Eclectus squawking

[Juliep]

Hi. I am desperately in need of some advice. I have a 4 month male eclectus. He is very loving. He has started an extremely loud squawk whenever he sees me. It's ear piercing and goes on for hours. As soon as I leave the room he stops but when I come back in he starts. Even when he's eating he will squawk if he can see me. He gets lots of love and attention. I am struggling cause I want to spend time with him but it's not much fun with the squawking. Can anyone offer advice how to cope or manage this behaviour. Thanks

 

[Airykurk]

I am currently having the same exact issue! He never does this when he's spending time with my son or husband, only me! I wish I knew what was going on.

Mine is currently 10 months old.

 

[labell]

This is common in eclectus babies. I hand feed so it is 10 times worse when they are little, not only I am the source of comfort and attention but food provider as well! They will make that noise as soon as they see me and even continue after they are fed and have a nice full crop!

I tell people not only do you really not want to hand feed for the difficulty and eclectus are very difficult to hand feed, you also have to put up with that god awful begging scream.
There is no way around it so what I do is keep the sessions short but very frequent. I play, cuddle, feed and comfort for as long as I can take the sound. Put them back in the cage or on a stand and let them amuse themselves for a while playing or eating then out for another short session.

Anyone who has ever spoken to me in person or on the phone can tell you I have hearing damage, no doubt exacerbated by many years of crying babies! Try to ignore it, I know not easy. It will lighten up as they mature, I promise!

 

[Airykurk]

Thank you!

 

[MacawGuy]

Looks like everyone gave good advice. Best of luck. Hope everything works out for you.

 

[Juliejet]

Jet my Black Too is 10 months old and he does this as well really does my head in sometimes I have been told it will stop but no one can say when lol

 

[Anansi]

Only thing I would add is to make sure that your ekky isn't crying out from actual hunger. I say this because I have noticed that my eclectus, Bixby, (10 months) makes rather dramatic growth spurts from time to time... and his appetite often grows to match. Sometimes I'll find that what was enough food for him yesterday is suddenly woefully inadequate, today.

Also, his appetite often spikes after a particularly energetic flight day.

I'm fortunate in that Bixby tends to be quiet, but when one of these growth spurts or high octane type days hits, he can be rather loud until I address the issue. Might not be what you're dealing with, but definitely worth checking out.

 

[MCaniks]

Hi all, I'm having the exact same issue with my 9 month old Ruby. It's been going on for about 3 months now and driving the entire house crazy but I'm come to realise that she considers me her security blanket so she screams her lungs out to get me to pick her up. I've ruled out hunger because I still feed her formula 3 times a day and she has fresh veggies/fruits also.

I'm hoping she will grow out of it soon because we are moving and the it's going to be a long 8 hour drive with her screaming in my ear!

Best of luck and hang in there!

 

[Anansi]

Laura or Michael, feel free to chime in on this if you think I'm wrong, but in your case, MCaniks, I wonder if it might not have something to do with your 9 month old still being on formula 3 times a day. I mean, eclectus tend toward the slower end of the spectrum when it comes to weaning, but even 7 months is considered the outer boundary of typical weaning age.

Now, just to be clear, I don't claim to be an expert on eclectus weaning. And again, Laura (Labell) or Michael (MikeyTN) might be better informed on this topic, but I believe your girl might be well past the point where she should have weaned. How much of her diet is fresh fruits and veggies? And, for that matter, how much of her diet consists of solid food? Also, do you happen to know her weight? And subspecies?

 

[labell]

If she is a Solomon she is past weaning age, my Jolly finally weaned at a little over 7 months and that was me letting him push it.
While I advocate weaning at a babies pace I think your girl may have you wrapped around her talon. If you are giving her lots of yummy soft foods I would cut out that middle feeding right away. Then you will want to work on her giving up the morning feeding slowly over the next few weeks and I find the night comfort feeding the last they want to give up so that may take a little longer. How much hand feeding formula is she taking per feeding?

I also want to make certain that she is eating LOTS of other foods on her own and that you don't have some kind of crop infection causing her to want only hand feeding. It never stops amazing me even when an eclectus is getting hand fed how much other food they can pack away. Jillie is my smallest (female Solomon) and the amount of food she consumes is nothing short of amazing, I truly don't know where she puts it all.

As long as they are being hand fed and for a little while after you will hear that begging screech when they see you there is no getting around it. It does go away though, I promise.

 

[MCaniks]

Hi all, Thanks for all the advice. Ruby sleeps inside at night and because it's winter here (I live in Sydney) I give her formula first thing in the morning to warm her up then I put her in her outside cage where she has all her goodies to play with while I prepare her proper which consists of her favourite fruits and vegies, They're usually polished off by the end of the day.

I take her in at nightfall and again give her about 15ml formula (or however much she wants) to make sure she's warm before bedtime.

She's weaned already and can go without the formula perfectly fine but I prefer to give it to her until she doesn't want it anymore.

 

[MCaniks]

Here's a recent photo of my baby girl!