Skittles says..."Who you gonna call?"

So I was starting to write a new thread yesterday and decided to hold off a few more days and since I now know the cause, its no longer an issue.

With Skittles, I have to walk a fine line. On the one hand, he can become very spoiled and feel very entitled very quickly if limits and boundaries are not enforced. I learned that the hard way. On the other hand, he has this adorable manipulation tactic which is incredibly hard to ignore especially since I can be such a marshmallow with him. When he sees something he REALLY wants he does his whole making repetitive "kissy noises" and rapid head bobbing and its just priceless. Nevertheless, I've done good.

But I was finding it much more difficult as of late to put him to bed at night. It had NEVER been an issue before. In fact he would usually tell me when he wants to go to bed (roughly same time each night) and goes into his sleep cage without incident.

Well last night, he pulled the same routine he's been pulling and it took me over three hours to get him to go into his cage. Each time I tried to get him to go to bed, he'd run down my arm and go inside my shirt and 'hide'. I kept thinking he just wanted to cuddle. So I would give him some 'cuddle' time and then he'd go to bed, albeit reluctantly. (In other words, he didn't want to go but went because I was telling him too. Yes, he's that smart)

So anyways, last night he kept staring at the ceiling and as usual I looked and didn't see anything. But he kept doing it. Turns out there were these "tiny" little gnats (the ones that hang around lights in the dark). My vision isn't that great and they looked like little dust molecules, until I realized they were going back up which dust doesn't. I ended up killing over a dozen in all. After I had killed a few, I thought they were all dead. But he started "grabbing my shirt" which is his 'alert' button. So I looked again and there were more. This happened several times before I finally got them all. It was after that he went to bed without incident or reluctance.

I won't grab him and put him in, I just don't believe in doing that and that shouldn't even be necessary if they are properly trained, which he is. I just wish I had considered this several days ago when the behavior first started, but he's such a 'little diva' I can't see him as afraid of anything, but inside my shirt does seem to be his 'safe place' when he feels threatened which makes me feel wonderful.

PS, I found out where the little bugs were coming from. The foam band I use on the window above the AC to prevent bugs from getting in, was not properly set and there were a bunch of dead ones there. Problem is now solved.

So thats my story in a nutshell. I just thought the whole experience was fascinating.

What a smart bird! And so smart of you to figure it out.

Wow, that's amazing. I hope I will be able to pick up on things like you can! My eyesight is getting quite bad. Even with glasses on, if it's night time, all bets are off. Great catch there.

Not sure I deserve much credit, considering it took me almost a week to figure out. lol.

I have always loved birds, I am no doubt a bird person. But if I am to be honest, while I've always thought birds were smart- parrots in particular, I've always thought that most of the fascinating behaviors they exhibit are ones that either come 'naturally' or are taught as tricks to be repetitive.

All the times he has outsmarted me (not that hard to do, but still) are things that are not 'by nature' things or things that I taught him but rather things he figured out on his own.

I never really thought of them as being as beings with souls til I got Skittles. I honestly couldn't love him more if he actually were a human toddler and to be honest, it scares me.

Mind you, I've always had at LEAST one bird since I was 11 y/o and I'm about to turn 41 in a few months. So I have experienced strong bonds with some of my past birds. Not all of them, and given how many I've had (we are talking over 2 dozen), the number I've had a strong bond with can be counted on one hand. In fact, besides Skittles, the only other birds I've had strong bonds with were Peaches, my tiel, and two budgies I had when I was younger (at different times).

To be fair though, most of the birds I had over the years (in fact over 90% of them) were rescues or re-homes and most were older and had never been tamed. It was difficult to tame them and I was only able to do it successfully with about half.

Certainly is a smart cookie is Skittles and you will pick up the signs quicker next time.

Way to go! We should all follow your model as a parrot parent.