Another poop question. .

My 8 month old Ekki has this issue that concerns me. He holds his, well, poop for hours a day. I have never potty trained him, he just kind of started this a while ago. When I bring him out in the morning, afternoon, and evening, he lets out a lage quantity almost immediately after leaving the inside of his cage. I put him up on his play top and he hops up to the top, runs all the way to the left and lets it go, every time. When he is out of his cage he will go every 15 20 mins or so. Is there a way to break this cycle? I ,sometimes, cannot come home for lunch and seems like he holds it for 8-10 hrs, because there is nothing on the bottom of the cage. I am worried about hiswell being and I know this cannot be good!

I don't know about training him to use his cage instead of holding it.....it's natural for birds to hold their presentations until after first light of a morning.....they naturally hold it through the night so that predators don't know where they are and throughout the day most birds relieve them selves where they are, but can often be trained to poop in specific places.....apparently you ekki is a fastidious bird that prefers to keep his quarters clean...might wonder if he's had any military basic training.....

Although I've heard of other birds keeping their cages clean, I have never thought of it as possibly being a problem for the bird, I guess because of the fact that they do it naturally overnight, however, since they are eating during the day, I might look at the possibility of somehow connecting two cages together, thinking your ekki might move to the other cage for his toilet facilities.....

Good luck.....

I really don't have room for another cage. Wonder about making the nesting door lead to the toilet, maybe a travel cage? This what you were thinking?
Don't make much sense to me, if he goes on the play top and I don't get it right away he runs through it! And doesn't even care? !:30: I am trying to find a way to put a grate on top to help the issue. I have thought about removing the tray and let it drop the 2 stories, but I fear the explosive aftermath!

Mango121913 said:

I really don't have room for another cage. Wonder about making the nesting door lead to the toilet, maybe a travel cage? This what you were thinking?
Don't make much sense to me, if he goes on the play top and I don't get it right away he runs through it! And doesn't even care? !:30: I am trying to find a way to put a grate on top to help the issue. I have thought about removing the tray and let it drop the 2 stories, but I fear the explosive aftermath!

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When I wrote the response, I didn't know what type of cage you had...free standing or tabletop, but yes, a small metal cage affixed to a side door is basically what I was thinking.....it may not enhance your decor, but might give you what you're looking for.....

For it to work properly, both cages would need to be wired/bolted together so your bird would not be afraid of moving between the two as a loose connection might.

PM me & I'll give you an E-mail address you could send a couple of cage pics to & I might be able to give you a better idea of what might work, without damage to either cage...front & side shots of your cage would be best.....

Good luck.....

What a problem to have I've only heard of this issue in parrots who have been over potty trained and won't poop unless it's on command. But if you haven't potty trained him at all, I can't imagine what would posses a bird to do that! Has he ever pooped in his water/food or on a toy where he may have accidentally ingested some and is now afraid to do it again?

I almost think starting potty training may be a good idea, and work towards getting him to go in his cage that way and reward him with VERBAL PRAISE more when he goes in the cage. Most birds pick up verbal cues in connection with an action pretty quickly, so if you know where he likes to go, you could start associating the word "poop" or "go" by timing it with his actual going, then praise. Then work on using that cue word he's associated with going while he's in the cage and praise him more if he obeys the command. He may start understanding going in his cage is acceptable. If worse comes to worse, you potty train him on a cue word. They make little "recording devices" to "teach" birds to talk that will play a recording at timed intervals. You could simply set it up to play back your voice giving him the cue to go every x-amount of minutes followed by verbal praise, so he feels comfortable going throughout the day. Ideally though, you'd just kind of verbally target him to start going in his cage without always needing the cue. But if not, there is the recording option And thats my THEORY on the best way to go about such a situation and the first thing I'd try if my bird started doing this...

Let us know what you end up doing. I am just perplexed by this!

That is odd especially with no potty training. Mine won't go on me but any where else is fair game. I would also be concerned if he is holding it that length of time.

This may be partially an artifact of the Eclectus digestive system. My 23 yr old female has always pooped very large quantities few times daily. I recall reading some literature and having a discussion with the vet that seems to confirm their tract has evolved differently from most parrots.

Scott said:

This may be partially an artifact of the Eclectus digestive system. My 23 yr old female has always pooped very large quantities few times daily. I recall reading some literature and having a discussion with the vet that seems to confirm their tract has evolved differently from most parrots.

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Interesting! I will research this. Thanks again!