by marie83 » Fri Dec 14, 2012 8:21 pm
The food thing might make sense, theres certainly no harm in changing his feed times so he is eating his meal when you are but I'm a little doubtful of this theory as he has already eaten his meal and shouldn't still be hungry or at least, shouldn't be as tempted by your food because it is different to what he had. That said most people eat at times when they are not hungry so yes, it could be that. You can try it and see what happens.
My other thought is if he has already been out, had his attention and playtime, followed by his meal that he knows that your attention is now elsewhere. He could be screaming to re-divert your attention back to him, even if it doesn't work then theres no harm trying right? If a joint meal time doesn't work (eg he starts the screaming after you have both eaten)then maybe he needs something special inside his cage to distract him from the screaming.
If its not too late for him to dry out fully before bed then give him a bath, maybe a few favorite toys on rotation that he only gets around that time of day- whatever you try they all need to be offered to him before he actually starts the screaming otherwise it may be seen as a reward.
Another thing you could try is to give him a little attention when he makes a more preferable noise, a little attention occasionally for nicer noises is surely better than no attention for screaming? Hopefully he will click on to that but I would try this idea only if the other suggestions dont help.
Also if the screaming is right before the time that he goes to bed then it may just be in his nature to scream at that time of day, most parrots do a dawn and dusk chorus in the wild so it might just be something you have to tolerate I'm afraid.