My idiot bird keeps eating the walls!
Joe Thiel
My two-year old cockatiel has recently acquired a taste for paint and
plaster, it seems. She occasionally keeps nibbling the walls of my
apartment. I wasn't going to worry about it until I saw that she had
dug a noticeable gouge out of the wall in the bathroom at the end of the
curtain rod she sits on so often. She will also attack anywhere along
the baseboard on some occasions, when she feels like nibbling.
How can I cure her of this strange and potentially poisonous habit? So
far it hasn't seemed to make her ill, but I'd rather not take any
chances--not to mention it's annoying and destructive. :-) She has a
cuttlebone to gnaw on, so that's not it. Also, keeping her in her cage
forever is not an option.
For the moment, I've scotch-taped a piece of plastic wrap over the wall
at the end of the shower curtain rod, but who knows if that'll stay up
after a shower; it's kind of tacky; and of course it doesn't help when
she starts nibbling somewhere near the floor. I'm not about to prop
junk up all along the walls so she can't get at them. Any suggestions?
--
Joe Thiel | O O COYOTE |
Eli on FurryMUCK | ( \=/ ) | Why didn't Adam
e...@rust.net | (=) (Carnivorous | just type IDDQD?
Maps folded $1.00 | O Vulgaris) |
Cathy Quinones
In message <3192B9...@rust.net> - Joe Thiel <e...@rust.net> writes:
:>
:>My two-year old cockatiel has recently acquired a taste for paint and
:>apartment. I wasn't going to worry about it until I saw that she had
:>dug a noticeable gouge out of the wall in the bathroom at the end of the
:>curtain rod she sits on so often. She will also attack anywhere along
:>the baseboard on some occasions, when she feels like nibbling.
:>
:>How can I cure her of this strange and potentially poisonous habit? So
:>far it hasn't seemed to make her ill, but I'd rather not take any
:>chances--not to mention it's annoying and destructive. :-) She has a
:>cuttlebone to gnaw on, so that's not it. Also, keeping her in her cage
:>forever is not an option.
:>
:>For the moment, I've scotch-taped a piece of plastic wrap over the wall
:>at the end of the shower curtain rod, but who knows if that'll stay up
:>after a shower; it's kind of tacky; and of course it doesn't help when
:>she starts nibbling somewhere near the floor. I'm not about to prop
:>junk up all along the walls so she can't get at them. Any suggestions?
yes, there's an answer: it's called supervising your bird, i.e., keeping it
away from chewables you don't want to see destroyed. No, I am not being
pissy, I'm just being realistic. Unless you have a room that's bird-proof
(anything can be chewed witout your getting p/o'd about it) and bird-safe
(nothing in the room can harm or poison the bird should he/she chew on it),
your alternative is to keep an eye on the bird whenever it is not in its cage.
Birds chew, period. It's something they do for recreational purposes. It is
unrealistic to expect them to sit there and do nothing when there's something
just *begging* to be chewed within easy reach!
The path of least resistance (which will cause less stress to your birds AND
you) is to keep the bird away from the wall. Move the cage so the bird can't
chew on the wall. Build/buy a birdie playgym, with toys and lots of perching
space, so that the bird can still come out of the cage and have a safe place
where it can exercise, chew, etc...
If your bird isn't clipped, that may be a problem, as it may choose to fly
back to its "work in progress" area. However, if you provide an alternative
location where it can hang out and have fun, it probably will choose the
alternative. I built a pvc frame with cotton rope wrapped around it, and a #
of toys hung from it, and my 'tiel and budgies stay there and hang out, and it
works well: they know nobody bugs them when they are there, I know they pretty
much stay put, and that whatever they are doing, it's ok. If I have to go, or
won't be able to keep an eye on them for long periods, back to the cages they
go.
===========================================================
Cathy Quinones quin...@mindspring.com
http://www.mindspring.com/~mintz/coverpg.html = bird care info
Poicephalus rule!!
Ian Kerfoot
> My two-year old cockatiel has recently acquired a taste for paint and
> plaster, it seems. She occasionally keeps nibbling the walls of my
> apartment. I wasn't going to worry about it until I saw that she had
> dug a noticeable gouge out of the wall in the bathroom at the end of the
> curtain rod she sits on so often. She will also attack anywhere along
> the baseboard on some occasions, when she feels like nibbling.
Sorry, Joe. You'll need a better line than that
when the gal next door calls the cops.
My aquaintance who owns a cockatoo claims to be
having reasonable success teaching him what he
is and is not allowed to chew on. I am not sure
what technique she uses, though.
