Parrots and Squirrels???

[mel_la_fee]

Hey guys,
Not sure if any of you are bird-owners as well but I recently had a rescue Quaker parrot brought to me. Her previous owner kept her in an outside enclosure with his canaries and budgies but whether because of stress or diet (or other reasons) she began feather plucking and he decided not to keep her. I already had pretty much everything she needed- just had to buy some premium parrot food and schedule a vet appointment.

My questions are 1. I had to put her (I’m calling her Mirabel since her previous owner didn’t tell me her name) in my bedroom because it’s the only room where my brother, who works nights and sleeps during the day, can’t hear her screeches and vocalizations during the day. She seems to be adapting well despite being in a new environment and I’d like to start letting her outside of the cage for exercise. However, my room is also where I keep my neuro Cleo, who consistently has free run of the room. It’s squirrel-proof and Cleo has ataxia and mobility issues so she’s limited to the floor, my bed (she uses a ramp to get up and down from the bed) and her cage, which sits on the floor so she can enter or leave it when she pleases. Do I have any reason to worry about Mirabel attacking Cleo?
She watches Cleo through the cage bars and seems curious about her and she isn’t well hand-trained yet so even with supervised outings, I worry that it would only take a second for her to hurt Cleo regardless of whether I’m close by or not. I’ve heard birds will generally leave an adult squirrel alone but wondered if any of you had experience with a similar situation. For the record, Mirabel thus far has not bitten anyone so I don’t believe she’s especially aggressive.

Question2. Are there any mites or parasites that I should be concerned about passing to Cleo through the shared environment? The parrot goes to the vet next Mon so I don’t actually know if she has anything yet but being that she was kept outside, I think the chances are reasonably high.

Thanks everyone!

[Mel1959]

Wow, lots of questions and concerns. I am not familiar with bird and squirrel interactions other than in a wild scenario. My concern would be that your bedroom is a very confined area and your squirrel is not a physically healthy squirrel. Yes, a birds beak could inflict considerable damage if it wanted to. My concern would be the bird feeling threatened by the squirrel and the squirrel not being able to defend itself.

The bird probably has mites, which can be passed to you or Cleo. I personally would not let them together until she’s been seen by a vet. If the vet is familiar with bird behavior, you might pose this same question to him/her.

Bless you for taking on someone’s bird. I don’t think I could tolerate the loud screeching or be comfortable that I wasn’t going to be bit.

[CritterMom]

I have parrots. I wouldn't let them out at the same time. Your squirrel has mobility issues and your parrot has a beak that is designed to break open nut shells that you can barely break open with a hammer or vice. It could easily take a front leg off and a tail would not even cause it to break a sweat. It wouldn't even necessarily be due to aggression. I can easily see a parrot going after a fluffy tail just out of curiosity. BTW, if you think a squirrel can make mincemeat out of things like furniture, they are pikers compared to a parrot! They can break welds on steel cages!

Also, make sure your squirrel is okay with the noise. Mister P HATED it and Zeke isn't much better. Happily, the parrots have their own room and so does Zeke - different rooms.

[Mel1959]

I have parrots. I wouldn't let them out at the same time. Your squirrel has mobility issues and your parrot has a beak that is designed to break open nut shells that you can barely break open with a hammer or vice. It could easily take a front leg off and a tail would not even cause it to break a sweat. It wouldn't even necessarily be due to aggression. I can easily see a parrot going after a fluffy tail just out of curiosity. BTW, if you think a squirrel can make mincemeat out of things like furniture, they are pikers compared to a parrot! They can break welds on steel cages!

Also, make sure your squirrel is okay with the noise. Mister P HATED it and Zeke isn't much better. Happily, the parrots have their own room and so does Zeke - different rooms.

I’m glad you posted this CM. I would strongly urge you to take her advice. Just the thought of Cleo being at the mercy of a birds beak makes me feel sick to my stomach. These are two creatures that aren’t meant to play nice together.

