# Inactive Tiels -- Unhealthy?



## caterpillar (Oct 14, 2013)

I posted on a comment on another thread that our tiels are simply not very active. They will sit wherever you put them, and for the most part, they will stay there. They do not fly unless they are startled and trying to escape something, and if you put them somewhere they will basically just try to climb to the highest point that they can -- Georgia, the female, is a particularly good climber -- and then just stop and sit around for hours. We recently started getting them toys. They barely play with them and several weeks later this is not changing.

In the other thread, someone (thanks Roxy!) said that because one is the offspring of the other, they likely share a disposition that makes them sort of lazy. But I wonder if this has health implications. In other pets, being sedentary is problematic because of potential obesity and other health issues, but I've never heard of anyone being concerned about obese birds.

My questions:

-- Is there a health risk for inactive birds who don't get enough exercise the same way that there is a health risk for inactive dogs or cats?
-- Would getting them harnesses and trying to walk them around outside help at all? (Keep in mind that they are aggressive and will not take kindly to the harness at first.)
-- Are there certain foods they could eat to increase their energy levels?
-- Can inactivity be brought on by not having a big enough cage? Someone here has commented that our tiels' cage might not be big enough for them, and we are exploring whether we can make a bigger cage fit in our apartment.
-- This might be extreme, but if we got a third tiel who has an outgoing and active personality, might it "rub off" on the other two?


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## SoCalTiels (Oct 8, 2013)

Going to attempt to answer all of these best I can :3 One, inactive tiels tend to be overweight tiels, cause they aren't getting the proper exercise needed. Overweight tiels have the same general health problems as overweight individuals of any species, I woule assume liver or kidney problems being main ones that I can think of. Being very inactive can lead to weight problems in birds, though it may not be as visually obvious as say a chubbybutt dog would be. Two, I wouldn't attempt the harness if your birds are aggressive, even trying to get them in the dang thing would be more traumatizing to both of you than beneficial. I wouldn't even attempt a harness with my own birds, just knowing how negatively they would take to be handled like that. Taking them outside in a harness shouldn't be a negative experience for them. Three, a bigger cage might help a bit. Even if they're just exploring a new cage, or moving around the bars, it could still help. Toys might not be to their interest, but I would recommend ones with bells or make some sort of noise when bumped into. I've rarely seen mine play with toys, but I've heard the bell on one go off when one of the birds decided it was in his space and needed to be taught a lesson, lol. Have you tried just putting them on the counter of your kitchen or something and seen if they walk around at all? Where there might not necessarily be a super high position to get to, or takes some work to get there. Even if you're moving them from that high place and making them climb back there, still a bit of exercise? Someplace where they'd be interested in possibly exploring, rather than just sitting still on their play pen? Paper they can chew, or stuff they'd allowed to be get into. Four, I also wouldn't really recommend a new tiel until you've formed a bond of sorts with the ones you're dealing with now. It might add to the problem, and birds don't always get along. If you're looking into a bigger cage, would you be prepared to have two if the new one wasn't friendly with the older ones, and vice versa. I wouldn't look at a new bird as a solution to a problem, given the amount of effort that needs to be put into upkeep.

Hopefully people have some more suggestions on activity issues!

EDIT;; I added a picture from Susanne Russo, who has the wesbite www.justcockatiels.net for telling if a bird is overweight and I've seen users post it before but couldn't find the actual link on her page though, no one kill me! Got it from google. D: I'll remove it if it's not considered proper credit to her.


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## caterpillar (Oct 14, 2013)

SoCalTiels said:


> Have you tried just putting them on the counter of your kitchen or something and seen if they walk around at all? Someplace where they'd be interested in possibly exploring, rather than just sitting still on their play pen? Paper they can chew, or stuff they'd allowed to be get into. Four, I also wouldn't really recommend a new tiel until you've formed a bond of sorts with the ones you're dealing with now. It might add to the problem, and birds don't always get along. If you're looking into a bigger cage, would you be prepared to have two if the new one wasn't friendly with the older ones, and vice versa. I wouldn't look at a new bird as a solution to a problem, given the amount of effort that needs to be put into upkeep.


Yeah, we put them on the kitchen counter and in different rooms as much as we can. They still just sit there and don't do anything... they very very rarely chew or shred anything we give them. 

We're concerned that our birds will not bond with us no matter what, and they also have a history of cruelty to another tiel, so yes we would definitely get a second cage if we got a third bird. But again that seems extreme.


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## cknauf (Aug 27, 2012)

I wouldn't worry about weight unless it becomes a true problem. Bodies are good at regulating weight.

I don't know if it was discussed in your previous thread, but make sure you're feeding a rounded diet. Insufficient nutrition can lead to lethargy as well as irritability and aggression. So can inherited personality, but better safe than sorry.

As for encouraging activity: climbing is decent exercise. Can you provide them with a playgym or climbing net or something similar? If they'd rather climb than fly, let them climb a lot.

Foraging toys could be good, especially ones like this that require the bird to balance and stretch (you can make your own version of the toy for much cheaper than $15, the pic is just for illustration). Your birds might be more interested in working for their food than playing.

Clicker training might help you bond and get them more exercise, if you want to look into that.


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## caterpillar (Oct 14, 2013)

cknauf said:


> As for encouraging activity: climbing is decent exercise. Can you provide them with a playgym or climbing net or something similar? If they'd rather climb than fly, let them climb a lot.
> 
> Foraging toys could be good, especially ones like this that require the bird to balance and stretch (you can make your own version of the toy for much cheaper than $15, the pic is just for illustration). Your birds might be more interested in working for their food than playing.
> 
> Clicker training might help you bond and get them more exercise, if you want to look into that.


