Why You Should Rethink leaving Your Parrot On The Floor

Your bird's behaviour is instinctual and passed down through genes. Its innate behaviour is fully developed at the time of the animals’ birth. An example is a parrot in flight.

Learned behaviour is a behaviour that is taught starting from when your parrot is in its nest. It is something an animal discovers to be beneficial through observation, trial, and error. They can adapt over time to suit changing conditions. An example is a parrot playing with a foraging toy.

You need to understand both types of behaviour and how to work with them.

Why your pet bird should not be allowed on the floor

The need to nest

Birds will always look for a spot to do what comes naturally during their hormone season, and that is to look for a safe spot to make a nest and redecorate the area in a way that suits their needs. This may be under your new kitchen cabinets, in your bathroom,  behind your toilet, or any other safe and dark spot in your home.

The need to carry out nest building and raise babies is an innate behaviour that does not need to be taught. It is something that all parrots ultimately show interest in.  

You and every other person will often get upset that furniture or wall was destroyed in the process. This is not the bird’s fault, and it is harder to change this behaviour once it has been approved by the caregiver.

Being in a continual state of wanting to nest and raise chicks can have devastating consequences on the parrot. Both emotional and medical.  One way to prevent this is to keep the bird off the floor. Deter your bird's unacceptable behaviour.

How to prevent it

One simple way to stave off this behaviour is to give your bird something else to do in an area that is not as easy to get to the floor. For example, you could get your bird birdcage, bird aviaries, small bird cages and a play stand.

Many play stands have been designed in a way that a bird can easily get down via a leg. Keep that in mind when purchasing such an item if you have issues with that method. Remember that even an actual tree stand is difficult to get off of for your bird as the trunk of the tree makes it near difficult to climb down.

You can always hang other gym products from the ceiling to keep your bird engaged. Look over every design detail of play areas you have or are thinking of purchasing/putting in place. Once you have a designated parrot stand/ cage in your home, make sure that area is fun. Don’t expect your parrot to just sit there and be good, because it won’t.

Some people will say they derive pleasure from the interactive time they and their pet parrot spend on the floor playing with toys. That interaction does not need to come to an end, but move it to another area. Instead of playing on the floor, place a sheet on your bed or couch and play there.

As a pet manager, you can prevent bad behaviour if you try. You just need to keep up the training and not get flexible, as so many do. You can get positive outcomes, shape desirable behaviour, and keep those learned behaviours in check. Also ensure your bird gets all the nutrients and exercise it requires for healthy living.

Check out some of our products at Scarlett parrot that can help you help your bird in getting rid of these bad behavior.