# Destruct-O Tiels



## enigma731 (Aug 12, 2011)

What's the most problematic/irritating thing your birds have destroyed?

Sunny managed to permanently break two keys off my laptop a couple of nights ago, so now I'm going to have to do a full keyboard replacement. Which would be annoying as-is, but is considerably more of a pain because I'm in the middle of residency applications that are due in a couple weeks.


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## Janalee (Jul 25, 2012)

*destructotiels*

Oh wow...none of my birds have ever done anything like that, but they have knocked things off of shelves and broken them. Also broke a mirror or two (Bennie, that is, that did that!)


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## Charlotte (Jun 4, 2014)

She's picked the wallpaper and some of the paint from the window - both now covered up with towels and cardboard. Good job I'm not house proud! She's also gnawed the corners of two of my books and even picked a library label off one that was borrowed (I re-attached it ) 

Yet...I've had a java perch sitting in the middle of my desk for two weeks, and it has gone entirely un-chewed. Unbelievable!


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## Charlotte (Jun 4, 2014)

Oh, and did you know that whatever is in their poop literally eats through the pages of old books? I found that out the hard way too...watch out!


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## enigma731 (Aug 12, 2011)

Charlotte said:


> She's picked the wallpaper and some of the paint from the window - both now covered up with towels and cardboard. Good job I'm not house proud! She's also gnawed the corners of two of my books and even picked a library label off one that was borrowed (I re-attached it )
> 
> Yet...I've had a java perch sitting in the middle of my desk for two weeks, and it has gone entirely un-chewed. Unbelievable!


Of course not! Don't you know the only things worth chewing on are the things Mom doesn't want you to chew on?


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## Schubird (Jun 12, 2015)

I suppose I haven't had Schubert long enough to have him destroy any of MY stuff, but he recently discovered how to use his shreddable toys and it dawned on me how much money I'm going to be spending on shreddable toys over the next 15-20 years. The parakeets I had were never THIS destructive, I had no idea such a little Toot could destroy things so...fast!


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## enigma731 (Aug 12, 2011)

The good news is, you can make shreddable toys really cheap. They're just as happy to shred a coffee filter or paper bag as they are that $7 pet store toy.


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## TamaMoo (Jan 12, 2014)

Schubird said:


> I suppose I haven't had Schubert long enough to have him destroy any of MY stuff, but he recently discovered how to use his shreddable toys and it dawned on me how much money I'm going to be spending on shreddable toys over the next 15-20 years. The parakeets I had were never THIS destructive, I had no idea such a little Toot could destroy things so...fast!


I've ordered parts so I can re-string Joey's shreddable toys at a better price than buying new over and over. Most of his have beads in between the bits meant to be destroyed, so when he was 'finished with the toys, what was left looked brand new. You can get yucca, popsicle sticks and other parts for really reasonable prices in bulk, and they can be restrung while you are watching tv, or just sitting around talking to people/on the phone, since it doesn't require a lot of focus to do it.


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## Dylan&Gracie (Nov 21, 2014)

My teils have been generally mild-mannered, but our past foster cockatiel Gracie destroyed a lot of phone charger cords - they were his ultimate prize to grab and snip the moment a back was turned. Our parakeets, however, have always been much worse. I have had many beloved houseplants turned to mulch when they were left alone with them for just a few minutes and decided to pretend to be beavers and gnaw away all the bark from the stems and have a party snipping off leaves.


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## roxy culver (May 27, 2010)

Hmmm, let me think. Cinnamon destroyed a pair of earrings I got from Peru while I was in the Navy, I didn't even realize what she was doing (they were in my ears, she was on my shoulder) until they fell out of my ears and into my lap. 

The whole flock chewed a hole in the wall in our first apartment near the slider. I had to patch it before we moved out. That was soooo joyous.

Snowball and Hershey destroyed a necklace a friend got me for my birthday. They broke the chain. Needless to say, I stopped wearing jewelry around them after that lol.


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## vampiric_conure (Jul 8, 2012)

OOOOH! OOOH! Here's an expensive one! I had one of my former breeders chew through the cord to a $200 wacom tablet about 15 years ago. I still miss that thing! 

