My Electus getting cold??

[archie03]

Hi There - I'm new to the forum and also to looking after our little boy Archie.  He is a fantastic parrot that we have had for only a few months as his owner works in the mines in QLD and doesn't get to play / look after him like the wants, so we have adopted him for the next year or so.  We live in Brisbane, but on the Western side so we can get quite cold in Winter (minus temps).  We are slowly getting colder in the mornings and whilst Archie lives outside and has two big sheets on him for sleep time, in the mornings we are finding him shivering (over the last week).  We have a big perch inside the house, but the one night we decided to see if he would sleep inside, he just kept trying to fly into our bedroom (as we didn't want him to get hurt, we put him back in his cage).

My question is - can you teach an Eckie to sleep inside once he has been sleeping outside in his cage for so long (Archie is around 8 years old)?  Or is there something else we can do to stop him from getting cold?  I am guessing he is not really use to the cold.

Thanks!!!!

[avinet]

May 2, 2014 13:25:20 GMT 10 archie03 said:

Hi There - I'm new to the forum and also to looking after our little boy Archie.  He is a fantastic parrot that we have had for only a few months as his owner works in the mines in QLD and doesn't get to play / look after him like the wants, so we have adopted him for the next year or so.  We live in Brisbane, but on the Western side so we can get quite cold in Winter (minus temps).  We are slowly getting colder in the mornings and whilst Archie lives outside and has two big sheets on him for sleep time, in the mornings we are finding him shivering (over the last week).  We have a big perch inside the house, but the one night we decided to see if he would sleep inside, he just kept trying to fly into our bedroom (as we didn't want him to get hurt, we put him back in his cage).

My question is - can you teach an Eckie to sleep inside once he has been sleeping outside in his cage for so long (Archie is around 8 years old)?  Or is there something else we can do to stop him from getting cold?  I am guessing he is not really use to the cold.

Thanks!!!!

The simple answer would be to have an inside cage for him in winter - as a sleeping cage it doesn't have to be too large, just somewhere he goes overnight to sleep and stay in one place.  Having said that I don't think he will be cold outside - feathers are great insulators, and, especially if his cage is covered to keep out breezes, he will keep warm enough.  Many Eclectus are kept outside in aviaries all year round, including places such as Toowoomba and the Darling Downs, which will be colder than in your area.  I've also seen them in aviaries around Canberra which certainly gets a lot colder than SE Queensland.  It might be also worth contacting the previous owner and see how he housed him in winter.

cheers,

Mike