Time out

I'm thinking some of Tiki's screaming is just him being a bit of a brat and wanting attention, well, all of the time. I'm trying to work on rewarding good behavior, meaning any noise that isn't screaming, with either a treat, talking to him (which he loves), or giving him some one on one out of cage time.

However, when he gets going on a screaming tangent, he can really get going. I know Mark has said before that covering the cage until they quiet down can help to time down or even eliminate screaming for attention. I can't do that with Tiki, he wouldn't notice a difference since it's dark all the time for him.

What I am thinking, however, is a seperate time out cage in another room. He will be able to notice he's not with everyone else, due to being moved and the lack of noise. I also wouldn't intereact with him anymore that asking him to step up then to step down into the cage. Then if he quiets down after a couple minutes, I will take him out and then have one on one time with him.

Does this seem like it could work? I have to figure out how to show him that screaming isn't going to get him attention, but I have to adjust it from the norm since he is blind.



Sent from my SM-G920P using Tapatalk

Assure that you are providing contact calls - often! Also, monitor when he begins screaming and try to connect it to anything that may be triggering it. Like not hearing from you recently.

Your approach is sound, especially not rewarding the screaming.

Not sure if moving him to other room will work because you need to interact 'a lot' to move him. The cover will deaden the sound and that he will pick-up on. Keep it simple and quick!

That's SMART, Sailboat. He will "hear" the cover. And know what that means. I would think that would be good. Worth trying. And easy and quick to administer and then remove.

Yup! I agree with SailBoat's take as well. Moving him to an empty room might work, but as was mentioned there's a lot of interaction going on - in response to the screaming - that could be misinterpreted. Using the cover would indeed muffle the ambient noise, and I think he would put the two together. (Good call!)

I would think that contact calls would be more frequently necessary, however, due to Tiki's blindness. After all, they make the contact calls when their flock mate is out of sight for a while. But in his case, his flock mates are always out of sight. So you might have to get yourself in the habit of giving him a little shout out every few minutes.

Just got a question but before that... Wanna say you got a great heart for critters. Wish more folks had one like it.
Why exactly is the bird blind is my question. Injury? Disease? One form of blindness can be caused by a virus and can actually be treated with medication. Many vets are unaware of that fact. Are you aware of any testing done on the bird to determine the cause and/or what "kind" of blindness he has. It would be great to find you can get the birds sight back... just a thought.

He is going to the vet on Tuesday. I plan on along about the blindness then. He had a cataract in one eye, and I would be willing to look into having it removed, but if the underlying cause of the blindness in the other eye will cause him to be blind in both anyway, and cannot be cured, then I'm not going to bother fixing the cataract. It would be a pointless surgical risk at that point.

Sent from my SM-G920P using Tapatalk

THis is so tough, because any sound could be seen as a 'reward', including your foot steps to come to the cage.

Off the wall perhaps, but does whispering makes sense in this case?

I feel so bad for this bird.

very commendable, what you are doing. maybe as time goes by the screaming will lessen as bird gets more secure, plus suggestions above. hang in there

wrench13 said:

Off the wall perhaps, but does whispering makes sense in this case?

Click to expand...

What I was thinking, to an extent.
My advice is probably useless, but when my boy gets going, sometimes I'll say "ssssshhhh" really quietly and when he stops screaming to listen to me, say his favorite phrases. He often stops screaming and instead talks to me for a few minutes, and if he screams again I start it over.

Good luck! This is a tricky one!

I think I'll try the whispering. It may get him to quiet down to listen to me, as well as encourage him to whisper as well. Thanks Al.

Sent from my SM-G920P using Tapatalk

Fingers crossed here.. lemme know the diagnosis and I'll dig up info on the meds. In the meantime do NOT give the bird any meloxicam...even if prescribed.

I may be way off but I think you need a sound that expresses your displeasure/disapproval. Cats hiss, dogs growl our CAG has a water drop sound that means "stay back or get bit". He can't read your body language so he needs something subtle but that he can learn means you are unhappy.

Notdumasilook said:

Fingers crossed here.. lemme know the diagnosis and I'll dig up info on the meds. In the meantime do NOT give the bird any meloxicam...even if prescribed.

Click to expand...

I second that. Charlie ended up dying from congestive heart failure after going on that stuff.

Does Tiki have any noise making toys? Maybe if you gave him some Avian Stainless toys or something, he'd make a racket with them rather than screaming. I'd take clanging metal and ringing bells over screaming any day. Since he's blind, he might think that nobody knows he's there if he doesn't make noise, since he doesn't know where you guys are if he can't hear you?