I'm in desperate need of advice.
Last month, my guinea pig died. My Indian ringneck, Storm, had adored her, sat on her cage daily, watching her and talking away at her. In contrast he's always been quite aloof with me. He's a gentle bird, he rarely bites and has no trouble sitting on my shoulder or getting close to me. The only problem is, he just doesn't care to. Unless I have food, he has no real interest in approaching me and dislikes scritches.
The problem arose last month when my last guinea pig unfortunately passed away of old age. Storm has been showing signs of being really antsy, unsettled, bored and lonely ever since. With the guinea pig cage gone, I had room to buy him a big new play stand full of toys. Though he's never been interested in toys apart from foraging toys. I did get him lots of new foraging toys which he loves... for all of ten minutes. After which he will sit in place and scream, scream, scream without end. Even while wearing noise cancelling and earplugs at the same time, it has gotten unbearable! He often paces up and down inside his cage (even when his cage door is open) and bangs his beak off his cage in repetition. I'm not really sure how to keep him more engaged. He's lonely but he doesn't want to spend time with me, he's bored but doesn't want to play with his toys, he likes food and foraging but is slightly overweight and so I can't give him too many treats! If I try bring him up onto my arm/ shoulder to chat with him and give him some attention he gets bored quickly and flies away.
In terms of his overall lifestyle: I work from home so his cage is left open the majority of the day. He gets about 10 hours of sleep with his cage covered for maximum darkness. His diet consists of pellets and vegetables with his favourite treats being nuts and berries. He gets regular showers which he loves. He's 6 years old. One problematic behaviour that the guinea pigs brought out was horniness (they were his girlfriends, or so he believed!) This time of year is hormonal season where I live, I'm hoping that's just the reason why he's so unsettled. Normally he would masturbate on his perches, do 'heart wings' for the guinea pigs. It made him very hormonal and was the only real time he would attack and bite me with no warning. When my last guinea pig died, that horniness faded away and he's not doing any of those behaviours anymore.
I have been trying to 'train' him to scream less and teach him that screaming will not get him attention but it doesn't seem to be making an impact. I turn my back on him and let him scream until he goes quiet then I reward him, make a big show of filling up his foraging toys only for him to start screaming a second later. He's always screamed, he's a parrot. But it's so excessive now, I feel trapped in my own room, wearing earplugs 24/7 as I have noise sensitivity.
I'm hoping somebody can offer advice to help calm him down and make him feel more content again.
Last month, my guinea pig died. My Indian ringneck, Storm, had adored her, sat on her cage daily, watching her and talking away at her. In contrast he's always been quite aloof with me. He's a gentle bird, he rarely bites and has no trouble sitting on my shoulder or getting close to me. The only problem is, he just doesn't care to. Unless I have food, he has no real interest in approaching me and dislikes scritches.
The problem arose last month when my last guinea pig unfortunately passed away of old age. Storm has been showing signs of being really antsy, unsettled, bored and lonely ever since. With the guinea pig cage gone, I had room to buy him a big new play stand full of toys. Though he's never been interested in toys apart from foraging toys. I did get him lots of new foraging toys which he loves... for all of ten minutes. After which he will sit in place and scream, scream, scream without end. Even while wearing noise cancelling and earplugs at the same time, it has gotten unbearable! He often paces up and down inside his cage (even when his cage door is open) and bangs his beak off his cage in repetition. I'm not really sure how to keep him more engaged. He's lonely but he doesn't want to spend time with me, he's bored but doesn't want to play with his toys, he likes food and foraging but is slightly overweight and so I can't give him too many treats! If I try bring him up onto my arm/ shoulder to chat with him and give him some attention he gets bored quickly and flies away.
In terms of his overall lifestyle: I work from home so his cage is left open the majority of the day. He gets about 10 hours of sleep with his cage covered for maximum darkness. His diet consists of pellets and vegetables with his favourite treats being nuts and berries. He gets regular showers which he loves. He's 6 years old. One problematic behaviour that the guinea pigs brought out was horniness (they were his girlfriends, or so he believed!) This time of year is hormonal season where I live, I'm hoping that's just the reason why he's so unsettled. Normally he would masturbate on his perches, do 'heart wings' for the guinea pigs. It made him very hormonal and was the only real time he would attack and bite me with no warning. When my last guinea pig died, that horniness faded away and he's not doing any of those behaviours anymore.
I have been trying to 'train' him to scream less and teach him that screaming will not get him attention but it doesn't seem to be making an impact. I turn my back on him and let him scream until he goes quiet then I reward him, make a big show of filling up his foraging toys only for him to start screaming a second later. He's always screamed, he's a parrot. But it's so excessive now, I feel trapped in my own room, wearing earplugs 24/7 as I have noise sensitivity.
I'm hoping somebody can offer advice to help calm him down and make him feel more content again.
