Discouraging regurgitation

[Chris&Akilah]

Ok Akila just regurged some fresh papaya RIGHT INTO MY EAR CANAL! It was the worst 'wet-willy' I've ever gotten . He was sitting nicely on my shoudler for awhile, so I didn't notice he had started the head-bob/wing droop thing until it was too late. When I notice him doing this while holding him, I just put him down and ignore for a bit. But it's still pretty much a daily occurence, at some point he will "offer" me something. Any advice??

[Michael]

Feed less. You can't really make the bird stop liking you and wanting to do that for you. You can't change the seasonal factors entirely although some things can be done with number of hours of sleep and light. Punishing the behavior only goes so far and you don't really want to ruin your relationship over it. Even then when the bird is so obsessed with you, not much will discourage it. Not putting it on your shoulder, avoiding things that lead to that behavior, etc are obvious things to do. Definitely try to prevent situations that lead to that behavior but even then sometimes just taking the parrot out of the cage or scratching its head leads to that under hormonal circumstances. This leaves no other options except to reduce the food provisions. Clearly the bird eats more than it needs and it can afford to barf some of it back for you. If you feed it less, the desire to get rid of it will go down drastically and reduce not only the regurgitating but other hormonal behavior as well. It won't necessarily make it go away entirely, but it will help.

For exact details about how to use food management, see other topics. Be careful not to misuse it but if done properly it helps in many different ways.

[Chris&Akilah]

Hmm ok thanks Michael, I will look into it. Makes sense, he does have a non-stop buffet, pretty much. Most of it ends up on the floor or stuck to the wall anyway. Yes, I really need to do a complete over-haul of what he eats and how he gets it.

[Michael]

I urge you not to take the decision lightly and think it through in all regards. I don't have the time to explain how to do it right now (and I have on several other topics), but I just wanted to bring it up as a helpful solution. If they don't have the spare food to barf up, they won't barf it up.