[mel_la_fee]

Thanks guys. My room is a converted garage so it’s larger than even your average master bedroom, meaning plenty of space, but I’d still rather not take chances. Which means I’ll probably have to get creative now. I still feel Mirabel needs supervised time out of the cage in order to start leading a better life, but if it can’t be done with Cleo in the room I’ll have to figure out who goes where and when.
Like most squirrels, Cleo sleeps in the afternoon but unlike most squirrels, she loves to sleep in my lap or arms so that’s probably the best time to do something. Maybe if I get one of those door screens (the ones that let you keep a front door open without letting in bugs) I can keep Cleo safely napping with me in the living room or kitchen and still visually watch to make sure Mirabel is safe while she stretches her wings.
Another alternative I can think of is waiting for Cleo to crawl into her carrier for a nap on her own (she sleeps on the bed with me at night but likes to nap in her carrier in the afternoon). The carrier is in her cage so I could wait till she goes to bed and then lock the cage door before letting Mirabel out. Cleo would have no idea she was locked in while she sleeps and then I’d just put Mirabel back in the cage whenever Cleo wakes up and wants to come out again. I suppose my roommate could also help babysit one or the other when he gets home in the afternoon too, but I’d rather not have to depend on someone else consistently.
Edit: I just realized the cage rolls, so I suppose I could roll it into another room and let Mirabel out only when my brother is awake and then roll her back into my room when he goes to sleep.
IDK- I’ll guess I’ll have to think about it.

As to my vet, birds are not a specialty of hers but she can handle anything common or minor so the idea is to have her do the initial examination and if Mirabel needs any kind of treatment that’s more advanced, she’ll refer me to someone else. I won’t know how knowledgeable she is about parrot behavior until I get to have an in-person conversation with her.
Also, I did contact bird rehabbers and a parrot rescue in the area, but they are either at capacity or holding a spot for emergency cases only, and since Mirabel is actually at a good weight and appears healthy despite the recent feather plucking I’d hate to take away a spot from another injured or neglected baby that might need it more. So it looks like Mirabel will be with me for awhile. Which is fine, I’ve enjoyed having birds in the past and look forward to learning about Quaker care specifically. But that does mean I need solutions that allow us to all live together peacefully and safely beyond just the next couple of weeks.


And Mel1959- Woo-boy! You’re not wrong about the noise. I’ve had chatterbox birds before but the screeching is next level. Thankfully, she’s already gotten better about it and stopped waking me up at the crack of dawn after just a few days. I got this result by simply covering my head with a blanket or pillow and ignoring her until at least 7:30 in the morning. Now she ‘talks’ to herself when she wakes up but doesn’t shriek loudly until I’m up and moving about and I think part of screeching then is just because she’s excited about her breakfast treat and she’s already figured out that no amount of screeching will make it come sooner than when I normally get up. Mind you, I suspect she’ll feel free to wake me up loudly if I oversleep (I’ve heard they like strict routines) but I haven’t tested that out yet!

Finally, have no fear Crittermom. Cleo doesn’t have total hearing and thus far has shown zero reactions to the parrot. I’m sure she’s aware something else is now in the room (at least, I think she’s aware), but she does not seem to care in the slightest. Her routine and overall disposition remains completely unphased- so thank goodness for small blessings, right?

[Mel1959]

Sounds like you’ve got several options. I hope you guys settle into an acceptable routine for everyone.

[CritterMom]

You know what will make your new parrot a LOT happier than having a room to explore? Give her a nice, big cage - I use double decker Critter Nation cages for my birds - I like them MUCH better than parrot cages with lots of rope toys and perches and other enrichment devices, and buy or make yourself a poncho you can throw over your shoulders (poop), and plop her there while you are home. She can help you do dishes, watch TV, all sorts of chores that don't involve things like cleaning chemicals or cooking with heat. Giving her attention like that will likely help her to stop plucking. They would rather be with their human than alone looking around a room any day.

