bird is not loving being confined to it's cage. Does he get much out of cage time?

 

[caliopi]

Yes he does. I take him to work several times a week where he has play stand that he is on if I am with clients or busy plus all my employees give him loads of attention. At night his favourite place is on my ironing board of all places!

 

[friedsoup]

They can be very single minded when they want to be I had GCC that were escape artist (i.e read my post about a bird losing his beak ) and I had to have three locks keyed alike one for each door.

 

[cnyguy]

Ralph used to pull his water dish out of its holder, until one day when he spilled the water all over himself. :11: He hasn't messed with the water dish since.

More recently, Ralph discovered he could undo the nuts and bolts that hold the food/water dish access doors in place and remove the doors. It wasn't an escape attempt-- just a fun thing to do. I made him a simple toy from a variety of stainless steel nuts and bolts, and he loves it-- and no longer tries to take his cage apart.

 

[Didomum]

Ralph used to pull his water dish out of its holder, until one day when he spilled the water all over himself. :11: He hasn't messed with the water dish since.

More recently, Ralph discovered he could undo the nuts and bolts that hold the food/water dish access doors in place and remove the doors. It wasn't an escape attempt-- just a fun thing to do. I made him a simple toy from a variety of stainless steel nuts and bolts, and he loves it-- and no longer tries to take his cage apart.

Just don't give him power tools LOL

 

[BMac]

I'm pleased that I am not the only owner of an escape artist. Piki, my rainbow lorikeet, discovered he could open the door of his cage by bending back the latch. He must be strong, as the only way I could put it back in its place was by using pliers. He's out of his cage most of the day and evening, supervising me and letting me know when he is hungry or thirsty or going to take a long messy bath in his water dish. Instead of a lock on the door I put on a very bright pinon, a miniature of the equipment used for attaching ropes in mountain climbing. Now he works on bringing the pinon into his cage as he loves the bright blue colour. What I learned was lots of parrots turn to escaping cages not because they are confined too much, but it is a mental challenge for them. To help keep them in, give them a better challenge. Short pieces of rope tied into a knot has to be one of the favourite toys.

 

[caliopi]

Ralph used to pull his water dish out of its holder, until one day when he spilled the water all over himself. :11: He hasn't messed with the water dish since.

More recently, Ralph discovered he could undo the nuts and bolts that hold the food/water dish access doors in place and remove the doors. It wasn't an escape attempt-- just a fun thing to do. I made him a simple toy from a variety of stainless steel nuts and bolts, and he loves it-- and no longer tries to take his cage apart.

Just don't give him power tools LOL

I LOVE this idea! I am going to try and do the same and see if this works. After our vet trip back in the early days we are really scared he could get in the same situation and had I not been home that day he would have died so we really want to get his attention away from this.

 

[Aims]

My Ecky, Jax loves to escape out of his food bowl door. I discovered him on the outside of the cage the other day and all the doors were still shut, so I still have no idea which door he got out of, he must of sneakily closed it behind himself.
He tends to chuck all of his food out of his bowl onto the floor, I am sure he does it to just give me more of a mess to clean up. He sinks his seeds into his water bowl too. Messy monkey.

 

[caliopi]

Puffin puts everything in his water bowl! I am constantly changing his water and each time I go to take the bowl out he says " it's disgusting" LOL

Hubby suggested getting him a dripper but he obviously likes dunking his food so I just let him. I feel better knowing others have had the same problems though.

 

[luvmytooo]

Not sure if this was mentioned ( I didn't read all the posts, sorry ) but
My Safe Bird Store sells stainless steel toys that are great ! I bought one for my
Stella and she is very amused by it , lol. She does gets mad cause no matter how hard she tries , none of the nuts , bolts , etc come off
IMO , it's the perfect toy !

 

[caliopi]

Thanks i will check it out! Puffin doesn't really like a lot of toys. He loves the rope swings and destroys them in days. He also likes wooden toys to chew, I think we have gone through seven ladders!

He is not into the paper shredding toys or foraging toys but this might just work so I will give it a try.