Then there's the book with a rare cover that my entire flock destroyed  I was at the computer for a while and the birds were playing. I turn around and ...well, lets just say I have to get a new book, LOL


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## sunnysmom (Sep 23, 2011)

Sunny chewed off the yellow and green buttons on our TV remote control- I'm not really sure what they were for anyway. He also managed to chew a nice hole in our chair- under my fiancé's watch, grrrrrrr- but luckily we were getting ready to buy new furniture anyway. And he pretty much completely destroyed a book my fiancé got at an antique store but I hold the fiancé responsible for not paying attention. As you can see, Sunny can never be wrong.


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## enigma731 (Aug 12, 2011)

Fortunately the keyboard replacement was easy and also cheap because I did it myself.


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## CaliTiels (Oct 18, 2012)

_Excellent._

A few keys of mine are missing as well, but back when I was in high school, I would say it was Beaker that ate my world history textbook. Hey, I hate world history too, but if that was destroyed we had to pay for it. Luckily he only ate 2 (whole) pages so I just handed it in at the end of the year and hoped they wouldn't notice. They never did :thumbu:


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## Francesca (Apr 30, 2015)

My guy chewed on my necklace and broke the chain. He bites on my necklaces so I can't wear them around him. 
He also roams my work desk (I work at home) and he chews on my notes all the time or he goes for the computer cord and I have move him away.
I have a beautiful wooden stand I bought for him and he prefers landing on my head and sitting there so he can sing to me, so why I spent the money on the dang thing I do not know...he never sites on it.


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## enigma731 (Aug 12, 2011)

CaliTiels said:


> _Excellent._
> 
> A few keys of mine are missing as well, but back when I was in high school, I would say it was Beaker that ate my world history textbook. Hey, I hate world history too, but if that was destroyed we had to pay for it. Luckily he only ate 2 (whole) pages so I just handed it in at the end of the year and hoped they wouldn't notice. They never did :thumbu:



This is what Roo has to say to Beaker about that


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## Francesca (Apr 30, 2015)

Oh yes! Roo is doing the masterpiece theater act with that book. 
Frankie also hangs up on people when he gets a hold of my phone. Twice he hung up on my mom!


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## enigma731 (Aug 12, 2011)

LOL, aw, Frankie! 

Both of my girls love my ipad, and have figured out how to make the things move with their tongues. Fortunately they can't really destroy it...


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## Dislian (Sep 5, 2015)

My Danno also likes phones and tablets... She likes to destroy the covering parts, or the ps3 controller, or my notes from the university... Silly things, but at least she hasn't destroyed anything serious jaja


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## Francesca (Apr 30, 2015)

I think cockatiels are part monkey! They see us type and talk on our phones and they want in on the action!
Love the photos!


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## Carrie88 (Sep 20, 2013)

1. Permanently pulled 5 keys off my laptop 

2. Chewed through the wire for our Christmas lights (they weren't on at the time) 

3. Picked the white gloss off my door frames 

4. Picked the wallpaper off in my living room 

I'm sure zazus done more too!! Little menace!!


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## Carrie88 (Sep 20, 2013)

Ooh wait he has!! 

He's chewed my iPad case to shreds as well!! And he chewed the case of one of my fave DVDs!


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## zeeman (Oct 1, 2015)

I've Only had my tiel for about 6 weeks now, and he's not too adventurous around my room yet, so he doesn't get into too much. However, he likes to chew, pluck and peel the cheap vinyl off of my comfy chair's armrests. My chair would be shredded up if I didn't actively distract him with something (millet  ) every time he went to chew at it. I may just put an old blanket, covering the chair and let him pick away at that


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## littletiel (May 15, 2011)

Definitely some rare books I loved! They were under a blanket, but somehow he managed to get under the blanket. <_<


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## emirm990 (Oct 14, 2015)

My cockatiel Nini chewed:
1. edge of desk, he is chewing and when i look to him, he stops, i turn around and he continues.
2. he pulls out keyboard keys.
3. pulls mouse from desk while chewing cables.
4. trying to pull buttons from my phone.
5. chewed gamepad analog sticks and cable.
But i love him and i can't be angry when he is so cute while on destruction, evil mode


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## Lillahine (Nov 25, 2014)

Baby goes after my tablet and phone case. She will also destroy anything paper if left for a sec


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## bjknight93 (Nov 13, 2011)

Dangerous dangerous question. I've had cockatiels since 2011...in that time they have chewed through 4 lightning cables (iPhone chargers), chewed the outsides of various books, chewed a half-dollar sized hole in my ex's wall, chewed the corners of my wooden blinds, chewed the corners of the window sill, chewed the top of the bedroom door, chewed a bit on the baseboards, chewed the nightstand and the bed frame. 

