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Prevent Screaming

Cockatoos Parrot
Parrots are generally a delight. Some pet parrots though have behavioral problems. Of the common behavioral problems that parrots exhibit, screaming is perhaps the most annoying of all. As pet owner though, you have to realize that birds in general are noisy creatures. They like to vocalize to throughout the day for different reasons like communication, to warn others of danger, to celebrate the rising or setting of the sun. Parrots are no exception and are even more gregarious than some birds. So if you want a quiet pet don’t get a parrot or any other bird. If your parrot is noisy but seems to be vocalizing and sings in different patterns then this is normal behavior. What isn’t natural is when your pet parrot screams in the same pattern long periods of time. Such kind of screaming indicates that something must be wrong.

Parrots usually scream excessively because of stress. Some stress factors include illness, nutritional problems, loss or addition to its “family” (that’s your family actually), loneliness or boredom, a new environment, lack of sleep, fear, and even jealousy.

Stop My Parrot’s Annoying Scream

To reduce the noise your parrot makes all you need to do is to address reason behind the screaming. That might not be as simple as it sounds though. The first thing you need to do is to prevent the screaming episodes. You can do this by making sure that all your parrot’s needs are met and that his environment is one that will not add to his stress. Give you parrot plenty of time and attention as well as some items it can play with to deal with boredom. You can also get a mate for your bird to address loneliness though this might not be the best solution since your parrot might get jealous of the new bird. Try to eliminate all the possible factors that could be stressing your bird. If your bird screams chronically already then keep a record of each screaming episode along with the time and the circumstances. Hopefully keeping track of the screaming episodes will shed some light and reveal to you a pattern or patterns that could point to the cause(s) for such behavior. Once you identify the cause you need to of course deal with it and eliminate the problem.

Once a screaming episode has started however even the patience of the understanding pet owner can get stretched quite too thinly. Make sure though that you don’t resort to yelling or hitting the bird or other sorts of punishment. This will not help alleviate the parrot’s stress and will even add to it. The parrot might stop screaming but will most probably turn to other unwanted and harmful behavior like plucking (feather picking). Try to identify the reason for screaming. If it is loneliness or fear do not leave the bird’s side. Try to calm the parrot by giving it its favorite toy or by distracting it. Talking to your bird in a calm voice should also help. Remove from the room whatever it is that’s causing agitation. If your bird seems to be overwrought and tired then make sure to take it to a quiet place where it can relax and get away from all the stimulation. Adjust your behavior according to the circumstances. The reason might not be the same every time. So until you learn to read your parrot better be prepared for screaming episodes and do everything you can to keep your parrot happy and stress-free so you too can be stress-free.