Behviour of Exotic Pets and Cage Birds Flashcards
Explain the natural history and behaviour of rabbits.
- Domestic rabbits are descendants of the European rabbit, Oryctollagus cuniculus, from Western Europe and Northwestern Africa
- Live in large groups in warrens or burrows (where they spend most of their life)
- Primarily nocturnal, emerging from burrows to forage at night
- Highly developed social hierarchy
- Prey species
What has been the process of domestication of rabbits?
- Have been kept as pets since the early sixteenth century
- The wild European rabbit was originally kept in cages ~3000 years ago
- Portable source of fresh meat
- In ~6thcentury AD, breeding of various sizes and colours
- Domestication has resulted in rabbits that are more placid with humans and that are not as stressed by confinement
- Selective breeding has led to over 100 recognised breeds
Why might a rabbit stop using the litter tray? Is there anything we can do to fix this?
Causes:
- Stress
- Changes in schedule
- Changes in household
- Box not being cleaned frequently enough (should be every 1-2 days)
How to fix:
- examine environemntal changes and restore
- retrain the rabbit
Is it normal for rabbits to eat faeces?
Yes, they eat caecotrophs to aid digestion. This is normal.
How do you train a rabbit to use a litterbox?
- Usually easy to train to use a litterbox (naturally eliminate in latrines)
- Training: confine rabbit to area of house or to a cage and observe where it eliminates –place the litterbox in this location
- May be necessary to have more than one litterbox
- Scent of own excrement can encourage use of a box in a new location
- Place a washable mat under the box in case of ‘spillover’
What can reduce spraying and faecal marking?
Neutering
Can rabbits be aggressive to other rabbits?
Yes, introductions should be gradual and supervised and its best to introductions to be when rabbits are young.
Why might rabbits become aggressive to humans?
- medical problem
- fear
What can be done about human aggressive rabbits?
- physical exam to rule out medical cause of aggression
- Neutering
- have a barrier and offer treats if aggression is fear based
- Ignore aggression
- environmental enrichment
Are chewing and digging appropriate behaviours for a rabbit?
- Yes, these are natural normal behaviours. Ensure rabbit proof areas and offer appropriate enrichment so as not to chew dangerous or inappropriate things.
What kind of environmental enrichment should be provided for a rabbit/s?
- Rabbits need to be able to move and explore environment
- Need access to a suitably large area or be trained on a leash
- Rabbits need objects to chew, manipulate and explore - Rotate enrichment devices to keep them novel
- Large outdoor enclosures can be appropriate as long as they are predator, insect and weather proof
What are some characteristics of parrots (Psittacines)?
- Highly social
- typically live in large social groups that have a hierarchy
- opportunistic foragers
- Daily activities include flying, foraging, resting, and self-maintenance
What are the common complaints of behaviour in parrots?
- Aggression and biting
- feather picking or self inflicted injuries
- social avoidance of family members
- Excessive vocalisaiton
- destructive behaviour
- fears and phobias
- inappropriate sexual behaviours
- overeating
- failure to accept new diets
What is the reason for inappropriate behaviours in parrots?
Ususally a result of
- Inappropriate environmental conditions
- Poor social interactions
- Misunderstanding of normal behaviour
- Early adverse experiences (early separation from clutch mates, maternal and paternal separation, hand weaning practices, and inadequate socialisation)
- May also be related to the cognitive capabilities and lack of occupational and intellectual challenges
- Single housed birds
What forms of enrichment can be given to parrots to avoid problem behaviours?
- Environment: consider expression of natural behaviours and time budget (including sleep)
- Feeding techniques to encourage foraging ie ‘puzzle feeders’
- Intellectual stimulation/training
- Exercise
- Beak activity
What are some other options for treating behavioural problems?
- Behaviour modification (Operant conditioning)
- If all else fails - Pharmacotherapy
What can/should be done to address fears and phobias in parrots?
- Identify and remove sources of fear
- Remove birds from high traffic areas and allow them to explore novel objects on their own terms
- Make sure the bird is getting adequate and quality sleep
- Avoid rewarding fear behaviours
- Use positive reinforcement to build confidence
- Use gradual desensitisation and counter-conditioning
- Anti-anxiety medications can be used in severe cases
What can/should be done to address aggression and biting in parrots?
- Play: Provision of chew toys, interaction/play, positive reinforcement of desired behaviours
- Fear: Desensitisation and counter-conditioning
- Conditioned: Avoidance, positive reinforcement of desired behaviours
- Territorial: Remove cage from high traffic area, desensitisation and counter-conditioning
- Sexual: As for reproductive behaviours, non-preferred person to feed and care for bird
What can/should be done to address feather picking and self-inflicted injuries in parrots?
- Consider environmental factors
- Foraging enrichment and stress reduction
- Neurochemical abnormalities should be considered
- Adjunctive use of medication (Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors)
What can/should be done to address excessive vocalisation in parrots?
- Ignore screaming for attention seeking/negative punishment (don’t ignore distress calls)
- Reward quiet bird and encourage acceptable vocalisation
- Preemptive scheduling of interactions
- Environmental and behavioural modification
What can/should be done to address inappropriate sexual behaviours in parrots?
Decrease photoperiod, provide more dark time, remove nesting sites, reduce fat content of diet
What kind of environement do lizards need in captivity?
- Each species require environments similar to natural environment when kept in captivity. Note that each species are suited to survive in a specific microhabitat, so its important to match this to their captive environment.
What forms of enrichment can be given to lizards to help them express natural behaviours?
- Foraging
- Hiding
- Sunbathing
- Digging
- Swimming
What is the most common reason for behavioural problems in lizards?
Inappropriate husbandry
What signs indicate that something is wrong with a lizard?
- Abnormal behaviour
- spending all time in just one or two location
What are some environmental stressors for lizards in captivity?
- Excessive or inappropriate handling
- Inappropriate enclosure construction and/or location
- Inadequate shelter
- Improper thermal range
- Inappropriate heat sources
- Improper substrate
- Inappropriate cage accessories
- Improper light spectrum
- Improper diurnal and seasonal cycles
- Inappropriate prey or feed
- Overcrowding
Is aggression normal in lizards?
Sometimes.
- It can be a normal response (territorial or competition for resources - fighting amongst males).
- It is abnormal when occuring in response to aversive events or pain
What can be done to address aggression in lizards?
- House individuals alone if appropriate
- Increase number of resource locations
- Reduce number of daylight hours
- Increase the complexity of the environment
- Increase visual barriers between individuals
- Desensitisation and counter-conditioning
Can abnormal repetative behaviour of lizards in captivity result in injury? How can this be addressed?
- Jumping species may leap into translucent barriers and forceful impact of rostrum into translucent barriers. These behaviours have medical implications.
- Solution: Reduce glare and reflection, provide additional refuges, put a physical obstruction in the area that the behaviour is occuring, opaque visual barrier, provide a larger more complex enclosure and/or provide biologically relevant enrichment.
