Two year old sun conure screaming trouble!!

[Abbi.Tia]

I have been trying to stop my conure Tia from screaming for no apparent reason, but nothing is really working. I need help or I'm going to lose my mind and hearing!! Any ideas or suggestions would be most appreciated, for my whole family. Also, she is very protective and clingy to me, and any advice with these problems would be appreciated as well.

 

[noodles123]

1. What do you do when he screams?
2. How and where do you pet him?
3. how much sleep does he get each night and is it dark?
4. where is his cage located in relation to the hub of the house?
5. Does he have access to ANY shadowy spaces (in or around the cage-- including huts, tents, low furniture, shelves, drawers, bedding, under clothing, pillows, blankets etc?)
6. how is his diet?

I know these questions seem random, but they are all related. He is 2 so he is sexually mature and likely views you as his mate.

 

[fiddlejen]

Play a game of "Stop and Go" with her. Start on the other side of the room, wait for a momentary lapse in screaming. Move toward her -- but each time she yells you turn-away-freeze. (So you are stopping with BAck towards her.) The next pause in screaming, you do the same. IF the room is small you can only take baby-steps.

So, it is the child's game of Stop and Go - but Yelling means Stop - and in this game your goal is to Reach Her via small baby steps.

Once you have achieved your goal you will give her preferred reward. (it can be scritches or praise IF she wants them-- or perhaps her favorite treat IF any chance that praise might not be enough)

IF she wants attention, this will work quickly.

From there, you can lengthen the gradually lengthen the quietness-time required by few seconds per attempt. Also a few repetitions of this and she should get the idea of quietness being needed.

So then, wait in another room until you Hear her Being Quiet, and come to reward her. (Have a treat already in-hand.) She will undoubtedly Yell the moment you appear, so then switch in to "Stop And Go" mode. (Saying "Are you being quiet? Are you? Quiet? etc as part of cuing.) Make sure you do this randomly, and NOT close-in-time to when you have heard her yelling. After approaching her via the Stop-n-Go game, provide the treat with Much Praise For Quietness. Then - back away out of the room (imagine she is the Royalty she knows herself to be) - so that she has your attention the Whole Time you are leaving the room as well. This is part of her Reward for her Quietness! (But do the back-away pretty quickly, so she will be occupied with her treat and will thus not break the quietness.)

IF she yells in such a way that you Need to Check on her, ONLY LOOK into the room. Do NOT approach any closer than needed to observe. Look around and IF all is well, say (in a Very Boring voice) "everything is OK," and Turn Your BACK and Walk away, closing the door or curtain behind you. So she will again learn that Yelling does not get her the Attention she wants.

 

[Abbi.Tia]

Thank you so much for the tips. As for what I try to do when she screams when she's in the cage I ignore her and/or say "Be quiet," in a soft voice, and then get her out when she stops. As for petting, I scratch her on her head and she tilts it so I can get her chin and pin feathers. She allows me to stretch out her wings and tail, which she loves, and I pet her under her wings when she lets me. She sleeps in my room and I find it hard to sleep with even a small amount of light, so yes, the room is dark. My room is small and it's upstairs, bc the screaming wakes my mom up who needs to sleep during the day most of the week. I do give her attention for the majority of the day every day. To help keep her quiet I put a blanket over half or all of her cage which really, really helps. She eats a mix of fruit, sometimes veggies (she definitely prefers fruit), and parrot pellets mixed with seed. I will try the training technique and hopefully it helps!

 

[noodles123]

Okay, so when she screams, don't talk to her, don't look at her, don't stand near her. This applies to all member of the house. Wait for a minimum of a slow count of 5 seconds-- any screaming and you start back over...don't talk about her..don't yell, don't say a word and DO NOT react.

Petting anywhere other than the head and neck is like sexual foreplay to them, so even though she lets you, you shouldn't pet her like that because it triggers hormones and makes promises of mating that you can't keep.

She should NEVER EVER be covered by a blanket during non-sleep hours--not even just on the top of the cage (this will make the behavior worse and confuses their hormones terribly---it may stop the screaming, but you are creating a monster long-term...NO COVERS, NO SHADOWS unless it is night and she if being covered for bed at that moment (and until morning). PLEAAAAAASSSSE stop covering any part of her cage during the day-- it is like putting a bandaid on a bullet wound, while adding new bullet wounds...This behavior is strongly related to hormones, and that is like trying to stop a flood by pouring in more water.

Where is her cage during the day?

What have you done to try to encourage socialization with the rest of the family? If her cage is in your room, you kind of set yourself up...You have got to expose her to them living their lives...parrots spend time with their flocks...right now, you are her mate and entire flock...

How many hours of sleep does she get nightly? If she isn't getting 12 hours, you can have a problem...10 is like the very very very bare minimum and that is too little for many. You need a schedule for sleep and light/vs dark like you would have for a human toddler.

Fruit is high in sugar and so it should be viewed as more of a treat. Too much can also amplify behavioral issues and anxiety etc--it's fine in moderation, but definitely shoot for more veg than fruit

 

[Abbi.Tia]

Ok, thank you. I will stop with the wings and tail thing, and I have recently cut back a lot on human food. I will put her in a different room as much as possible. Also, what should I do when she screams when she is out of her cage? Should i put her back in her cage and do the steps that were suggested in the other reply? I will also put her to sleep earlier and try to make it 12 hrs.

 

[noodles123]

If you are sure the screaming is for attention, here is my advice:


**again-- only if you are sure it is to get you back/get attention***

See the 2nd post on this link

http://www.parrotforums.com/conures/86438-separation-issues.html

You can often prevent the screaming by talking room to room, narrating what you are doing etc etc--but once it starts, you have to ignore and you can't go back in if you aren't already in there, or it will look like you are attending to the behavior (even if you are really just there to grab your phone). This applies to everyone..

Also-- they will sometimes scream if very bored and under-stimulated, so you have to make sure you are giving him proper enrichment activities and time to move around out and about etc.

the bedtime thing is huge...12 hours...10 minimum, but I'm serious

In terms of human food-- vegetables (the safe ones) are fine..fruit can be fine in moderation too (it's just that a grape for a budgie would be like 300 to a human, you know?)

 

[Abbi.Tia]

Thank you so much for the input! But, I've run into a problem. The only other place I could keep Tia is in the livingroom, where we are a lot of the time, and that won't help the "not being in the room when she screams" thing. Would it still work if we totally ignored her when she screamed since there are a limited number of other places to go, especially when we have company?

 

[noodles123]

I mean, if you turn away from her completely and do not talk to her, yeah (as long as no one starts yelling "shut that dang bird up" or looking at her...or saying why can't you get _____ to get quiet?") ---never say their name...they know their names.

If you are already there when it starts, you don't have to leave, you just have to make her believe you don't even notice her screaming. It's just easier on human ears to leave sometimes lol!

The idea is to never ENTER the room while she is screaming (because then it's like, Oh, I called and they came in!--in bird's mind)

If you are there and they scream, keep doing what you are doing and don't gesture at them, talk to them, look at them or talk about them until you do the count rule.