anti-consumerism adventure nomad ([info]a_wags) wrote in [info]cockatiels,
@ 2004-11-18 14:45:00
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my teils started some new odd habits.

1) he hangs in the middle of his cage upside down with his wings spread and his tail feathers wide and chirps until I acknowledge him then he climbs right over to the side of his cage and does it over and over again.

2) its been 2 weeks now since he got his new cage and he sleeps still on top of his water and food, as a result, well you can imagine in the morning what I wake up too


I remember reading somehting in my well behaved parrot guide but cant find it right now..

ideas?

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[info]legoishminesoha
2004-11-18 11:47 pm UTC (link)
The first one is probably just him wanting to show off for you. Or receive attention, or a combination of the two. I personally think it's hilarious when my birds do that, it reminds me of a bat. ;D

The second ... hm. Maybe provide more perches? Set up some perches around the food bowl? I really don't know. Hum. Mine used to do that, but I switched around the food and water bowls and they started sleeping on the perches more.

Hope I could help, good luck!

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[info]a_wags
2004-11-18 11:55 pm UTC (link)
i just wanted to make sure him hanging backwards wasnt because he was threatened or upset :)

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[info]kasatka
2004-11-19 12:23 am UTC (link)
My birds never did that until recently, when I added a new bird. She started doing the hang upside down, wings out thing and now they ALL do it. One of them added flapping into the mix, which has turned into a huge mess because now they all do that as well (usually one right after the other, so they can show each other up). Feathers and bits everywhere.

I worry about it though, because every so often one of them will lose their grip while doing this and either go straight down to the bottom, slam into the side of the cage, or if the door happens to be open and they have good aim, go around the room. But mostly I'm worried that they'll end up getting a wing caught some day. (I miss my old cage with the criss-crossed wires. I wouldn't have to worry about it in there.)

They can fly in the cage if they really want to, but it's sort of a reckless flight when they fall, since they're already upsidedown and flapping pretty hard. Not sure how to get them to stop. =\ So far it's been hitting the bottom and sitting there looking very surprised with the crest straight up, and then going and doing something else like nothing ever happened. Freaks me out every time though.

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[info]a_wags
2004-11-19 12:38 am UTC (link)
yeah same here!

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[info]trickenzie
2004-11-19 03:40 am UTC (link)
Our birds do this a fair bit too. I am sure it is natural behaviour. We tell them how wonderful they are and how beautiful and they usually look fairly pleased with themselves afterwards.

Unless of course they fall, in which case they run around with a "that was deliberate" attitude. Wieros are weird.

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[info]ltdead
2004-11-19 09:10 am UTC (link)
Maybe you could just remove the food and water bowls for the night?

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[info]a_wags
2004-11-19 05:54 pm UTC (link)
would removing the water at night be safe?

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[info]good_magician
2004-11-19 01:44 pm UTC (link)
My little Gleep used to sleep on her dishes too. Then I changed from bowl style to the gravity feeder style for the water and I got a covered food dish with a pearch on front of it. I also made sure that she had some pearches higher in the cage than the food and water so she would feel more comfortable sleeping there.

She also loves playing "bat" and/or going crazy with the wings and crareening out of control. I always love the look she has when she flaps off and falls to misses a branch and falls. It's always looks like an embarrassed, "I'm fine! I meant to do that!"

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[info]oniid666
2004-11-19 03:14 pm UTC (link)
Heh, the upside down flapping thing is his attempt to "claim" the cage. he's sort of doing that to say it's his, and to signify that he's happy, I'm pretty sure everyone one of our 4 babies has done it at one point or another, though I've noticed that it's usually the girls that do it more often than the boys, but both our boys do it too. Ours too do the "Ooops-I-fell-off-but-don't-worry-it-was-deliberate!" maneuver too anytime they fall, it's absolutely hilarious.

As per the food bowl and water bowl sleeping habits, as it's a boy, you don't need to worry about it turning into potential nesting problems. If it was a girl, I'd say worry and do whatever you can to break the habit because girls can get nesty if they thinks the food bowl would make a good egg laying place, but as it's a boy, well either just take the food bowl out, cover the bowls/get a covered food bowl, or don't worry about it, and eventually they'll get tired of perching there.

Doodle used to perch on his food bowl all the time, we just gave up on trying to stop him, and he finally started perching on a branch of his own accord.

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[info]a_wags
2004-11-19 05:50 pm UTC (link)
hmm maybe a waterbottle

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[info]oniid666
2004-11-19 06:13 pm UTC (link)
That failing, just get a covered water dish (if they don't sell one, just use a covered food bowl instead, don't worry, I won't tell anyone if you do ;) )

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[info]neramon
2004-11-20 12:40 pm UTC (link)
I remove my birds water bowl. Peanut has MANY perches in his cage...but noooo he wants to sleep on his water bowl. I can tell you he wasn't pleased with me the first time I took away his sleeping perch...but yeah, it's either that or he starts to drink the poopy water when he's thirsty at night. ;_;

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