Ringneck Sleeping

[ZazuRaiser]

Hi all, we had a 11 month old ringneck off a relative as they had lost interest in him he has been great with sleeping, he gets into his bed anytime between 7pm and 9pm and sleeps until the morning, I washed his bed a couple of nights ago and now he's refusing to sleep in it, is he just being stubborn or is it something else? He is fine in himself, still playing and talking and eating as normal. Thanks all.

 

[Scott]

Welcome to the forums, thanks for joining!!

Can you describe his bed; is it fabric or designed like a "hut" enclosure? If washed with soap or chemical solution, the texture may have changed and/or unpleasant scents might remain.

Please be aware if it is an enclosed fabric hut, serious harm may result from picking and eating thread strands. Just trying to be proactive, but if this is the case I'd advise removing ASAP.

 

[ZazuRaiser]

Hey thanks for your reply! It's similar to the style I've attached (if it's worked lol) well I did wash it in the washing machine, is there anything I can do or should I just purchase a new one?

 

[Scott]

Hey thanks for your reply! It's similar to the style I've attached (if it's worked lol) well I did wash it in the washing machine, is there anything I can do or should I just purchase a new one?

That is similar to the so-called "Happy Huts" responsible for a shocking number of parrot deaths. Primary problem is birds frequently pick, chew, and ingest the thin fibers. Over time their crop and digestive system becomes blocked, resulting in a debilitating illness or worse. Secondarily, the tight enclosure can lead to hormonal (nesting) reactions resulting in unwanted behaviors.

Honestly, my best advice is to remove and trash such items. These are notorious and the second entry in our Hazardous Toys thread: http://www.parrotforums.com/parrot-toys/38678-list-hazardous-toys-here-please.html

Some members use a natural grass version that is supposed to be far safer.

 

[ZazuRaiser]

Ahh I see. Thank you so much for this information, we have never had a bird before but we couldn't leave him in the conditions he was living in!

 

[Scott]

You are so welcome! Our goal is to enhance the experience and safety of parronts (human servants) and their fids. (feathered children)

 

[GaleriaGila]

What Scott said!

I'm so glad you're here, and reaching out. I think you are a hero to this bird, and to me, too. Thank you for sharing.

 

[EllenD]

Oh yes, please REMOVE it immediately and NEVER put anything else like that back in your parrot's cage ever again!!! He doesn't need a "bed" to sleep in at all, parrots/birds sleep naturally on the branches of trees, so your IRN can sleep soundly and happily on the perches in his cage. He needs no "bed" at all, they are all dangerous for multiple reasons, and they also all tend to cause hormonal-behavior, which is something that you obviously do not want to encourage.

Anything fabric, cloth, or anything that creates a small, dark, enclosed space like the Huts, Tents, or even just boxes all cause hormonal behavior. Even just getting underneath furniture causes hormonal behavior.

***However, the real danger to these "Huts", exactly like the one you have, is that they have killed thousands and thousands of pet parrots/birds due to 2 different reasons: The first one is that they continually pick at the fabric (even if you haven't seen your bird doing this, he is, they constantly pick at them while inside of them), and they cannot digest the fabric/material, so it builds-up throughout their Gastrointestinal Tract and inside of their Crops over-time. And then one day the built-up fabric finally causes an blockage or a Bowel-Obstruction, and this kills them pretty immediately. Usually they are found dead laying on the bottom of their cages, and only after a necropsy/autopsy do their owners realize that they were absolutely full of material the same color as their "Huts" are...

The other way birds are killed by these Huts is by loosening of the thread inside of the material, and once a thread loosens it falls out, and they end-up either getting their necks caught in the threads and they hang themselves, or they get a leg stuck in the loose threads and they end-up hanging upside-down by their leg stuck in the thread, and if this happens while the owner is at work, they come home to a dead bird hanging upside down from one of the threads.

*****Here is a link to one of the MANY websites/forums where people go to discuss how their beloved birds/parrots have been killed by one of these things. The manufacturers of these Huts actually started printing the sentence "Not intended for use by Conures" on the front of the packaging about a year ago, because so many people have pet Green Cheeks, Suns, Jendays, etc. that love to be inside small, dark places and sleep on their backs, that a good percentage of the birds being killed by these things were Conures...But as you'll see from this website, it's ALL species of parrots/birds who are killed by them...Happy Hut Warning

Again, your IRN doesn't need ANYTHING to sleep in, he doesn't need any type of "bed" at all. He will happily sleep on one of his perches just fine, that's naturally how they sleep, and it's really the only option you have if you want to keep him safe and keep his hormones from going out of control.

