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How do you potty train a parrot?

Exchange information about how to teach specific tricks to parrots. Most of these techniques should apply to all bird species. Share your success stories.

How do you potty train a parrot?

Postby Fportilla77 » Tue Sep 04, 2012 8:57 pm

I would like to potty train my bird but I don't know how.
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Re: How do you potty train a parrot?

Postby Michael » Tue Sep 04, 2012 9:08 pm

The poop is small, just learn to deal with it.
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Re: How do you potty train a parrot?

Postby Pyfe » Thu Oct 11, 2012 9:32 pm

Watch your bird's bum. The tail should lift slightly just when he's about to poop. Interrupt with a verbal cue (I use "wait wait wait!") and simultaneously have him step up. Bring him over to where it's ok to poop, and give a command (I use "make poop"). You can either leave him on your hand or put him on a perch. Wait for the magic... And praise!

The closer to a poop-safe area, the better when first starting out.

That's how I did it, at any rate. She's not completely potty trained in the sense that she doesn't fly to the poop area, however after months of training she often stops during play and gets on my hand just when she needs to go. Otherwise, I just keep an eye out for the tell-tale tail lift.

After he's gotten used to hearing the command, you can try having him poop before his tail lifts. For my species of bird :monk: , I can expect a turd every 10 minutes or so, and so every ten minutes I check to see if she has to poop. I also ask her to make poop before any activity away from her cage and playstand.

I don't give her a treat when she poops on the stand... Though when she alerts me, maybe I should... That could be a next step in training.

Good luck!
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Re: How do you potty train a parrot?

Postby Dave & Karen » Mon Dec 10, 2012 2:07 am

their body language will tell you they gotta go... usually in just enough time to get them off you, then praise and reward if they don't go on you.

They will quickly learn that you don't want to be pooped on and will come up with a way to let you know they gotta go, get the bird off you and let him do his business, praise and reward. You can take it a step further by taking the bird to a designated poop place if he can give you an indication he has to go, and with time, he will fly to this place to do his business.

Don't train them too strictly with this one because they will think that's the only place they can go and may hold it in unnecessarily which can cause problems with their digestive systems... basically, if you can get them to get off of you to go, you're doing good. You can also teach them where not to go which is better than teaching them where to go to prevent them from holding it in for hours if that certain place is unavailable to them.
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Re: How do you potty train a parrot?

Postby porkncheese » Tue Jan 01, 2013 12:40 am

I noticed my old cockateil pooped every half an hour.
So every half an hour i would take it to its cage and get him to do his business.
Didnt take him long to understand that his not coming out b4 he dumps it.
A treat and praise helps also
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Re: How do you potty train a parrot?

Postby friend2parrots » Tue Jan 01, 2013 10:11 am

seems to be a lot of controversy on whether to give a treat or not for potty training... there seem to be a number of threads on this topic over the past few weeks, and a few in the thread history from previous years as well.

if you are going to potty train, it seems that several posters do not advocate giving a treat for this behavior, but rather simple praise. this makes sense to me, because its a behavior you do not want the bird to withhold if they do not think a treat is forthcoming. and there could be other reasons not to treat as well. a head scratch or verbal praise might be better.

might be a good idea to type in potty training into the search box and read as many threads as possible on this subject, to compare viewpoints. there was another recent thread on this from just yesterday i believe.
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Re: How do you potty train a parrot?

Postby GreenWing » Sat Jan 26, 2013 6:59 pm

Tiki is potty trained although there's still accidents, which is fine. However, there's far fewer accidents, which is nice because that means less laundry :mrgreen:

How I did it: I would set her over her cage periodically and tell her to "go poo-poo"; when she goes, I praise her verbally. She tends to fluff up her feathers before she does her business, so when I see her do that I hold her over her cage.

friend2parrots wrote:if you are going to potty train, it seems that several posters do not advocate giving a treat for this behavior, but rather simple praise. this makes sense to me, because its a behavior you do not want the bird to withhold if they do not think a treat is forthcoming. and there could be other reasons not to treat as well. a head scratch or verbal praise might be better.


Exactly, well said friend2parrots. You don't want to use a clicker or give treats as a reward, because such enforcement is bad for the bird... you don't want the bird to start holding it in as that can cause digestive issues.
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