I have a problem with Monty and I have no idea what to do

[KDK241]

He will not eat when I am not here I know that a lot of people say that about their birds but he really doesn't. I have been suspecting it for about 5 days now just because of the amount of food he would eat as soon as I got home but now I know he really isn't eating.
For the past 3 days I have cleaned his cage right before I left and checked it first thing when I got back. There are always a couple normal poops and then a couple more that keep getting smaller until the last few are just urine. This is after being gone for 4-6 hours. As soon as I walk in the door he goes straight to his food dish and eats for about 30 minutes like he's starving and then goes back every 10 minutes or so for the next hour and his poops go back to normal again. I have no idea what to do about this I am home most of the time but he needs to gain weight so dieting is not helping right now His food and water are easily reached by him and he eats just fine when I'm here so I know that's not the problem. This is something that has just started within the last week, before that he ate with or without me.

Anyone have any suggestions?

[xafsmom]

First off... does he eat in the morning when you're there? I feed my birds twice a day. They get zero food during the night, so I know they'll eat what I feed them during the morning. Parrots usually eat 'big meals' twice a day, the rest of the time, they pretty much snack. You want to capitalise on the big meals and stop fretting the snacking. The weight will build from the big meals.

What you want is to make certain the good bulk building food is actually being eaten. Remove his dry food during the night. Let him sleep without sneaking to the food dish. Most parrots aren't night eaters anyway. Feed him a good breakfast, a mash, fruits/veggies/sprouts, some pellets, a bit of seed. Mix it ALL together and offer it to him. Make sure he eats it or at least a good amount of it. Then, give him a dry cup of food while you're gone in case he wants to snack. That evening, give the bulk building foods again. Really consider something like Avi-gain. It has done wonders for Kiva and a few other birds of mine that needed the help.

[KDK241]

He gets his cooked and fresh food in the morning, then has pellets and seed during the day and then at night he gets more fresh/cooked foods and his pellets. He actually likes to munch on his fruit and veggies throughout the day so I leave a few out and replace every couple hours. He loves his veggies! He's not a big fan of cooked foods but now that I have started to undercook it slightly he is getting better. He eats at least 1/2 of his cooked food though. I have orderd some Avi-gain after talking to the vet so he will be getting that soon.
He is a night nibbler though so I will try and remove his food at night. He likes to snack but I figured he needed to gain weight so taking the food away seemed counter-productive. I think my main concern is that I am planning to go away for a few days in a month or so and if he won't eat when I'm not here that could be a major issue. It's almost like he doesn't think he can eat when I'm not here. He doesn't even eat if I'm not in the room. I'm hoping that once he is in the room with the rest of the birds he will at least start to eat with them.
I also think that part of it is that he still hates his cage. I have given him pea pods (his favorite) in his cage before and he went right over to the dish, picked them up and dropped them on the floor. He mopes when he is in his cage and instead of getting better it's getting worse. He used to only climb the cage for 5 minutes at bedtime, now he climbs it for 2 hours before calming down. I'm going to look for another cage for him this weekend so hopefully he will like it this time, lol.

[xafsmom]

Before you rush and buy another cage, try moving it first. Or, try sheltering a side of it with a towel to give him a greater sense of privacy. He might feel too exposed where it's at. A badly placed cage can also affect eating. Pionus, in the wild, are sentry birds due to their mainly open range habitat for feeding locations according to Jon Fjeldså in his study. So, you might be his sentry and when you're not there, he doesn't feel safe enough to eat. Dunno, but just a thought.

[Addicted to Tequila]

I have the exact same problem with Dudley!

He now gets some "all natural multi-grain" bread to eat during the day. He LOVES it and just cannot say no! It is the 3 foot long loaf of french bread at Kroger's!

Ingredients:
Enriched flour, water, multigrain mix (3% sunflower, 3% cracked rye, 3% flaxseed, 2% cracked wheat, 1% millet,), wheatbran, yeast, cornmeal.
No artificial ingredients or preservatives.

I mean... you can actually pick the seeds out of this stuff! It is a whopping 89 cents a loaf!

He is FINALLY gaining some weight!

Try birdie bread or some really good store bought stuff like this. It is calorie rich, and low in fat. This brand has almost no salt and 0g of sugar even!

[xafsmom]

Forget the birds...

I want that bread! LOL

[KDK241]

I have moved his cage a few times, tried different ways of covering part of it and pretty much tried everything I can think of and he just keeps getting worse. I think he doesn't feel safe cuz it's too big.
I will try and find some of that bread! I have tried giving him some of my gram's home made bread but he didn't like it (he's obviously crazy, lol).

[xafsmom]

Ahhh hmmm.. yah sometimes they do feel more secure in a smaller cage. Cage size is one of my pet peeves with the pet industry. Everyone parrots stuff like "bigger is better!" but a lot of times, it's not only NOT better, but can cause a lot of misery for the bird itself.

[Addicted to Tequila]

Yeah... Dudders sulks in the corner of his 48x34x52 livable space cage. Nothing I do can convince him to "use" it. And he crashes to the bottom and hurts himself. I am looking into a 32x23x45 or possibly even a 24x22x32 cage for him. He is not much of a climber due to his probs (which I am still hoping to get better) and is out from 6:30am-7:45am and 5:30pm-10pm every day. When we go visiting... he actually seems to like the tiny (18x18x18) travel cage better than his mansion at home!

[xafsmom]

Xaf and Kiva live in a sugar glider set up, due to Kiva's disabilities. The King likes to stalk up and down the ramps going "hmmm" in a diabolical fashion. lol Xaf had his choice of a regular cage or one with his bud, he prefers the ramp one. I stuck some perches in there too for him, but alas, he likes ramps lol.

My Hahn's Pogo lives in a 20" cube. He hates anything bigger and will worry himself to skin and bones in a bigger cage. Izzy prefers as much space as possible, like.. the living room would do him fine. LOL Birds certainly are choosy things! Shame they're too small to eat - roasting them just dries the meat out, sadly.