Military macaw regurgitating

DanaM · Jul 12, 2012

I have a military macaw between 8 and 10 years old. I've had her (not sure if it's male or female) for 5 years now and all of a sudden she's decided she loves to go into the bathroom and regurgitate on the rug or any towels/clothes on the floor. She gets aggressive about the area when she's in there and will charge at anyone who gets too close. She also has a favorite toy she used to occasionally do it on but now she's doing it all the time. We moved about a month ago but it's not her first move with me so I don't think that's her issue. I'd just like to know if there's anything I can do to curb the behavior, it's pretty gross. I know she isn't vomiting, I've had birds do that before, she's definitely doing it on purpose.
Thanks,
Dana

ann · Jul 12, 2012

regurgitating is a breeding behavior. I would remove the toy she regurgitates on, it could be stimulating her. Also don't pet her down the back or belly, its causes breeding behaviors. Dont allow them in small dark spaces and take away their happy hut ( if she has one). decrease her daylight hours, for example if she gets 10 hours of sleep, put her to bed so she gets 12 hours of sleep. in the wild longer days means the breeding season so if you decrease her daylight hours she wont think its the breeding season. Also, you can give her less showers because in the wild the rainy season means the breeding season and too many showers can be stimulating. this isnt the case for all birds, just thought i should mention it. Also, to rule out illness a vet checkup is a good idea, and dont let her in the bathroom anymore. good luck

DanaM · Jul 12, 2012

I've shut her out of the bathroom and let my husband know to keep the door closed bc we mostly let her roam free during the day and sometimes she runs in there when we aren't looking lol I hate to take her favorite toy away, she's had it for years and the last time I took it to clean it, she cried until I gave it back. Maybe if she doesn't see me take it she won't notice. She's due for a vet appointment anyway, I'll probably have them do a full checkup instead of just her routine nail clipping just in case. She doesn't take many showers, but we've started misting her more lately to make up for it. Could that be causing her increased regurgitating?

Big Blues · Jul 14, 2012

Hi, we have a military and haven't noticed that misting would cause regurgitating, it is good for her feathers. You might move her toy to another area and see if that helps, or replace it with another to see how she reacts. Testing and trying out different ways to help her is best, different females act and respond differently, soft or shredding toys aren't good during this time because she will likely want to nest. We have seen our macaws try to nest in the corners of the couch as well.

DanaM · Jul 14, 2012

I took the toy away when she wasn't nearby so she wouldn't see it and she didn't notice so she's been fine. She's still wanting to grab any towels or clothes she can get her beak on and she's been shut out of the bathroom so she's been trying to find other places to get into. Lately it's been under the ottoman. She goes under it and makes cute little squeaky noises then regurgitates all over the rug it sits on. Other than firmly taking her out from under it and telling her "NO!" (which scares and upsets her) I'm still not sure how to stop it from happening. Will it gradually end when the season changes?

Big Blues · Jul 16, 2012

DanaM said:
I took the toy away when she wasn't nearby so she wouldn't see it and she didn't notice so she's been fine. She's still wanting to grab any towels or clothes she can get her beak on and she's been shut out of the bathroom so she's been trying to find other places to get into. Lately it's been under the ottoman. She goes under it and makes cute little squeaky noises then regurgitates all over the rug it sits on. Other than firmly taking her out from under it and telling her "NO!" (which scares and upsets her) I'm still not sure how to stop it from happening. Will it gradually end when the season changes?

This is a good site to help you with understanding her hormonal behaviors. We keep our girl perched high on her play stand with lots of wood toys to chew and minimal touching during the spring breeding season. When the daylight hours start to shorten you should see a change.

Hormonal Behavior in Companion Parrots

Military macaw regurgitating

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