ANSC 378 Final - Exotics

• Tend to form strong bonds with one person, can become territorial of them when they reach sexual maturity

• Prey animals, so naturally defensive/suspicious around strangers

• Usually due to fear

Causes of Aggression/Territoriality in Birds

• Expose birds to a variety of scenarios when young 

• Give them time/space to adjust to new things 

• Let them venture outside the cage so less territorial of that area 

• Can give them exercise and time to fly, but need to be careful

  • Need an open space with no way to escape

  • And need to train recall

• Don’t force interaction, if need be talk softly to bird from outside cage

Prevention of Aggression/Territoriality in Birds

• Natural to call to flockmates in the wild

• Anxiety, separation anxiety (bcs form strong bonds)

Causes of Screaming and Social Demands in Birds

• Hours of daily social interaction with their human companions as well as with other birds 

  • Be careful about adding another bird companion bcs both could end up having separation anxiety

• Talking softly and calming, don’t get bird “worked up” 

  • Demonstrate behaviour you want in the bird

• Do not rush over when screaming starts! This reinforces the behaviour

  • Don’t inadvertently reinforce bad behaviour

• Mostly talking about prevention, not ways to mitigate bcs once problems develop in parrots, difficult to fix

Prevention of Screaming and Social Demands in Birds

• Boredom 

• Lack of appropriate things to chew 

• Being unsupervised (learning difference appropriate chew toy/not)

Causes of Destructive Chewing in Birds

• Provide wood or things to tear up in cage – check the material is safe (untreated wood, food safe dyes) 

  • Need to be given appropriate things to chew on

  • Reinforce what it is okay for them to chew

  • Redirect behaviour

• Providing an enriched environment early on with things that it is okay and safe for them to destroy

• Be creative! Play on bird’s natural behaviour to forage or peck 

• Supervise time outside cage 

Prevention of Destructive Chewing in Birds

• Preening and some feather plucking normal 

  • Cleaning selves, making sure oils are good

• Problem is when it becomes psychological/occurs too often 

  • Bad bcs needed for warmth

• FIRST check with the vet it’s not medical – feather loss can be caused by vitamin deficiencies, viruses, tumours or parasites 

Causes of Feather Plucking in Birds

• Prevent boredom and loneliness by providing enriching toys, spending time with bird, MAYBE consider a mate 

  • If separation anxiety, risk of both animals developing separation anxiety

• Don’t expose birds to chemicals e.g. household cleaners or tobacco smoke 

• May need a temporary solution (medical/physical)

• Elizabethan collar to prevent bird from causing more damage

  • Break cycle

Prevention of Feather Plucking in Birds

• Eg bite in response to handling, sudden disturbances, other hamsters, when caring for pups, when sick or in pain 

• Certain breeds more prone to biting, russian hamsters

Causes of Aggression in Hamsters

• Frequent gentle handling to reduce fear and aggression towards people

• Start with handling of short duration in the hamster’s enclosure under dim lighting and reinforce with food treats 

• Gradually, length of handling sessions can be increased with handling outside of the enclosure

• Desensitization and counter conditioning

• E.g. Handler slowly brings hand near the biting threshold distance (how close can you get to hamster before it tries to bite) and provides food treat, then removes hand (aggression should not be triggered). Once hamster is relaxed receiving treats at that distance, then hand can be brought closer

Prevention of Aggression in Hamsters

• Baby won’t survive

• Baby not born on proper substrate

• Not producing enough milk for all babies

• If stressed

Causes of Cannibalism in Hamsters

• Keep nest well bedded, undisturbed, quiet, with lots of food, with no handling, and in a place with low visibility 

  • Provide clean cage and enough food for 7-10 days (do this about 3 days prior to parturition)

• Separate dam and pups

Prevention of Cannibalism in Hamsters

• In the wild when warrens are overcrowded, does will either kill their own litters or that of another doe 

Causes of Savaging in Rabbits

• Ensuring does do not become overcrowded is key for mitigating savaging

• Do not house 2 pregnant does together, can cause aggression if they don’t think there is enough resources

Prevention of Savaging in Rabbits

• Although rabbits can be litter trained various “problem” behaviours can occur: 

  • Moving the litter box 

  • Peeing over the edge of the litter box 

    • High sides, mat underneath

  • Consuming litter box contents 

    • Non-toxic

    • No clumping litter or deodorizers

    • Sawdust, straw, hay

  • Inappropriate urination/defecation

    • Keep litterbox clean

    • New environmental stressors

  • Sometimes dig in litter box

    • Higher sides

    • Place on platform

• Confine in small space with litterbox to train

  • Will often decide where they want it to be, put it there

  • Will move it if don’t like it

Causes of Litterbox Problems in Rabbits

• Typically caused by fear when towards humans

• Rule out medical cause

Causes of Aggression in Rabbits

• Ensure handling is a positive experience from a young age

• Spaying or neutering will not typically stop aggressive behaviour

• Introduce

  • Barrier between

  • No thumping before removing barrier

  • Leashes, slippery surface

  • If fighting does happen, place towel on top

Prevention of Aggression in Rabbits

• In the wild rabbits spend a great deal of time chewing on tough herbage which helps wear down their teeth 

• In captivity rabbits will often chew on inappropriate items such as cords or the interior of their cages 

Causes of Chewing in Rabbits

• Provide various chew toys both on the floor and hanging to encourage chewing behaviour on appropriate items

Prevention of Chewing in Rabbits

• In order to build warrens

Causes of Digging in Rabbits

• Providing a box filled with hay will encourage appropriate digging behaviour 

  • If enough hay is available rabbits will even create warrens with tunnels and side rooms

Prevention of Digging in Rabbits

• Many ferrets bite and nip until taught not to 

• Important to determine the underlying cause 

  • Eg common way for ferrets to get attention or initiate play is to sneak up and bite 

    • Normal among ferrets, but not good when directed towards people 

  • Eg when thwarted from playing with a toy or treat 

    • Can be a sign of frustration

    • To return to what they were doing

Causes of Biting/Nipping in Ferrets

• Positively reinforce non-biting behaviour

• Never use punishment, can lead to fear of people and more biting

• Don’t want to make hands toys

Prevention of Biting/Nipping in Ferrets

• Normal exploratory behaviour

Causes of Destructive Behaviours in Ferrets

• Best to ‘ferret proof’ home or a few rooms where ferret can be outside of its enclosure 

  • Eg tile, linoleum or wood floors (instead of carpet); no plants or dirt; etc 

• Make sure all toys are safe 

  • No parts to break off and swallow

• Prevent chewing on furniture, stairs, carpet 

• Can use a bite deterrent (eg bitter apple) 

• Supervise when outside enclosure

Prevention of Destructive Behaviours in Ferrets

• Not domesticated, so friendliness specific to individual

Causes of Aggression in Hedgehogs

• Hedgehogs can be desensitized and counter conditioned to handling using a preferred food 

• Hedgehogs will lick a handlers fingers and bite but this is likely exploratory and not aggressive

• Never guaranteed that they are going to enjoy handling with non-domesticated animals

Prevention of Aggression in Hedgehogs