How to keep a Blind Cockatiel happy?

[horsegooroo15]

I have an elderly cockatiel that was givin to me by my friend that can no longer care for him. I know a lot about birds, but im not sure how to keep him happy. He is 14 years old and is a grumpy old man. He was born blind. He will let you hold him but is frightened when out of his cage, so playing with him is difficult and i think more scary for him than enjoyable. He doesnt play with toys (at all). I have tried many kinds of toy including ones with food related or noise but he has no interest. I cant re arrange his cage because he cant see. I dont think that he was fed anything but his feed and spray millet so he isnt very interested in fruit or veggies. He LOVES to sing! he sings along to the radio. microwave, and anyone whistling. He has a few tunes memorized and doesnt stop tweeting. If you hold him up to your lips and make kiss noises he will kiss back. He likes to sit on my head, hand, or shoulder and take rides but gets scared when on the ground or a play stand. He doesnt necessarily seem unhappy i just would like if anyone knew ideas to keep him stimulated in his cage all day? Thanks!

[GlassOnion]

How about a cockatiel friend?

[felix11]

It sounds like trying to introduce anything new into his life at this stage, with his disability, might ultimately be more stressful than rewarding. You could try putting little bits of paper and twigs into his food bowl with his feed for a bit of light foraging? Have him on you whenever you can?

But if he has spent 14 years not doing much, then he is used to not doing much. Maybe when he was young he would have been bored - by now he would be comfortable with his routine.

[marie83]

If he's 14 and blind I certainly wouldn't go adding another cockatiel into the house, particually if he has been alone most of that time. It might be ok but my guess is it would just make him nervy knowing another bird was close by and not being able to read its body language or see how close it actually was. I suppose you could always try playing a few different recordings of other cockatiels making various noises and see how he reacts to it if you did want to consider the idea of another bird.

I've no advice for changing things but to be honest if your going to try then make it subtle changes, I dare say he will be used to his cage layout a certain way and adding things he will bump into will only make him frightened in his cage too. It's a big shame he cant enjoy the things that other birds do but at least u can provide him with love and a home he can feel secure in.

[johnw2738]

You should celebrate its wedding and buy him some Glasses!

[liz]

I think johnw was speed reading and missed a few words.

Thank you for being a good person wanting to enrich his little life.

I would say keep him close. Riding on your should will not spoil him and it must be a comfort to have body contact. The tiels on www.YouTube.com should be the only ones he comes in contact with. If he had been raised with another tiel, that one would know of his problem. A new one would just run over him.