# BabyMoo's recent behavior ....



## BabyMoo (Dec 19, 2012)

Hello everyone. 

BabyMoo has started acting, in my opinion, as if she wants to nest. Can you help me confirm her behavior? 

Let me start by sharing some of her recent background. She was sick for a month and spent 1 week in the hospital recuperating from an infection. She has been back home for 2 weeks tomorrow. When I brought her home 2 weeks ago she was almost at the end of her antibiotic treatment. A couple of days later her appetite was back and she was acting healthy. At her 1 week followup the vet said that she looked recuperated and that she would like to see her in one month. 

For the last couple of days she has been wanting to play with paper and keeps getting underneath paper towels that I have laid underneath. She gets under the paper towel and stays there. I have seen her do this before and I have always attributed it to either playing or wanting to build a nest. Today, she has been acting even worst. My husband is home with us on the weekends more than when he works and she loves him. He is her favorite human. Anyway, today she keeps calling him and wants to know where he is at every moment. When he is in the same room as her, she starts playing with the paper and getting underneath the paper towel. She is calm right now but my husband is in another room and she just spent about 20 minutes by the window. I placed her there to distract her. 

She is old and therefore the vet has recommended that she doesn't nest. For years we have been making her sleep 12 hours to prevent her from laying eggs. She hasn't laid eggs in about 5-7 years.

Do you think she might be trying to nest? Could she be wanting to lay an egg? I have never had her lay eggs in my house. The times that she has laid eggs she has been at my parents or at my sisters (we share her b/c of the amount of time that she has been in our lives).

What do you think about her behavior? Also, I got her a mirror, which is loves. She looks at it and I think she might think that it is another bird. Anyway, I removed it from her today in attempts to diminish her behavior.

Thank you for reading my long post and for your comments.
Caro :lutino:


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## sunnysmom (Sep 23, 2011)

I don't have a female tiel, but to me it sounds like she's hormonal.


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## Haimovfids (Sep 19, 2012)

She does seem hormonal and you should start hormonal reductions since she is ill she can't afford to lay eggs now
http://talkcockatiels.com/showthread.php?t=32330
Is she nippy?


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## BirdCrazyJill (Apr 23, 2013)

Muffin is the same way with my bf, she loves him  I wonder if being at the vet and having a new "quiet space" spruced up her hormones. I can't bring Muffin upstairs anymore because she is used to my living room now and if she goes to new places she sees it as an opportunity to find a nest  How long has she been back from the vet for? she might be seeing your house now as her new nesting spot.


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## Vickitiel (Oct 10, 2012)

Sounds hormonal. Very nesty indeed. How old is she?


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## BabyMoo (Dec 19, 2012)

Hello. Thank you all for your replies and advice. 

*Baruch*, thank you for the link. I will check it out. When she starts to get under the paper towel she doesn't like us getting near. She does try to bite softly and appears upset for she wants to keep being under the paper towel. I remove her from under the paper towel every time I see her do it. If she is walking about in the family room she loves looking underneath the couch and also gets upset when I pick her up and put her some where else. She tries to return to looking underneath the couch. After a couple of times of putting her back some where else she gives up. 

*JuliosMom*, she had to have a new setup in place because of her blind eye and so now she is on the bottom of her cage and I got her a big plastic container like they had at the vet's so that she can play in it and not get hurt. Its big and uncovered but in there she has her food, water, toys ... and the mirror that she likes and I think its partly the problem. She looks at herself in it. I removed the mirror yesterday and all day today. Today she did better but she acts like this when my husband is around. If it is just the two of us (me and her) she acts normal. From the hospital she has been back for 2 weeks today. She was in the hospital for a week. She was very sick and we even thought that she would die. My husband thinks that she is probably feeling a lot better and therefore maybe hormonal.

*Char*, she is 20 years old. She hasn't laid eggs for 5-7 yrs because of her age. We have her sleep 12 hrs every night to avoid egg laying. We also move her around the house all the time so that she doesn't get comfortable to just one place.

*Sunnysmom*, I thought so too. She is pretty smart and knows if my husband is in the house even when he is in another room. She is constantly paying attention to where he is in the house. If she hears him do anything in the other rooms, she starts calling for him. Its funny how she changes from one moment to the next for when he walks in the room, she wants nothing else but to be with him. He loves the attention but we both get worried about her behavior so we remove her from the family room when she starts acting like that.

Thank you everyone. I'll go read the link Baruch recommended.

Caro :lutino:


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## BabyMoo (Dec 19, 2012)

*Baruch*, just read the link. Wonderful information. Some I already knew but it is still helpful. I really think the mirror was one of the problems for today she did better and had not had the mirror to play with before until we brought her back from the hospital. I'll remove the paper towel and will probably have her sleep 14 hrs instead of the 12. I positive now that she is hormonal. My husband has been home on vacation since Friday and will be home for the rest of the week and I think that she is being affected by his presence. She loves him. When he gets home she starts screaming and walking around until he says hello to her. He is her favorite human. She loves me too but only when he is not home ... lol!! Thank you for the link. I'll start the changes tomorrow.

Thanks! 
Caro


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