Squee

[farseeker]

Some of you might remember me from late last year/early this year. We adopted a runner rainbow lorikeet and he's been with us since then.

We've been having a lot of trouble lately and I have no clue what to do, and I was hoping someone might have some suggestions because if things keep up the way they are I doubt our landlord will let us keep him.

About a month or so ago my sister and I went out for a job interview - he was fine when we left, his normal affectionate self. He was in his cage with the door shut in my room when we left, as it was rather cold outside. We came back around two hours later and he was completely different - the moment either of us walked into the room he started screaming and threw himself off his perch to the bottom of the cage.

No one was in the house when we left, and no one to our knowledge had been in the house while we were out. It's possible that our housemate had people over during that time, but if she did she's not admitting to it.

Since then his behaviour has been extremely unpredictable - sometimes (most often in the morning) he's extremely affectionate and seeks attention, loves being touched and climbing over your hand has long as you don't try to take him out of the cage. Other times you can be on the other side of the room and turn a page of a book and he'll start freaking out.

Until recently though it wasn't that bad - he was a happy bird as long as we didn't go near him too much, so we'd just leave him alone apart from when we had to change his food and water or clean his cage unless he wanted the attention. Now though he starts screaming for no reason whatsoever and throwing himself around the cage. I'm scared that he'll hurt himself doing it. We have to keep his cage covered to keep him quiet but that doesn't work all the time, and it's almost impossible to change his food or water without him freaking out and biting or going insane for half an hour or more.

I have no idea what to do. I've been told that if we take him to a vet they'll just put him down because he's a runner and I don't want that to happen, but I'm starting to wonder if maybe that would be best for him. He's not happy and I have no idea what to do to help him.

If anyone has any suggestions or advice I can't tell you how much they'd be appreciated right now.

[zooyouthben]

Well i have something to tell you, there is nothing wrong with your bird at all, or whats its doing.

Rainbows (and lories and lorikeets in general) are very aggressive. No lorikeets like being touched (there are exceptions), and do not be scared at all with him throwing himself off the perch he wont hurt himself, just watch the wild rainbows.

I love lorikeets, but i have to say they are full of character and most of the time become the evil villain.

There is only one solution i can think of and that is get him another rainbow for company, but that will double the noise and mess, and if he doesn't like them, then you will need to try him with another bird, rainbows are weird. I have been through about 12 mates with one of my Rainbow hens

[farseeker]

This isn't normal behaviour - he's sitting huddled in the corner of his cage at the moment screaming at the top of his lungs. It's not normal rainbow lorikeet chatter, it's definitely unhappiness.

The reason I'm worried about him throwing himself off his perch is he's trying to fly but can't, so he spreads his wings and flaps them but doesn't go anyway, and doesn't get far enough away from the perches to avoid hitting them on the way down.

[vankarhi]

I really have no info to offer you. I have never owned a lorikeet, but a friend of mine owns one, and I have never seen it do what you are describing. It is a happy, talkative, lively little fellow and it too is a runner that she raised from a naked baby of about 2 weeks of age.

Maybe it needs a friend...........but if you do opt to get him a friend, do not put them together straight away, and I would clip the friend if it can fly, so as not to upset Squee anymore by him seeing a bird fly when he can't.

Others I hope will come on and give more advise hopefully.

Best of luck.

[farseeker]

I don't think he's really lonely - he chats to the lorikeets outside all the time, but hates when they come near so I don't think a friend is what he needs. I don't think the cage we keep him in is big enough for another bird either. :x

I don't know. If he's lonely I want to do something about it, but I don't want to end up buying another bigger cage and another lorikeet if that isn't the problem and he ends up hating the change.

Something to think on I guess. Thanks Vankarhi.

[AussieBirds]

Are you sure he is a he ;D sounds to me like you have a hen there and her hormones are starting to kick in. Lorikeets hate paper being rustled or don't like you turning the page on a book or news paper, they are without a doubt the clowns of the bird world and will perform for you with out any prompting.

As far as stopping her screaming I find the only way I can stop mine is to actually go to her and physically pat and scratch her especially around the rump area, you will find that when you scratch her rump she will put her head down and tail in the air, all part of the hormone thing, they are a great pet bird but do become very possessive of their owners, good luck with her.

John

[farseeker]

We aren't sure if he's a boy or a girl, but I'm not entirely sure it's a hormone thing - I don't know exactly when it kicks in for them but he'd only be about a year old. As far as the petting goes - I would but I can't get near him to try. He hates being touched, and I end up with nasty bruises and cuts on my hands if I push it too far.

[farseeker]

Some new behaviour I've noticed - he starts screaming sometimes when someone looks at him for a long time, but he also does it when he's home alone out the front of the house. Also, when he starts screaming he turns to look at his left shoulder and seems to be screaming at it. He has full use of it from what I can see, and there's no blood on the feathers - any idea why he could be doing this?

He's not moulting yet either, so I don't think it's feathers coming through. We've sprayed him recently for mites, so I don't think that's the issue.

He's also spending far more time sitting at the bottom of his cage - generally if he's screaming that's where he is, or where he goes pretty quickly.

[vankarhi]

I can't think of anything except maybe hormones or loneliness. Maybe a quick visit to an avian vet might sort out if there are any problems???

