noblemacaw
New member
- Sep 23, 2011
- 1,056
- 3
- Parrots
- Valentino - Red Fronted Macaw - Hatched August 12, 2012
Normally I can always tell if regurgitating is a problem or not but the more I think about what happened last night the more I wonder.
Last night during my dinner as usual I put some nuts in Valentino's food dish so he will eat those while I eat my dinner. Since I leave the cage door open he will fly back to me when finished and pester me until I am done eating.
Last night he ate his nuts and flew back to me but after several moments he fluffed his head, opened his beak real wide as he began to jerk his head with that feeding response. Before I could stop him from "finishing" the regurge he shook his head and chewed up nuts went flying EVERYWHERE. Some landed in my hair, some in my dinner, in my ear, on the table. The wet balls of regurge were flung everywhere!
My reaction to what happened was not handled well. I screamed "STOOOOOOP!" After he was done throwing up and with my screaming he flew to his Java tree and acted like nothing was wrong.
I am thinking either he was "sick" and puked or Valentino really does not know how to regurge properly like a daddy RFM would. I know that young RFM's will "practice" regurgitating and I do discourage the act when Valentino starts doing it. Most of the time if I am late with stopping him he will bring up the food, roll it around in his mouth then suddenly he will shake his head like suddenly realizing how grossed out he is with himself. I then have to find and clean up the results. He has even hit my cornea making my eye water up bad with the force of the head shake.
I don't think Valentino was sick but had a "violent" episode with his "practice". He seemed fine after wards and does have a normal appetite and is acting normally. It was just so sudden and he shook his head so hard I was taken by surprise with my dinner ruined I had to think twice about what actually happened.
I do hope it does not get worse. I hope I can nip this behavior in the bud and not have it become some kind of sick habit.
Sorry for such graphic detail. I never had any of my boys regurge quite like Valentino as he does not seem to do this act in a normal manner.
Last night during my dinner as usual I put some nuts in Valentino's food dish so he will eat those while I eat my dinner. Since I leave the cage door open he will fly back to me when finished and pester me until I am done eating.
Last night he ate his nuts and flew back to me but after several moments he fluffed his head, opened his beak real wide as he began to jerk his head with that feeding response. Before I could stop him from "finishing" the regurge he shook his head and chewed up nuts went flying EVERYWHERE. Some landed in my hair, some in my dinner, in my ear, on the table. The wet balls of regurge were flung everywhere!
My reaction to what happened was not handled well. I screamed "STOOOOOOP!" After he was done throwing up and with my screaming he flew to his Java tree and acted like nothing was wrong.
I am thinking either he was "sick" and puked or Valentino really does not know how to regurge properly like a daddy RFM would. I know that young RFM's will "practice" regurgitating and I do discourage the act when Valentino starts doing it. Most of the time if I am late with stopping him he will bring up the food, roll it around in his mouth then suddenly he will shake his head like suddenly realizing how grossed out he is with himself. I then have to find and clean up the results. He has even hit my cornea making my eye water up bad with the force of the head shake.
I don't think Valentino was sick but had a "violent" episode with his "practice". He seemed fine after wards and does have a normal appetite and is acting normally. It was just so sudden and he shook his head so hard I was taken by surprise with my dinner ruined I had to think twice about what actually happened.
I do hope it does not get worse. I hope I can nip this behavior in the bud and not have it become some kind of sick habit.
Sorry for such graphic detail. I never had any of my boys regurge quite like Valentino as he does not seem to do this act in a normal manner.
