Hi,
I'm looking for advice for my IRN and his behaviour which has become hard to manage. He has periods throughout the day where he'll scream. It's not a normal scream but a shrill, frantic shriek that he repeats again and again and again with only a few seconds between each, usually while pacing up and down his perches. It's obvious that he wants something, but I don't know what he wants. This screaming and pacing can go on for maybe 30mins - an hour before it subsides for a while and starts back up again.
His cage is almost always left open, he has a play stand full of toys and foraging things to entertain himself with that I swap out at regular intervals. He's not a huge fan of toys but loves to forage. I would gladly spend time giving him attention/ scratching his head/ letting him sit on me/ etc. but he has little to no interest in me unless I'm holding food! When I try to talk to him it just triggers more screams.
I've been steadfastly ignoring this behaviour as to not reinforce it but it doesn't seem to be helping. If I'm in the room, which I usually am, he does the shrill screaming and ignores me. If I leave, he does flock calls as if he wants me to come back. I've had him for 5 years and this behaviour is relatively new. He's actually a relatively quiet parrot, at least when normal, calm vocalisations are considered. But this screaming feels anxious and unhappy, and is making me anxious and unhappy in return, and I really want to try solve it for both of us.
I'm looking for advice for my IRN and his behaviour which has become hard to manage. He has periods throughout the day where he'll scream. It's not a normal scream but a shrill, frantic shriek that he repeats again and again and again with only a few seconds between each, usually while pacing up and down his perches. It's obvious that he wants something, but I don't know what he wants. This screaming and pacing can go on for maybe 30mins - an hour before it subsides for a while and starts back up again.
His cage is almost always left open, he has a play stand full of toys and foraging things to entertain himself with that I swap out at regular intervals. He's not a huge fan of toys but loves to forage. I would gladly spend time giving him attention/ scratching his head/ letting him sit on me/ etc. but he has little to no interest in me unless I'm holding food! When I try to talk to him it just triggers more screams.
I've been steadfastly ignoring this behaviour as to not reinforce it but it doesn't seem to be helping. If I'm in the room, which I usually am, he does the shrill screaming and ignores me. If I leave, he does flock calls as if he wants me to come back. I've had him for 5 years and this behaviour is relatively new. He's actually a relatively quiet parrot, at least when normal, calm vocalisations are considered. But this screaming feels anxious and unhappy, and is making me anxious and unhappy in return, and I really want to try solve it for both of us.
