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Amaya posted:I'm very angry. Zomo offered to get us another bird for Christmas if I found one I liked. Of course I hopped right on this, but I really wanted to adopt instead of buying one from a store or breeder. We were fine with driving a few hours if need be so I started looking... I'd see if you can talk to them and interact with them and see how reasonable they are. I have no experience with this, but I would hope a lot of communication and the understanding that you're deliberately jumping through more hoops to prevent contributing to the "disposable" pet industry and also making space for another bird at their sanctuary would get them to relax some of the requirements. You might have to agree to send Christmas cards of the bird every year or home visits. It's also pretty standard to agree to return the bird to them if you ever can't take care of them.
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Dec 26, 2012 23:59
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DarkHorse posted:You might have to agree to send Christmas cards of the bird every year This is actually the most adorable requirement 
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Dec 27, 2012 01:09
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Does anyone have a contingency plan for if their power goes out in the winter? My biggest fear is that the power fails while we are out or asleep and the birds slowly freeze. We have a small place that doesn't take much to heat (on gas) but I still worry.
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Dec 27, 2012 04:09
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Aren't gas-heaters self powered? (by gas?)
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Dec 27, 2012 04:16
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I would totally send a Christmas card every year to an adoption agency. Instead this year we were able to take Zippy to her previous owner's holiday party to show off how well she's doing. (We took her to a ton of parties actually. She did fabulously at all of them and charmed everyone ) I experienced the same difficulty trying to adopt a parrot from a sanctuary too. DarkHorse already explained the sanctuary mindset well. The place I volunteer doesn't adopt birds out ever because of this kind of paranoia. The birds are all fabulously cared for and live cage free lives, but the sanctuary is full because no room can be made for more birds. Upside- I have access to all the free cages and stands I could ever need since the birds come with all their stuff and don't need most of it after they move into the big flight.
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Dec 27, 2012 04:22
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I called two of the places and emailed a third (no number available) and none of them would budge. I'm just very frustrated because one of the sanctuaries had a quaker that had plucked all of her feathers out and I would be MORE than willing to work with her and try to stop the plucking and give her attention and such... Sigh. I guess I'll keep patrolling craigslist to see if I can save a bird that way  ...in other news we went to petco today to buy some more nutriberries and there was a beauitul nanday with a blackhead and blue throat I've never seen before. I wanted to hold him! He's a lot bigger than I'm used to seeing. I didn't know they were larger than green cheeks? Anyway, he was super adorable and kept rubbing himself against where I was touching the glass. Poor baby EDIT: btw, I understand entirely why they want to make sure only the best people adopt their birds, I would be the same way... but I REALLY wanted some of these birds and I would take such good care of them... they just won't give me a chance to prove myself. Amaya fucked around with this message at 04:26 on Dec 27, 2012 |
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Dec 27, 2012 04:24
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Wow, they wouldn't even be willing to consider someone who would beg to try to rehabilitate a neurotic plucking bird? drat, that's really stubborn and sad
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Dec 27, 2012 04:33
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Amaya. Id send you my gcc bird. Seriously. He needs a good home. Im in ny tho. Yea nandays are huge. They seem like a med parrot to me when compared to pyrhurras. We have a baby in right now and i was finally able to pet him last week. Now he runs up to the glass and bars seeking attention vs running away. Yay! I took my tiel to woek today. People are surprised he is so friendly. And my adoption process? - go in to shelter to see dogs - see cage crammed full of tiels - go hey. I want fhat one. Okay heres 40 bux - owner sticks him in a cardboard box - bird Yay for not crazy rescues. Though on the other hand, they had absolutely no requirements.
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Dec 27, 2012 09:08
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Tasty_Crayon posted:Does anyone have a contingency plan for if their power goes out in the winter? My biggest fear is that the power fails while we are out or asleep and the birds slowly freeze. We have a small place that doesn't take much to heat (on gas) but I still worry. Unless your home is unreasonably drafty or your birds are ill, they should be OK until you wake up in the morning if the power went out in the middle of the night. We have a couple contingency plans in this scenario: 1) Our stove is also gas, so we can use a match to turn the cooktop on. We heat up water for hot water bottles. Wrap in towels at place at the bottom of the cages. My friend with a giant cockatoo does this but she will put him in a pet carrier and put the hot water bottles on the outside on one side of the carrier. 2) We have an agreement with a friend that if one our homes loses power, then the other is welcome to bring their birds over to a warmer place. 3) If it's a really long outage, take the birds to a vet or boarder (this is the last resort, expensive option). Re: gas heat power. Our home also uses gas heat, but if the power is out, the thermostat won't work to kick the heat on.
