# Male tiel won't whistle now



## caterpillar (Oct 14, 2013)

We were making great progress with Elvis, who was previously a very loud screamer, as we worked to tame him. He had become a very prolific whistler (would make a clicking noise and then wolf whistle) and would routinely have a "conversation" with us every morning. He even, as I posted here before, learned how to meow in imitation of the cat!

He has not whistled in several days now. He just stopped. No more morning songs, no more meowing, no responding with a whistle if I whistle to him. Today I whistled to him and he acted like he was about to start responding, but after a split-second-long whistle he just stopped.

Is this something I need to be worried about? The good news is, he is not screaming anywhere near as much anymore, and if he is we know why (he wants to go back to his cage, wants fresh food, or wants to have the cage covered for the night) but those whistles were so enjoyable and now he's just stopped!


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## CaliTiels (Oct 18, 2012)

Is he under the weather? Sometimes they hide their illnesses well. Watch out for him and monitor him


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## caterpillar (Oct 14, 2013)

Lougirl said:


> Is he under the weather? Sometimes they hide their illnesses well. Watch out for him and monitor him


He seems perfectly alert and healthy otherwise. The only thing that has gone wrong with him recently is that he had a broken blood feather and one of his wings was a little bit bloody as a result. But that's it.


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## CaliTiels (Oct 18, 2012)

Ok. Have you noticed anything out of the ordinary that may have effected him?


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## caterpillar (Oct 14, 2013)

Lougirl said:


> Ok. Have you noticed anything out of the ordinary that may have effected him?


Absolutely nothing. We were so proud of the progress he had made and then he just completely stopped whistling. He is eating, sleeping, and interacting with our other tiel normally. He also was just screaming responses because the local crows were making noise a little too close to our apartment... so he is alert.


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## moonchild (Jul 29, 2012)

Are they getting more sleep now? It is possible he was singing a lot due to being hormonal, and now his hormones have settled down. When I first got Juju he would sing a lot, but now he hardly ever does. But he's happy.

I may be way off -- just a thought.


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## caterpillar (Oct 14, 2013)

moonchild said:


> Are they getting more sleep now? It is possible he was singing a lot due to being hormonal, and now his hormones have settled down. When I first got Juju he would sing a lot, but now he hardly ever does. But he's happy.
> 
> I may be way off -- just a thought.


That's possible, and they are getting more sleep now, though he had STARTED whistling more when we started paying more attention to them and we thought it was really promising because he was finally being social and communicating with us after months of just screaming at the top of his lungs all day.

I think they are happier. They grind their beaks a lot more now especially when they are on their playgym or we have put them on the windowsill to watch things outside. But I had heard that it was a positive sign of increased trust if the tiels started to make a broader range of sounds, which he certainly was. So the fact that he suddenly stopped (if we're lucky we'll hear him make a single wolf whistle once every few days) is worrisome.


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## scootergirl762 (Aug 27, 2013)

Is he molting? I've heard that sometimes during a molt they might become quieter.


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## caterpillar (Oct 14, 2013)

scootergirl762 said:


> Is he molting? I've heard that sometimes during a molt they might become quieter.


huh, not that I can tell... Would the sign of that basically be that he is losing a lot of feathers? Sorry, so new to these things!!


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## CaliTiels (Oct 18, 2012)

Uh huh. Molting is when they shed their old feathers for new ones


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## caterpillar (Oct 14, 2013)

Lougirl said:


> Uh huh. Molting is when they shed their old feathers for new ones


Yeah, that I know...wasn't sure if there were weird other signs. Haven't seen a ton of feathers in their cage yet but maybe he's about to molt.


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## CaliTiels (Oct 18, 2012)

I know mine are about to start because they get itchy and tend to be stand offish


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## caterpillar (Oct 14, 2013)

Lougirl said:


> I know mine are about to start because they get itchy and tend to be stand offish


Lol. Mine are ALWAYS standoffish. But they have been doing a lot of wing stretching and extra preening recently so maybe they are going to molt too.


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