Home Alone Conure... Is he lonely?

[BoomBoom]

I apologize for making a new thread so soon, but I’m a little worried and would appreciate some advice. I might be a bit premature in acting paranoid but better premature than late. I have 2 concerns…

1. Holding his Poop while we are away?
Me and my partner work, so we leave our 4 month old conure, Boomer in his cage from 7:30am to about 5pm, M to F. When I went to visit him on my lunch time, I took him out of his cage and upon perching him on his playgym, he took a massive dump! He took 4 more smaller dumps in the span of 20 mins. He does that in the mornings when he wakes up, which is fine. I’m worried that he doesn’t want to poop in his cage while we are gone and it might constipate him. We’ve had him for almost 3 weeks now and all the other days, we found poop in his cage though it was hard to tell because we used those shredded paper litter but yesterday just went all plain paper so we can see is poop quality more.

2. Seems inactive in his cage while we are away?
I also noticed that he did not touch his pellet + seed bowl today. He did eat the fresh red bell peppers I put in a foraging toy. He loves his seeds (transitioning him to pellets right now) but only seems interested in eating it when were at home. He also does not seem to play with his cage toys or even nibble on anything in his cage.

Other than that he’s very active and appears to be a happy, healthy bird when outside the cage. Very voracious too, he always seems to be munching on his food when were home. When we leave we make sure hes got the conure CD playing and access to fresh air and water and food. Should I be worried?

 

[dishgal1]

I can only speak for my little green cheek. He doesn't like to poop in his cage either. Do you give him out time when you are home?
If I am gone a few hours he just sits on the same perch pretty much I have a Jungle talk telephone there and it is like his security blanket. When I return he becomes active.
As soon as I return we go to his potty stand and he drops it. Then flies to the couch. Same every morning. Occasionally I do find a small splat so I know if he needs to he will.
He drops little tiny ones all day long but can save up a bundle over night. LOL
Even when he is loose in the house if we go outside he just sits on the back of the couch. Doesn't play or anything. When we come back in he gets to work on the blinds or his playstand. He prefers us in the room when he plays.
It might just be the way he is because I don't think they are all that way.

 

[BoomBoom]

Thanks, Dishgal. When we are at home, he is pretty much out of his cage all the time unless he goes to bed for the night. I see droppings in his cage sometimes too but I'm worried if he constantly tries to hold it in, it won't be healthy.

Also, he never plays with his toys inside the cage He has a variety, and we rotate it sometimes. He plays with these same toys if he is outside the cage.

 

[Spiritbird]

I work 5 hrs. per day. My Rosie sits on the same perch, does not eat or poop while I am gone. When I get home she is sitting on in the same place as when I left for work. When I go to open the cage door watch out! She does a 5 hr. poopie. I do not think you should worry.

 

[dishgal1]

Forrest's cage is full of toys and he doesn't play with them. I have spent so much money on toys hoping for a perfect toy. He doesn't shred or chew up anything. He is afraid of all new toys....takes at least a month before he will even go near them.
I might suggest you get that little Jungle Talk telephone. He learned to say I love you with it. It says 4 phrases.
When he wants our attention he will go back to it hit the I love you button then come forward toward the cage door, then himself say I love you. If we ignore him he repeats it until we let him out. IT has a mirror as well and he always sits by it.
He was always hitting the I love you button and then one day I heard him say it from another room I was stunned, it was him saying it.

 

[BoomBoom]

Spirit: That makes me feel better, thanks!

Dishgal: I will definitely look into that toy. Is it small enough to not take up space in his cage? Also I heard mixed reviews on mirror toys. Some people prefer not to use it, although I'm not sure why. Any thoughts on this?

 

[cdog]

People don't like mirrors for the same reason they don't like to house two parrots together, they are afraid their bird will bond better to its reflection and wont want anything to do with them. Birds also tend to like their reflection so much they see it as their mate and will regurgitate for it. I only use a mirror in my breeding pairs cage because I'm not afraid that they will bond to the reflection because they already have mates. Sully likes to dance in the mirror so I keep it in their for him because when Bella is in the box he gets lonley and I cant spend all day sitting with him, but I do spend at least 6 hours with him.

 

[dishgal1]

Spirit: That makes me feel better, thanks!

Dishgal: I will definitely look into that toy. Is it small enough to not take up space in his cage? Also I heard mixed reviews on mirror toys. Some people prefer not to use it, although I'm not sure why. Any thoughts on this?

It is not a real mirror. I hang it on the side wall right by the perch. They have a large and a small. The small is probably 4" tal and 2 1/2 wide. About 3/4 inch thick. He loves it.

 

[Mudkips]

Birdie also held his poop in when I first had to leave him in his cage for hours.
I came back and he was frantic to get to me. I assumed it was because he missed me, but as soon as I took him out he did the biggest poo ever!

I wouldnt worry about it too much, Birdie learned to cope with it within a week.
Now when I get home (after dark) I switch on the light in my room and always get greeted with a happy conure's face sticking out of a happy hut! Then he runs to the cage door to say Hi. When I let him out his poos are normal size.

As for your second question, I worry about that too...
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[KatherineI]

Everyone's already mentioned the poop thing (normal) but let me touch on the toy issue;

My Loki was already over a year old when he came home with us in October. He had no idea what those things were (toys) in his cage and he kind of avoided them at first. Slowly, he got the hang of it, but it's taken him months. His favorite toy on earth is a bell. I made him a toy with a bell at the bottom and then chain links held wooden block pieces of various sizes and shapes. He started my hitting the bell, sort of swinging it around with his beak and in the last month or so, he started to take the bell in his foot and play with it. He chews on the wooden blocks and once he's pretty much through with those blocks, I'll reuse the bell and chain to make him a new one

Loki also has a happy hut and a snuggle buddy. We gave him a happy hut, thinking he would want something to snuggle in to at night. He won't go in the darn thing, but he can't sleep without being up against it now! I tried taking the happy hut away and giving him the snuggle buddy (it's fleece that attaches to the side or corner of the cage) to lean against, but that darn bird refused to sleep with just that! So now, he has both.

Eventually Boomer will get the idea of toys. It may not be your idea of how he should play with them, but he will in his own way, given time. He's also very young still, so he's got years to figure that part out I just wanted to give you a little hope that just because he doesn't seem interested now, doesn't mean that he never will be.

 

[patch]

Pepper holds in his poop all night too, and wow is it a big load when he comes out in the morning! If I have to be somewhere in the morning, I let him do his big poop, let him get some out-of-cage exercise then stick him back in. When I get home I let him out again and we do stuff until it's time for bed.

 

[KatherineI]

Keep in mind, birds don't let out droppings while they sleep. Once they are settled in for the night or even a nap, they won't "go" because in the wild, that gives off their location to predators. It's instinctual. I can't remember the term or how exactly they do it since they don't have sphincters, but they do.

That is why they have those larger-than-normal poops in the morning and probably after a good nap too.

 

[mspoppi]

I work 5 hrs. per day. My Rosie sits on the same perch, does not eat or poop while I am gone. When I get home she is sitting on in the same place as when I left for work. When I go to open the cage door watch out! She does a 5 hr. poopie. I do not think you should worry.

I had a pineapple conure at one time,she never pooped in her cage either,she waited until I let her out and then she let it rip. Never had to clean her cage as she never messed in it...sadly to say she passed on at an early age..miss her dearly.
Got two conures now green cheek and a pineapple...have to clean up after them as they do let loose in their cage..