Loudness

Gergely Szarka

Registered
Dear all!

I brought a male parrotlet last week, he was born over this summer. I’m trying to get him into a routine where i clean him and feed him every morning 7:30 then be with him till 8:30. He is still a bit afraid of me so we only interact in the cage . The problem is that he added to the routine with screaming after playtime is over . He goes on for about 1-2 hours . We live in an apartment building , my neighbors haven’t complained to me yet but it’s only a matter of time i think. Do you have any ideas on how to get him to stop? I only enter his room when he is quiet. Also i spend more time with him later in the day and he goes to sleep at around 5-6 which i think is early but he is constantly chirping and jumping around until i turn the lamps off .

Thank you very much for any help you can offer .

Greg
 
:welcome: The little birdie has not been with you for very long so needs to get into a routine. which given time will do.
Difficult when you live in an apartment and you expect neighbours to complain. I think some of our members will be along with advice for you, lets link some in.......@Roz, @RoyJess @DizzyBlue any one else please????
 
Hi Greg and welcome to the forum :)
You need to ignore bad behaviour and reward the things you want. Hard when they are trying to blow your eardrums out of your head but it can be done :) Encourage a sound you think is more acceptable. If you have a nosy in the training folder you may find some very useful ideas and will tag in Roz she's a wizard at training and explaining :) @Roz
 
I can't really add any more than the advice that has been given above. Parrots are like kids, and can be very noisy. Ignore any bad behaviour (including noise) and reward or give a lot of attention for any good behaviour. The more you react to the noise and try and stop the parrot from squawking, the more your parrot will learn that each time he squawks, the more you will give him some attention, hence reinforcing the bad behaviour.

You've only had the parrot for a week, give it time and he will soon settle and learn that you won't come running with every squawk. Unfortunately, there is no quick fix with birds, you just need a lot of time and patience and plenty of baby steps to train your bird.
 
Thank you all!

I do not pay any attention to him when he is misbehaving. I was mostly worried that it’s some issue other than wanting some company. He sleeps a lot, i don’t know if that is usual. I have read most places that they sleep about 12 hours, however my bird starts complaining at around 4-5 ish in the evening and doesn’t stop screaming until i turn the lights off even me being around is no solace. He is uncovered at 7:30 am and he doesn’t start moving about until then either .Is this normal?
 
:welcome: Gergely! Has your Parrotlet got a name yet? :)

Some great advice already.

Sounds like it could be an over zealous contact call if it happens every time you leave the room. It is definitely possible to change the call into something more acceptable. That's great that you don't enter the room whilst he's screaming. Because the screaming continues we know it is being reinforced by something - maybe he can still hear you in another part of the apartment?

At the same time as removing the reinforcement for the screaming (which can be difficult!) it is important to also heavily reinforce another more acceptable behaviour... in this case it makes sense to choose another sound - as DizzyBlue suggested.

Does he make any other sounds that you can put on cue whilst you are still in the room? eg. would he whistle if you whistle? Can you get another sound going back and forth between the both of you?

For part of that hour you have with him, practice leaving the room in tiny steps cuing the whistle. Each time he whistles come back to his cage and give him loads of attention. That way he will learn that whistling (or whatever other sound you have chosen) brings you back to him but not screaming.

Does he play with toys yet? If he's so new you might have to teach him to play independently by getting him some small, easily destroyed toys. Just thinking of ways to keep him occupied whilst you aren't there which might help alleviate the screaming. Did he have lots of friends in his old home? Maybe he's not keen on being left alone?

As for sleep - not sure. Are you sure he wants to go to sleep when you think he does? If he's still a baby he might well need more sleep. Maybe he was put to bed at 4-5 ish in his previous home? I recently acquired my mother's budgie. She used to put him to bed at about 5pm saying that he was making a peeping noise that meant he wanted to go to sleep. But here he goes to bed at the same time as everybirdy else - later than we should but he seems happy enough. He got out of the peeping habit very quickly.
 
They can be loud but only usually when they’re distressed. They are extremely socialablr so if you’re not home all day I’d strongly recommend getting a friend for him.
 
Back
Top Bottom