Don't hold your breath!!! There's my very wise and experienced tip. I have a broken microwave. It just goes on and on and on....... Even with his other favourite whistles, Alby continues to do the microwave beep. You know what's funny? (Well from my point of view anyway) I was reading your thread, Dude's in training. And I had to laugh when you mentioned in an earlier post, that you didn't want him to pick up the smoke alarm noise. At least i'm not the only one being tortured by a broken bird.

 

Ha! I agree, forget it, you're doomed now! :lol: I can't think of anything, apart from just keep trying to get him addicted to a less irritating whistle or noise. And maybe in time...... maybe... hehe

 

Doomed for the next 10 -15 years.... GREAT ! LOL.

Yeah that's the only plan I had yet. Trying to teach him more whistles and to talk and hope he likes on of them better than the smoke alarm. Also i`m moving his cage onto wheels so when he just won't quit I can just wheel him away to the other side of the room or even the next room over for a little peace and quiet....

 

Freddie is so proud of his recently acquired Beethoven that we hear that over and over and over and over ... before that, though, he was stuck on his cardinal impersonation. So I really do think the trick is to teach them a new sound and they'll want to show off the new one and only occasionally bring out the previous one.

 

Don't pay any attention to him when he makes the smoke alarm noise. If he's doing it to get your attention, at first he try harder and do it more (extinction burst) but after about three days of this he'll give it up.

But if he's doing it just because it's fun... you're screwed.

 

At first I was telling him to shut up or giving him attention to stop the noise. Or food even. Untill I learnt he still whistles when eating...so all I was doing was rewarding him for being a brat. So I stoped all that right away.
And now all he gets is ignored when he does it. He doesn't care. He does do it for fun. You should see how exciting it is for him when the real smoke alarm goes off. Dude thinks its the best thing ever and jumps up and down and turns upside down on his perch and flapps his wings. He loves it !
He gets ignored by everyone when he does it untill he stops and we wait a while before whistling a different sound to dude then going over and giving him attention for whistling the new tune (magpie call or wolf whistle usually) and so im trying to re inforce whistling nice whistles back to us gets you attention and treats.
No sucess yet!
And he has been learning new whistles and talking but he still likes that sound better than anything !

In your brilliant words.... yep i`m screwed!

 

All I can say is teach him something new...that's what we did with Mudflap. Now he copies all the boys and they all sound similar but at least it's the cute construction worker call. Try a song...he might like that more lol!!!

 

I'll tell you this the only thing that shuts up bennie and his phone ringing noise is millet xD and I hate to reward him for it but when its 6am and he's doing it and your trying to sleep you tend to do silly things hehhehehe

 

This should probably deter me from wanting a male cockatiel, but it kind of just makes me want one more. Haha, mind you as cute as it sounds from my end, I can imagine he's absolutely driving you crazy and I do hope for the sake of your sanity, dude finds a new sound soon.

You could always try downloading a whole bunch of *less* annoying sound effects that are similar to the smoke alarm and try "wean" him off that sound. I'm not sure if that's even possible, but rather than trying to get him to like a totally different sound, maybe you can start with a similar one and work your way to a better one?

I'm guessing anything's worth a try at this point. I will definitely do my best to make sure my smoke alarm does not go off if I end up getting a male.

 

He had only heard the smoke alarm like 4 times before he decided to mimic it ! It doesn't take much when he really likes a sound...

He is a little more quiet with the big cage. Maybe having all the extra room will keep him more stimulated rather than just using his whistles and sounds as entertainment. Well that's what i`m hoping for. His last cage was big but this one is double the size so its huge for 1 bird.

Were still working on new sounds and ignoring ones we don't like. He almost has "hey dude" clear now.... he's just a very vocal bird in general so loves to hear his own voice. As irritating as it is I still love love love him. Just he is brattu sometimes and super annoying!

 

He is a little more quiet with the big cage. Maybe having all the extra room will keep him more stimulated rather than just using his whistles and sounds as entertainment. Well that's what i`m hoping for. His last cage was big but this one is double the size so its huge for 1 bird.

Just wait til he gets used to that cage! He will be calling out his smoke alarm beep from every perch and corner! Alby works his way around his cage doing his R2D2 impersonation (which I love) and microwave beep (which is annoying). Top to bottom. Side to side. I guess we would be worrying if they were quiet and withdrawn. A bit of peace sometimes doesn't go astray though.

 

Smoke Alarm eh! Thats really unlucky :rofl:
When my Boy George starts his squeaky toy impersonation, which always comes when the 6 o'clock news is starting, I spray him with a squirt of water in the face.
He doesn't like that and it shuts him up for a while. If you record some new things that you want him to say and leave it on repeat he will eventually pick them up. Squeaky toy is a good one. I can send you a recording if you would like.:wacko:

 

So you did get him the bigger cage!!! How does he like that?

 

Hahahaha Dude was settled into his new home within 10 mins !!! The adjustment was fine. He had no problems!
Yeah.... he's still broken and picking up new things but still won't change his tune to a different favourite !

Ummm and i`ll say no to the squeeky toy tune ! Hahahahahahhahaha !


Dude LOVES his new cage. Its hard to get him off the top now. Can't put the play gym up there or else I can't reach him when I want to put him back inside. So he gets a rope perch up the top towards the front instead.

 

Good luck on this one! My male started mimicking the squeak of the front door. When I first heard him do it I thought he was wheezing. It scared me. Now he does it every 1.5 seconds all day long some days. I oiled the door but it's way too late. lol