Cage Stress

[Jaguar]

Can a grey be out of his cage too much ? when Dusty is out playing ontop of his cage hes great. Put him back into his cage and hes Stressed out. He starts scratching with his foot like a baseball pitcher. we put him in his cage when we goto bed at night and never hear any noise. think there is any way to get him to stop stressing out in his cage

[Tycos_mom]

Why does your Grey have to be in his cage? I open the door of my birds cages when they get up in the morning and close them when they go to bed at night. other then that they are out all day my grey does go in her cage on her own during the day and will stay in there for hours sometimes playing with her toys or haveing a nap. I think because she can leave when ever she wants to she doesen't mind being in there. Pat<br><br>Post edited by: Tycos_mom, at: 2008/03/23 22:44

[lovemyGreys]

No a grey can never be out of his cage to much in my own personal opinion, but obviously there is going to be times when they need to be in their cage,make sure you have toys,foraging items in the cage to stimulate your grey,ignore the scratching behaviour if you are removing him from the cage each time he does this then you are just reinforcing what he is doing,Ignoring it will let him know he doesnt get to come out each time he scratches.

[Jaguar]

I agree but in the summer we're going away for 2 weeks holidays and dont want him to get too stressed out, if i can get him used to the cage alittle first the maybe it will help. your right though Dusty comes out at about 7:30am and is out till around 12:00pm when we goto bed

[lovemyGreys]

Well to be honest 12pm is fairly late for a grey, in general they need a good 10 hours sleep a night As you are going away you need to start a routine with him so he can feel happy in his cage,perhaps start with 15 minute increasing the time by 5 minutes each time until he is spending a good few hours in his cage.

[Talon]

Yes, I agree. letting them stay out of their cage as much as possible is ideal. But you do need to stop reinforcing the behavior that lets him get his own way. He is training you, it should be the other way around.

 

Perhaps leaving the tv on or radio would help him stay in his cage when you are not home. Talon does get upset if she is in her cage when I am home, but doesn't mind it when I leave.