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He insists on being on the floor..

2K views 15 replies 7 participants last post by  Pateetchka 
#1 ·
Joey likes to be in a few specific places, the lamp, the table, the birdy playground, me, my husband, the shelves etc. but the most abnoxious and dangerous place he often treads is the floor.

This is very problematic because he also likes to attack feet! Then your instinct of course is to lift your foot and well, he runs underneath it and chases it. Now you're trapped standing on one leg! That's a good way for a tiny dinosaur to get stepped on. Which he HAS actually been stepped on in this way before.

I was reaching for something on the top shelf in the pantry, Joey ran over to attack my feet, ran right under my heel. I began to lower my heels not knowing he was there (I was in shoes.) And then I felt him/heard him squeak. He pooped and flew to my shoulder terrified. Once I realized he was absolutely fine (thank goodness I have ballet strength in my legs to hold myself up and not actually crush him) I thought, "Good! He better be scared of getting stepped on!"

I thought that maybe he would be traumatized from that incident enough to never do that again. Which.. he was, for a time. He is still a LITTLE more nervous when people stomp after him to scare him off the floor and might even fly away now instead of attack directly. But I still can't seem to get him to stay off the floor and therefore he can't EVER be left unattended.

I have resorted to using spray bottles to get him off the floor. It works but then he almost makes it a game and will sneak onto the floor when I'm not looking, if I'm still not looking, he chirps and throws his wings in the air as if to say "Yoohoo!" and then I look over and yell and squirt him. He looks thrilled to play this game. But I have found it's the only way to get him off the floor that doesn't involve foot attacking.

DOES ANYONE ELSE HAVE THIS PROBLEM??
 
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#2 ·
I do not have the problem anymore! I have a different bird! :)

Bogie loved being on the floor and loved to attack Vicki's and my feet/ankles. Just like you said, they will go under your feet real quick. I tried everything for ten years and Bogie still loved the floor. I did notice one thing, though. When I turned down the AC cooler than usual, he stayed up off the floor more. I think he loved to coolness, but if it got too cool, up he stayed...for a while.


Ricochet, on the other hand, hates the floor! I have put him on the floor and he flies right back up. He won't even go and get an almond or treat that he dropped on the floor.


Keep trying things. If you find something that works, let us know.


Dave
 
#3 ·
Micah also made a game out of attacking feet for awhile--he did it once and it startled me (I may have screamed a little) and he thought that was hilarious. I can't make myself hold still while he's doing that (it hurts!), so I made a new rule of never being barefoot while he was out. With thick socks or shoes on, I could stand still and ignore him. After awhile he got bored, and now he rarely ever tries it. I do still have trouble keeping him off the floor though.
 
#4 ·
Huey is on the floor a lot, I found that when I switched from my summer grey sneakers to me black ones he would attack them for a bit. He got used to them.

I get nervous I will step on him too he is so fast and when he decides to charge, if there were more people in this house I would stop this immed, but it is just us and we only let him out when we are watching.

Huey likes to run so every day he flies to the floor and runs around, sometimes if I leave the room and he is out I dont see him when I return so I call his name and he comes running out from under the table with his wings spread out. It is really funny.

If I try to pick him up too soon he will lunge at my hand so I wait a bit. If we are comfy in our chairs we let him run about, that is when he will climb up our sofas and hang out on top.

We have a sofa on one side and a love seat on the other side, Hueys cage is by the loveseat. Last night I had just got all settled when he flew off again to the floor. I decided to wait a bit and for the first time he climbed up the love seat and went back to his cage! Score one for both of us.
 
#9 ·
Well it all depends on his mood, if he is mad he reminds me of a child swinging elbows and marching along. Sometimes he has a look of pure glee. He will sit still until I walk over to him, bend down put my hand out and say up. He looks me right in my eye and hops right over my hand using it as a spring board and runs away. He loves this game and I get some exercise lol. After about three times he hops on and typically then he is ready for some scritches.

The scary part is when he is quiet. We have a coffee table that is just a table with legs nothing underneath. He usually runs around it not under it. Those times he comes out from underneath the coffee table he kind of quietly charges are scary because I dont see him.

If I am in my chair and can not see him I call his name and he runs to where I can see him.
 
#5 ·
We used to call Kai our pet dog. The play stands did help a bit and a few other spots that helped out from Kai always wanting to go to the ground. I'm sure if you could figure out something that your bird would love to play with it may keep them off the ground a bit.

I wonder if it's a trait related to foraging ? When I used to take Kai outside he would absolutely love the ground out there too and would love to forage in the mossy parts of the yard.

The only other thing if nothing works is that its just a personality trait that you have to be a bit more careful of.
 
#10 ·
My parrotlet do not but my Bourks do all the time. It makes me so nervous, we constantly have to watch out for them. Especially Jasper, he literally will sneak up and stand right next to your foot like he's hanging out with you :eek: or chase you and bite your heels. He's been "bopped" a couple times it just gives me a heart attack but they are ground dwellers and foragers in the wild so I really can't change it. Im affraid when the baby comes and gets bigger that free roam time is going to cut dramatically.

The parrotlets don't get to free roam. They require constant supervision for reasons I'm sure you can all imagine.
 
#11 ·
I completely forgot , I'm not sure if this helped but over time Kai wasn't fixated on the floor like when I first got him.

One thing I made was a piece of wood wrapped in a towel fabric. But you don't need to make it portable, you could just use a piece of towel. I just made sure it's 100% cotton. Kai used to really love it and I would sprinkle food on it for him to forage.

Cleaning up was very simple that way, just over the garbage or outside to wipe the leftover food.
 
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