I have been curious about this for a while. Gidget, my green cheek. She has a day & night cage. I keep paper in the bottom of both cages. During the day she does not mess with the paper in her day cage. When I put her to bed she goes to town on the paper and shreds it like crazy. Is she getting prepared something? I just can't figure it out.
Click to view attachment Gidget's night cage
Click to view attachment her day cage
Of course I had to take pictures of both of them....LOL

Click to view attachment My big 9 yr old
Click to view attachment My little chit

Try moving the preening toy on the other side of the rope perch, where it'll be between the two perches. This might encourage gidget to groom it more. She might just be frustrated. Duke only shreds paper in the mid-day. Maybe you should go get some of the shredable wood, and one of those cheap little boxes of nesting material. See if she goes for the destruct-o wood or if she goes for the nesting material.

Perhaps she's one of those people whose desk at work is tidy and organized and whose home looks like a cyclone hit it. If so, she and I would get along famously.

I am wondering if this is a way of nesting? She is the only female bird I have ever owned and I don't know if she needs a box or what.

Is she old enough to be sexually mature? If so, and you give her a quiet, dark place with lost of nesting material and she's had a lot of sunlight during the day, she could be trying to nest. It's a possiblity. You can try to limit her light to 10-12 hours and see if that helps. I have a maroon belly who is supposed to be female (haven't had her DNA'd but she was a rescue and the rumor is that "she" laid an egg at one time) but she's never done that to her papers. Very interesting though... It does look like a cyclone hit her cage in the shredded pic. If you think she might be nesting, give her some extra calcium now in case she is "eggnant". It can keep females from getting egg-bound. Lack of calcium is a problem for egg-laying hens even if they aren't fertile eggs. If you want to discourage her from laying eggs, don't give her a box to nest in and take away the material she uses to nest with or keep her from getting to it with a grate between her and the papers below her. Chronic egg laying in females can sometimes happen and calcium can be a big issue then. Unless you're breeding her, it's best to discourage her from laying eggs if you can.

Uh Oh Sandi---looks like the little chit is getting ready to make a nest....You reckon?....
Boy boy--I thought only boys could make a mess like that....

Believe it or not there is a grate under there. The newspaper is on TOP of it.....LOL......She does have calcium and uses her block ALOT. She is a dna'd female for sure. I really don't want her building a nest and having an egg. I would be devastated if something happened to her. So I guess I shouldn't put quite so many papers in there? Maybe just one a night so she can pooh on it? Gidget will be 4 in Feb.

What a messy little girl!!
Where did you get the blue thing in the left side of the shredded paper picture that looks llike it has pellets in it? I have been looking for something like that to put in Ringo's night time cage because he poops in the bowl that he has in there.

The blue thing I got at Petsmart. It does have pellets in it. Those are really neat for keeping poo out of the food, can't say the same for the top of it tho. I am going to get Kiwi some bigger ones, but have been forgetting any time I go.
Here is a site that sells them: http://www.theperchstore.net/food-cups---c...treat-cups.html
Click to view attachment this is the large one, Gidget has medium ones. I don't use them for water because I had a parakeet that died from something like this. She felt she couldn't get her head out or something. This is not the same thing that she had. This one has a much bigger opening.
Here is a couple other sites that sell them also: http://www.petdiscounters.com/c53/Clean-Cu...eders-p284.html, this one is cheaper, don't know about shipping.
http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod...mp;pcatid=11589, this one is also cheaper then the first one.

I used to have one like that! It was in a cage that I gave away when I upgraded Peep to a flight cage.

My lovebird, Dill, uses the cups that came with his cage. He pulled the top off the food dish though. When he settles in to eat, it must have bothered him. I think he was bumping his head if he didn't duck enough! He left the lid on his water dish... He hangs off the side of the cage, and leans down to get a drink, so it must not get in his way.

Theresa