What's mine is theirs, obviously. 

We've just moved last month, and our previous lease ends in 5 days. I've been doing loads of patchwork these last couple days. I used acrylic putty to fix the blinds, and lots of spackle on the windowsill corners..door and baseboards getting touch up paint. 

Needless to say, the new place is much more bird-proofed now that we have found what they're after. When the flock was small, we didn't have so much of an issue...but with each new bird is a new interest. We took the blinds down in the bird room at the new place and applied corner guards to all the windowsills and corners in the room. We also laid vinyl over the carpeting and it is now standard procedure to remove the ceiling fan blades each time we move to a new place. 

I promise the birds have toys!!


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## shaenne (Apr 19, 2014)

My tiels haven't broken anything significant, but my lorikeet chewed the +volume button off the tv remote a little while ago lol


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## littletiel (May 15, 2011)

Headphones!
I remember that once I was listening to some music with headphones and my eyes closed, and suddenly the music went off...


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## ParrotletsRock (Oct 8, 2013)

enigma731 said:


> I meant 'tiels in general, since I assumed that was the joke you were making.


Mine just eat my blinds... Only my parrotlet demands human flesh...lol


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## roxy culver (May 27, 2010)

The op of the thread asked that we get the thread back on track so let's see if we can do that?

My birds ate $300 worth of my apartment in San Diego before we moved out. They chewed up the screen door and left a hole in the wall.


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## enigma731 (Aug 12, 2011)

Back when I lived with my parents, Sunny chewed up the wooden blades of their ceiling fan so badly that they had to replace it.


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## roxy culver (May 27, 2010)

> Back when I lived with my parents, Sunny chewed up the wooden blades of their ceiling fan so badly that they had to replace it


O geez!!!

Back when I had 12 tiels (because hubby has no self control, I swear), they had their own room in the house we lived in on base. They chewed up the windowsill on that room, the blinds, the walls, it was pretty bad. Thankfully, we were able to clean it all up before inspection, but that was a lot of work lol.


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## galactickiwi (Feb 4, 2015)

Miso's favorite chew toy is chords! Any kind of chord you name it, computer charger, phone charger, the brand new light up mouse i bought and had to replace about 15 minutes after i opened it...he also loves to rip little bits off the keyboard cover i had to buy to stop her from eating/pooping on my keys..

she is no longer allowed in the vicinity of any chords. she cant go near electronic devices unless its a samsung tablet which she hasnt been around enough yet to figure out where the only 3 buttons on it are, and its cute to see her walk on top of it and stare at her reflection.

she really likes Q-tips i found out recently (not to rip the cotton off, she likes chewing on the stick and feeling her way around the cotton bit, but mostly the stick). i gave her one the other day and she was set for an hour and a half....


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## TamaMoo (Jan 12, 2014)

galactickiwi said:


> she is no longer allowed in the vicinity of any chords. she cant go near electronic devices unless its a samsung tablet which she hasnt been around enough yet to figure out where the only 3 buttons on it are, and its cute to see her walk on top of it and stare at her reflection.


We devised a way to fold a lightweight sheet in half, and use tiny nails to tack it to the wall, then drape it over the million different cords that are behind the tv, while Joey is out, So far he has left the lamp and out laptop cords alone.. so far

He did have a bit of a nibble on the soundbar for the tv a couple days ago. Hubs distracted him before he did any damage, but now he has discovered it, I am sure he will go back for more.


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## littletiel (May 15, 2011)

galactickiwi said:


> Miso's favorite chew toy is chords!


My boy loves chords too!


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## ParrotletsRock (Oct 8, 2013)

littletiel said:


> My boy loves chords too!


Mine has not discovered that little delight yet...lol


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## Dylan (Jul 26, 2015)

Mine removed 2 keys from my laptop and 1 key from a chromebook,which wasn't even mine luckily I got the key on the chromebook,but not the laptop. They love cords too,so they're not allowed near any electronic devices.


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## littletiel (May 15, 2011)

It really worries me to death that he loves cords so much because my room is full of cords and it is actually really dangerous. I try to cover them up, but they are really everywhere and some devices get really hot when I cover them up.


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