Screaming... Please help!

[TitaniumPhoenix]

So Ruffles has started to scream. A lot. It's a high pitched, shrill whistle that is just shy of being so sharp I'm surprised the neighborhood dogs haven't started crying!

 

We've tried everything we know to get him to stop: putting him in 'time out' for five minutes when he screeches (where he just continues to scream) and giving him treats when he IS quiet (which is very rare right now).

 

We first thought he was contact calling us, but our house is small and he's always in one of our two rooms with us. The only time he's alone is when we actually leave the house.

 

We have no idea what to do and we're about to go crazy! We haven't changed his routine or anything, so we don't know why he's started acting this way! He's become so frustrating I've threatened to sell him to SeaWorld so they can train him, lol!

 

We just want to figure out how to get our polite little gentleman back... Any thoughts or advice for some near deaf parents?

[munch]

Does Ruffles seem to be screaming with negative body language or screaming because he found a new sound he loves? If it's a sound he's experimenting with, try giving him another one. We had a problem with our little Took "talking" herself to sleep every night. My husband found a video of a bird singing opera on youtube, we showed it toher a few times and sang with it. Now she sings herself to sleep. It's still loud, but its musical and tolerable.

 

Ignoring him when he is screaming is also a good idea, you don;t want to reinforce it. Positive attention when he making a chirpier, more pleasant sounds.

 

If he's screaming with cause (possibly indicated via body language), determining the cause is #1.

[TitaniumPhoenix]

He doesn't seem to do it when he's upset. It's more just a sound he makes for fun... Which, ironically enough, we've noticed the birds outside make the same noise. He must have heard them make that sound and, as he often as he does, decided "That noise is great! I need to do that too!"

 

We'll start looking for a new, less ear piercing sound for him to learn! Thanks for the advice!

[katana600]

I am glad to hear it is just a fun new noise... for his sake, not for your's though. I am more noise sensitive than anyone else in our family, so sometimes I resort to the silencer headphones that look like big bright ear muffs... for the shooting range. Seriously though, I was a teacher aide in a kindergarten lo those many years ago. One favorite teacher taught me something I often use. When the noise level in the class picked up she would dim the lights and whisper. Everyone would just stop in their tracks and get silent so they could hear what she was saying, then, even without knowing why she was whispering, soon everyone else was whispering too. We have dogs that will run to the door barking madly when they hear a noise at the neighbor's house. I will start toward the door, and then they bark and I stop, whisper and walk the other way. If they get quiet, I come toward them again and keep turning back when they bark more. It is taking a really really long time, but I try to think I am modeling the behavior I am seeking to encourage. And boy, sometimes I want to run barking mad at them and smack them with a newspaper. LOL.

[zandische]

There was a time a few years ago when the Jay birds were living in a tree behind our house and they would scream all day long. Our bird picked it up and it was miserable inside and outside the house! We tried everything - covering her cage, stern time outs, ignoring it etc - nothing worked. Our birds now occasionally get screechy, but we have found a method that usually derrails screeching.

 

What we do is introduce a fun sound that the bird realizes is more fun to make than the screech. The screech gets no reward - not even a frown or look of disgust, etc. But the fun sound gets tons of praise, interaction, laughter, a treat etc. They quickly realize that the fun sound makes the people happy too, because we laugh and do it back to them, and that's all they're looking for - the social element of it.

 

Our current sound is "Boop!" which we say and then touch the bird on the chest, beak, leg etc. It's become a game - we run over, tap our bird on the chest, and say "Boop!" Then they will fly over, push their beak against our nose, and say "Boop!" We've also taught them little whistles and when they get loud, we just whistle the little song and they immediately switch over to whistling too.

 

Anyway, that's what works for us

[Jingles]

I was also going to suggest to ignore the screech (how annoying that the bird outside taught your bird! UGH!) and to not show any emotion on your face... and give a new noise that's so much fun and makes you guys so happy!!!

 

Good luck.

[munch]

Hey there TitaniumPhoenix,

 

Just an update on what's going on with Took's loud "talking" before bed- As said above, we introduced her to singing via a video of a parrot doing opera on youtube, we all watched it and sang along until she picked it up and then praised her. Then she would do it on her own and we continued to praise her, etc-

 

I am rock fan and my husband is electronica so poor Took sings her opera but doesn't otherwise get much exposure to the finer cultures. Yesterday I needed a specific Vivaldi song, classical Baroque era at its finest, so I went on youtube to hear some and immediately within the first few chords of his Autumn, Took started to sing along! It was amazing! I was astounded! Not only did we rid the awful sounds she was making, but we created a musical genius! Yes, (gushing mother), she is a musical genius!

 

Alas, does this means that I can no longer play my Smiths?