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Dec 27, 2012 14:34
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I got Mickey to stop barbering but I think he may be plucking under his wings which makes no sense to me because he has literally all day play time out of his cage and is lavished with attention and is on a good diet of fresh veggies and pellets, with the occasional treat of potatoes. stop it bird I love you
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Dec 27, 2012 15:00
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Hello again all you bird crazies. I want to give a follow up to anyone who might have seen my previous posts. Over the last several days, I've been working with Panzer by placing my hand within his comfort zone and offering him a treat every time he would stay calm when I pushed those bounds a bit. I'm happy to say that the technique has worked amazingly well. A few days ago, he actually let me pet him. The whole time I was petting the little snuggle butt, I couldn't stop crying while showering him with praise and kisses. Since then, he gives a standoffish squawk when I go to pet him but will softly place his beak on my fingertip and preen it to let me know he wants some soft pets. One small question, what are some steps that I can do to teach him to fly over to me? He has been doing great with flying and landing, which leads me to think that getting him to fly to me seems like an easier way to get him out of his cage since he has trouble with stepping up and keeping his balance due to the problem with his feet.
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Dec 27, 2012 22:03
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Aww, I'm so glad that you've made progress with Panzer.  It must have been heartbreaking when he didn't want you to touch him.I taught Amadeus, my GCC, to fly to me fairly easily by displaying that I had a tasty sunflower seed in my fingers, and then snapping them and telling him to "c'mere!" He caught on very quickly and would fly to me reliably whenever I snapped and called, even after I didn't display a seed, because he rapidly realized there was still a 50% chance he'd get a treat. I kind of hosed it up by running out of seeds. Since Ama cottoned on to the total absence of goodies, he now only flies to me on command if he was missing me anyway.  Deadly Chlorine might have some better tips, she's a member of a couple bird groups.
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Dec 27, 2012 22:16
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Sii posted:Hello again all you bird crazies. I want to give a follow up to anyone who might have seen my previous posts. Over the last several days, I've been working with Panzer by placing my hand within his comfort zone and offering him a treat every time he would stay calm when I pushed those bounds a bit. I'm happy to say that the technique has worked amazingly well. A few days ago, he actually let me pet him. The whole time I was petting the little snuggle butt, I couldn't stop crying while showering him with praise and kisses. Since then, he gives a standoffish squawk when I go to pet him but will softly place his beak on my fingertip and preen it to let me know he wants some soft pets. Get him used to you first. But once that's done, see if he'll fly to you when you start to leave the room. Put him on top of his cage, walk near the door and say "ByeBye" or something, to see if he will fly to you. Replace ByeBye with the command of your choice, and when he comes to you, reward him with a treat and a clicker (if you have one) then put him back, rinse, repeat until he gets familiar with the command you choose = treats. And congrats on the pets!
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Dec 27, 2012 22:16
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The first time Mamacita let me give her scritches, I wept and made roughly twenty posts to Facebook about it. Also: HA HA birds and plucking. Ha. Haaaa.
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Dec 27, 2012 22:27
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That all sounds like incredibly good advice. Right now, his favorite treat is millet and these little balls of seed. I might need to find some kind of treat that is a bit more bite size to tempt him with. I'll need to get a clicker next time I go by petsmart, but it might be wise for me to read up some more on clicker training for birds. Does anyone a favored information site? It seems like my google searches only brings up sites that want to sell me their secrets or forums with waaaay to much information to sift through. Once again, thank you so much for your help and well wishes. My gf recently got a new Cannon lens for Xmas, so plenty of Panzer pictures may be in the near future. fake edit: It appears my shoulder is covered in the discarded remains of some millet while a lil' puff butt snuggles into my unsightly neckbeard.
