# How to potty train your tiel!



## Amz (Apr 10, 2013)

*Note:* Some of the mods have pointed out that certain tiels will hold in their poop when potty trained. I never realized this could happen, since Rocko will just go on his own if I forget to put him in the cage when I think he needs to go. If you want to try this and notice that your tiel only goes when you ask, *stop this training immediately.*

Ever get tired of having your tiel out to play, only to see them squat and do their business on your carpet or bed or other hard-to-clean areas? I potty trained Rocko to poop on command so when I suspect he needs to poop, I can put him back in the cage, tell him to poop, and he does immediately. Not only that, but it only took a few days for him to learn the command. It's very useful for reducing the amount of cleanup you'll have to do. 

I apologize if there's already a thread/threads about this. Rocko picked up on this really quickly, so I thought I'd share in case others were having trouble.

Anyway... here's how to do it!

1) You'll have to have your birdie in his cage to teach him this. So if you have him out, put him up!

2) Watch him for a few minutes, until you see the infamous squat maneuver. Right as he poops, say a command. I used "go poop", and I find that it's more effective when I say Rocko's name first to get his attention. You can use "potty" or just "poop" or anything you want, really. After he poops, say "good boy!" (or of course, good girl) or whatever your bird knows is praise.

3) Repeat step two as many times as possible. You can use treats to reinforce the command, but I never bothered doing that with Rocko.

4) After a few days, or maybe a few weeks if you're unlucky, your tiel should understand the association between pottying and your command. Test it out by taking him out of the cage, playing with him for a few minutes, and when you suspect it's potty time, put him back and use your command. If it works, awesome! Tell him he's a good boy and reward him. If it doesn't, keep at it. Your birdie will catch on with enough persistence.

5) If you put your tiel in his cage just to try the command, and it worked, make sure to take him out immediately. This way, he'll understand that he did what you wanted.

Rocko learned this at around 3 or 4 months of age. I'm not sure if age has any impact on how well potty training works, just thought I'd mention. Also, you may need to say the command a few times before your tiel will actually poop. Typically when I put Rocko in his cage to potty, he'll run around in confusion like "WHY HAVE YOU FORSAKEN ME, MOMMY?!" and then after I repeat "go poop" four times or so he'll go lol.


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## WendyBeoBuddy (Dec 12, 2011)

i'd be worried that my tiel wouldn't use the bathroom unless i told them to 

this is intelligent...i've never thought about this, but it's the same way i taught my ferret to use the bathroom before coming out of the cage to play..


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## Amz (Apr 10, 2013)

WendyBeoBuddy said:


> i'd be worried that my tiel wouldn't use the bathroom unless i told them to
> 
> this is intelligent...i've never thought about this, but it's the same way i taught my ferret to use the bathroom before coming out of the cage to play..


Haha, Rocko doesn't think highly enough of me to ONLY poop when I want him to... Poor thing would probably explode while I was at school if that was the case though.

I used to have ferrets, but I can't remember how often they would poop... I never could get them to understand the concept of a litterbox though :frown:


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## Amz (Apr 10, 2013)

Update on this method of potty training!

It's been a few months since Rocko learned to do this. In the past few days, he's started to poop without me asking to. As in, I can go to get him out of the cage and he'll squat and go before he comes to me. Or if I put him back in the cage, he understands what I want him to do and poop without me asking.

He's learned to do this on his own, I never did anything besides the steps in my original post. Maybe he's smart, maybe all tiels are smart, I don't know! In any case, this is still a useful trick to teach your tiels


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## roxy culver (May 27, 2010)

We really don't recommend potty training tiels. If you teach them to go on command, they wait for that command. Now Rocko seems to go on his own, but let's say you have him out on a weekend ALL day and forget to put him back. He holds that poop all day and that can make him sick. Its just not something we recommend on here. Poop comes with owning tiels.


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## MeanneyFids (Aug 24, 2010)

i have to agree with roxy, we highly do not recommend potty training cockatiels because holding their poop for too long can cause bacterial infections. we just do not recommend it because some birds will hold it for too long.


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## Amz (Apr 10, 2013)

If I wait too long before putting him in his cage to go, he'll poop anyway. He doesn't hold it in, so I didn't realize that could be a problem. He has no problem with going in the cage when I want him to, but if I take too long or forget to put him back to poop, then he'll go on his own.

[edit] Added a caution to my first post. Sorry for the trouble, I honestly didn't realize that this could cause them to hold it in.


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