If you wonder how often cockatiels poop, the simple answer is they do it an average of 30 times a day. Although it may seem quite a lot, it’s less than average than other birds. Cockatiels poop most during the night. Thus, you can expect more droppings overnight than the day.
Droppings and mess is a challenge you will face in taking care of a bird. When it comes to cockatiels, it may need you to exert extra effort in maintaining cleanliness.
Understanding how their waste secretion works are crucial in caring for a pet. Thus, whether you’re about to get one or you already have, this article can help you.
Let’s get into it!
Contents
What is a normal interval of cockatiels pooping?
There’s no exact way of telling the normal interval of cockatiels pooping session. However, with a healthy one, you can expect shorter breaks during the night.
If we consider 30 droppings per day, it can mean your pet may poop at least twice per hour during the night. The most frequent sessions even have an interval of 15 minutes.
The thing about cockatiels is that they usually do it at night as they perch and sleep.
For this reason, you may find concentrated droppings on a single spot upon checking the next day.
Another thing to consider normal aside from interval is the kind of feces your pet releases.
The droppings of a healthy cockatiel may have the following characteristics:
- Tubular
- Semi-solid
- Multi-colored
- With darker solid areas
- Accompanied by white or beige urine
Note that birds don’t have separate organs for poop and urine. Thus, their droppings include both.
Do cockatiels poop everywhere?
Cockatiels may have that good behavior, but they can be messy since they poop everywhere.
Due to their frequent poop sessions, you should expect quite a few droppings, even if only an hour had passed.
For this reason, you need to get yourself prepared to be patient in cleaning the place where your pet stays.
If you allow it outside the cage all day, it would be best to expect poop at random areas.
It would be best to let your pet stay in its cage during the night since that’s when it poops a lot.
Further, put a tray or paper beneath its cage. This way, you can spend some time cleaning the droppings overnight.
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Are cockatiels messy?
Aside from their droppings, cockatiels are messy birds even when they eat.
Thus, you can expect scattered food around its bowl of food and its cage. Moreover, you may even find a spill of water near its container.
Of course, it won’t be a problem if you don’t mind cleaning regularly. However, if you want a tidy pet, a cockatiel may not be ideal for you.
Can birds control when they poop?
Unlike common belief, birds can control when they poop. In fact, birds are trainable to hold their pooping sessions.
You can teach your pet to hold it’s waste. However, it’s not the same as training other pets like dogs.
Since birds need to poop frequently, going hard on the potty training can end up hurting themselves by holding waste.
The best thing is to keep potty training in moderation and take it easy for your bird’s health.
Can you potty train a cockatiel?
As I said earlier, you can teach birds to hold their waste, and that includes cockatiels.
It’s not unusual for birds like cockatiel to get trained by their owners, given that they’re intelligent.
If you have that spare time to bond with your pet, you can use it as a potty training session.
All it takes is a bit of patience to teach your pet the basic things such as holding its waste to avoid a mess.
Still, it would be best to keep in mind that while it’s possible, you shouldn’t do it hard.
By being moderate, you can avoid hurting your pet and compromising its health.
Did you lose your cockatiel? Read what to do.
How to potty train a cockatiel?
Potty training birds like cockatiel share similarities with dogs. Thus, if you own other pets, you may understand why.
Now, if you want to potty train your cockatiel, here are some steps that may help you.
Learn and notice signs of pooping.
The first thing you need to understand is your pet’s behavior and what it does before pooping.
Like other animals, they would show specific actions that you can tell whether they’re about to poop or not.
By understanding your pet, you will have an idea when it will poop and when it won’t
This feat is achievable as you spend time with your pet. As you bond through time, you’ll notice particular manners and behaviors.
Take your cockatiel to the spot you want it to poop.
Once you understand its behavior, take it to a specific pooping place every time you think it’s about to poop.
By doing this act, you’re training your pet to release its waste at a particular place and not anywhere.
Say a specific phrase each time it poops on the place.
Positive reinforcement applies to all pets, and cockatiels are the same. If you say a specific phrase every time it pops in the right place, it will learn to do so over time.
It would be best to do this every time it finishes to know that it will hear a specific phrase after the session.
Does your cockatiel losing feathers? Learn what to do.
Summary
Cockatiels poop frequently, and they can create quite a mess in your home. If you’re not an avid fan of cleaning, it can be quite troublesome for you. Now, it doesn’t have to be that way, since you can train your pet.
The only thing you need to make sure of is to exert some effort and patience. At first, you won’t be able to help it but clean frequently. However, as soon as you get to know your pet and start training it, you’ll end up with a disciplined bird and less cleaning.
Another thing is to don’t go hard to avoid compromising your pet’s health. While these birds can be potty trained, always keep in mind that it’s a necessity for them. Being rigid to keep your place clean can take a toll on your pet.
Resources
[1] Cockatiel – Wikipedia
[2] Exploring the cockatiel (Nymphicus hollandicus) fecal microbiome – NCBI
