HOW TO POTTY-TRAIN YOUR PARROT?

Potty-training a parrot is no doubt a tricky job. If you are one of those parrot owners that face the problem that their bird poops anywhere in the house. You are at the right place. After reading this article, you will be able to solve this issue very easily. All you need to do is to follow the 5 steps given right below.

1)  Posture

First of all, you should wait and watch deeply to understand what is the posture of your parrot when it tries to poop. You should train yourself first if you want to fulfil your task in a pleasant way. You should be well aware of what behavioral signs your parrot shows when he is about to poop. For example, some parrots waggle their tails and some of them crouch while the others squat before they use the toilet, in order to defecate. By knowing this change of behavior, you will be able to know when your parrot is ready to go for the potty.

2)  Time interval

The second most important thing is knowing the average time between two consecutive poops. The time gap between two defecations always varies from species to species and between individuals. Smaller parrots like parakeets, cockatiels and parrotlets defecate every 10 to 15 minutes. On the other hand, large-sized members of the psittacine family take more time to poop again once they finish it off. They generally take 20 to 30 minutes intervals between two consecutive poops.

3)  Good potty at an effective place

Before you start with potty training your feathered fellow, you should select an appropriate place to put the potty handler. The place should not be changed once you start training your pet with that. Try to choose a place easy to approach for your bird. Your bird would love to use the potty if it is placed in a quiet area near or next to the cage.

You can make a potty out of anything such as a basket, towel, pot, box or anything else you want your parrot to use as a toilet. You can make it attractive for your bird by using different colors on it. It’s all up to you.

4)  Commands and tools

After making a proper potty for your parrot, look for the relative postures and gaits at regular intervals, as mentioned above. Once you see that your parrot is ready to poop, bring it to the potty and use specific commands to make your parrot know your desire. For instance, you can use some simple words like, “Poop”, “Use the toilet”, “Do it birdie” etc. You can use the words of your own choice, the use of words from English is no doubt not compulsory. You can use good and easy-to-say words from your native language.

Last but not least, you can use other tools to tell your parrot, “It’s time to poop”. For example, a whistle or a clicker can be used for this purpose.

5)  Gifts and Rewards

Initially, your bird would show no or little response. But don’t worry about this. As you know, potty training an avian species is a tricky task, but the good news is that most bird owners successfully train their parrots after following this step. When some of my clients consult me for this reason, my answer remains always the same, “Use gifts and rewards”. Let me tell you, how does it work?

When your parrot doesn’t respond well after you take it on the potty and give commands, do it several times whenever you make him perch off from your finger or the stick. Use the same command repeatedly. After some unsuccessful attempts, you will see that the bird will poop. At the same time, you use its favorite food as a treat or preen it behind the neck as a reward. You will see the next time response would be better. 

You should not try to train a parrot which is new to your home. As birds take time to adjust to new premises. If you do this, your bird would be tired of you and will give a bad response, and you could probably face some other issues. I know that no one wants his/her bird to make his/her place dirty by defecating everywhere in the house. But please treat it just as your child. It is the same as we train our 2 years old son not to pee anywhere but instead use the bathroom. Just as humans need time to be trained, these little feathered creatures need some time to adjust to you, but believe me, “they care for you”.

I hope after reading this article, you would be able to potty-train your parrot efficiently and get rid of those odd poops spreading where ever your feathered friend goes.

  Author:

Vet Dr Irtiza Hassan

DVM(RVMP, AVMA)

Aliyan Pet Hospital Islamabad, Pakistan