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Dec 27, 2012 23:12
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Sunflower seeds are great treats, they're like cheetos for birds. Also, if you're feeding him a seed mix with sunflower seeds in it, you should pull them all out so that he doesn't get his "treats" regularly. Oh, pictures, fast. And as far as clicker training goes, there's not really much to it. Just use it to encourage good behavior. Example: Step up! *bird steps up*  GOOD BIRD! *clicker* *hand him the sunflower seed*You want to do the click between praise and treat, so he associates the noise of the clicker with good things happening.
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Dec 27, 2012 23:17
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If you don't have a clicker, a discarded Snapple cap or something of the like works just as well. Just something that makes a distinct sound that they'll never hear out of context and therefore be confused by. Unrelatedly, on New Years Day I'll have had Amadeus for three years! I plan to bake him a small millet-studded cake (and Rosy can have some too, of course ). I had to go out and buy baking powder today for that express purpose, and then to feel like less of a bird crazy I used some of it to bake a pound cake for me and my boyfriend.
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Dec 27, 2012 23:20
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Happy Annibirdsary!
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Dec 27, 2012 23:23
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There's actually a lot you can do with clicker training, but the crucial idea is that the click is associated with the treat, and that the click is used because it's much more precise than shoving the treat in their face or saying the praise: you want to click the exact moment the pet does what you want, and the bird knows that is what is being rewarded while you're fumbling for the treat. If you have PMs, talk to a life less for a lot of good tips and resources. If you want to look up terms yourself, look for "operant conditioning," "shaping," and "treat fading".
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Dec 27, 2012 23:24
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Zippy is dozing on my shoulder while I play Planetside 2 and bowing her head down for scritches. EDIT: omg my bird just gave me soft scritches on the neck and ear she's never done that before for either of us  
Kenshin fucked around with this message at 03:32 on Dec 28, 2012 |
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Dec 27, 2012 23:29
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I'm so glad to see Zippy having a good life. She seems like she fit in seamlessly, have you had any trouble at all with her?
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Dec 28, 2012 05:02
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Kenshin posted:Zippy is dozing on my shoulder while I play Planetside 2 and bowing her head down for scritches. That is a very very pretty parrot. I especially like that third picture.
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Dec 28, 2012 05:12
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Hannah has developed this weird but endearing behavior. If the Mrs. goes to bed before he does, he flips out. He turns himself towards the direction of the bedroom and starts to lean forward and flap his wings. He doesn't really know how to fly so he just acts like he is going to leap off any second. He just acts really anxious. I actually have to pick him up, take him to the bedroom, and show him that she is asleep. After that he behaves normally. It's super strange but that's what I get for raising a bird to function as a family member instead of a pet.
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Dec 28, 2012 05:25
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Tasty_Crayon posted:have you had any trouble at all with her? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vE4-_fg1hiI
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Dec 28, 2012 06:02
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On the scale of parrot screaming volume that's not bad! Bird jackpot.
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Dec 28, 2012 06:08
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Joe Don Baker posted:Hannah has developed this weird but endearing behavior. If the Mrs. goes to bed before he does, he flips out. He turns himself towards the direction of the bedroom and starts to lean forward and flap his wings. He doesn't really know how to fly so he just acts like he is going to leap off any second. He just acts really anxious. I actually have to pick him up, take him to the bedroom, and show him that she is asleep. After that he behaves normally. It's super strange but that's what I get for raising a bird to function as a family member instead of a pet. Well, usually he's there to make sure she's getting to bed properly. He just needs to make sure that she's tucked in and content, and then he can get on with his evening. At least, that's the only way I can imagine the usual high inspector superintendent Grey personality would be getting so weird about bedtime.
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Dec 28, 2012 06:53
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I was skyping with my Uncle in North Queensland and he has a Dusky Lory! AUSTRALIA!
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Dec 28, 2012 06:56
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Pile of Kittens posted:Well, usually he's there to make sure she's getting to bed properly. He just needs to make sure that she's tucked in and content, and then he can get on with his evening. At least, that's the only way I can imagine the usual high inspector superintendent Grey personality would be getting so weird about bedtime. Yeah that's definitely what it is. I'm just puzzled why he's just started this recently. It's not a huge deal. It's funny more than anything else. I'm actually very relieved he likes her. Our family had the bird since he was a baby in the mid 90's so in a lot of ways he's like my kid brother. The Mrs. is a relatively new addition and we've only had the bird full time since the spring. He definitely likes her and in fact prefers head scratches from her.
