New behavior with conure

Sarahcat · Jul 5, 2017

Hi all!

Recently I went away for a five day trip and came home to new behavior being displayed by my 18-year-old jenday conure. I don't know what to make of it so I figured I would ask here.

Do note, I have gone on vacation twice earlier this year since adopting her and she was in the same care as she was this time with the same people.

Since returning she has:
- Had a change in chirping patterns (chirps are now a higher pitch and faster).
- Throws all food out from her dish. She will eat, but denies most of everything and tosses it out. I've tried putting a smaller amount in there so she can't but she does.
- Completely destroyed one toy but refuses to touch any of the others in the cage. I tried swapping them out for new ones or cycling some, nothing.
- Wakes up at 4AM and bangs a treat cup on the side of the cage very loudly or bangs her beak on her perch. Will do this for a while, then goes back to sleep.

Other than that there are no physical changes to her and her stool is normal. I don't believe she's sick, just starting to rebel.

Any hints would be appreciated, thank you! :rainbow1:

Sunnyclover · Jul 5, 2017

When I leave on vacation away from my sun conure Ollie he has a change in his chirping also. It took him a couple of weeks to go back to his regular chirps and sounds, it was so weird. Also the last time I left he decided to stop eating vegetables and blueberries and still will not eat them and it's been 2 months.

Sarahcat · Jul 6, 2017

An update since I'm getting really nervous now.

Gave her food this morning and mixed it in with some sunflower seeds and nutrient pellets, both of which she LOVES. Has been "eating" it all day, most of it just looks like she broke everything in half instead of actually eating it, and kicked out the rest onto the floor. I just bought her this food a month ago so I'm not sure why she's rejecting it plus stuff she's been eating her entire life.
I vacuumed it up and took the dish out for now since she's just wasting it and not actually eating any of it.

I also noticed that she's stopped chirping. She used to have three scream sessions a day, especially when people come home from work, but now you'd be lucky to get more than a single scream out of her.

She's not plucking. No signs of sickness. Normal stool.

Kiwibird · Jul 6, 2017

Just sounds upset you 'abandoned' her is all. Parrots can hold little grudges for quite some time after humans take vacations. Let her throw her tantrums and don't fuss over it or you'll teach her throwing food, banging her dish etc... will yield her attention (which is exactly what she wants by doing these bad behaviors). Feed her as you do normally. If she flings it all out, she'll just have to wait until her next normal feeding to eat again. It's like sending a kid who didn't want to eat what was on the table to bed without dinner- they are unlikely to do it a second time, having learned a lesson the first time they went to bed hungry.

If she is pooping normally, then she's eating normal amounts (even if she has flung a lot to the floor in anger). They have fast digestive tracts so if they aren't eating they won't be pooping normally. It is rare a parrot actually starves themselves over frustrations but not that uncommon for them to fling food that would normally have just been left uneaten in the dish. And even if she throws every bit out and misses a meal because of it, she won't die (but she is unlikely to try that again once she realizes it's not nice to go hungry because she threw a tantrum!). Just keep feeding her normally and even if she is flinging all of it, she'll eventually get hungry enough to eat and stop wasting her food.

Sarahcat · Jul 6, 2017

Kiwibird said:
Just sounds upset you 'abandoned' her is all. Parrots can hold little grudges for quite some time after humans take vacations. Let her throw her tantrums and don't fuss over it or you'll teach her throwing food, banging her dish etc... will yield her attention (which is exactly what she wants by doing these bad behaviors). Feed her as you do normally. If she flings it all out, she'll just have to wait until her next normal feeding to eat again. It's like sending a kid who didn't want to eat what was on the table to bed without dinner- they are unlikely to do it a second time, having learned a lesson the first time they went to bed hungry.

If she is pooping normally, then she's eating normal amounts (even if she has flung a lot to the floor in anger). They have fast digestive tracts so if they aren't eating they won't be pooping normally. It is rare a parrot actually starves themselves over frustrations but not that uncommon for them to fling food that would normally have just been left uneaten in the dish. And even if she throws every bit out and misses a meal because of it, she won't die (but she is unlikely to try that again once she realizes it's not nice to go hungry because she threw a tantrum!). Just keep feeding her normally and even if she is flinging all of it, she'll eventually get hungry enough to eat and stop wasting her food.

Ahhh thank you so much!!!! I was SO worried she was going to either lay an egg for the first time in 10 years (she has egg bound every time she has tried and nearly died) or was showing signs for giving up on herself.

I just put her dish in and watched her actually eat the pieces she broke up into smaller ones. I've been feeding her more often because I thought there was something wrong but having a baby bird tantrum sounds very familiar with her, this one just more extreme.

Do you think that the screaming patterns and interest in toys will return over time? It's really weird having a quiet jenday.

LordTriggs · Jul 7, 2017

does sound a little bit like a long drawn out tantrum to me. Hell I think I did pretty much the same thing when I was 5! I think funnily enough it's because I wanted a bird I saw in a local store and my mum said no

with the thing you said about her egg binding in the past have you got her eating pellets? If not I'd suggest getting some calcium powder to sprinkle over her food and if possible try switching to a pellet diet

let baby have her tantrum, she'll know you're not going anywhere very soon

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