Napoleon and the Chamber of Death

[Zoni]

I've got an odd conure problem and I'm hoping someone can suggest a way to help.

We've got a rescued sun conure named Napoleon. He's been with us for about a month and he's doing very, very well. I'm very used to working with rescued birds, but I've never encountered one with quite this particular issue. Napoleon's previous owner did nothing I can find to cause this, so it just seems to be a quirk of his.

Napoleon seems to have developed the deep-seated fear that any human who goes into the bathroom will die and vanish. All it takes is for someone he knows (generally me or my wife) to walk into the bathroom and shut the door. If we're gone for more than about twenty seconds, he panics. And if someone has to -- dear god -- flush the toilet or, worse, take a shower, you'd think the sky was falling.

Whenever someone gets out of the bathroom, he then has to go check to make sure that they're okay before he will calm down. It's stressing him out and we're slowly losing our ear drums just because we have to take a pee occasionally. It's to the point where, if he's in a room where he can't see the bathroom and someone leaves the room he's in, he'll pause in whatever he's doing and listen until he either hears or doesn't hear the bathroom door and then panics as he sees fit.

He's been in the bathroom. He's been in while the shower's running. He doesn't want in the shower. We're kind of at a loss for what to do about this particular situation. Anyone have any ideas?

 

[Selestine]

Get used to having no privacy and pee with the door open?

What a strange phobia to have. I don't have any real advice for you, but good luck

 

[Zoni]

Yep, it's weird as heck. We occasionally have company, so unfortunately peeing with the door open isn't a fantastically viable solution unless we want to traumatize people, otherwise that'd probably be the solution I'd go for, honestly.

 

[Minimaker]

My conure decides if and when he will get off my shoulder or head. There have been times when I'll try to get him off me and he runs all over me trying to escape the removal. If I insist he starts biting fingers. I've literally had to go pee with him on my head before. Welcome to the strange world of parrot behavior. Take him to the bathroom with you, hopefully not on your head. I promise he won't tell anyone what he sees

 

[Birdman666]

Just when I thought I'd heard it all... that's a new one on me.

He's obviously "looking out for his flock, and warning everyone that someone's in danger." How that phobia develops, and what the behavior mod is... ?!

My one suggestion would be desensitization training, which sounds cruel, but might do the trick... this would involve rolling the cage into the bathroom for awhile, and keeping him in there kind of a primary cage placement, until being in the bathroom is just normal, and he NO LONGER fears it. (Perhaps during the day, at first, when no one is home.) This advice is given with the provision that your conure is not a habitual plucker. (Then I wouldn't...)

Whether your eardrums would give out before he adjusts to the bathroom I can't tell you, but that's the only thing I can think of that might help.

 

[JamesC]

I actually have this situation with my birds, though not as severe. I have a half bath downstairs and full upstairs. The downstairs room is visible to all three birds and if I go in and shut the door, all heck breaks out. So, since I live alone currently, I have gotten used to going in with the door open. And, humorously, that ends up with Rosco standing where he can see me and asking "What ya doin?" over and over.

If I take a shower upstairs, door open or closed, they hear it and raise the roof. But only when the shower is running. All three know it. They have been in it. But for some reason, the noise and me being out of sight just sets them off. I've learned to just deal with it. Tootsie is the biggest instigator of the noise. Which is kind of normal for the flock. She is extra vocal and accounts for about 75% of the noise of all three birds.

Unfortunately, I don't have any real suggestions more than what Birdman said above.