Hi, again, all! I hope you've all been doing well.
A quick update on Ricco:
He and I are still the best of friends. Right now he's watching me type this while perched on my arm. I love him more than words can possibly describe! He now says, Ricco, Hey Ricco, No Ricco, I love you, What are you doing?, Thank you, makes the kiss noise, What?, and Baby Lua (our Chihuahua's name). Hahaha. He also yells at the dogs when he knows they're doing something bad.
He knows "spin" and "say hi" (wave) now.
He also flies on command now. He is getting better every day with landing and taking off. He can fly from his cage to his playstand, to me, to my partner (which he tolerates now yay!), to our computers, to the end of the hallway to get to the bedroom, etc. Which also means he's not allowed outside anymore!
But I'm in the process of harness training.
Anyway... I need advice.
He's pretty quiet during the day. But in the morning he wakes us up sqwaking at about 8-9AM. I get up and let him out of his sleep cage, he still screams. I get up and take him out to his day cage, give him his breakfast, and I go back to bed... He still screams. I know/knew that Cockatoos scream and that he would in the mornings but GOSH. I literally just cannot sleep past 9 and neither can my partner. Some days it would just be nice to sleep in a bit.
I go to school full time and, as most of you probably know, some weeks are busier than others with projects, papers, etc. So sometimes I have to stay on campus for longer than I anticipated. Anyway, I'm usually not gone for more than 4 hours a day except Tuesdays in which I'm gone from about 9-4. My partner doesn't have a job right now, so she stays home with him and he's rarely closed in his cage. But she says that whenever I'm gone, he just will not stop screaming. Is there anything we can do to fix this?
He was also screaming a lot at night if it was past about 9 o' clock, but I'm pretty sure I solved that. I put him to bed around 9:30 now and cover his cage. Before, I couldn't do that because he would freak out if i wasn't in the room. But with his cage covered, he seems to go right to sleep.
Aaand.... His plucking. He's still plucking. He'll stop for awhile and new feathers will grow in a little bit and then he'll start again. He does it on his wings, under his wings, his chest, his legs, and his throat area. He only has a couple bare spots, mainly it's just fuzzy feathers everywhere. I don't think he's bored... I rearrange his cage about once a month and put new toys in there about weekly. He has foraging toys and I train him... He gets a shower at least once a week, but he has the option to have one every other day.
Any advice, 'too owners?
A quick update on Ricco:
He and I are still the best of friends. Right now he's watching me type this while perched on my arm. I love him more than words can possibly describe! He now says, Ricco, Hey Ricco, No Ricco, I love you, What are you doing?, Thank you, makes the kiss noise, What?, and Baby Lua (our Chihuahua's name). Hahaha. He also yells at the dogs when he knows they're doing something bad.
He knows "spin" and "say hi" (wave) now.
He also flies on command now. He is getting better every day with landing and taking off. He can fly from his cage to his playstand, to me, to my partner (which he tolerates now yay!), to our computers, to the end of the hallway to get to the bedroom, etc. Which also means he's not allowed outside anymore!
But I'm in the process of harness training. Anyway... I need advice.
He's pretty quiet during the day. But in the morning he wakes us up sqwaking at about 8-9AM. I get up and let him out of his sleep cage, he still screams. I get up and take him out to his day cage, give him his breakfast, and I go back to bed... He still screams. I know/knew that Cockatoos scream and that he would in the mornings but GOSH. I literally just cannot sleep past 9 and neither can my partner.
Some days it would just be nice to sleep in a bit. I go to school full time and, as most of you probably know, some weeks are busier than others with projects, papers, etc. So sometimes I have to stay on campus for longer than I anticipated. Anyway, I'm usually not gone for more than 4 hours a day except Tuesdays in which I'm gone from about 9-4. My partner doesn't have a job right now, so she stays home with him and he's rarely closed in his cage. But she says that whenever I'm gone, he just will not stop screaming. Is there anything we can do to fix this?
He was also screaming a lot at night if it was past about 9 o' clock, but I'm pretty sure I solved that. I put him to bed around 9:30 now and cover his cage. Before, I couldn't do that because he would freak out if i wasn't in the room. But with his cage covered, he seems to go right to sleep.
Aaand.... His plucking. He's still plucking.
He'll stop for awhile and new feathers will grow in a little bit and then he'll start again. He does it on his wings, under his wings, his chest, his legs, and his throat area. He only has a couple bare spots, mainly it's just fuzzy feathers everywhere. I don't think he's bored... I rearrange his cage about once a month and put new toys in there about weekly. He has foraging toys and I train him... He gets a shower at least once a week, but he has the option to have one every other day. Any advice, 'too owners?
