Reptile & Amphibian Forums

We just acquired an all grey(except for his face and wings, btw, what kind is this) cockatiel from a friend and he has this rope that has wood blocks on it. A couple times a day he climbs the side of his cage and starts rubbing himself(his privates) on the rope. Is this normal?

Also is feeding him salty taco chips as a treat alright for them or is the salt bad.

Thanks

Salt is very bad for birds. If you fed your bird one maybe once every few weeks it would probably be fine. But feeding the chips every day or several times a day will have an adverse effect on it's health.

During spring (and even other times of the year) it is normal for a bird to rub on toys etc with hormonal behavior. It might be a good idea to change the toys around and take out that toys or move to a different spot in the cage. This behavior won't hurt your bird, it may be embarrasing to you if friends or family are over though. Also your bird may act more aggressive during this time and changing the toys or cage around will sometimes stop the hormonal behavior.