 

[ZazuRaiser]

Thank you everyone for your replies. I'm so glad I came across this forum, I've never had a pet bird before, when we rescued him the hut thing was already in his cage so we thought nothing of it, I can't understand why they are still on the shelves!! It's out now, he seems happy enough on his perch. Also while I'm here how often should we feed him fresh fruit, he only ever had seeds and nuts where he used to live but I know they need fruit in their diet and I don't want to give him to much or not enough. Thanks again.

 

[Laurasea]

Hi welcome! Thanks for the rescue! How wonderful that you ate seeking knowledge. For myself seeking knowledge will continue as long as I have Parrots, ideas and information becomes available all the time. As for fruits , most offer once or twice a week, while most of us offer several vegetables daily. Romaine lettuce, pumkin, squash, peas, green beans, zucchini, bok choy, ect...there are lists of parrot safe foods, here and elsewhere on line. Never feed Avacado, never feed mushrooms, never feed onion, vary rarely offer citrus fruits. Fruits that are good are plums, Rasberry, blueberry, cherries but not the pits, apple, an occasional grape..bell peppers and hot peppers are good and they can eat those seeds, as well as Pumpkin and squash seeds..pine nuts, pistachio, walnuts are good. Most don't recommend peanuts because they can harbor harmful fungus. You need natural wood from parrot safe wood list of different diameters, some skinny and some very wide. Parrot toys can be made we have do it yourself lists, and you can find online if toys aren't easily available for you. Ellen recommend giving paper back books or pages to chew and destroy and mine love doing that! I cut out cardboard shapes, and make brown paper bag fringes for them to play with.. you can make forage toys out of boxes and waded up newspaper with seeds or nuts or toys hidden inside, you can use a whole pepper and cut a hole in it and stuff other food or seeds inside foraging toys are great for the mind.

 

[EllenD]

Good advice from Laura above...Parrots don't really "need" fresh Fruit at all (except for species like Lorikeets, Eclectus, etc.), as Laura said although fresh Fruit is healthy as far as vitamins and minerals go, it is also loaded with natural sugars, which are turned into fat and stored in their livers just like the fat from the seed and the nuts is...So fresh Fruit is like a "healthier treat" than sunflower seeds, nuts, or people food...The problem is that captive/pet birds don't get even a fraction of the exercise that wild parrots do, so the fat they eat just accumulates in their Livers and causes Liver Disease, which is one of the main causes that pet parrot die younger than they should...So giving your IRN fresh Fruit at most 2-3 days of the week is plenty...

*****Do not EVER feed your bird Avocado, as it's toxic to birds...Also, do not regularly feed your bird any type of Citrus Fruit, like oranges, grapefruit, lemons, limes, and this also includes tomatoes, as they are extremely high in Vitamin C, and Vitamin C greatly enhances their body's absorption of Iron, and birds cannot handle much Iron in their diets at all, they will develop something called "Iron Storage Syndrome/Disease", which can be fatal. So if you ever decide to feed your bird any Citrus Fruit/Tomatoes or Citrus Fruit Juice, like Orange Juice, only once in a very great while. My Green Cheek's favorite thing in the world is Orange Juice, he'd sell me for a cap-full of Orange Juice, I swear he would...So I made that his very special "Training Treat", as well as how he gets any oral medications that taste horrible. But otherwise, for your IRN's regular diet, there are plenty of safe, healthy fresh Fruit that they love, such as Apple, Banana, Seedless Grapes of all varieties, Strawberries, Blackberries, Blueberries, Raspberries, Kiwi (Remove the Seeds First!), Mango, Guava, Papaya, etc.

What they do need in their DAILY DIET, in addition to whatever their "staple" diet is (pellets or seed-mix) are fresh Veggies and dark, leafy Greens. Your IRN should get his daily amount of his staple food, either pellets or a healthy, low-fat seed-mix, and then should also get a good helping a fresh veggies and dark, leafy greens. A lot of people make "Chop", which is simply a mix of all kinds of different fresh Veggies and Greens, and often also have fresh grains, legumes, seeds, herbs, etc. mixed in with them as well. There are tons of great Chop recipes in the "Food and Diet" forum here, and once you find one that your IRN really likes, then you can make the Chop in very large batches, put daily portions into individual freezer-baggies, and put them in the freezer. Then you can just pull-out a baggie of Chop from the freezer either at night or in the morning first-thing, put it in the fridge and let it thaw, and then it's all ready to go...

