Halloween Celebrations and Your Eclectus

Halloween Celebration and Your Eclectus

With the holiday season right around the corner, I thought we would touch on the effects Halloween and other holidays have on our lives thusly the lives of our parrots.

Pumpkin Fun – What’s In There?

First we have Halloween, which is not really considered a holiday in the scheme of things. However, it can have profound effect on our feathered companions. The doorbell ringing constantly, strange humans dressed even stranger, squeals of delight laced with declarations of “Trick or Treat” definitely upset the usual routine. Make sure the candy is stored where your feathered one cannot get at it.

Yep, Its About Ready.

In our home, we do Halloween up right, scary creatures in every nook and cranny, spooky sights and sounds tostimulate all the senses. If you haven’t guessed, All Hallows Eve is my favorite holiday. The one night of the year, you can be whatever or whomever you want, and no one gives it a thought.

Taco’s first Halloween, I went about decorating my house as usual. About 15 minutes into the decorating, I hung a large, black, vinyl, blow-up bat above the staircase. Taco let out a ear shattering warning scream. This brought me down the stairs and to her play stand in record time. She continued to scream, even as I reached up, took her off her play stand and held her. I followed the focus of her pinned eyes to the bat. Putting her back on her play stand, I bolted upstairs and removed the offending decoration to another room. As I stood staring at the bat, I wondered how to decorate without scaring the begeebers out of my Eclectus?

After giving it considerable thought while letting the air out of the bat and repackaging it, I decided to try including Taco in the decorating. Starting over with the bat, I took it out of the package in front of Taco’s wary eyes, showed it to her, let her beak it lightly (no I didn’t let her put a hole in it), then blew the bat up, just a little at a time and showed her again. Eventually, the bat was blown up to its full size. Then Taco accompanied me up stairs to help hang it. She was still wary, but no longer scared. The rest of the indoor Halloween decorations went up under the watchful eye of Taco. We also made sure the outside decorations were no anywhere near Taco’s line of vision from her window. By the way this worked for our Chow puppy too. Our puppy was taken outside to watch the decorations going up so as to lessen the barking come dusk and our decorations came alive, so as to speak.

Pumpkin? Where?

Next the carving of the pumpkin, you have never seen such enjoyment or mess as letting your feathered one assist with the carving and cleaning of the Halloween pumpkin. I don’t mean you let them anywhere near the knives. What you do, is cut the top off the pumpkin, turn it over on its side and let the feathered ones assist with scarping out the pumpkin (allow plenty of time and have your camera ready). We laughed so hard at Taco pulling at pumpkin guts, flinging seeds and just having a wonderful time. (See picture above) Warning: You will have pumpkin guts, seeds and slimy stuff from table to counter and back again, not to mention the floor. A bath for your bird will be necessary after these activities. However, the enjoyment and entertainment value of this endeavor is well worth the mess.

We also allow Taco her own tiny organic pumpkins in her cage, with a few holes cut out so she can grip it. She shreds that pumpkin by the end of the day providing a full day’s entertainment for her.

Next month we will discuss sharing and decorating for Thanksgiving and Christmas Holidays with your Eclectus or other feathered companions. Until then Happy Haunting!