[zooyouthben]

Any News?

[farseeker]

Well, there's been some interesting developments with the Squeezables.

About a month ago his jumping around and screeching resulted in an injured wing, as I thought it would. There was a very quick trip to a vet who was incredibly patient in dealing with a hysterical bird and the owner. We had a chat about his behaviour issues and decided to leave it a week until his checkup, and he was put on a course of antibiotics and painkillers for his wing.

The week passed and we went back again and had another chat about his behaviour. The vet offered to put him on sedatives permanently to 'fix' it but I told him I'd rather a course of sedatives to give us a chance to try and train him out of it, since I didn't want to drug Squee just to get a quiet bird. Apparently a lot of people take this option - he was rather surprised at my quick refusal. ^^; So for a couple of weeks he was on the antibiotics, painkillers and sedatives.

Poor little baby was incredibly unhappy during this period, and became very clingy. He did stop his screeching when he saw people but didn't stop his jumping around and screaming. In the end I took him off the sedatives because the reaction to people had stopped, and he wasn't happy. I'd rather have a screaming bird than an unhappy one, so...

At that point he stopped being clingy and although he didn't start screaming again he didn't start showing any increased interest in his toys and such or start chatting again, which was depressing to see.

A week ago, however. Something changed. We ran out of the dry mix that we give him and the places where I get it were late on order, so for a couple of days he was getting wet mix, fruit and various native flowers.

He started chatting again, playing with his toys, and climbing around his cage on the first day. The second day when I went to replace his food and water, he nibbled on my fingers, rubbed his head up against my hand and start chatting to me - it was like we had our old Sqee again. I had no idea what cause the change, but I was grateful for it.

The next day, the dry mix arrived so he started on that again. And lo! Back to the screaming, jumping around and freaking out whenever hands were in the cage. It was removed as soon as this started and the next day his behaviour was once again back to the cheerful, chatty bird we started with.

Due to this, I'm going to try swapping over from commercial lorikeet food to home-made mixes - getting the ingredients today and trying him out on them.

The recipes I'm going to be trying can be found here: www.kcbbs.gen.nz/lori/ar/feeding.html and I'll let you all know how it goes.

Just so you are aware, the dry food that he was getting was the Harmony brand. I know several of you use it and have no problems so I'm inclined to think that it may be something to do with him being a runner, or possibly just a quirk of his own. Hopefully I'll be able to get him in to see the vet again sometime next week, so I'll check with him to see if that could be the cause.

It's been a long few months (and costly - over $300 in vet bills as a student somewhat hurts!) but at the moment we have a much happier bird and househould. I know I'm very late in making this post, but I do want to thank you all for your help and support - it's far more appreciated than you probably know.

[silvercloud]

Wow what a saga. Maybe he has an allergy or bad reaction to one or more of the ingredients in the dry mix you were using. The recipes in the article are great and I hope you have success with them. Squee sounds like a wonderful little sweetie and I really hope you get him all sorted.

[vankarhi]

It is not uncommon for birds or other pets to have allergic reactions to commercial food. Same as our human children can have reactions to preservatives etc in foods too.

It certainly sounds like a reaction to something in the feed...............so hopefully with you making your own mix he will be much better and happier.

What you described in your latest update...................reminded me of my little boy with preservatives in bread............he is almost unbearable. or what others say happens to their kids when they have red cordial.

[farseeker]

Yeah, that's what I figured. He's a lot happier now - very chatty, which is nice.

He still gets bored and lonely during the day though. I know that I can't get a shop-bought friend for him because he'd most likely pass on the virus that he has, but does anyone know if having two runners together would make them sick, or would they be good friends for each other? I don't know, I suppose it's probably just wishful thinking on my part but it'd be nice if we could get him a friend, particularly since most people I don't think are willing to keep a runner.

He's also just starting to let me touch his belly again, which is something he hasn't allowed since this entire saga started. What's even more fantastic is he's comfortable eating his food or sitting with one foot tucked up when I have my hand in the cage near him.

[AussieBirds]

My opinion, for what it's worth, is get a friend, the chance of passing on the virus are minimal and would probably only show up in the offspring if at all. What you do have the chance of doing is seeing a change in his personality again, you say that you can now touch his belly, well if you get him a mate that will stop as he will become more attached to his friend and, in some cases I have seen, become aggressive toward you and anyone else that intrudes on his space, especially if you happen to get a bird that is the opposite sex.

John

[farseeker]

I'm aware of that, but since I'm happy just having him it's not so much an issue. Having his behaviour change back to being more friendly and so on isn't good to see for me because he's my little baby again, it's good to see because he's happy when he hasn't been for so long, and that's something that I want to maintain.

I'll have to think on it some more, but there is some strategic reasoning behind it besides not wanting to pass the virus on cause I'm shifty like that. If I buy a lorikeet that doesn't have it I think I'd have to keep it clipped, since it wouldn't be fair to Squee to have a friend who can fly when he can't, which is something I'm not particularly keen on doing. It's also a matter of being allowed to keep a second one, since we rent the house - our landlords are much more likely not to have an issue with it if it's a rescue or more unlikely to find a home.

Definitely something I'm seriously considering, though. If it's not possible at this point, than definitely later down the track when I finish Uni and start working fulltime.