Well after nearly 4 years of trying find ways to stop my Peach-faced Parrot, whom I allow to live outside of his cage, except when I put him outside in the sunshine or at night when he sleeps, from doing his 'wander around the room bit' and shredding bits of paper to weave a nest he'll never need, I've finally found the solution I think.
1 cheap plastic toy snake placed on the large plastic sheet on the floor under his 'area' and close to 'his area and for 3 whole days now he refuses to do his 'wandering bit.'
But no need to worry about him getting exercise though because on ratio of inch for inch he has just as many toys and amusements as does my 6 year old nephew.
E.g. he has a pole about 4' high with staged 'twigs' drilled and glued into it to clamber up and down at will, a smallish hollow log screwed to the top of the pole as his 'Penthouse Apartment' (LOL) and about 1 metre of small link chain suspended between his 'Tower Block' and the architrave around the doorway with numerous hanging 'toys' and mirrors, etc, on it.
If he isn't one truly spoiled bird then I don't what is?
I'm not sure what to think about birds anymore. I discovered how smart they are about twenty five years ago while planting corn. I didn't know they were watching. And a lot of them seem to mimic us, which I think is an attempt to communicate.
lol.....did Stacey wanna behold him? peace.
Yeah she was quite interested in him and how I allow his to live outside his cage.
@hankster No, just around inside the house.
Outside he's in his cage but once the chain that holds his cage up above 'cat access' level broke and it hit the ground, the door opened and he merely wandered around the front verandah looking for me I suppose.
When there only the 2 of us here and I leave the room he actually squarks his head until I return and he can again see me.
Omly last evening, I left the room the room to make coffee for Tracey and myself ONLY to return and find that 'traitorous, little Deviant had actually climbed up Tracey's Track suit leg and was resting on her shoulder asleep.
So much for 'Avian Loyalty'....LOL.
@Triphid you may have some competition there. squark, a great piece of word. I know what you meant, but I found this interesting about that word. you could start a blog...Coffee with Two Timer Tracy and Turd Bird.
squark
/skwärk/
nounPHYSICS
noun: squark; plural noun: squarks
the supersymmetric counterpart of a quark, with spin 0 instead of 1/2.
@hankster More like "Two Timing Bird and one very shocked and surprised Tracey."
From this day forward, Henri Le Turd will be confined to barrackswhenever Tracey visits since he very nimbly also stole one of her earings which neither of us noticed missing UNTIL she went home and was getting ready for bed.
I found his 'trophy' hidden in his seed dish this morning btw.
@hankster Nope, outside under the front verandah instead, calling out to other birds that he hear around the place.
I've often found things he has 'thieved' that belong to me, things like my Signet Ring ( silver and shiny of course) that I always take off and leave on the Coffee Table when I get home and the odd shiny, silver 5 cent pieces.
They all end up in his seed bowl for some unknown reason.
@hankster With Peach-faced parrots ANYTHING they can pick up and tuck away in their tail feather region is fair game, especially shiny objects and shredded paper.
i've actually sat and watched him shred aa entire double page from a tabloid newspaper using only his beak, they are quite artful and talented imo.
@hankster Oh I do do things just to 'piss him off.'
One is that EVERY time I clean his cage I deliberately change all the hanging 'toys' in it, another is to move his seed bowl to a different location inside the cage or swap ALL his hanging toys around on his chain 'bridge' as well.
But by far the best 'piss off' comes from putting an empty 600ml drink bottle, neck first into his 'Penthouse Apartment,' that really annoys him and his antics are well worth the laugh.
@hankster I'd say that he definitely feels neglected IF I don't do the 'piss him off' from time to time.
I just finished reading an article about Peach-faces that says that they will get very bored at times and will tease each other as well as other bird species just relieve the boredom, so, maybe, my teasing him is helping to relieve his bouts of boredom.