When I first got a puppy, it would always pick
up the door mat, and drag it around the house.
I would chase her to recover it. Then, I realized
it was just a game for her. The next time she did
it, I just stood there and offered her one of her
toys. She took it, I chased her around, and she
never messed with the door mat again. We made a
mutually agreeable decision that I would chase
her around, if she left the door mat alone. I
don't really see any sort of behavioral theory
about response to stimulii and the like that
explains the phenomenon. We just made an agreement.
I presume you can do the same with birds. When you
see it chewing on something that is not allowed,
try giving it something that it is allowed to chew
on as an alternative.
Ian Kerfoot
Tami
I'm in the same boat. My 2 tiels have been chewing up the plastic
blinds on our windows. We live in a basement apt., with very small
windows, and not a whole lot of sunlight, so I open the blinds up (not
pull them up because I'm afraid they will chew on the cracked paint in
the sills.
I think this weekend I may get some towels and put down on the sills and
pull the blinds up far enough so that they can't reach them to chew
on...
CKrof
In addition to all the rest, I'd like to say that your letting your tiel
damage the apartment will give birds a bad name as pets, possibly making
it hard for others to have a bird in apartments owned & managed by the
same people. Carol
Joe Thiel
Um, yeah. Soo, does anyone have any helpful advice, instead of
unwarranted accusations?
Last I checked, I was neither "letting" my tiel damage the apartment, nor
trying to give birds a bad name as pets. But thanks for trying to help,
Carol.
Martin St. John
I have the same problem which I have been able to stem, (somewhat) by
giving my birds "activity toys".
Strings that can be pulled apart, old plaster of paris lamps - for
their destructive pleasure, straws (with the paper on) for them to 'set
free' by nibbling the paper off. A hanging plant which now sprouts
birdseeds for their gardening pleasure. Anything that I find which may
be laying around the house - or ready for trash I say: "Can this amuse
my birds?"
They have the busiest little beaks in the universe.
I think your bird is showing signs of a very active intelligent little
brain -- So mayby your "idiot" is really a "genius" trapped behind a
chewey fun tasting wall.
Amanda
The...@ix.netcom.com
Lynnehi
tiels love walls and paint. keeping them away is a challenge. i finally
covered up the areas, and that worked.
lynne matusow
Tom Casby
Joe Thiel <e...@rust.net> wrote:
I got a box of wooden toung depressers from a med supply store. She
loves splintering them. I give them to her as a treat.
Tom
Liz Day
About all you can do is to
a) arrange it so the bird can't reach the wall
and
b) give it something else to chew to distract it.
I have found our parakeets are funny about chewing and things they
will land on - they will ignore everything in the room except what
they habitually use, unless you *introduce* them to
some place or object (that they look right at every day!) as
something to chew, then they will start landing on that thing
and destroying it. They flew right by a Schefflera plant for
months, then one day Big One landed on it by accident, and sat
there. Within a couple of weeks they had eaten the whole thing.
Unfortunately, it seems to be easier to introduce new things to
destroy than to make them forget old things.
Good luck.
Liz Day
Indianapolis, Indiana, central USA
LD...@indy.net (use this address - not the 'r' key)
Michael Rabalais
t...@ma.ultranet.com (Tom Casby) wrote:
>Joe Thiel <e...@rust.net> wrote:
Don't be so hard on Carol, Joe. My tiel ate some of the wallpaper off
my walls too. It wasn't long before the word got around in Louisiana
about what lousy pets birds make. The word is that our governor is
trying to pass legislation to ban all birds in the state! The local
Lowe's and Home Depot are fighting it because of all the wallpaper
they're selling now. I'll keep you posted.
CKrof
>CKrof wrote:
>>
>> In addition to all the rest, I'd like to say that your letting your
tiel
>> damage the apartment will give birds a bad name as pets, possibly
making
>> it hard for others to have a bird in apartments owned & managed by the
>> same people. Carol
Joe Thiel wrote:
>Um, yeah. Soo, does anyone have any helpful advice, instead of
>unwarranted accusations?
>
>Last I checked, I was neither "letting" my tiel damage the apartment, nor
>trying to give birds a bad name as pets. But thanks for trying to help,
>Carol.
Sorry, Joe. I meant what I said, tho, in the context of the previous
posts, which I should have quoted, as my post all by itself sounds a bit
nasty, I see now! Really, after having kids, dogs, birds,etc., I know that
it's a bummer, but true, that we adults are responsible for their actions.
