Separation anxiety

[scooter44boo]

Hi guys!!
Back in June I got my first bird which is a budgie (BooWoo) and recently I got him a new friend Scooter (male 2 month old cockatiel).

The first week with scooter was easy peazy. I got him already hand tamed and on a good diet. The past couple of days I have noticed he has been very attached to me, which is amazing, but almost a little bit excessive.

From the time my boyfriend wakes up in the AM (6am) he is screaming in his cage until I get up (usually 9am).

If I’m home, he is almost always out with me, on my shoulder or chest, walking around doing chores with me and what not. Sometimes I will put him in his cage so he’ll eat his food/drink water or if I have to cook/shower/clean.
I also sometimes will paint so I put him away for that to keep him away from the fumes/mess of my paints.

So here’s where the problem lies: he screams for me every second of the day if he knows I’m home and he’s in his cage. He will also pace back and forth in his cage. When I let him out, he won’t perch on the really expensive tree I got him, or do some walking around, or play with any of the toys outside the cage. If I set him down and walk away, he will try and fly to me (he’s clipped) and crash land.

His cage is very large, with plenty of toys that get rotated but he has no interest in them now, only me. His cage is also right next to my budgie, who literally does his own thing in and out of the cage all day.

I’ve seen so many conflicting things, either ignore him and reward him when he’s quiet (which is never unless he’s on me) or to get him a friend, but I do not have the space or funds to get a third bird. He was the friend for my first bird.

I’m worried he’ll start plucking if I don’t get this under control and get him comfortable being alone for little bits.

I know this is long but I hope I covered all the details so you can better understand the situation.

Any advice would be great, thank you!

 

[Sophieskitchen]

I would implement a routine with him. So he eventually know what to expect and when to expect it. You take him out at the same time every day, you put him down for independent play at the same time every day, he eats at the same time every day, he goes to bed at the same time every day. Make sure he gets a shower every day (very important as he will spend time afterwards preening and it helps to burn off some of his energy...i just take my girl into the shower with me). Sometimes the anxiety comes from not knowing when he will get to spend time with you...so he feels the need to try extra hard to get your attention. Also, make sure he has the kind of toys he actually likes. My girl could have access to a ton of wood toys but she will never play with one. However if she has access to foraging toys...they will keep her busy.

 

[scooter44boo]

I would implement a routine with him. So he eventually know what to expect and when to expect it. You take him out at the same time every day, you put him down for independent play at the same time every day, he eats at the same time every day, he goes to bed at the same time every day. Make sure he gets a shower every day (very important as he will spend time afterwards preening and it helps to burn off some of his energy...i just take my girl into the shower with me). Sometimes the anxiety comes from not knowing when he will get to spend time with you...so he feels the need to try extra hard to get your attention. Also, make sure he has the kind of toys he actually likes. My girl could have access to a ton of wood toys but she will never play with one. However if she has access to foraging toys...they will keep her busy.

Okay thank you!! As far as the routine goes, I try my best with that, but I am a bartender so sometimes I work early mornings through the day and other days I work nights pretty late into the night. So I’ll try to get him on a good schedule. As far as the shower goes, do you have a perch or anything in there for him to sit on while you shower? Also what do you do about shampoo and stuff? I don’t want to get any of my soaps on him so I get nervous to do that with him but I do usually give him a good spray with a mist bottle and he seems to like that!

Lastly, what foraging toys do you recommend? I’ve looked everywhere on Amazon and he has a couple shredding ones with paper and some plastic with bells to chew on and he seems to like those as well (when he did like them/play with them) but I would love to set something up for him to forage outside the cage.

 

[Sophieskitchen]

Okay thank you!! As far as the routine goes, I try my best with that, but I am a bartender so sometimes I work early mornings through the day and other days I work nights pretty late into the night. So I’ll try to get him on a good schedule. As far as the shower goes, do you have a perch or anything in there for him to sit on while you shower? Also what do you do about shampoo and stuff? I don’t want to get any of my soaps on him so I get nervous to do that with him but I do usually give him a good spray with a mist bottle and he seems to like that!

Lastly, what foraging toys do you recommend? I’ve looked everywhere on Amazon and he has a couple shredding ones with paper and some plastic with bells to chew on and he seems to like those as well (when he did like them/play with them) but I would love to set something up for him to forage outside the cage.

The stand I got from parrot wizard.com. Just bring it into the shower with me and she sits on the stand (it’s getting a little discolored on the bottom due to it always getting wet but we have had it for 3 years now). Here are a few foraging toys I have for her. The toy with the finger traps I got on Etsy and I hide nuts in the finger traps. I also have a lot of little boxes and baskets around. I fill those with little party favors and foot toys and she’ll spend a long time foraging through those sometimes I’ll even put a nut in there and to her that’s like a jackpot if she finds the nut lol. I also have a large basket on the floor of her cage and that’s filled with a ton of stuff that she’ll go through.

 

[scooter44boo]

The stand I got from parrot wizard.com. Just bring it into the shower with me and she sits on the stand (it’s getting a little discolored on the bottom due to it always getting wet but we have had it for 3 years now). Here are a few foraging toys I have for her. The toy with the finger traps I got on Etsy and I hide nuts in the finger traps. I also have a lot of little boxes and baskets around. I fill those with little party favors and foot toys and she’ll spend a long time foraging through those sometimes I’ll even put a nut in there and to her that’s like a jackpot if she finds the nut lol. I also have a large basket on the floor of her cage and that’s filled with a ton of stuff that she’ll go through.

Oh my gosh thank you!!! I appreciate you so much!!!