1 Year old Catalina Dumping Bowls

Hi guys! I am a newbie here I have a question that some of you (hopefully) might be able to answer. I have quite a bit experience with macaws as I have a Green-Winged and a B&G. They are both female and I have had them for 12 years. A week ago I bought a 1 year old male Catalina macaw. He has been dumping both his water and food bowl and does it whether they're empty or not. I know it is not an issue of not liking the food as he will eat plenty when he is out of the cage but I'd like to get him out of this habit. When he dumps the food bowls, I ignore him so I don't give him attention for dumping them. After about 10 minutes, I take the bowls out of the cage and don't put them back in until the next morning.

I'm concerned about him not getting enough water so my question is, should I bother getting him out of this habit or just go and buy sturdier bowls that connect to the cage? Right now they're just the silver tin bowls that slip into the holders.

Thanks!

Doesn't the holders lock them down when you close the feed door or you have one of those where you just put the bowl inside the holder? I would get bowls that can be locked down! They do sell those, when I was at the bird fair, a supplier was selling those. I'm sure you can find it online.

Unfortunately he is able to get the bowls out of the holders. Thanks for the response. I guess I'll start searching for some bowls that can be attached to the cage!

Get locking food bowls. I seriously doubt you will break this bird of that habit, very easily.

It's not about whether he likes the food or not. It's that flinging bowls across the room is fun!

Hey - Don't feel bad! Mine thought disassembling the doors to the food and water bowls was entertaining! (There is no such thing as "Macaw Proof!" Seriously!! :32:

So it could be worse...!

Chose your battles, butt heads with the bird over something else and just buy locking treat cups.

BAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH!!!! I'm sorry, I just can't help myself.

Firstly, WELCOME to the forum.

Secondly: My deepest condolences that your Catalina figured out how to remove the snap in stainless dishes. I can VERY much relate - unfortunately. :30:

My Niko (B&G) figured out how to remove his dishes about a year ago, and I was honestly ripping my hair out, trying to come up with ideas.

Well, I was able to find heavy, ceramic crock with a little lip, that I had to literally smack into the food holders as the fit was SUPER tight.

That fixed my problem.....for a little while....until he figured out how to undo the ENTIRE feed door and knocked them off their hinges. But that's an entirely different story, and hopefully we don't EVER have to go there with your Catalina.

I will venture downstairs now and snap some pictures of the bowls I'm forced to use with Niko.

JerseyWendy said:

That fixed my problem.....for a little while....until he figured out how to undo the ENTIRE feed door and knocked them off their hinges. But that's an entirely different story, and hopefully we don't EVER have to go there with your Catalina.

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Uummm.... So, are you saying that my GW is not unique in performing that little trick?!

Birdman666 said:

JerseyWendy said:

That fixed my problem.....for a little while....until he figured out how to undo the ENTIRE feed door and knocked them off their hinges. But that's an entirely different story, and hopefully we don't EVER have to go there with your Catalina.

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Uummm.... So, are you saying that my GW is not unique in performing that little trick?!

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Nope, he's not...let me dig up my threads, where I was literally going out of my mind. At first it was just my Niko, but HE taught Ripley (GW) how to do HIS, too! And Ripley is in a totally different cage, with a totally different mechanism. :11:

Ok...thread #1...where I was looking for suggestions:
http://www.parrotforums.com/macaws/34640-living-houdini.html


AND...the fix (for now, anyways )
http://www.parrotforums.com/macaws/35095-houdinis-no-more.html

CrownCityLife, I don't know WHAT cage your Catalina is in, or what size food bowls he's dumping. Niko is in a King's Cage, Model # 506, and THESE are the bowls I found that he can't remove. WHY? Simply because I literally have to hammer them inside the food holder. :54:





(Go ahead...you can all laugh at the fact that he's eating out of cats bowls. :09: Hey, at least he can't remove them. )

CrownCityLife said:

Unfortunately he is able to get the bowls out of the holders. Thanks for the response. I guess I'll start searching for some bowls that can be attached to the cage!

