So I've been really struggling with our newest ringneck flipper over the past couple months.
It started out with constant contact calling. All she would do is contact call if I ever stepped from my room to the en-suite bathroom. I would wait till she stopped then entered the main room again.
This behaviour then changed to contact calling at all times if I wasn't in the room. Whether I leave to go to the bathroom or just leave the room she would contact call. This would settle down at around 1pm.
Then she injured her foot which meant she was cage bound for 2 weeks. During this time the behaviour got worse, extreme contact calling and then not taking treats from me in the morning. Usually she would be really excited in the morning and would target and accept treats. When I mean by accepting she will take it but just drop it. Now she just doesn’t take anything. As well as this her appetite is no longer there. She is put to bed at 7.30pm, cage covered and is uncovered in the morning at 8.30am. So she has a good amount of time where she hasn't eaten. (she still has access to water if needed). When I put her food in she will take a peck at it and then just climb up the cage cling on and contact call. I have tried a variety of ways to feed her, bowl, hanging skewers foraging ball with large slots for her to take food from and even tried hand feeding her. Nothing, she'll take it from my hand and just drop it. I've tried different types of vegetables, fruits, cooked mash, chop and even tried yoghurt with a sprinkling of Nekton that @Roz suggested, but again one peck and then leaves it.
Now her behaviour is changed for the worse. I let her out in the morning and she would fly around contact calling, she never used to do this. She used to fly around and I would be able to put in her breakfast and she would go straight into her cage/ would let me put her in without hesitation. She now contact calls while flying and also while I'm just standing in the room, something which I haven't enforced at all.
If I now put food in her cage she won't fly over to investigate and be eager to get in. She will in-fact fly away from me in the mornings and would not want to cooperate at all. Whenever I put her back in her cage I always enforce that with a treat, but for some reason she now just hates going back in. I would have to try alot harder to have her go back in and in general just have her cooperate. She doesn't cooperate, I let her be, she contact calls... I don't know where I'm going wrong
She has many different toys that are cycled all the time but she just doesn’t seem interested in them half the time, it's just cling onto the cage and contact call.
Could she be going through a moult? I noticed that she was rubbing her head against the rope wrapped around her training perch an on my computer monitors when she was out last week. Could this loss of appetite and behaviour change be hormonal?
I'm at the point where I have no idea what to do, disheartened and questioning whether she wants to be her/ I should keep her.
I have uploaded videos of what she does on youtube or you guys to see: Playlist
It started out with constant contact calling. All she would do is contact call if I ever stepped from my room to the en-suite bathroom. I would wait till she stopped then entered the main room again.
This behaviour then changed to contact calling at all times if I wasn't in the room. Whether I leave to go to the bathroom or just leave the room she would contact call. This would settle down at around 1pm.
Then she injured her foot which meant she was cage bound for 2 weeks. During this time the behaviour got worse, extreme contact calling and then not taking treats from me in the morning. Usually she would be really excited in the morning and would target and accept treats. When I mean by accepting she will take it but just drop it. Now she just doesn’t take anything. As well as this her appetite is no longer there. She is put to bed at 7.30pm, cage covered and is uncovered in the morning at 8.30am. So she has a good amount of time where she hasn't eaten. (she still has access to water if needed). When I put her food in she will take a peck at it and then just climb up the cage cling on and contact call. I have tried a variety of ways to feed her, bowl, hanging skewers foraging ball with large slots for her to take food from and even tried hand feeding her. Nothing, she'll take it from my hand and just drop it. I've tried different types of vegetables, fruits, cooked mash, chop and even tried yoghurt with a sprinkling of Nekton that @Roz suggested, but again one peck and then leaves it.
Now her behaviour is changed for the worse. I let her out in the morning and she would fly around contact calling, she never used to do this. She used to fly around and I would be able to put in her breakfast and she would go straight into her cage/ would let me put her in without hesitation. She now contact calls while flying and also while I'm just standing in the room, something which I haven't enforced at all.
If I now put food in her cage she won't fly over to investigate and be eager to get in. She will in-fact fly away from me in the mornings and would not want to cooperate at all. Whenever I put her back in her cage I always enforce that with a treat, but for some reason she now just hates going back in. I would have to try alot harder to have her go back in and in general just have her cooperate. She doesn't cooperate, I let her be, she contact calls... I don't know where I'm going wrong
She has many different toys that are cycled all the time but she just doesn’t seem interested in them half the time, it's just cling onto the cage and contact call.
Could she be going through a moult? I noticed that she was rubbing her head against the rope wrapped around her training perch an on my computer monitors when she was out last week. Could this loss of appetite and behaviour change be hormonal?
I'm at the point where I have no idea what to do, disheartened and questioning whether she wants to be her/ I should keep her.
I have uploaded videos of what she does on youtube or you guys to see: Playlist