[matts]

So since my parrotlet Matts started moulting his cute and friendly personality has changed a LOT! He is so temperamental and moody, but I know he will get through it! Until then, he does not like when I clean his cage! Up til now he would just perch on the lampshade and let me get on but now he flies towards my face, on the paper towel I'm holding, anywhere to get in the way! He also bites me, which is a sure sign he is not fond of me messing with his cage. Does anyone have any ideas how to manage this? I am new to this biting but when he does I try to do gentle beak and put him back in his cage for a minute, this normally works. But now his cage is open (I have a vision cage) and it's not possible to put him back in. I'm thinking of taking the cage to another room to clean but I don't really like it when he flies around and I'm not with him.

 

[Rubydoo252]

Many parrotlets are cage aggressive, and unfortunately distraction and removal is the best method. It would be helpful for you to have at least a carrier, and put Matts in the carrier while you are cleaning so that you don't get attacked. Tumi is not a fan of my cleaning his cage, but I have multiple cages, so I only clean the cage that he isn't in.
It sounds like Matts has hit puberty. It can be rough, but it does end!

 

[Anya]

The only time Cleopatra ever was aggressive over her cage was when I was rearranging her toys and perches, etc. She was so bad that when I was trying to switch her toys around, I would have to put a blanket over her flight cage and reorganize her cage under the blanket where she could not get at me. lol Then, miraculously, the aggression all stopped as soon as I bought her a new playstation and added rope perches, ladders, swings and toys to it. Now, because she has a playstation that she loves as much as her cage, it has taken her focus solely off her cage, and she is no longer possessive and aggressive over it. Now, I can do anything to her cage and she does not care. By giving your bird one (or more) places to "hang out" may make them less territorial. It seemed to work for mine.

 

[ozzie3860]

First for a dirty little secret. Most of us have multiple cages. In the case of Jules and Rio, they have a cage each for sleeping and staying in. There is also a downstairs cage they go in when we are messing around the house and if we are on lower floor and we need to keep them safe for a bit. Then there is the very small travel cage we got with Rio that is good for emergency use. And I am no spinning up a very large cage for the pair that we got off of Cragslist that is a custom designed thing. Out side that there are two rooms in my house that are "bird safe" so designed to toss them in it for a quick time if we have to do something. The point is that most of us have multiple cage for multiple reasons and also to reduce resource sharing (territorial) issues.