So, as a peace offering: did anyone mention providing him more mineral
blocks? Yes, most likely your bird's chewing (as in walls) is just a
chewing thing (provide him lots of toys!) but it COULD be partially driven
by a need for minerals, too.
I once couldn't have a goldfish in an apartment in Northridge,
California...
Carol :)
Ben Strobel
Joe Thiel wrote:
> Um, yeah. Soo, does anyone have any helpful advice, instead of
> unwarranted accusations?
Our tiel, Kramer, began picking paint and plaster from a small crack
which was accessible from atop a stereo speaker. Telling him 'no' just
made it more attractive, as did 'time out' in his cage. For some reason,
he is inordinately afraid of balls, no matter how big or small. We
placed a brightly colored soccer ball on top of the speaker (such chic
decor for a livingroom) and he hasn't been up there since. In time,
we'll try removing it, and hopefully he'll have lost interest by then.
You might also try placing an immovable non-chew-attractive object as an
obstacle in front of the favored chew-place. Kramer seems to have the
"out of sight, out of mind philosophy", and your tiel may, as well.
Similar to human toddlers, if something is a 'no-no', it becomes all the
more interesting! If you block the area and then ignore it, he may lose
interest. Other ideas of 'toys' he favors are things he can throw on the
floor and have you retrieve, much like a baby in a playpen does. He
likes to do this with wadded kleenex, large plastic jacks and rubber
bands. We've put freshly cut branches in his cage in place of perches on
occasion, and he delights in stripping them of all bark. Chewing on them
helps to curb his more distructive gnawing.
Hope something here helps you.
Pat
Kim Besen
the...@ix.netcom.com (Martin St. John ) wrote:
>I have the same problem which I have been able to stem, (somewhat) by
>giving my birds "activity toys".
>Strings that can be pulled apart, old plaster of paris lamps - for
>their destructive pleasure, straws (with the paper on) for them to 'set
>free' by nibbling the paper off. A hanging plant which now sprouts
>birdseeds for their gardening pleasure. Anything that I find which may
>be laying around the house - or ready for trash I say: "Can this amuse
>my birds?"
Toilet paper and paper towel tubes with some paper left on make good
activity toys. A favorite at our house is used paperback books. You
can drill through them and hang them from the top of the cage.
Kim
http://www.hooked.net/users/besen/
Kim Besen
mi...@popalex1.linknet.net (Michael Rabalais) wrote:
>Don't be so hard on Carol, Joe. My tiel ate some of the wallpaper off
>my walls too. It wasn't long before the word got around in Louisiana
>about what lousy pets birds make. The word is that our governor is
>trying to pass legislation to ban all birds in the state! The local
>Lowe's and Home Depot are fighting it because of all the wallpaper
>they're selling now. I'll keep you posted.
What? Not enough crime and corruption in Louisiana to keep the
legislators busy? Personally, I'd rather occupy an apartment that was
chewed up by a bird, than one that was "marked" by a cat.
Kim
http://www.hooked.net/users/besen/
Jon Marchant
Joe sez:
>> My two-year old cockatiel has recently acquired a taste for paint and
>> plaster, it seems. She occasionally keeps nibbling the walls of my
>> apartment. I wasn't going to worry about it until I saw that she had
>> dug a noticeable gouge out of the wall in the bathroom at the end of the
>> curtain rod she sits on so often. She will also attack anywhere along
>> the baseboard on some occasions, when she feels like nibbling.
Leaving aside the property damage, which will undoubtedly come from your
security deposit, this is a habit you really need to break. Many older
buildings have lead-based paint on the walls, especially on wood trim and
in bathrooms and kitchens. Birds are lousy at eliminating lead from their
systems. Some wallboard compounds use toxic glues and binders as well.
Jon Marchant
Iniki the Goffins 'Too
Capitalist Pig
Bear, Thumper, and Scaramouche the kitties
and a big space waiting for a bird-safe dog, if anyone knows of one looking for a home.
Mill Valley, CA
Catherine M Quinones
Tami (tgr...@indiana.edu) wrote:
: I'm in the same boat. My 2 tiels have been chewing up the plastic
: the sills.
Unrelated to discipline, I recently posted a summary of a local news
report: lead was found in plastic mini-blinds made outside of the USA,
both in the plastic itself (when the plastic was dissolved) and on the
surface of the mini-blinds ("wipe test"). The mini-blinds at issue are
the budget variety that one can purchase at hardware supply stores.
I would certainly urge you to keep those mini-blinds out of the bird's reach!
--
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