I have a question about my 4 month old male eclectus, who has been with us for about 3 weeks now. I've been reading quite a lot on this forum and internet but still unsure as to what is exactly going on.
Our little baby boy loves to sqauwk.... so much that he does it nearly all the time. I just can't seem to figure out why he's doing it, it's not annoying or anything, I would just really like to know why he's doing it. So far I figured out he's not doing it when he can't hear us and he's in his cage. When he can hear us or when he's with us he squawks. I'm not noticing a lot of other body language (then again I'm not a skilled bird body language observer.... yet): he just kind of looks at me, bows his head a little and sqauwks. Sometimes he sits quietly and then when I start talking to him, he starts squawking. He also does it when there's lots of noise, like music, but then it looks more like he just wants to "join in on the noise", it seems different.
My first thought was that he wasn't fully weaned: turned out he was only 3 months when we got him. So I started giving him some formula in the evening. He usually eats about two spoons and then doesn't want it anymore. Yesterday he just refused completely and just ate his normal food. He eats almost every fruit or vegetable that I'm offering and seems to be eating well. He doesn't stop the squawking after he's had formula.
Then I thought he might just want attention? So I tried ignoring him... but failed miserably, it's pretty hard to ignore a loud scream in your ear. So then I tried putting him on his birdstand when he starts squawking or screaming loudly, but then he just makes his way back to me. So I ended up spending my time picking him up and putting him back on his stand. It felt like I wasn't spending any time with him at all, so yes... I caved and allowed him to stay with me while squawking and doing my best to ignore him.
Then I read somewhere that he might be bored: so I rearranged his cage, got him some new toys and am trying to teach him how to forage. He spends about 4 hours outside of his cage during the week, more over the weekend. While in his cage he seems to be playing with his toys (judging by the way they look at the end of the day).
Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!!