Birdy rebellion or problem?

[Elle]

since I moved things around Blu's cage last week she won't touch the food out of her feeder. I'm unable to tell if she will drink her water in the cage. she will favor her treat dish but won't touch the seeds from her regular dish. If I offer her seeds from my hand she chomps it down so I know she likes them and she is hungry. She eats the birdy bread and seems very content with that. When she's outside the cage she eats, drink and bathe and is her usual self so i know she is not sick.
The other night (shortly after I rearanged her cage) I put seeds in her treat bowl and she went for it.
Should I put her old feeders back in the cage for now? Or give her her seeds in her treat bowl instead? It is definety too late to put things the way they were in the cage ( I don't remember exactly how they were :confused: ) and she now seems okay with the new arrangements
Is she rebelling against the rearangement of the furnture in her house or do i really have a problem with a spoiled bird? :roll:

[Buy A Paper Doll]

Isn't it funny how particular they are? Mine will eat out of any bowl, no matter where it is in the cage. But they will only bathe out of a clear glass salad bowl.

I say, if she wants her food in the treat cup, then put it in the treat cup. :)

[linda040899]

I would return the food dishes she's used to having. Are the new ones the same color? If they are different, what's the difference? I have lovebirds that are color sensitive and a color change is a big issue with them!

[Elle]

She started off with colored feeders. When we bought the new cage they had two white feeders included with it, the ones that you stick in a door. I left the colour feeders in her new cage for about a week, moving them slowly towards the white feeders. After ensuring she was eating from the white feeders properly, I removed the old coloured ones.
The bowl she eats from right now is one that hangs on the side of the cage and it's stainless steel. The bowl that is on top the cage with her treats in is also stainless steel. I bought her the stainless steel one for inside the cage because we are working a lot of overtime these days and she doesn't like her treats mixed with her food.
What I usually do is give her birdy bread, nutriberries, fruits and veggies in the stainless steel bowl before leaving for work. I work close to home and come back home for an hour before going back to work I remove it then so nothing is exposed too long.
She won't eat from the white feeders anymore. She doesn't eat her seeds. If I present them to her between my fingers, she seems more then happy to eat them. There is no seeds at the bottom of the cage where her white feeder is. I tried removing the other bowl with treats from the cage, no difference. If I put seeds in her stainles steel bowl, she eats them.
Tonight, I placed the white feeder with seeds on top of the cage while she was playing, she went to it and ate some. There is no changes to her diet except for the birdy bread that I introduced about 2 weeks ago. I've been having problems with her for about a week, week and half now.
as far as water goes, I cannot tell if she hs been drinking while inthe cage. She always has a bowl of fresh water on top of the cage that she likes to bathe, drink and litteraly play with. She dips her toys in it so they get soft.
As far as her behavior goes, she's playful, interacts a lot with us and screams a lot more then she used to. I think she had a talk with Nyxie about who can make the most noise. She's constantly screaming "pretty bird, pretty bird" and "want some". Problem is she won't tell me what she wants.

[linda040899]

Elle,
Return her old dishes and see what happens. I think that's the problem.

[Z28Taxman]

They can get picky can't they. Every once in awhile Ditto will decide that one of his types of nutriberries belongs in his treat cup. He won't eat them out of his regular food bowl. So I put them in the treat cup and he'll chow down. Then after a few weeks he'll decide they belong back in the regular food bowl andd put them in there himself. :rofl: He also doesn't seem to want to eat the crumbs from the nutriberries and avi-cakes out of the regular food bowl. But if I put them in the treat cup he think they're the best things in the world next to sugar snap peas!

Of course he's a bit wierd anyway. He'd rather eat sugar snap peas and shredded carrots than millet! :eek:

[Janie]

Of course he's a bit wierd anyway.

Dave, you know the old saying......the apple doesn't fall far from.....Yeah you know! :D

[Elle]

Linda,

I will try the old feeders and see what happens. I'm glad I'm on vacation for a week. I will be able to monitor things closer.

[Z28Taxman]

Dave, you know the old saying......the apple doesn't fall far from.....Yeah you know! :D

Well I won't deny that. :happy:

Elle, do you have room to put both feeders in the cage. Maybe if you could put them next to each other she'd give it a try?

[Elle]

Elle, do you have room to put both feeders in the cage. Maybe if you could put them next to each other she'd give it a try?

I do, already placed the green and the yellow feeder in the cage next to the white feeders. All of them have food inthem and I removed the stainless steel container from the cage. We'll see if that helps since she hasn't used them in two months.

[mperedithe]

Elle,
I had this same sort of problem with Skylar (a blue-masked lovebird) when I first got her. She seemed totally unaware of the food dishes. She went a whole day, I believe, without food, which really worried me. Anyhow I don't know where I thought of the idea but I got it in my head to put a little mirror above the dish. In no time she was admiring herself and then eating like crazy.

You might try using her favorite toy or mirror or if the bird will sit on your hand you can try holding the food dish and the bird in the same hand.

M :)

[Elle]

Thank you for the idea. i might try that. She has no mirror in her cage at this time. If necessary I will giveit a try.
the problem is she ate very well for months out of her white feeders. She stopped eating from them only recently. I am starting to wonder if it'snot because she has too much food to choose from.
Tonight, for the fist time she ate from the old feeder that I placed in the cage again. i didn't give her any veggies, fruits or even birdie bread all day... so I guess she was hungry enough to eat supper.
we'll see what tomorrow brings :)

[DeepLikeNin]

Mercuri used to refuse to eat her pellets. Which is bad, no? One day, my boyfriend's aunt gave me an extra purple treat bowl, she'd gotten like 5 (you know, the cheapo 50 cent kind). I put some pellets in it, hoping that maybe she would eat them if they were separated from her beloved seeds. She attacked my hand for holding the bowl. And inhaled all the pellets. Now it doesn't matter if the pellets are in her purple bowl (we've switched cages, though), and she'll eat em anyway. They're moody. :o)