Over potty training??

Hello,

We just got a three month old sun conure about a month ago - Bongo. He is a wonderful bird and we love him like crazy. We have been doing a little bit of training with him starting with "poop." He's got it down already but there is one problem - He never poops in his cage anymore. This is great because of less mess, but is it bad for him? Sometimes he will go 8+ hours without going to the bathroom. When he does go, it is, well... large! Any suggestions?

Is it that he loves the praise and is trying to impress us? Or do they tend to not like to poop in their house? He will do it on his own on his play gym and perches on top of the cage.

Thanks!

P.S. Pics are attached of Bongo

Our birds can go 8 hrs without pooping but it is at night when they do not eat. Most all parrots I know poop at home in their house. I trained my bird to go poop on the rim of the toilet but she never held it in and waited for me to take her. Perhaps holding off on the praise for poop and praise other activities like step ups. Normally birds poop every 15 to 20 min. during the day.

I've read that the bird "holding it" is one of the complications that may develop with poop training. I don't think it's a good idea for any bird to delay poop time. I'm not sure how you'd handle it now, though....Maybe someone will have some suggestions.

Suns don't poop in their cage at night. Not to sure why. I have alway's thought it's a natural instinct as my adults never poop in their nestbox....EVER....but boy-o-boy watch out for that first morning one. And once the babies get older & learn to sleep in their happy hut they never dirty their house of a night & hold all night so i really don't think it has anything to do with potty training.

I have also heard of this happening with Potty training. Try to hold of on the praise??? Hopefully someone more knowledgeable will chime in.

btw That rolled up ball picture is SO ADORABLE! Made me smile

Beilana said:

I have also heard of this happening with Potty training. Try to hold of on the praise??? Hopefully someone more knowledgeable will chime in.

btw That rolled up ball picture is SO ADORABLE! Made me smile

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To my knowledge & having bred Conures for the last 15 years including Suns. They do hold their bowels for the night. My birds got to the toilet just on night fall before they go to their nest box for the night & as soon as it's daylight out they come & the first thing they do is poop. I have no doubt that it is not assoicated to toilet training. I think it's a coincidence really. Having said that i would imagine that through the day a sun that was toilet trained would maybe hold on until they get the command to poop.

Don't think you need to be more knowledgable just have some commonsense.

Well, I like to think that I have common sense.
I don't have experience with any of mine holding poop. Linines will not poop during their sleep period, (it's a natural thing)and Levi will not poop in his snuggle hut....however, he will not hold it for long. He just moves out of the hut, and poops.
Levi is poop trained, and I've read much on the subject. Holding poop for a long time...problems. Also, giving the poop command, and having the bird try too hard when he doesn't need to...problems(prolapse).
Reading is not the same as experience, as many people like to think they are smarter than they are...and often have no idea what they're writing about.
However, "holding" and/or "straining" cannot be a good thing...it's just common sense....

Chile (sun conure) will poop on command (I say, "Take a big crap!") but he will also happily poop on me whenever he feels the urge. "Holding it" implies future planning (she is going to ask me to take a crap later so I should keep plenty in store!) and I am not sure that is likely, even with a parrot! "Straining" is definitely possible, which is why I don't ask Chile to poop on command very often. Other birds, like chickens, geese, ducks, peafowl, Guineas (we have them all!) poop all the time, even when they're asleep. My poop experiences with parrots reveal a different pattern. Calvin, my CAG, will poop on her cage but she also has a favorite spot outside her cage where she likes to drop her bombs.

Happy New Year!

SharonC said:

Well, I like to think that I have common sense.
I don't have experience with any of mine holding poop. Linines will not poop during their sleep period, (it's a natural thing)and Levi will not poop in his snuggle hut....however, he will not hold it for long. He just moves out of the hut, and poops.
Levi is poop trained, and I've read much on the subject. Holding poop for a long time...problems. Also, giving the poop command, and having the bird try too hard when he doesn't need to...problems(prolapse).
Reading is not the same as experience, as many people like to think they are smarter than they are...and often have no idea what they're writing about.
However, "holding" and/or "straining" cannot be a good thing...it's just common sense....

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Sharon i had no idea that potty training could cause some serious problems. If this is the case how do you get around it? I would imagine it doesn't happen very often if it was only associated to potty training.

I had always thought a prolapse was associated with egg laying. And that it would be likely there were more problems elsewhere in the reproductive tract that would cause either an Oviduct or Cloaca Prolapse. I wonder if there is a link between potty training & females parrots as opposed to males.

As far as males are concerned i do know they can suffer a Phallic Prolapse in waterfowl but parrots I have never come across anything like that. But then again anything is possible.

Sharon have you got any links about this problem you can share with me. I would like to warn people of the risks even if they are very small.

I've just had a few minutes to have a look...Again, when I read something, I have no idea of the legitimacy of the comments. These do seem legit. and make sense to me.

Potty training a bird - ParrotChronicles Ask A Vet
Parrot Behavior Problems | Positive Bird Training
Potty-training Your Bird

Bongo said:

Hello,

We just got a three month old sun conure about a month ago - Bongo. He is a wonderful bird and we love him like crazy. We have been doing a little bit of training with him starting with "poop." He's got it down already but there is one problem - He never poops in his cage anymore. This is great because of less mess, but is it bad for him? Sometimes he will go 8+ hours without going to the bathroom. When he does go, it is, well... large! Any suggestions?

Is it that he loves the praise and is trying to impress us? Or do they tend to not like to poop in their house? He will do it on his own on his play gym and perches on top of the cage.

Click to expand...

Hi Bongo's owner. According to your post you are revering to daytime, correct? I do think it is a problem and agree with the others that you should stop poop training and praising. Bongo is sure working hard to impress you and clearly loves you.

Tannie Sharon posted some great articles, please let us know how it is going.

(Is Birdamor back? )

Thanks for your advice everyone. We are a little bit worried about it. It is an issue during the day. We have been letting him out of the cage more frequently to go to the bathroom, but this is not ideal for him or us! If I wanted a pet to let out all the time I'd have a dog!:09: We have been working to have him go in the cage, but he won't. As soon as he gets out it is all good and he goes - by command or not. When we are home he is almost always out of the cage, so he is definitely getting enough attention (5+ hours a day) and it is a non issue.

If you guys had an issue like this would you go to a vet? A pet store? Or just try to resolve it on your own?

We have had some time off over the holidays so it hasn't been as big of an issue, but we would like to resolve it sooner than later!

Thanks for you help!

Bongo, maybe if you don't make a fuss one way or the other, your little fellow may not be so eager to please. I do know i get a lot more from my birds with praise so i am just wondering if you kind of ignore the whole situation for a few weeks to see if he gets a bit tired of trying to please.

I would try to get some advice from someone like Barbara Heidenreich. They a better equiped to handle this kind of training behavior i would think.