Is it possible to potty train parrotlets?

[Crazy4tiels88]

I was wondering my parrotlet is only 3-4 weeks old as I am still handfeeding him!! Can you potty train a parrotlet? Cause that would be cool if so I would like to do it in the future!! Thanks for any info!! Melissa and the flock!!

[myolive]

Knowing how smart these little birds are, I'll bet they could be potty trained. However, I would not recommend it. When I first got my cockatoo I thought it would be a good idea to potty train him. He picked it up very, very quickly. Whenever he'd go potty where I wanted him to go, I would praise him. Then I noticed that he was straining in order to go potty, even when he didn't have to go. He just wanted to please me. Straining can cause birds to have a prolapsed cloaca, which is very painful and dangerous to the bird. Needless to say, I stopped trying to potty train my cockatoo, and would never try it with any of my birds again. Especially my little parrotlet, Olive. Her poops are so small anyway. I figure what's a little poop between friends, right?

[pam311]

I am no expert but I have read several places that it is almost impossible because of the high metabolism and rapid turn over of food to waste. I agree with myolive, the poops are so small and comes off easy with a papertowel, I dont worry about it.

[RockyandhisFriends]

My mothers friend has a parrotlet that she doesn't keep in a cage. The birds food and water dishes are left on a counter for the bird. She also keeps one sheet of a paper towel on the counter for the bird to use as a potty. He goes on the paper towel and no where else.

I don't think its a good idea not to keep a bird caged, but shes had the bird for years and never a problem.

Phil

[catfish]

big problem with potty trained birds is that they will hold it and that can cause problems. These guys poop a lot and it's not healthy for them to hold it for long periods of time. Luckily the poopies are small.

[montgomery2007]

I have never tried to potty train my birds, but I have noticed that they will not poop on my shoulder too often. As soon as I put them on my finger; they will go if they need to. It seems like they wont poop on each other, so if you are part of their flock; they wont poop on you either. But just remember, clean it quickly or it becomes concrete.:D
Eric

[Py & Cosmo]

Py is my "higher strung" boy...and he poops with abandon!:eek:
Cosmo tends to poop less often and usually not ON me...thanks Cos.;)

Lucky for us that vinegar and water dissolves concrete!

[montgomery2007]

Py is my "higher strung" boy...and he poops with abandon!:eek:
Cosmo tends to poop less often and usually not ON me...thanks Cos.;)

Lucky for us that vinegar and water dissolves concrete!



Vinegar and water huh! Never new that. Thanks

[Franz]

Our bird, Mieze, is not 100% potty trained, but if you watch your bird carefully, they will often signal when they need to go (they will fluff up a little, and get a little anxious). If you the bird in the cage right then, she might poop. If she (or he) does go poop in the cage, praise lavishly. In this way, they get the message that it's good to go in the cage. It isn't foolproof, but it works quite often!

-Franz

[Carebear]

Birdy is mostly potty trained, but it's a cooperative effort -- when we have her out we take her back to her cage about every 15 minutes and tell her to "Do de poo-poo!" and she almost always will (by the way, you have to say this in a very high-pitched baby voice, hehehe). And of course she gets lots of praise. Then we get her back out and all is well. We only run into trouble when we don't take her back to her cage on time. If she needs to go, she certainly won't hold it just for praise!

[Kumiko]

Clicker training is wonderful for this. Or you could just easily set her on a playstand or cage until she goes every 15 minutes.