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Hi all,
I've had a lovely hand-raised female cockatiel for a year and a half now (she's turning 2 in April). Because she started out as our only pet (and no kids yet) we've always kept her in an enormous cage. (It could easily hold 4 cockatiels permanently and still be spacious). She has lots of various perches and toys and platforms that we change around whenever we clean the cage. For the first year of having her she was quite content with this set up. But since last fall, she's gotten much noisier and has a habit now of chirping non-stop throughout the morning and early afternoon, even when I'm sitting right next to her cage of long periods of time.
I do realize birds chirp pretty constantly anyway, but this is a more insistent, louder cheeping that just the usual bird noises. Not always flock calling but similar sometimes, and it's definitely disruptive. It's also out of character for how she used to be. And when I take her out of her cage and put her in her little travel carrier with food, water and a toy, she quiets down and happily eats and plays with her toy and is as good as gold. It's like she doesn't like her big cage anymore. I suspect this is because when she does get left alone, it's always in her big cage... Though she isn't usually left alone for very long periods at a stretch, since I work at home anyway.
Does anyone have any advice on what I could do to help her be more content in the big cage again?
As a side note, we are going to be getting a second cockatiel in another couple weeks to be a buddy for her. Because it's such a ridiculously big cage, we've divided it in half with plexiglass this week so they can live side-by-side (after quarantine), and someday eventually move in together entirely if they end up getting along well enough. I'm hoping having a buddy will help her feel more content and less lonely? Any thoughts?
Thanks!
I've had a lovely hand-raised female cockatiel for a year and a half now (she's turning 2 in April). Because she started out as our only pet (and no kids yet) we've always kept her in an enormous cage. (It could easily hold 4 cockatiels permanently and still be spacious). She has lots of various perches and toys and platforms that we change around whenever we clean the cage. For the first year of having her she was quite content with this set up. But since last fall, she's gotten much noisier and has a habit now of chirping non-stop throughout the morning and early afternoon, even when I'm sitting right next to her cage of long periods of time.
I do realize birds chirp pretty constantly anyway, but this is a more insistent, louder cheeping that just the usual bird noises. Not always flock calling but similar sometimes, and it's definitely disruptive. It's also out of character for how she used to be. And when I take her out of her cage and put her in her little travel carrier with food, water and a toy, she quiets down and happily eats and plays with her toy and is as good as gold. It's like she doesn't like her big cage anymore. I suspect this is because when she does get left alone, it's always in her big cage... Though she isn't usually left alone for very long periods at a stretch, since I work at home anyway.
Does anyone have any advice on what I could do to help her be more content in the big cage again?
As a side note, we are going to be getting a second cockatiel in another couple weeks to be a buddy for her. Because it's such a ridiculously big cage, we've divided it in half with plexiglass this week so they can live side-by-side (after quarantine), and someday eventually move in together entirely if they end up getting along well enough. I'm hoping having a buddy will help her feel more content and less lonely? Any thoughts?
Thanks!
