# toilet training gone wrong



## bed (May 1, 2014)

I read that cockatiels poop about every 20 minutes. And so I've been only picking my bird up right after she poops so she knows that she needs to poop in the cage only. After about 15 minutes I place her back in.


As a result, whenever I put her back in her cage or away from me she poops prematurely right when my hand is close to the perch. Sometimes there isn't poop and just water. It could get messy... this is often when I dont wait that long.

I'm pretty sure it is not a sickness because when I randomly pick her up without her pooping before hand, she would poop anyways. sometimes it happens when i go close to her cage. When I'm not interacting with her, her droppings look normal.

Should I keep doing what I've been doing? I don't really know what to change in my routine.


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## tweetsandsarah (Mar 27, 2014)

Um. That I didn't know a trigger like that could be developed to make a bird poop on command, so to speak.

You might be able to redo your routine with some of the info here so that she does it on her own or her trigger is something different: http://www.ehow.com/how_7889163_potty-train-cockatiel.html

Also: http://www.mit.edu/~rei/birds-potty.html

The thing is that you don't want your hand coming near her to be the cue to poop because then every time you move your hand near her she will poop. As mentioned in one of the links, you might wanna work on watching for signs that she's about to poop and then take the appropriate steps rather than doing it every 15 minutes. Might result in some accidents, but it could help train her. I wish you luck and I hope to hear how things go!


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## Amz (Apr 10, 2013)

I've been told that potty training is a bad idea for birds, because they do two things - 1) hold it in, and 2) strain to go when they don't have to go. I potty-trained Rocko before I knew this, but honestly, I've never had any trouble with him doing either of those things. If he has to go but I'm not asking him to, he'll go. If he's in the cage and I'm asking for him to go so I can take him out, but he doesn't have to go, he just chirps at me and I know that's how he's saying "I don't have to go right now."

But obviously, I wouldn't have been told that there was something wrong with potty training unless there was some truth in it. But like all things, I believe that each individual bird handles potty training differently. If your bird is holding it in or straining, don't do it. If not, I honestly think it's okay.

Also, my command is saying "go poop" if that helps you. A verbal command is better than a hand gesture because it's clearer and less likely to be confused for something else, as in your case.


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## sunnysmom (Sep 23, 2011)

I don't think it's a good idea to potty train a bird. It's unhealthy for them to hold their droppings for long. Here is a prior post on the subject explaining why it's not a good idea: http://talkcockatiels.com/showthread.php?t=79201&highlight=potty+training


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## Tisena (Sep 28, 2013)

I just recognize when they're going to poop and get them to step up first and hold them above an easily wiped surface or some tissue. I don't want to have them hold poop in but its good to be able to recognize when the bombs going to drop just in-case you have to go out :lol:


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## Tequilagirl (Mar 4, 2013)

Tisena said:


> I just recognize when they're going to poop and get them to step up first and hold them above an easily wiped surface or some tissue. I don't want to have them hold poop in but its good to be able to recognize when the bombs going to drop just in-case you have to go out :lol:


I don't know how you can keep up with 3 birds lol.


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