# Was your tiel ever SUPER clingy and then outgrew it?



## Guest (Sep 24, 2012)

I searched this forum but am still unclear about this... lil ' Rascal, my 2 month old tiel is SUPER... I mean SUPER clingy. It has to be super glued to me all the time. My cage is kept in my office where I spend all day working and it's impossible to leave the door open on the cage because it will fly on me!! (wings are clipped but it still makes the 6 foot distance).

Now it's back to going ballistic if it's in the cage with the door shut because it's in desperation to get to me. It is cute but I hope this is happening mostly because it's only 2 months and will outgrow it at least a little?


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## MeanneyFids (Aug 24, 2010)

hm... dally, my female pearl cockatiel has always been super clingy, from day one. now at almost 3 years old, shes a little LESS clingy--as long as shes got tsuka near by--but she is still clingy. she doesnt like being alone at all, she freaks out. shes not as bad as your bird with flying to me, but she screams for hours on end if left alone lol she needs a constant companion. i think in time, he will calm down a tad bit, but i would work on training him to be more independent and learn to play on a playgym by himself. but he sounds like he is a clingy bird by personality because he has bonded to you.


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## budgieandtiel (Jul 24, 2012)

When my cockatiel was younger, he would be super clingy too. I couldn't walk into the kitchen by myself, he was always at my heels. Then he went through a phase where he bonded with my budgie and didn't want me touching him at all, and now, at nearly a year old, he comes to me sometimes and plays in his bird gym sometimes. He has his clingy moments, but if I put him on the ground, he generally gets the message.
You could try providing Rascal with a mirror outside of the cage when he wants to spend time with you, so he'll be distracted by the mirror instead. Does he have toys in his cage?


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## roxy culver (May 27, 2010)

My Cinnamon was super clingy when I got her and she never really grew out of it. She was fully flighted and would fly to me all the time. Always had to be on me, doing what I was doing. She was OK to hang out with the other birds but she always thought I was better than anything else. You can work on building some independence, which would be good for the both of you lol.


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## bjknight93 (Nov 13, 2011)

You will have to condition Rascal to grow out of it. Start by giving him a little less attention each day and gradually increase it.

Allie was so clingy, I'd put her away and leave the room and she would call for hours and hours. As soon as she heard anyone up in the morning she would begin calling until someone came to talk to her or play with her.

Now that she has moved with the other birds and is not in my home she does not get as much attention, which has caused her to be less clingy. She still loves attention and everything, but she doesn't sit there and call until we get her.

No bird is going just get less clingy if you keep reinforcing the behavior. If he starts throwing a fit and you go get him each time he is going to throw fits all the time because he is rewarded for it. But..ignore him when he throws fits and take him out when he is behaving and he will get better about his "clinginess"/demanding behavior.


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## LucyPie (Sep 18, 2012)

bjknight93 said:


> You will have to condition Rascal to grow out of it. Start by giving him a little less attention each day and gradually increase it.


^ This.

Lucy is just as clingy, I think. But I did have to condition her out of screaming/flying whenever I left her alone. Now she'll still chirp for me several times after I leave the room, but after a little while, she calms down


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## Guest (Sep 24, 2012)

I just got a new food bowl along with a mirror and for the first time the bird is finally calm and preoccupied by itself. It loves that new food dish and looking in the mirror playing with it while eating. I try not to reinforce screaming behavior by never taking him out of cage when screaming... normally I just cover half the cage with a towel until he stops.

I'm going to buy a larger mirror to place into the cage so hopefully it will help =)


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## Guest (Sep 24, 2012)

I just glanced into the food bowl... I don't think this bowl's big enough? I'm going to place a second identical food bowl right next to it with another mirror. I really like this bowl because he can't thrashing around in it.


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## bjknight93 (Nov 13, 2011)

I don't recommend using mirrors with male tiels. It makes many of them aggressive and hormonal. Kirk, if given a mirror, will sit in front of it and chatter all day, sing, and lick it. He won't even move from the spot except to eat and drink. It was very unhealthy.


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## vampiric_conure (Jul 8, 2012)

Mindwipe was a huge clingy bird as a chick. Now she's bonded to Redshift and there's less of that constant need to be with me.


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## budgieandtiel (Jul 24, 2012)

ah yeah, I probably should have emphasized the "outside" part in my comment. We don't permit any mirrors inside the birds cages, but Shiraarat gets to whistle to the dresser mirror once a day. Usually while my mom naps.
Sorry for not being clear!


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## hysteriauk (Jun 24, 2012)

Zippy can be super clingy at times am trying to work on it with him by ignoring him when he gets noisy ie yelling for attention if he gets really loud I will cover him for a bit , He gets really upset if I move away from his line of sight in or out of the cage ,so he spends most of his out time firmly rooted to my shoulder


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## tielfan (Aug 31, 2008)

Mirrors can cause major behavior problems with some males but others are reasonably OK with it. You can definitely expect to have cage territoriality issues when he's hormonal but there are ways to reduce the problem: (1) use hormone reduction techniques, see http://talkcockatiels.com/showthread.php?t=32330 (2) when you need to put your hand in the cage, do it while holding a piece of millet spray for him to munch on. A hand that's bearing gifts is more welcome than an empty hand. He still might get mad, but you can angle the millet spray so he bites into the seeds instead of your hand. 

You can also use food treats to reward him for behaving well in the cage. Don't give it to him when he's freaking out wanting to be with you of course, but wait for a moment when he's calm and give him a treat, and gradually extend the amount of calm time that's needed to earn a treat.

Shodu was very clingy as a baby and hyperactive in general. It was motherhood that eventually calmed her down, but I think she probably would have calmed down somewhat when she got older in any case.


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## eduardo (Jan 27, 2012)

Well, Candy was like that when we got her. Then, I decided to get her a friend, Tony, in hope she would leave me alone LOL. Needless to say, now I have two clingers 
It does help sometimes when I try to ignore their yelling at me to let them out of the cage. If I persist, they eventually go on about their own business.


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## LucyPie (Sep 18, 2012)

Reading all these male behaviors and strategies to improve them is really making me glad I have a female o.o


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## tielfan (Aug 31, 2008)

Clinging isn't a gender-specific behavior. The girls can do it just as well as the boys, it just depends on the personality of the individual bird.


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## Renae (Feb 9, 2008)

Quinn used to be clingy, and then when I ended up keeping Mishka (I was hand-feeding him for a friend) she changed and backed off a lot and now she is more hands-off. I do have a few that have always been pretty clingy, and are yet to change.


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## Scribbles (Jun 28, 2012)

We've had Monte 6 weeks today. The first couple of weeks he was so clingy. He would cry to get out of his cage, and would be forever pacing up and back in front of the door. I was beginning to think we were going to have problems. But he's quite balanced. He'll play by himself and amuse himself, and other times he calls and wants to be around you. Sometimes he wants on you when you are busy with other things, and other times you want him on you but he wants to do his own thing!! Here's hoping Rascal finds that good balance of independance along with wanting to be with you.


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## Ghosth (Jun 25, 2012)

In my opinion, when they are that absorbed in you, getting to know you, that they are clingy, that is when you build bond that will last through years, bird girl/boy friends, whatever. 

Embrace the clingy! Feed it, nurture it, revel in it, and enjoy it.
Use it to motivate your bird to do things it probably would not otherwise do.


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