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Don't bother looking for those. I tried them as well. They were GREAT mind stimulators. Took my Niko less than 2 days until they were no longer "bird proof". He quickly figured out how to un-do those. :30:

I have to use the locking plastic crocks with a light coating of coconut oil my girl Paris can not get a good grip and unscrew them!

I've used these with food bowl dumpers with considerable success. They are twist on/twist offs...

Lixit Corp BLX0768 Animal Quick Lock Crock 10oz Granite for Bird Dog Cat | eBay

Birdman666 said:

I've used these with food bowl dumpers with considerable success. They are twist on/twist offs...

Lixit Corp BLX0768 Animal Quick Lock Crock 10oz Granite for Bird Dog Cat | eBay

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Your link won't open for me Birdman, but if you are talking about THESE....



....then my Niko figured THOSE out in less than 2 days.

Thats what I use, but they have to be oiled so Paris can not get a grip!

ShellyBorg said:

Thats what I use, but they have to be oiled so Paris can not get a grip!

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Ahem...what? I am cracking up laughing here...please forgive me. That just sounded quite funky.

WHERE do you "oil" them???

I rub the outside of them in a light coating of coconut oil...what can I say her cage is next to my chair and I was getting tired of baths... Now she cant get a grip and spends time licking them and yelling at them because they will not move for her. I do wash and recoat daily.

ShellyBorg said:

I rub the outside of them in a light coating of coconut oil...what can I say her cage is next to my chair and I was getting tired of baths... Now she cant get a grip and spends time licking them and yelling at them because they will not move for her. I do wash and recoat daily.

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AAAH..OK! That makes sense. Well Niko went and tackled that particular bowl from the under side and DEMOLISHED it after he got tired of trying to removing it from above. :30:

I am lucking out, her inner beaver has just started to show its head! I have only lost 1/2 of a amazon sized toy so far.

well at least for the water issue, get him to drink out of a water bottle...much cleaner than a water dish! I got my Catalina to learn how to drink from a bottle in one day...Was really easy.....They are the best!

So... with all our combined wisdom and experience, we can't figure out a way to deter a bird from flinging things? I was hoping that by the time I came to the end of reading this thread, a solution would've been posted. Dangnabbit!

Dominic is only a little Galah, but he is also an inveterate flinger (as was dearly departed Aloysius before him). Dom will waddle up to the toybox and gaily fling every single darned thing in it onto the floor. I get to do eleventy-'leven pickup every time! And of course, he flings his food bowl as far as he can hurl it across the cage. Usually, he flings it while it's in the 'full' state, so his good healthy veggies wind up in the poop.

My husband made him a special fling-proof feeder like the ones that sell for $$$ in petshops. It works beautifully for pellets and seed, but is not so good for veggies: they tend to get stuck in the cracks and go mouldy. What I do now is tie the veg (broccoli, carrot, parsnip, silverbeet etc etc etc) to the cage and let him eat them from there. But it's *annoying*!

FWIW, the acrylic fling-proof feeders would be perfect for the big Macs, only I don't know if they make one big enough? Ours is just a clear cube that bolts onto the cage with wing-nuts (on the outside, of course). There's a deep drawer with a perch on the outer edge and a baffle to keep the food inside. The drawer is too heavy for Dom to lift, but if I were making a feeder for a macaw, I'd omit the drawer all together. The bird has to stick its whole head into the box to eat. Anything it flings or drops falls behind the baffle and is still available to eat later. The trick is in making the box narrow enough that the bird can't flick its head from side to side and deep enough that the food will fall into the baffle area. Dominic is an extremely cautious bird, but he ate from his new feeder immediately. His cage is remarkably cleaner than the Beaks'. Must get hubby onto making feeders for them too...

In the meantime, if anyone comes up with an anti-flinging strategy, *please* post it here!!!

Here's the bowls I was talking about, took me a bit of search today but I found them. This would solve your issue, they're expensive for bowls but works. Stainless Steel Locking Bowls (Horiz) - 24 ounces