Hurock
New member
Hi everyone!
Last time I came here to ask for help was right after we got our little Rio( GCC), who was an intense bitter back then.
Thanks to all of your advices, we "fixed" that situation and everything went right!
But now a new problem is surfacing that is getting very intense...
Rio, like most conures wants to be with us, which is great! BUT he wants to be with us ALL THE TIME.
Which again, would be great if he was okay with staying on our shoulders and hanging out, but he's hell bent on flying everywhere to get into mischief, biting a cable, taking off to bite a houseplant, taking of to plunge INTO the watering can, etc etc and most of my time is spend running after him.(he seems to know what he's doing is not okay since he will just take one bite and fly to the next thing)
(he used to stay kinda put, and go from playstand to playstand a while back).
So we tried to give him time out when he was going where he isn t allowed, and giving him treat when he goes on a playstand.
(he's got several playstand, always in view of the areas where we can be in the house, including my desk)
And that's how the screaming started.
When we put him in his cage for anything else than a meal, he SCREAMS (I know that conure and noisy birds, and that some screaming is to be expected, but that is an ear piercing constant screaming that can last for hours).
His cage is full of toys, he knows how to play with, we provide foraging toys and games DAILY, but he doesn't care that much about it, after 5 minutes it s back to SCREAMS to come out.
As soon as we let him out, mischief again, the only way I have to keep him calm is to be active with him (doing laundry, washing the dishes, taking a shower...) but sitting on the computer will always end up the same way, he'll fly over to make a mess somewhere and I'll have to run after him.
I provide a lot of 1 on 1 play session, with clicker and target training, making him fly accros the place to tire him out daily.
Some of it would be manageable, if I wasn't in a work from home situation with the Covid... I'm having work problems because I just can't stay put in front of the computer since the bird will run amok destroying things, or scream like a madman until the neighboors complain and I'm half deaf.
I'm missing work deadlines due to this situation and it's putting a lot of extra stress in our lives..
(and "i can't work from home I have a parrot" will not go well with my bosses
)
I put his cage right next to my computer so we can see each other and interact while I work but that doesn't work unless he's out.
My full time job is running after him stopping messes or plugging my ears.
I've tried ignoring the screams, but he doesn t get tired and I do (and my neighboors )
The only solution I can see is to clip his wings but I really don't feel comfortable with that, he used to be great, he loves to fly and we do a lot of flight exercices, he just seems to have an unlimited amount of energy and refuses to stay put for one second.
(he does have a sleeping cage in another room where he sleeps 10 to 12hrs a day, eats pellets and a homemade chops with fresh fruits and veggies, and we only provide seeds as treats or foraging rewards)
What could I do to fix this situation?
I know that caving in to the screaming will make it worse, but he never stops so I sometimes don't have any other choices..
Thanks a lot everybody
Last time I came here to ask for help was right after we got our little Rio( GCC), who was an intense bitter back then.
Thanks to all of your advices, we "fixed" that situation and everything went right!
But now a new problem is surfacing that is getting very intense...
Rio, like most conures wants to be with us, which is great! BUT he wants to be with us ALL THE TIME.
Which again, would be great if he was okay with staying on our shoulders and hanging out, but he's hell bent on flying everywhere to get into mischief, biting a cable, taking off to bite a houseplant, taking of to plunge INTO the watering can, etc etc and most of my time is spend running after him.(he seems to know what he's doing is not okay since he will just take one bite and fly to the next thing)
(he used to stay kinda put, and go from playstand to playstand a while back).
So we tried to give him time out when he was going where he isn t allowed, and giving him treat when he goes on a playstand.
(he's got several playstand, always in view of the areas where we can be in the house, including my desk)
And that's how the screaming started.
When we put him in his cage for anything else than a meal, he SCREAMS (I know that conure and noisy birds, and that some screaming is to be expected, but that is an ear piercing constant screaming that can last for hours).
His cage is full of toys, he knows how to play with, we provide foraging toys and games DAILY, but he doesn't care that much about it, after 5 minutes it s back to SCREAMS to come out.
As soon as we let him out, mischief again, the only way I have to keep him calm is to be active with him (doing laundry, washing the dishes, taking a shower...) but sitting on the computer will always end up the same way, he'll fly over to make a mess somewhere and I'll have to run after him.
I provide a lot of 1 on 1 play session, with clicker and target training, making him fly accros the place to tire him out daily.
Some of it would be manageable, if I wasn't in a work from home situation with the Covid... I'm having work problems because I just can't stay put in front of the computer since the bird will run amok destroying things, or scream like a madman until the neighboors complain and I'm half deaf.
I'm missing work deadlines due to this situation and it's putting a lot of extra stress in our lives..
(and "i can't work from home I have a parrot" will not go well with my bosses
)I put his cage right next to my computer so we can see each other and interact while I work but that doesn't work unless he's out.
My full time job is running after him stopping messes or plugging my ears.
I've tried ignoring the screams, but he doesn t get tired and I do (and my neighboors
)The only solution I can see is to clip his wings but I really don't feel comfortable with that, he used to be great, he loves to fly and we do a lot of flight exercices, he just seems to have an unlimited amount of energy and refuses to stay put for one second.
(he does have a sleeping cage in another room where he sleeps 10 to 12hrs a day, eats pellets and a homemade chops with fresh fruits and veggies, and we only provide seeds as treats or foraging rewards)
What could I do to fix this situation?
I know that caving in to the screaming will make it worse, but he never stops so I sometimes don't have any other choices..
Thanks a lot everybody
Last edited:
