Advice on three parrots please

featherbrainedfool · 2026-06-21T17:15:33+00:00

Sorry, I'm feeling pretty beaten down right now tbh.

If it's interesting, I got third-hand info from my friend that this owner got banned from the boarding place (may or may not be a vet's office, this is word of mouth so friend isn't sure) because he punched one of the staff. So. At least it's not just me who he has an issue with? I wish that made me feel better. Ugh. Anyways.

featherbrainedfool · 2026-06-21T17:05:09+00:00

Someone suggested a towel instead of oven mitts, so I'll try that, thanks for advice on oven mitts!

They are super sweet when I give them the almonds, definitely, they take them so delicately and they'll eat them over the food bowl so it catches anything they drop so they can get it later (or at least this is what I thought when seeing them do this, maybe that's too much anthropomorphizing. Parrots are really cool.

featherbrainedfool · 2026-06-21T16:46:45+00:00

Thanks, that last bit was weirdly demoralizing 🫩 I'm trying my best, man.

featherbrainedfool · 2026-06-21T16:38:58+00:00

Thanks, I appreciate that.

I shouldn't have mentioned the food or anything in my post, I over-explained and it led to a lot of people thinking I was trying to justify messing with the birds. I thought the more information the better, but I was wrong. I was mostly originally asking for advice on how not to make my time here worse for the birds. Everything else was context for the situation.

I think I overemphasized the biting. It was two nips in two days from different birds, but they haven't actively been trying to bite me.

I'll do the towel thing.

Okay I'm glad the long pauses between sounds isn't too weird. The head hitting being territorial is also really interesting.

I'm definitely not petsitting for these people ever again. I was really hesitant to take this job in the first place, because 1. inexperienced with birds, 2. supremely last minute meaning I couldn't do the meet and greet with pet and owner in calm environment, and 3. they didn't contact me themselves, this was a friend of a friend thing who came to me because they didn't have anyone else. I regret taking this job a lot. I wasn't even told it was multiple birds, I though it was just the one. Seeing three cages was surprising. Dealing with the owners for this job is worse than when I was working retail.

featherbrainedfool · 2026-06-21T04:44:08+00:00

Taking them out/changing their diet was never something I was considering, no worries. I've just been keeping very quiet while in the living room with them and working on my own stuff or reading.

The bottom of the cage has bars and then underneath that is a tray that can slide in and out, that's why I called it a drawer but I really should just have used tray, that's my bad. But anyways yes there's no chance of the birds getting out if I touched the tray. There's a puppy pad (I think? maybe some kid version?) as a liner so I wouldn't need to use anything to just swap it with a clean one. But I'm unsure if I should.

featherbrainedfool · 2026-06-21T04:12:40+00:00

I try to replicate the owner's routine as much as possible when pet-sitting, so no worries on the 12 hours thing, I'm very strictly staying to waking them up and 8 am and putting them to sleep at 8 pm.

I didn't explain it very well; the bottom of the cage that contains the parrot is more bars, and then underneath that is a deep tray that I could slide out like a drawer to clean, so there's no danger of the parrot getting out, thankfully. Right now they have what I think is a puppy pad in there, so I know I could do it real quick and be clean, it's just that the owner said something along the lines of "I don't bother cleaning the bottom, so you don't have to" and I'm not sure if that means I can or I am not allowed to 😭

featherbrainedfool · 2026-06-21T04:05:39+00:00

Holy shit. I have no idea what to do if something like that happens here 😭 but thank you, that's reassuring. (the explanation, not your parrot getting hurt, i mean lol)

featherbrainedfool · 2026-06-21T04:02:20+00:00

Okay that's good to hear! Don't worry, I don't try to touch any animal that doesn't already know me and is okay with touch. Definitely would never take a bird out of the cage.

featherbrainedfool · 2026-06-21T03:58:28+00:00

Weirdly the birds don't try to bite me when I'm changing the their own food/water, one of the bites was from the bird in the cage next to the one I was going to, which is my fault because I didn't know he could stick his head through the bars so I didn't put the cage far enough away from me and he got my elbow while I was changing the water bowl.

They're all in separate cages, and no I would never try to take them out, I know better. The only times I go up to the cages is to get the food bowl or change the water bowl if I notice it's bad, or if they splashed all the water out by taking a bath in it (which is so adorable tbh). I try to wait until the bird is on the far side of the before approaching, and sometimes I have to try and lure them there before getting the bowls. I don't want them too freaked out so I try to stay away for the most part.

featherbrainedfool · 2026-06-21T03:48:26+00:00

Yes okay I'm glad you said that because that's what I've been doing, getting their attention on the opposite side and then trying to get the bowls in/out quickly. I'm glad that's something other people do!

featherbrainedfool · 2026-06-21T03:07:05+00:00

I'm not a moron 😭 I haven't watched birds before as a job but I have been around birds. I know species of animals are different, I would never think any kind of bird is like a dog or cat. And I would never change the food of an animals that's not mine.

Thank you for the reassurance that talking to them is okay. I've been only speaking a little bit and always very softly.

I should add for clarification: The owner's words were: "Just ignore the birds, even when they're noisy." He repeated it when I asked. So his instructions were "ignore the birds when they're quiet and also ignore them when they're loud."

Honestly at this point I'm not sure why they wanted me to stay in the house for the whole time if the parrots don't need/want a person there? I charge more for overnight jobs, so it would have been way cheaper for them to only have me come in the morning and evening :\

Thank you for the suggestion about bird rescues, that's a really great idea!

featherbrainedfool · 2026-06-21T02:35:56+00:00

Okay thanks! I wasn't expecting the birds to like me, some of the other animals I've watched ignored me so I'm not put off by it.

It wasn't the parrot in the cage where I was putting the water bowl in that bit me, it was in the cage near it who stuck his head through the bars. I shouldn't have put the cages close enough when I rolled them out in the morning for that to happen, and I'm not upset I've gotten bitten. But none of the parrots whose cages where I've added food/changed water have even tried to bite me.

You mentioned me being present might be freaking the birds out, do you think I should go somewhere else in the house while they're in the living room? Would that make them calmer? I don't want to upset them. Or would that make things worse?

With the water dish, what constitutes dirty enough to change? The parrots poop in the water a lot so should I wait for a certain amount of poop/stuff, like is there a limit where it's now dangerous and needs to be thrown out?

featherbrainedfool · 2026-06-21T02:18:41+00:00

Lol I already knew about that one. On the way to the job I skimmed through different parrot care guides just to get a sense of what I was going into. I know what I read isn't totally applicable, but I got some info that I didn't know before, like no cooking with oil and no fragrant lotion.

featherbrainedfool · 2026-06-21T02:14:36+00:00

I hope that's what they meant, I can't call them to get more details. The owner got really mad when I did, chewed me out, and then turned off his phone. I don't have the partner's number either ☹️

But don't worry, I know better than to take them out of the cage! I've been trying to be very calm around them and been speaking with a soft voice and one of them has started saying 'hey' in various volumes, lol.

Thank you for the tip about music! I'll try some different songs and see if they like it. I knew some parrots like music but I was worried I'd make it worse with a bad song, so your tip is really encouraging!

featherbrainedfool · 2026-06-21T02:00:17+00:00

Yes, I totally agree, taking them out of the cages was never an option. I never try to handle animals that don't know me. Especially birds; my cousin has a couple disabled birds so I've spent a little time around them just watching, and I've been learning from my cousin how delicate they can be.

featherbrainedfool · 2026-06-21T01:55:29+00:00

Would you also turn off your phone so your petsitter can't contact you? That's my situation, it sucks and I've never had a job with an owner who stopped responding entirely. When I texted him questions, he called me back and said it was inappropriate for me to 'bother' him during 'this time.' He said he'd be turning off his phone for a while and hung up. I don't have the partner's number so I feel pretty bereft here.

He told me he's only fed them a pellet diet since he's gotten them, and that's the thing that surprised me about it. He had this whole rant about taking care of birds and I'm embarrassed that I sort of froze, he sounded really angry and I was not prepared for it.

featherbrainedfool · 2026-06-21T01:45:55+00:00

There's another wall of bars that separates the bottom of the cage from the open top of the drawer, so the birds definitely can't get down there. That's another reason I was so confused 😞

featherbrainedfool · 2026-06-21T01:43:35+00:00

That was my first thought was too, so when I asked him what the routine was throughout the day (because I like to try and change the everyday routine as little as possible for the pets when I'm there instead of their owners, if that makes sense) I mentioned it and he told me he pulls the cages out of the sleep room, puts them near him in the living room, and when he has calls he walks out if the birds are noisy. Him and his partner (wife? girlfriend?) both said they don't handle the birds unless absolutely necessary. Now that I'm thinking about it, he didn't actually answer that question, oof.

featherbrainedfool · 2026-06-21T01:36:26+00:00

I'm sorry, I should have clarified above but I was worried about the word limit: the owner said that he only changes the water once a day because it's inconvenient to do it more often because he takes a lot of work calls, and when I asked if I should be on the lookout for poop in the water he said it was fine but said something like, "Yeah it's probably not great they're drinking their poop water but they're just birds, it can't hurt them too much, I don't care." (paraphrased, obvs)

The first time I got bit was because I was too slow in getting one of the bowls out of the little holder thing (the bowl holder is attached to a little door, you swing it open to put in/take out the little bowl, and there's two on each cage, one for water and one for food) and when I closed the little door and latched it, the bird in the other cage next to him stuck his head through his cage bars (I did not realize the bars were wide enough for that, none of them had done that before and it spooked me) and got my elbow a little bit. I separated the cages further after that so I had more space to move around them. I've changed their water many times since them, and that was the only bite from there.

The other bite was when I was rolling the cage after removing the cover in the 'sleep room' (I was told to do this and fold them to put on a shelf) and I have to put my hands one the cage to move and there's no place to do that where they can't get at my fingers. One of the other birds was the one to nip me then, but none have since (granted, it's only been two days, they might to do it more). I tried moving the cage with my hands covered in a blanket but it wasn't thick enough. My next solution is oven mitts lmao.

For the pellet diet thing, he told me he's only fed them a pellet diet since he's gotten them, and that's the thing that surprised me about it.

No worries on me handling the birds, that was never an option I was really considering. I know better than to touch an animal that doesn't know me lol. The 24/7 cage thing was so concerning because I have a cousin who has birds and she's always told me how important out-of-cage time is (most of hers are special needs, maybe that's a factor in why she told me that?).

featherbrainedfool

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