It's all about finding out what fresh veggies and greens your IRN likes, as all birds seem to like different types of veggies and greens, and sometimes you actually have to add something to the fresh veggies/greens to entice them to eat them, especially if they've never had veggies before...My Quaker Parrot is the only bird I have that just hates all veggies, greens, and Chop recipes, she's a pain in the butt about this and refuses to touch them all, UNLESS I add a little bit of cooked egg-white and mix it into the veggies/Chop really well. I actually use both real egg whites and also the Egg-Beater egg-whites, and will just put one-egg's worth of egg-white into a container, microwave it for a minute, and then chop it up into tiny, little pieces with the side of a fork, and then dump the chopped, fresh veggies right into the container with the egg-whites, and mix them up really, really well so that pretty much every veggie has some egg-white stuck to it, and she goes crazy and eats the whole bowl of veggies that way...So it's all about experimenting to see what your individual bird likes...

****Do not EVER feed your bird any Onion, Chives, Leeks, or any other veggies related to the Onion family, as they are toxic to birds...However, pretty much every other veggie and dark, leafy green is perfectly fine and healthy for birds. Don't feed any of the "watery lettuces" or cabbages, as they are nothing but water and have little nutritional value at all...However, the dark, leafy greens that my guys all love include Bok Choi and Pak Choi, Arugula/Rocket, Collard Greens, Mustard Greens, Turnip Greens, Dandelion Greens, Swiss Chard, Escarole, Endive, etc. As far as fresh veggies go, the big ones that they like are Broccoli, Green Beans, Pea Pods (all varieties), all kinds of Squash including Butternut, Spaghetti, Acorn, Yellow, and Zucchi, as well as Okra, occasional Eggplant, a little Carrot, etc. Try as many different veggies and greens as you can to see what he likes the most, and then again sometimes you have to get creative and add other healthy foods that bring some flavor to the veggies, such as Egg/Egg-Whites, different fresh Herbs such as fresh Cilantro, Basil, different Parsley varieties, Watercress, fresh Alfalfa (which is actually high in protein as well), etc. You can also add-in Flax Seeds, Quinoa, and a little trick is to mix up your fresh veggies that you've chopped-up into pieces for him to eat, and then since he's a "seed-junkie" you can take a millet-spray and shake off a little bit of millet to mix into the veggies the same way you use the cooked Egg/Egg-Whites...Whatever works for your bird...

***Always feed your bird ONLY fresh veggies and fruit, NEVER feed him any canned fruit or veggies, as not only is most of the nutritional benefits gone, but they are typically loaded with salt (and sugar/sugar syrups for the canned fruit) and other horrible preservatives, and are actually harmful to your bird...I know people who buy frozen veggies and fruit, thaw them/cook them, and then feed them to their birds, which isn't harmful like the canned veggies and fruits are, but isn't as beneficial as the fresh veggies/greens and fruit are, and any time you cook/heat veggies up, you lose the vitamin/mineral content, so buying only fresh veggies/greens and fruit is best...It's also cheaper...

 

[EllenD]

The other thing I forgot to address...You said that your IRN came to you on a seed and nut diet...I'm assuming that his regular, daily "staple" food is still a seed-mix of some kind, correct? If that's the case and you haven't yet transitioned him over to a daily staple-diet of pellets, then it's something that you might want to think about doing, though it can take time and can be frustrating...There is a wonderful "Seed-Mix to Pellet Transition Plan" that was written by Harrison's, a company who makes one of the highest-quality pellet diets for parrots in the world, and it's the absolute best overall transition plan that I've ever seen...The link is all over the forum, I'll see if I can find it and copy it here for you, or if Gail sees this she always has it saved and ready to copy, or you can just go to the Harrison's website and find it...

****Something that we started doing with the birds who come in and are on a seed-mix staple diet at the Avian Rescue I work at, which is probably 90% of the birds that come to us unfortunately, is instead of just trying to switch them from the typically junky, high-fat seed-mixes that they've been eating for their entire lives right onto a Natural Pellet staple-diet, we are now immediately feeding them a seed-mix that is totally free of Sunflower Seeds, any Nuts, and any dried Corn (it's much, much better to feed "Natural-Flavor" pellets than the Fruit-Flavor or Nut-Flavor pellets, because they are loaded with sugar/fat just like the junky seed-mixes)...Any of the seed-mixes that you can buy at a grocery store or from a store like Walmart, as well as quite a lot of the more expensive seed-mixes that you buy at Petco, PetSmart, etc. are full of Sunflower Seeds, Nuts (especially Peanuts), and dried Corn Kernels/Cracked Corn, all of which are high in fat and the main reason that seed-mixes as a staple diet for captive/pet parrots are just awful and cause Fatty Liver Disease...However, there are quite a few really healthy, varied, fortified, low-fat seed-mixes out there that are totally free of any types of Sunflower Seeds, any types of Nuts, and any types of Corn, and instead consist of healthier seed varieties, along with grains, legumes, dried veggies, dried herbs, and dried fruits/berries along with dried Herbs...So this is a major change that you can make with your IRN immediately that will greatly lower his daily fat intake, increase his daily intake of necessary vitamins, minerals, amino acids, etc., and start the process of rejuvenating his Liver and reversing any already-developed Fatty Liver. And many of these healthy, low-fat seed-mixes are available at any Petco or PetSmart...

