[Siobhan]

I've had Clyde out a lot today -- I had more time to play with him than usual -- and the first thing this morning and early this afternoon, he climbed out of his cage, and was quite ready to hop onto my finger.
Later this afternoon, however, when I was cleaning his cage, he climbed on top of it to roost like a buzzard and when I was done cleaning and wanted to play, he flatly refused to get onto my finger. He made affectionate noises and kisses and let me pet him and all of that, but would not get onto my finger for love nor money. Finally, he climbed down the side and went back in, all of his own accord. Harrumph! I wanted to play! HE wanted to see what I'd put into his food dish. Like he doesn't eat six times a day already. This evening, he got cooperative again and got onto my finger and is sitting on my shoulder now, taking turns preening himself and me. Preening me, unfortunately, means trying to pry off the freckles by main force and when I say "ow", he laughs, the little stinker. I'd just as soon he'd stick to his own feathers and leave mine be.

[so102778]

LOL I have the same problem with the preening. I still don't think Drago's nips are as bad as our love birds. Right now I am having problems with Drag want to preen my shirts. If there is any design on the shirt (even a ridged collar) he wants it off.

[Siobhan]

LOL I have the same problem with the preening. I still don't think Drago's nips are as bad as our love birds. Right now I am having problems with Drag want to preen my shirts. If there is any design on the shirt (even a ridged collar) he wants it off.

Yup. That's Clyde all over. I have given up wearing any shirt that has sparkly bits on it, buttons, snaps, etc. around him. I've learned to take off all jewelry of any sort. I keep wearing hair ties because otherwise he has trouble navigating my shoulders (I have a LOT of hair) but he wants them off, too and will work without rest until he bites them off. The problem with the shirts, though, is that when he's trying to pry off the collar or trim, he often misses and gets ME, and if I so much as complain, I get parrot cussing in my ear. RIGHT in my ear. He'll move up so he can put his beak right in my ear to make sure I catch every syllable. But you know, there's no reasoning with these birds. They have their little feathered opinion, and it's written in stone, and that's the way it's going to BE.

[Bones6]

The preening of my face area isn't really a problem (If he does it and I say, "Ow!", he apologizes and starts on himself or the shirt.)
The only problem is the shirt... So far, he's put holes into almost all of my shirts, cause the little bugger likes to climb onto my shoulder if i'm near his cage (Which sucks, cause he can break out of it now, by lifting the latch and forcing it out to one end.)

And, funny you should mention Money Sio... I was actually holding a twenty near Rufus (My QP) One day, about to put it away, when the little thief runs up, grabs it and tries to make off with it! Laughing! I nearly died... And than i got it away from him, haha.

[so102778]

What kind of cage do you have that Rufus can get out of?

I am trying to break the habit of the shirt chewing. I can't afford to replace all my shirts. Bad enough if you lay laundry out and forget about it for too long sometimes our female cat with "plays" in it leaving teeny holes.

[Bones6]

This one: The Pali Place - BirdCages4less.com // The Pali Place

Honestly, I don't know how the little bugger does it... I HAVE trouble opening it sometimes, yet (s)he's able to fiddle with it and push it open. I've watched the QP do it twice, and my mother has said, "At first, it looks like a prisoner trying to break out... than out of nowhere, you hear a lot of squawking and POOF, he's on top of the cage" lol...

[so102778]

We had looked at some cages like that and decided the latches weren't secure enough (most of the cages we tested we actually quite loose). I figured if our love birds can get out of a regular cage with loose locks so could a QP. You have to remember that she can probably get leverage on it that you can't. What are you doing to keep the locks, locked?

[Bones6]

Last night I took a pair of plyers, and tightened the bar the latch goes into, so it's in there alittle tighter now. Rufus luckily doesn't try to break out when no one is home (I always setup a video camera, hoping to catch her talking.), she seems to do it when people are only home, which tells me she wants out more (So, i've been having travel with me around the house.).

Hopefully the Rufus won't do it again haha, and if Rufus does, i'll just watch her and reward her when she's nowhere near the latch I guess... lol

[so102778]

That is a good thing. We just gave my MIL one of the baby love birds and the door latches are really hard to open and we thought the same thing with the seed bowls (the bowls click in to the cage from the outside and have a clear over that snaps on the outside so the bird can only gets its head into the seed bowl to eat). The things are really hard to click on and off and to get open (I can't get them open). We put the bird in the cage a day before we brought it to MILs house and she didn't get out. 24 hours after MIL has her, she escaped through the food bowl.

Something you can do - if you can find them - is put small key locks - like you find the the 25 cent machines - on the latches.

[Bones6]

Yea, I think I might do that... But than, Rufus might learn how to pick locks >.< They are damned smart birds haha

[Jan Cullen]

Hi guys, just for your information, I have "bird" clothes that I wear - this consists of old trousers, t-shirts and cardigans (all old clothes) - they are easy to wash and dry quickly. This saves wear and tear on my everyday clothes by quaker attack.