Are her wings clipped? If she has out of cage time, they should be. Unclipped birds can fly right into windows just like their outdoor cousins. They can also end up in open toilets just like a squirrel. Or fly right out an open door and you never see them again. Quakers are naturalized in many places in the US because of this. I never trim wing feathers all at once, and don't believe sites that tell you to trim just one wing. First, you only cut the primary flight feathers - the outermost, long feathers on the wings. I cut the outermost feather on both sides and then a week later I clip the one next to it, and so on until they can glide to the ground but not gain altitude. Doing it gradually allows them to get used to their lessened ability to fly. Quakers are chubby, heavy bodied little parrots so it doesn't take much clipping to accomplish what you are trying to do. It will also make them want to spend even more time with you because you give them more mobility as they ride you around. A PET parrot would much rather ride their human around with reduced flying skills than fly all over the house without their companionship.

They are cool little birds. They are the only parrot species that live in giant communal nests, which they build from twigs and grass. The nests can be HUGE and are filled with holes which are "apartments" for individuals and nesting families. There can be hundreds of birds in a single nest if they have the ability to keep building it out. They are little clowns, too.

[Mel1959]

I live in one of those areas with colonized quakers. Boy, you sure can hear them when they’re approaching. They make quite the racket.

Just to show how communal they are. Many years ago we rescued one that was sitting on the ground in our backyard. We put it in a squirrel release cage to give it some time to recover. While it was in there it carried on with its normal squawking. Before we knew it the power line next to our house was loaded with quakers all squawking at each other. They stayed there until their friend was let out to join them.

[siddana]

Mirabel, such a cute name !

We are experienced in birds and squirrels relationship. It might seem strange a little bit but it's true.

We had three red vented bulbuls, you might have heard them in India. All of them are rescued.Whether red vented bulbuls or parrots, all are birds. AND BIRDS ARE JEALOUS !!

One and a half year back, a small one-day old baby squirrel fell from the second floor of our house. Her mother didn't notice her and she didn't took her home. So we had no option but to rescue the baby squirrel, now named Anju.

So our birds, which were with us for six years, started noticing that we got a new squirrel and we were take caring of her. At first WE USED TO KEEP Anju and my birds in the hall, big room when compared to others. We NEVER used to cage them(except at night), and we used to leave them free to roam in the house. And, one of my birds, RIO might have thought that we are sharing the love to some new guy and not to her ; she felt VERY JEALOUS AND SHE REMOVED HER TAIL ! From then onwards, we separated Anju and the birds.

" What, removing tails !! What are you talking about ?" You might say that but it's true, and the other two birds followed her. Their attitude really changed after Anju, the squirrel came. They didn't EAT very much, they used to hide from us. Their health really degraded but we took care of that.

This is not only for red vented bulbuls but this is for PARROTS TOO. Actually, after their health degraded, we searched the internet and then only we found out that birds also feel jealous. The net - guys, also vets, wrote that a parrot removed his whole feathers when her owner got married and she brought her husband to her home ! There are cases like these.

In my case, after six months of that incident ( Anju got big ) when they got their tails back, accidentally Rio saw Anju in my hand ( after that incident we never showed Anju to them ) and WITHIN ONE HOUR SHE FLEW AWAY FROM THE HOUSE, followed by others. She never turned her head back, and till date we never saw her. She goes outside sometimes but mostly she returns. Even if the doors are open she never used to go outside. We used to take her outside on our hands and she never flew away. This is all due to jealousy that they feel. Even if we give them all the love that they want, they just don't feel it when we bring others into the family.

It's a little sad to think about that.

[siddana]

Your case is a little different though, but my suggestion to you is - just be careful.
Squirrels, they are innocent and they don't know anything; birds, they are one of the most intelligent animals in the whole nature according to Sir David Attenborough.

Mirabel might not hurt your Cleo, she might hurt Cleo, she might EVEN HURT HERSELF. Anyway, you are taking care of both of them, she might get jealous.

BE CAREFUL !! Cleo and Mirabel be good and healthy.