why is my amazon scraping the bottom of the cage?

[fizz]

My amazon has started sratching and scraping the bottom of the cage like a hampster, i have paper on the bottom and shes shredded the paper to bits!
Is this a nesting thing?
and can i put something other than paper in the cage?
shes out of the cage all the time, but she likes to go in now and again and sit on the edge of the opened door!

Oh by the way she is SUPPOSED to be female but im conviced shes male

 

[wuvzbirdies]

Hi Fizz, Welcome. What is your Amazon's name? Pic's would be awesome.

Shredding is normal, parrots love to shred. I make my guy shredable toys with newspaper, it occupies him for hours. I find newspaper at the bottom of Russells cage is best but it's not accessible to him as it has bars covering the droppings section that's why I give him his own newspaper to shred. Try giving him/her paper towel and toilet paper rolls, you'll probably find that the paper at the bottoom of the cage is left alone.

Good luck.

 

[fizz]

her name is chloe... i know she loves shredding paper and toilet rolls card, but shes different with the paper on the bottom of the gage, she kicks her legs behind her lol

here are some pics of her and the cage....

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v135/bubblefizz/chloescage.jpg

 

[parrotqueen]

It is completely normal for a parrot to shred, she probably just got a little bored and wanted something new to entertain her.

I give my tiels some unbleached coffee filters, and they have the greatest time. You can usually find them at any local supermarket, the brand name is 'Melitta'.

 

[WhataCracker]

It is about breedng time... my african grey is shredding too:

Its a nesting behaviour. She will do this for a while, just keep changing the bedding.

She may get a bit more annoyed for this bit too (and start shedding her downy feathers).

 

[birdcrazy]

Hi! is that cage the one she lives in? It looks quite small for an amazon. Maybe you could start looking around, you'll be surprised at how inexpensive you can get decent cages online. Fill it with some variety in perches and several different toys, and you'll have one happy parrot.

As for shredding yes it's completly normal. You can seperate the paper by a grate at the botttom of the cage to cut down on the mess then weave some paper through the bars by perches and such for her to still play with.

 

[WhataCracker]

To stop as much of the shredding behaivour if you put a torn up set of natural paper in a clip for her to tear up...

she's gonna do ths every year.

 

[fizz]

No she doesnt live in that cage in the pic, infact she doesnt live in any cage lol, that cage is for if shes naughty, shes out of it all day long, and she has another cage in another room and thats her bedroom
she also has a java tree which she uses the most

 

[BlueToast]

To get to the other side?

 

[birdcrazy]

ok just checking! glad to hear it yeah it's just getting to be that wonderful time of year. My cockatiel will try to shred anything she can when she's feeling "nesty"

 

[fizz]

The "nesting" thing........do both male and female act the same?

 

[hopi]

I have an 18 year old African Grey, and she does the same scratching and tearing. She even puts her claws through the bottom grate to get at the paper, so the grate is pretty useless for keeping her away from it. The mess is awful, the scratching noise can sometimes drive us nuts.
So-
I think I'm going to try the toilet paper roll thing, plus buy one of these bendable sisal perches and weave it around the bottom so she can't get at the paper comfortably. She's got lots of toys, and I often take her out to her outside cage to commune with the other birds, so I don't think she's bored. But, hey, what do I know? Guess I'll also get her some more shred-able toys.

Anyone have a bird who is so determined to paper shred that she goes right through the bottom grate to get at it??? Any suggestions??

Thanks. I'm new to this Forum. Have already read that sisal rope is safer than cotton. Good thing, as I was trying to choose between a sisal or cotton bendable perch. Thanks!

 

[ConureCrazy]

Um, this forum is over 2 years old. Welcome to the forum though! Feel free to start a new thread for your questions.

 

[Didomum]

Sounds like she is having fun.

 

[Chaz12]

I think the parrot is scraping the bottom of her cage, to see what is on the other side..lol.. Just joking. They love tearing up paper..

 

[melissasparrots]

Sometimes its a nesting behavior. However, if she only does it while in her naughty cage, I'd bet its more of a frustration behavior. If that is the case, I hope she doesn't spend much time in the bad bird cage as its pretty small and the metal coating is questionable safety wise.