Lorikeet keeps sitting at the very bottom of his cage?

Hi guys,

Our rainbow lorikeet Goku has begun to spend a lot of time at the bottom of his cage. There is nothing down there, just the metal bars and the newspaper to catch the droppings is in a tray below the bars. He has a single toy that hangs that far down that he sometimes plays with, but often he'll just sit in the far corner and chirp. He doesn't appear to be sick or anything; he's sitting there talking to himself, singing, etc. When we tell him to go potty to let him out he'll usually climb to one of the branches and go, then he'll quite happily sit wherever we are or at the top of his cage. All of his toys are toward the middle and upper height of the cage, not all the way at the very bottom, and also on top of the cage for when he's out.

Sometimes he also sleeps down there in the corner. Should we be worried about this? I can't imagine why he'd be choosing to sit down in that gloomy metal corner instead of on one of his branches

I have read that if a lorikeet (well actually most birds) sit on the bottom then it is a sign of illness. What does his droppings look like?

Birds really do not show that they are sick, we only notice minor changes and that is usually enough for a vet visit.

Please consider taking him to an avian vet.

Wildheart, his droppings look normal (at least, the way they've always looked. Liquid and projectile-pooped ). In fact he's sitting at the bottom of the cage right now, chirping and squawking at us and grooming himself. It's just hard to imagine something is wrong with him as he's acting normally. I'll definitely consider taking him to the vet, though, thanks.

PS: I should note that he does not appear to be puffed up most of the time. Sometimes he'll puff his feathers, but in the way that he's always done every once in a while - puff up quickly with a little shake, maybe groom in there a bit, and let them settle down again in a few seconds. I'll call the avian vet tomorrow and ask for some more advice, hopefully the vet we saw before is going to be in.

Sitting at the bottom can really mean anything or nothing. I just go with - if you are in doubt then a check up wont hurt.

Well, I called up the vet today and they said if he appears to be acting normally and otherwise looks fine, to just watch him for a while and bring him in if he starts to look unwell or "off" in any way at all. I've also been doing a bit more searching online and saw a couple of things mentioning that maybe the bottom of the cage is just a little cooler than the top (we're in Australia and it's hot, we have no air conditioning in the house). He has also been taking more baths than usual, so maybe it's his way of cooling himself down?

Anyways, I'll keep watching him like a hawk!

That sounds like a realistic explanation! Can you move the cage to a cooler place and see if it makes a difference?

On the sick note, birds do not show illness until it is too late so I am surprised that the vet said wait. My girl showed strange behaviour for about a month - more than a month actually but she did not look or act ill. I took her from one vet to another and eventually on my third visit I lied to the vet and made the symptoms worse than what they really were just so he would do a proper check up. It turned out that she had metal poisoning and it was in her body for so long already that it could have damaged her organs and killed her. If I listened to the first and second vet and did not lie to the third then my girl would have been dead.

I am not trying to scare you, I am just telling you to go with your instinct no matter what the vet etc. say.

Wildheart, your post encouraged me to look into metal poisoning and I realized that my boyfriend and I are complete idiots. This is what we get for stumbling into parrot ownership (Goku was found on the road) instead of getting to do all of the research beforehand.

Goku's cage gets a full clean outside once per week, where I hose it all down from top to bottom. While that's being done we made a makeshift temproary cage for him to stay in while the main cage is being cleaned - out of a plastic container and chicken wire! We didn't even think to look into whether chicken wire is ok to use, we just assumed if it's ok for chickens it's ok for parrots. But when I went digging around about anything he could have come in contact with that could cause metal poisoning I saw that chicken wire is coated in zinc! In addition the cage has been getting a little bit of rust in a couple of the corners - and one of the corners is the one where he sits in on the floor the most. We didn't even know that rust could be a contributor to metal poisoning as well!

I made an appointment with the avian vet for tomorrow morning, hopefully if it IS metal poisoning it isn't too late yet I don't even know - what do vets do to treat this kind of thing? I read online about some special diet that some people give to their parrots to treat metal poisoning...And how do they even test for it? Is it a blood test?

I'm just kicking myself right now. I did so much reading about lorikeets when we found him, but somehow I missed this one big thing. It seems like there are so many hazards out there that we can run into, how do I know if something else isn't causing him harm when it seems there's something dangerous to parrots around every corner?!

You are a good mommy that is why you are here. Dont beat yourself up about things that you did not know. Just like you found Goku outside I found my girl in our garden - there was no planning or learning before hand - we were just thrown in head first.

You need to tell the vet about the chicken wire and that he must take an x-ray as well as blood tests. Very important for the x-ray and very often overlooked.

If it is positive then Goku should stay in the hospital for at least a week. During this time he will receive aggressive meds.

Here is my thread about Sterretjie, the recipe for the food you are talking about is also in there. I could not find the ingredients in SA and fed Sterretjie coriander only.

http://www.parrotforums.com/general-health-care/5699-its-metal-poisoning.html

It is a long and hard road and Goku is going to hate you for all the meds that you will have to give him.