They have a playgym -- they just sit on the perches and do nothing even though there are toys on it. They have a net they can climb on too but they don't really seem particularly inspired by that either. And their shreddable foraging toys have gotten zero attention 

I am going to sound really dumb here, but I just googled clicker training for 10 minutes and still cannot quite figure out what it is. Does it legitimately help?


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## Tequilagirl (Mar 4, 2013)

Take a look at this

http://www.clickertraining.com/files/clickertraining.pdf?SSAID=389818


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## caterpillar (Oct 14, 2013)

Tequilagirl said:


> Take a look at this
> 
> http://www.clickertraining.com/files/clickertraining.pdf?SSAID=389818


thank you!!


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## ollieandme (Mar 25, 2013)

It could be personality. Ollie is like that: she's always been fairly inactive. She did increase in activity when i got Bjorn.
I wouldn't get a new bird just for that reason - it sounds like your hands and apartment are already full!! 

I reckon your birds just aren't used to doing things. They're not used to having things to play with. Maybe they're still nervous round you too - only a relaxed bird plays with toys.

Just give it time - i think it will change  most of the tiels on TC like playing and doing things. Mine are less toy birds, and prefer to sit on me and watch what i'm doing.


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## caterpillar (Oct 14, 2013)

Hey guys, I wanted to post an update to this.

Our birds are getting fatter and fatter, especially the female, Georgia. I think this is because as we've tried to train them, inevitably there's a lot of food bribery involved, and I think all the millet spray is causing them to gain weight. They have been tough to train (to say the least) and so I'm concerned that we may make backwards progress if we take away their treats.

They are very very inactive and we have not been able to change that. We've given them toy after toy and they refuse to play with them -- they just sit still and occasionally attack each other on their perch or playgym, and Georgia will sometimes climb around to try to get back on the perch after Elvis kicks her off, but that's basically the only exercise she gets. If we put them on a flat surface, like a table, they'll walk around for a minute or so and explore but then just stop again and sit around.

So here's the thing. They are clipped, and recently someone here told me that the reason that they sometimes scream for us is so we'll come and move them because they can't move around well themselves. All other ethics about to-clip-or-not-to-clip aside, would they feel more comfortable moving around/exploring if they were flighted again?

We really do not have room for them to fly around... in our old house they used to be in a bigger room and would fly around a little bit (they were flighted at the time), though I think it was mostly out of panic because they'd be screaming the whole time. Our current space does not have room for them to fly around safely without crashing into things. But might it be worth it to take that risk since they are getting to a point where they are verging on obese? Would getting their flights back help them get more active in general?

(ps: harnesses are still out of the question, we'd lose a finger if we tried that!)


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## sunnysmom (Sep 23, 2011)

I think I would let their flights grow out. I think it's always better for a bird to be flighted if possible. Also, will they play on the floor at all? When I first got Sunny, I would sit on the floor with him and scatter seeds around. He would walk around foraging, etc. Now, he loves to walk around and explore.


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## caterpillar (Oct 14, 2013)

sunnysmom said:


> I think I would let their flights grow out. I think it's always better for a bird to be flighted if possible. Also, will they play on the floor at all? When I first got Sunny, I would sit on the floor with him and scatter seeds around. He would walk around foraging, etc. Now, he loves to walk around and explore.


That's a really good idea -- maybe if we scattered treats around they would walk around. Normally they don't notice treats at all unless you really stick them in their faces, but I hope they can be trained to "explore."

We initially clipped them but kept our third tiel flighted because they were ganging up on her and we thought maybe that would help her be more assertive if she knew she could fly and they couldn't. Ironically, then she flew away entirely when she escaped to another room that had a window that was open a tiny bit (our neighbor was visiting, it was a hot day, and the window was unwittingly left open). Then we let their flights grow out but clipped them again when it became clear that our new apartment did not have spaces large enough for them to fly safely (not to mention very hard to catch to get back in their cage).

I think I'll try the seeds thing. I'd love to let their flights grow out again but given our size constraints and the fact that we have lost one bird because she was flighted (the open window thing really worries me, not only do our neighbors come over a lot, but our cat knows how to open doors and could easily expose an escape route), I'm very reluctant. I agree it's best for them to fly!!

EDIT: oh and it would be a miracle if they "played" with anything. We've been given them one new toy after another for months now. They ignore EVERYTHING.


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## sunnysmom (Sep 23, 2011)

My tiel isn't really big on playing with toys either, at least in his cage. He likes toys out of his cage. But his favorite thing is to "help" me with whatever I'm doing. Especially if that something involves paper- like going through the mail. That's another thing I do with my tiel, I'll sit on the floor with him and go through mail and give him the junk mail and he happily chews and climbs around while we do mail together.


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## caterpillar (Oct 14, 2013)

sunnysmom said:


> My tiel isn't really big on playing with toys either, at least in his cage. He likes toys out of his cage. But his favorite thing is to "help" me with whatever I'm doing. Especially if that something involves paper- like going through the mail. That's another thing I do with my tiel, I'll sit on the floor with him and go through mail and give him the junk mail and he happily chews and climbs around while we do mail together.


Awww that's sweet! Mine like to sit on my laptop while I'm working so maybe that's something I should try!!!!


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## daharkazangel (Dec 11, 2013)

Every house has room for a flighted bird. All birds will crash if not used to being flighted. A properly developed flighted bird is more nimble then a sparrow. Can dart around the tele etc. Even in a unit or even a single room and flighted bird with proper wings will not crash..... Let them grow...will take time to get them flying normally.


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## daharkazangel (Dec 11, 2013)

I dunno maybe im being crazy, but if my neighbours or cat opened a door and let my birds out id loose it.....Your house.


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