make my parrot happy

Digger used to pluck his feathers and scream at me. I realized I just wasn’t spending enough time with him.
I’ve always made certain he had enough food and water, but he was missing human interraction.
He no longer bites me when I come to hang out with him. He actually walks around looking for me, sometimes…lol.
I started leaving his cage open- and after dealing with an episode, where he decided to chew up my mom’s antique buffet…he’s been a free-roaming bird- although he tends to stay around his cage.
I got him a new toy, and I leave the tv on (low) when I leave. Having something other than silence tends to help.
When I am home? He comes out and hangs out with his family.
He’s a much happier bird.

He’s 15 years old, and I’ve had him since I was 4.
I haven’t been able to spend the amount of time I want to with him. He’s been rather moody and slightly angry with me. It’s time that I chill with him more.
He’s verrrry smart, and he knows what’s up. I think he understands that I can’t be there ALL the time…but, I haven’t been around as often as I should.
Part of the problem is my current living situation (I live with my mom at the present, and my boyfriend lives at his parent’s….and my boyfriend and my mom fight, so he stays away from her house. Thus, less time with Digger.)
We are getting an apartment again (FINALLY!!) in the coming weeks. Us being home more often will definitely contribute to spending more time with Digger. He misses my boyfriend terribly, as well. Digger was getting depressed for a while after he left.
I’m getting him a stand, a perch and a ladder for the outside of his house, and some more toys as well.

It was a routine visit, but I learned that he is overweight!! I suppose it makes sense, since he used to be out of the cage much more often and now he only gets out twice a day.

So, with this in mind, I’ve started giving him some more exercise! Which means more time out and playtime with me. And, taking the vet’s advice, I’m reducing his amounts of food (about half or less than previous quantities).

I took him in the shower with me and splashed him a bunch. He had fun repeatedly dropping my facecloth on the floor! I gave him a few hits with the hair dryer on low (why does he love this? does it simulate a flying experience?) and then we’ve spent the past 20 minutes goofing and headscratching.

Does this cancel out a week of minimum interaction? I hope so…

Weegee has been back in his regular spot in our bedroom for the past week now and seems to be doing fine. Friday evening, we even had a moment from old times: after little Dash went to bed, DH and Rosie were staying up to watch a movie. I brought Weegee down, and let him perch on me while I sat on the couch and scratched his head. It went on like this for a while until I started to doze off… never a good idea with such a delicate creature! I whisked him back to the cage.

This morning, my little one-year-old toddled into the bedroom with a huge smile on his face and went straight to the birdcage (which was still on the floor, before being moved back onto the dresser). Dash banged on the bars, rocked the cage a bit, then found a metal cup and started banging that on the cage, too! It might not be an optimal sort of interaction, but I like the enthusiasm!

We tried moving Weegee into the living room (from the bedroom), so he’d be around us more and seem more like part of the family. DIDN’T WORK!! When he could see DH, he screamed at him, which was almost all the time; when DH got screamed at, he covered Weegee. So, the poor feathered guy was covered almost constantly for a week. He got moved back into the bedroom this morning. Sigh.

i have a senegal parrot who i purchased as an unweaned nestling. i babied him, played with him, and took him with me for morning showers daily for six years. this changed abuptly when rosie was born in 2002 and now with dash, too, he has become a screaming, neglected, affection-starved waif. i am now reduced to giving him a brief head scratch and some kisses about twice a day and shower-time maybe on a saturday. he must be wondering what he’s done to deserve this…

Here is a pic that I snapped of me and my quaker parrot, Vinny.

It’s constant work keeping a parrot happy, so this item will probably never be removed from my list. I keep him pretty happy, though. His favorite snack in the world is Nutra Puffs, and he gets those often enough too:

I also have a budgie named Alex. She isn’t quite as happy with being photographed, but I mangaged: