This CAN'T be Healthy...

[Caitnah]

My Pineapple is now a little over 16 weeks old. Lately I have been a little concerned about his poop times.

His bedtime is usually 9:00p.m. and I do not get him up until 10:00a.m. the next morning. In that time he doesn't go at all which I understand is common. Of course, as soon as I let him out of his cage, he flies off and drops a huge "load".
But today, I was unable to get home at 10:00a.m. to let him out. In fact, I couldn't get home till 5:00p.m. which equates to him being alone for almost 21 hours (plenty of food & water). Believe me this is a VERY unusual event that couldn't be avoided (and rare).

My question is that even after 21 hours...HE DIDN'T POOP ONCE IN HIS CAGE! As soon as I got home, I let him out and WHAM!

21 HOURS and no poop? Unusual?

 

[Sunnyclover]

We'll...kind of. I'm sure if you left him for 21 hours regularly he would eventually start pooping in his cage but a one time deal he was probably just waiting for the routine to happen. Hopefully when he flys out to drop his large poop he does it somewhere that is easy to clean up lol.

 

[BoomBoom]

Yes it's unusual.

That said, I remember a time when my sun conure was 2 months old and I ha just brought him home with me. He also held his poop the whole day once or twice while I was at work. That was about 9 hours. I was so concerned I think I may have even made a thread on here about it. I was assured that he felt uneasy and scared while I was gone. Once he settled in, he did his business in his cage quite frequently.

Make sure he knows it's okay to do his business in the cage too. When you see him do it, give him lots of verbal praise (no treats). On that note, now is the time to potty train him when he's outside the cage. I suggest having a poop perch that extends on the exterior of the cage. Have paper underneath, and take him there every 15-20 mins to poop. Every time he does it, verbal praise. Don't worry the frequency will lessen as he gets older.

Good luck!

 

[clark_conure]

It's unusual for that amount of time, but birds are naturally clean they don't want to poop around where they hang out. For instance my bed clark has never pooped on, his cage he is reluctant to poop in. But other places, he'll just lean back and drop. It's actually kind of good because I taght him to poop in the bathroom sink, but I know he holds it in and sometimes not in our zones...he will just poop.