Morning anxiety and healthy droppings?

Duchessbird

New member
Sep 6, 2019
20
0
St. Louis, MO, USA
Parrots
Female eclectus, male Stella's lorikeet
Hi all,

I recently adopted a three year-old female Solomon Island Eclectus; her name is Duchess. I've had her for about two weeks now and she is doing quite well in most respects. However, I notice that in the mornings after I slowly remove her cage cover and gradually introduce light into the room, she gets rather anxious and acts like she wants to fly. She lifts her wings, trembles slightly, and paces back and forth in her cage a lot. This lasts about fifteen minutes on average before she settles down, eats breakfast, preens, plays with toys, etc. Is this normal or should I be concerned? I've tried all sorts of things to make her more comfortable when it's time to get up, but to no avail.

Another question: what does healthy eclectus poop look like? I've never owned a frugivore parrot before so I'm not sure how their droppings compare with those of granivores. Hers seem to be generally more "wet" than the droppings of a seed-eater. Also, the white urate is finely streaked throughout and not separate from the feces. Urine level varies somewhat.

Thanks for any thoughts,
Bailey
 

charmedbyekkie

New member
May 24, 2018
1,148
82
US/SG
Parrots
Cairo the Ekkie!
Is she clipped?

As for her poops, what is her diet? While they do primarily eat fruits in the wild, the domesticated ekkie doesn't have the same living situation - your little one isn't flying 40km daily.

You can check the ekkie part of the forum on diets for ekkies. Chris-md has some good breakdowns to check out.
 

Laurasea

Well-known member
Aug 2, 2018
12,593
10,702
USA
Parrots
Full house
Welcome to you and your parrot.
Some of this sounds like just greetings the morning. A wing shrug is a hello and probably the passing is I want out of the cage ;)
That's my take.
 
OP
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Duchessbird

New member
Sep 6, 2019
20
0
St. Louis, MO, USA
Parrots
Female eclectus, male Stella's lorikeet
  • Thread Starter
  • Thread starter
  • #4
Is she clipped?

As for her poops, what is her diet? While they do primarily eat fruits in the wild, the domesticated ekkie doesn't have the same living situation - your little one isn't flying 40km daily.

You can check the ekkie part of the forum on diets for ekkies. Chris-md has some good breakdowns to check out.

Thanks for your response. She eats about 30-40% Goldenfeast Goldn'obles pellets (about 30g a day) and 60-70% soft food (about 60g). The soft food is offered finely-chopped and is about 50-50 fruits and vegetables. It includes sweet potatoes, carrots, kale, broccoli, spinach, cauliflower, peas, peppers, bean sprouts, quinoa, raspberries, blueberries, strawberries. Papaya, pomegranate, mango, blackberries, hot peppers, and apples are given on occasion. Also she gets tiny bits of almonds, walnuts, and banana chips as treats during training. She is not terribly picky for an eclectus and though she prefers to eat her fruit and quinoa first, she will eat the vegetables eventually. I give her a few spoonfuls 3x a day.

I got most of my eclectus-feeding wisdom from this website: https://sugarloafanimalhospital.com.au/2015/09/29/what-do-i-feed-my-eclectus-parrot/

Also, she is not clipped. I'd like to flight-train her once we establish a strong relationship; she seems like she really wants to fly. I've flight-trained a bird once before without any accidents.
 
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Duchessbird

New member
Sep 6, 2019
20
0
St. Louis, MO, USA
Parrots
Female eclectus, male Stella's lorikeet
  • Thread Starter
  • Thread starter
  • #5
Welcome to you and your parrot.
Some of this sounds like just greetings the morning. A wing shrug is a hello and probably the passing is I want out of the cage ;)
That's my take.

Thanks for your input. Also, your birds look super cute; I would love to own a quaker eventually. For several years I worked in a pet store that raised quakers and their antics always made me laugh!
 

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