luckys_dad
New member
- Feb 6, 2020
- 5
- 0
- Parrots
- Lucky, the Male Aru Eclectus
My guy is roughly two years old (maybe three, the adoption papers are contradictory) and I've had him for just over a year now.
He's normally very kind and sweet but some days (like today) the screaming becomes so bad that I find myself regretting even starting the years of research I did before adoption prior to him. Constant alarm screams, flying back and forth between rooms, and as of the last few days, screams that sound more like desperation (long, drawn-out screams that are clearly caused by stress). They break our heart as much as they hurt our ears.
The current tirade (literally as I'm typing this) has lasted for about 30 minutes, which is approaching an all-time record.
I have a significant other now living with me for about 5 months now, and while they get along fine for the most part, the screaming is becoming a massive strain on the entire household.
The problem is, I know exactly why it's happening. Lucky used to find toys all the rage - he'd spend hours on them at a time, every day, and couldn't get enough. He's very particular - soft woods only, or paper-ey thing, but no hard wood, acrylic, or metal. Food-based toys aren't interesting to him, as I've tried to get creative with various foraging toys (ranging from Solo-type cups all the way up to hanging broccoli in his cage like I saw on Youtube once). The only food-based thing he's seemed to be interested in is an acrylic wheel that we can put seeds in, but he goes through a good amount of seeds in just a few minutes, and I don't want to overdo it because I'm afraid of liver diseases due to the fat content.
So it was simply toys, toys, and more toys for the first 9 or so months - and despite the extra cost (which I absolutely do not mind), everyone was happy.
However, I noticed a pattern about 6 months in - he only likes to play with a particular toy once, and here in Germany, I'm running out of options.
Amazon.de toy selections are slim, and are pretty much entirely geared towards budgies (small, twine-ey types of toys) and macaws (large, elaborate hardwood toys). Very little is suited for Lucky's tastes.
Further, I cannot find a single toy shop that ships to Europe. Even the two sponsored listings on here today (Hoot n Holler & Parrot Toys Plus) are either US only or the site is broken (as was the case with Parrot Toys Plus).
I've even looked into starting a bird toy company to serve Europe a bit because it's clearly a niche needing filling, but I cannot find any parrot-safe materials vendors that are reasonably priced that wouldn't inflate the costs beyond what is feasible (my math was placing comparable toys in the 4-5x price range over Amazon). Maybe I just wasn't looking hard enough, idk.
I'm at wits end. Lucky is currently having a fit and I honestly don't even know what to do. I know he's bored - he has five or six partially-played-with toys in different parts of the apartment that he refuses to touch now - toys he's enjoyed before but that I really didn't have a choice to re-order because there's nothing else he'll play with.
I've resorted to giving him shelled (roasted, unsalted) peanuts quite often now because they're the one thing he finds interesting to shred apart, but because they're not very good for him (and a little risky to boot) and that I know he'll eventually get bored of them, they're a last resort that I would like to reduce back to the realm of "high-reward treat" and not "good god please fill your mouth with something except for screams" bandaids.
HELP. None of the guides I've ever watched teach you how to deal with scream-fits in the moment, only how to alleviate them over time or to prevent them to begin with, all of which I feel like I've tried with decent diligence to little avail. I know he's bored but I feel as though I have no more options.
EDIT: Worth mentioning that his diet is fine, his feathers are healthy, latest vet visits are OK, and when he's interested in hanging out with us and whatnot everything else is fine. He doesn't pluck, he's otherwise very good at communicating what he wants (e.g. he indicates when he wants to shower, when he wants to train, when he wants to go to bed even). As far as I can tell, this is purely an issue of boredom, and I want to fix it and would otherwise be able to if I were still in the US but I feel as though the resources here in Europe are... well, terrible.
EDIT2: About 45 minutes after it started, his fit has ended. We had to put him in his cage, cover it, and close the bedroom door. I hate doing this because I know it's the absolute wrong thing to do, but nobody was benefitting from the tantrum. He's calmed down now and is just mad at us. I would have thought this was a hormonal fit but he just finished a hormonal period a week ago (it lasted maybe a week and a half to varying degrees of aggression, clinginess and triggerability). So this seems to be acutely unrelated to hormones.
