Oh the joys of owning an Umbrella Cockatoo! Oh the pleasures that come from the biting, the screaming, the overwhelming destruction! ... OH THE HUMANITY!!
But seriously, guys - if you're thinking of getting a cute and cuddly baby Umbrella Cockatoo ... don't. The longer I have Snoball, the more I realize that these animals never should have been domesticated. That's not to say that I don't love him; I do. I adore Snoball and would do anything for him. But I have come to realize that owning an Umbrella Cockatoo is akin to having a child going through those terrible two's that will NEVER grow up, who is ALWAYS in a destructive mood, who knows how to get past every child-proof known to man, and who NEVER listens to the word "no." To put it nicely, they are not for everyone...
And, Snoball is extra special because he is one of those large males that would be a prime candidate for flock leader had he been born into the wild. Unfortunately for him, he wasn't. So now he is trying to steal the role of flock leader from David and myself. I have been doing a lot of research on the subject which was prompted by a particularly nasty bite from Snoball. He was in a situation that he was uncomfortable with, and although I recognized this and tried to remove him from it, someone interfered. That small delay was enough time for him to run up my arm and latch on to my ear, biting through the thickest part of the cartilage with a sickening CRUNCH. Not pretty... I was able to take a picture of the damage, but it is not for the faint of heart. Click here to see.
He was acting strangely again tonight, and I think I narrowly escaped another bite just before bed time, though I'm not 100% sure that's what he was trying to do. So I sat down and started doing some research. I came across this article, which was very helpful. It is somewhat long but really worth the time. There are a few tips in there that I will be taking to heart over the next year or two. Hopefully, after that much time has passed, he will have settled down into a normal bird again. (Cockatoos go through puberty between the ages of 3 and 6. Snoball just turned 5.) I will be so proud of both Snoball and myself if we can both get through the next few years alive and (mostly) in one piece...
I bought a few new toys for him, hoping it would enable him to take out some of that pent up aggression he's dealing with. While he's never been big on wood toys, I bought him a small non-intimidating one that will be easily broken. It is even cut at just the right angle to allow it to break apart in chips, rather than splintering. Hopefully he will see how much destruction he can cause and will start to enjoy wood. I added some leather strips to the toy to get his attention. (Snoball loves leather.) I also found this dog toy that was perfect for him. It looks like a tiny rubber tire. It is made of non-toxic natural rubber, has lots of grooves and textures around the edge the way real tires do, and is hollow on the inside like a real tire. Best of all, it is made for dogs so the rubber is REALLY tough. He seems to enjoy it so far. He was playing with it in the store, trying to pull the textures off. I am thinking I can hide treats in the hollowed-out part. Snoball's favorite thing to chew is rubber or plastic - anything squishy and chewy - so this should be right up his alley.
The acrylic toy in the back is a clear tube with a ball that rolls back and forth. I can put treats inside and he has to move the ball to get to them. It hangs mobile-style with a key on one side and a plastic ring on the other. One of the girls I work with gave it to him as a gift and he seems to really like it. :)
So, in addition to trying new toys, I am going to give the vet a call on Monday and see if he doesn't have anything homeopathic that I can give Snoball to help calm him down a tad. If not, well, I guess we'll cross that bridge when we come to it, aye? Have a good night, guys.