We are here for you - and you never know, maybe Goku was lucky and he is still in the very early stages or not even poisoned at all.



Here are also some things that I saved.

Heavy Metal Poisoning in Birds: Symptoms and treatment as well as prevention

[SIZE=+1]Brass is an alloy of copper and zinc. Both of these metals are potentially toxic to birds. [/SIZE] Brass padlocks are probably not a problem for cages of small birds who are unlikely to chew the padlock. However, they should be avoided around larger birds who are able to chew them.
There was a report recently in the Journal of Avian Medicine & Surgery of a hyacinth macaw who nearly died from zinc poisoning. He had destroyed 3 brass padlocks and had also chewed on the chrome cage wires (chrome also contains zinc).
[SIZE=+1]Lead is also extremely toxic to birds. Common sources of lead include lead paint, lead fishing weights, curtain weights, lead frames of stained glass windows and tiffany lamps, foil from champagne bottles, lead solder, old pewter, lead batteries and weighted ashtrays and toys. [/SIZE]
[SIZE=+1]Copper is also potentially toxic to birds although avian toxicity from this metal is less common. Acidic foods stored in copper containers may leach out copper, and occasionally copper piping for water is a potential source of increased copper in the diet if the water is slightly acidic and has been allowed to remain in contact with the piping for some length of time. Allowing the water from the tap to run for a few minutes before filling the water dishes will prevent this problem. [/SIZE]
[SIZE=+1]Tin (not galvanized), [SIZE=+1]steel[/SIZE] and [SIZE=+1]iron[/SIZE] (not treated with antirust paints) are not toxic to birds. [/SIZE]
[SIZE=+1]Zinc is extremely toxic to birds. Sources include galvanized cage wire, clips or staples, bird toy snaps, zippers, keys, nails, plumbing nuts, nuts on animal transport cages, hardware cloth, padlocks, chrome, and some antirust paints, shampoos and skin preparations. [/SIZE]

Fingers crossed that your Lori just likes to sit on the bottom of the cage as some birdo's do. (Mine will if she is in her cage while I write on the desk we are both on for example) It is DEFINATELY worth testing for metal poisoning but I will still cross everything nothing comes of it.

Hi guys,

Well, Goku went to the avian vet today. He asked all about his diet and behavior, what brand of food we were feeding him, gave him an all-over checkup (that included sticking his finger onto Goku's genitals...Goku, who was screaming at being examined, went strangely quiet when this happened and looked very confused).

He then collected samples of his poop and swabbed Goku's throat as well. After running tests on the samples he said that Goku seemed to have an ok amount/type of bacteria etc in there, nothing signifying any sort of bacterial or fungal infection. He watched Goku's movement and flight, and said that there doesn't seem to be any weakness there (he seemed especially watchful for any twitches). He said that metal poisoning is unlikely in lorikeets (and that he's only seen a couple of rainbow lorikeets with metal poisoning over the yaers) as while they like feeling with their beak or licking something new that they come in contact with, they don't tend to be big chewers. Apparently he should be fine, and said to keep an eye on his energy levels and any other signs of him looking unwell. If he seems to have any loss of strength or trouble flying or anything like that (or if he vomits) to bring him back, but apparently so far he looks like a perfectly healthy and well adjusted bird.

He suggested that the reason for him sitting at the bottom of his cage might just be behavioural. Maybe it's cooler for him down there, or maybe there's something that he doesn't like on the perches. I often sit in a bean bag in the study somewhat near his cage, so the vet suggested that maybe he's even just trying to get down to where I am. He said to have a look at his current cage conditions and see if there's anything up there that he might not be happy with.

He concluded that all in all Goku should be fine and felt that a blood test and x-ray at this stage wasn't necessary and that Goku seems especially healthy considering he was found sick in the wild, with so many lorikeets around here having beak and feather and other diseases. But he did say to keep a close eye on him and if he seems off in any way at all other than preferring the bottom of his cage to bring him straight back.

I think I might still try feeding him some coriander just in case there's anything in his system - I mean it can't hurt, can it?

Phew, I'm very relieved right now. I think Goku was relieved to be home, too (though he did seem to like the vet quite a bit, he kept trying clamber back onto me). On the way home we stopped by the pet shop and bought a small bird cage for him to use instead of our makeshift one for when we're cleaning the main cage and a new rope toy as well. We figured he deserves it after having his genitals probed.

Glad you took him to the vet. Sorry the vet once again thought that blood tests etc. was not necessary, that is exactly what happened to me twice until I lied and made the symptoms worse.

I know you will be keeping a close eye on Goku, thank heavens for that.

The only symptoms that my girl showed was shivering and she was very nice.

Did you move the cage to a cooler area yet?

I'm afraid that his cage is already in the coolest spot we can think of There aren't really any especially cool areas in here and it's meant to stay very hot over the next week. I wonder how the wild lorikeets cope...this next week I'll leave a large bathing bowl for him in the cage while I'm at work. Usually he prefers to bathe in his water bowl, but I figure if he gets too hot at least he'll have a nice large bowl to cool off in just in case.