He's normally very kind and sweet but some days (like today) the screaming becomes so bad that I find myself regretting even starting the years of research I did before adoption prior to him. Constant alarm screams, flying back and forth between rooms, and as of the last few days, screams that sound more like desperation (long, drawn-out screams that are clearly caused by stress). They break our heart as much as they hurt our ears.
The current tirade (literally as I'm typing this) has lasted for about 30 minutes, which is approaching an all-time record.
I have a significant other now living with me for about 5 months now, and while they get along fine for the most part, the screaming is becoming a massive strain on the entire household.
The problem is, I know exactly why it's happening. Lucky used to find toys all the rage - he'd spend hours on them at a time, every day, and couldn't get enough. He's very particular - soft woods only, or paper-ey thing, but no hard wood, acrylic, or metal. Food-based toys aren't interesting to him, as I've tried to get creative with various foraging toys (ranging from Solo-type cups all the way up to hanging broccoli in his cage like I saw on Youtube once). The only food-based thing he's seemed to be interested in is an acrylic wheel that we can put seeds in, but he goes through a good amount of seeds in just a few minutes, and I don't want to overdo it because I'm afraid of liver diseases due to the fat content.
So it was simply toys, toys, and more toys for the first 9 or so months - and despite the extra cost (which I absolutely do not mind), everyone was happy.
However, I noticed a pattern about 6 months in - he only likes to play with a particular toy once, and here in Germany, I'm running out of options.
Amazon.de toy selections are slim, and are pretty much entirely geared towards budgies (small, twine-ey types of toys) and macaws (large, elaborate hardwood toys). Very little is suited for Lucky's tastes.
Further, I cannot find a single toy shop that ships to Europe. Even the two sponsored listings on here today (Hoot n Holler & Parrot Toys Plus) are either US only or the site is broken (as was the case with Parrot Toys Plus).
I've even looked into starting a bird toy company to serve Europe a bit because it's clearly a niche needing filling, but I cannot find any parrot-safe materials vendors that are reasonably priced that wouldn't inflate the costs beyond what is feasible (my math was placing comparable toys in the 4-5x price range over Amazon). Maybe I just wasn't looking hard enough, idk.
I'm at wits end. Lucky is currently having a fit and I honestly don't even know what to do. I know he's bored - he has five or six partially-played-with toys in different parts of the apartment that he refuses to touch now - toys he's enjoyed before but that I really didn't have a choice to re-order because there's nothing else he'll play with.
I've resorted to giving him shelled (roasted, unsalted) peanuts quite often now because they're the one thing he finds interesting to shred apart, but because they're not very good for him (and a little risky to boot) and that I know he'll eventually get bored of them, they're a last resort that I would like to reduce back to the realm of "high-reward treat" and not "good god please fill your mouth with something except for screams" bandaids.
HELP. None of the guides I've ever watched teach you how to deal with scream-fits in the moment, only how to alleviate them over time or to prevent them to begin with, all of which I feel like I've tried with decent diligence to little avail. I know he's bored but I feel as though I have no more options.
EDIT: Worth mentioning that his diet is fine, his feathers are healthy, latest vet visits are OK, and when he's interested in hanging out with us and whatnot everything else is fine. He doesn't pluck, he's otherwise very good at communicating what he wants (e.g. he indicates when he wants to shower, when he wants to train, when he wants to go to bed even). As far as I can tell, this is purely an issue of boredom, and I want to fix it and would otherwise be able to if I were still in the US but I feel as though the resources here in Europe are... well, terrible.
EDIT2: About 45 minutes after it started, his fit has ended. We had to put him in his cage, cover it, and close the bedroom door. I hate doing this because I know it's the absolute wrong thing to do, but nobody was benefitting from the tantrum. He's calmed down now and is just mad at us. I would have thought this was a hormonal fit but he just finished a hormonal period a week ago (it lasted maybe a week and a half to varying degrees of aggression, clinginess and triggerability). So this seems to be acutely unrelated to hormones.
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