The two healthy, low-fat seed-mixes that I feed my birds are #1) Tropimix and #2) Higgins Vita-Seed California Blend, both of which are extremely similar in their ingredients, nutritional content, etc. Neither of them have any sunflower seeds, any nuts, or any corn, and the birds love both of them (they even look extremely similar)...There are lots of others as well that are very similar to the above two, such as Zupreem Smart-Selects (NOT Zupreem "Sensible Seed", as it contains sunflower seeds),
Higgins Safflower Gold, Volkman Avian Super Science Sunflower-Free...AND if you live in the UK, there is a brand that we don't have in the US that I was just made aware of called "As30 No Peanut No Sunflower Seed Mix", and is available for order from a company called "Scarletts Parrot Essentials", which is a UK website. The Rescue got a free-sample bag of this seed-mix, and the first thing I thought was that it looks exactly like the Higgins Vita-Seed California Blend and the Tropimix, so it looks really good...

***So, if your IRN is currently eating/has been eating a seed-mix as his daily staple diet that contains the typical sunflower seeds, nuts/peanuts, and dried corn, since it will take time to transition him onto a natural-pellet staple diet and it can sometimes be very trying and frustrating if they've always been fed a seed-mix, you can make a drastic improvement immediately by simply switching them onto one of the healthy, low-fat seed mixes. If you look at either the Tropimix or the Higgins Vita-Seed California Blend, they look more like a very healthy "trail-mix" than they do bird seed. And they typically love them and will eat them right away. Once you make that switch, then you can choose a healthy, low-sugar, low-fat Pellet you want to switch him onto, and take your time transitioning him over from the healthy seed-mix. The most-commonly fed, healthy, high-quality pellets that most of us feed our birds include Harrison's, Tops, Zupreem Natural, Tropican Granules, Roudybush Daily Maintenance, LaFabre Daily Diet...There are tons of them, but those are the most-commonly fed ones that are "Natural" flavor and not Fruit or Nut flavors loaded with sugar and fat...

I give my guys a 1/4 cup of healthy seed-mix every single day along with their staple-diet of Tropican Pellets, because I believe that birds bodies, especially their GI Tracts, are designed to eat seeds/legumes/grains, from their Beaks to their Crops to their Gizzards through the rest of their Intestinal Tracts, plus I also believe there is a psychological element to them using their beaks to eat seeds that needs to be satisfied, there are varying opinions on this, but as long as you feed a healthy, low-fat seed mix free of any sunflower seeds, nuts, or dried corn, and you only give them a small portion of it every day, it's totally beneficial. Not everyone does this, not everyone agrees, it'a all about personal choice of the bird's owner. A lot of people consider ANY type of seeds as "treats" for their pet birds, but I just think that is going against what they naturally eat...Pellets are great, but pellets don't exist in nature...

 

[ZazuRaiser]

Thank you for the advice, I was a bit confused on what to do with toys as he seems to get bored in the day and just scream! I'll give all of those ideas ago! Also what do we do with the claws? He had sandpaper covers his perches but you could see he clearly didn't like walking on the so we took them off, is there anything else we could get as he's nowhere near tame enough to trim them ourselves

 

[ZazuRaiser]

Thank you Ellen, I have been trying to get on the Harrisons website, I'll try again tomorrow. He is still eating the seed mix as we are just reading up about the best way of transitioning him and what's the best to feed him but your advice has helped a lot. I didn't realise it was such hard work having a bird, just so glad he's young enough to not have any lasting damage

 

[Flboy]

Another thing keeping in mind with washing items in the laundry, be very careful and do not use any fabric softener or fabric softener sheets! Quite deadly!

 

[Aspie_Aviphile]

Harrison's is what my avian vet recommends, as they contain everything parrots are currently known to need, including omega 3 fatty acids, and are certified organic with no artificial flavourings, colours or preservatives. My budgie wouldn't eat it after living on Trill seed mix in her previous home, but my IRN re-home started eating it from the first day I put it in the bowl, even though he clearly preferred the seed mix. I just put both in his bowl for a week in case he didn't eat enough of the pellets, until I was sure that he wasn't going to starve himself if I took the seeds out. IRNs are the foodies of the parrot family, so if you're lucky you won't have to disguise, mash, heat up, hide, or eat in front of him any new or healthy foods even if he has been raised without variety.

Edit: If you can, it's also nice to get them flowers to eat. Rosemary Low says most parrot species (not the nector-eaters) eat a lot of flowers in the wild and they love them, not just for the taste but also the ultraviolet colours and fun shredding potential.