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Dec 28, 2012 06:58
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Hey, what else is new, I need more advice! Ritz is still sneezing, with discharge. He's been sneezing in the middle of the night, morning etc. He doesn't sneeze too much during the day though. Here's how the vet laid it out: In the middle of the night when he's not active, the mucous gathers, causing him to sneeze and that's why he doesn't sneeze during the day. We've done two rounds of antibiotics, two nasal flushes as well as labwork on the mucous, and a gram stain poop test. Everything came back negative, the only thing he said it could be at this point is allergies, or an anaerobic bacteria, which they don't test for because it's too expensive. He's regarded as one of the best vets in the country, however if I wanted a second opinion the only other avian vet is only there on Mondays from 9-12:30 and is difficult to see. They said that we could try a different antibiotic in injection form, but I really don't want to have to give him injections, oral antibiotics are hard enough. At this point it's just the nasal stuff. He's still eating fine, playing, being crazy, and he's even gotten a little fat lately at 119g vs. his normal 115ish. What should I do goons!
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Dec 29, 2012 01:03
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mikerock posted:I was skyping with my Uncle in North Queensland and he has a Dusky Lory! I live in AUSTRALIA! but all I have is a GCC. I feel like I'm doing something wrong.
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Dec 29, 2012 02:02
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Sometimes Zippy makes odd sounds (sorry about the poor lighting and camera work, but the sounds are the point) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hMs8HZlwaCU
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Dec 29, 2012 02:58
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Jesus, that's horror movie caliber 
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Dec 29, 2012 03:48
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Sounds like somebody lived with a baby at one point. Silent hill much?
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Dec 29, 2012 03:52
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holy loving christ. I might have to get a new bird if Finn or Marceline did that D:
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Dec 29, 2012 04:47
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Haha jesus christ. Imagine hearing that in the middle of the night. Or waking up to that. So creepy.
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Dec 29, 2012 05:08
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Well thankfully the bird is very quiet at night and in the morning. I think I have the only bird that won't greet or say goodnight to the sun.
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Dec 29, 2012 05:09
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Lenswork posted:Well thankfully the bird is very quiet at night and in the morning. I think I have the only bird that won't greet or say goodnight to the sun. Ritz is the same way. Hooray for broken biological clock, potentially super loud screaming birds.
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Dec 29, 2012 05:16
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Alright PI, I've got a question for you. This is Rosie Rosie is my mother's crimson rosella. I was reading the first couple posts in the topic and it mentioned a couple things that worries me. Back when my mother first got her (and when I still lived with her), she was full grown, and a biter. She semi-responded to an "Up up" command, but that quickly faded away when we couldn't get her to quit biting our hands. That, and the fact that my mother has several cats, means that Rosie is rarely let out of her cage. First thing I'm worried about is attention. The OP says the bird should get at least an hour of attention per day, and some days go by where she's just kind of...there. When I come to my mom's place, Rosie practically flips out in excitement, probably because I try to pay a decent amount of attention to her when I get there. She absolutely loves it when I whistle tunes at her, and likes playing a game where I whistle back or click at her with whatever series of sounds she makes. Sometimes she squakes when she's bored, but for the most part she's pretty docile. My guess is that she seems content with her cage, probably because that's almost entirely what she knows, but even in that case she's not getting the attention I think she deserves. She never shows any outright negative signs of being ignored most of the time, but it certainly can't be good for her. The other thing I'm wondering about is the size of her cage. The cage really isn't twice her wingspan, although it does fit the dimensions for a small parrot. I don't know if she's considered small or medium based on the OP. I don't have a good picture of her cage, but here's a tiny cropped one from one I pulled from Facebook.  Does that look adequately sized? In any case, I've been semi-tempted to try and take Rosie off of her hands, (Which probably wouldn't work) but I've got cats too, and my apartment isn't big enough that I can guarantee she'd quickly find a place out of reach if she gets out of her cage. Just about everywhere in my apartment a cat can jump or climb up to, and I don't know if they would stalk her cage if I brought her home. At least her cats don't do that. I try to give Rosie occupied, but it's a couple hours to my mother's house, and I can't justify to myself driving for four hours for the sake of keeping the bird's attention. I know this is a very open-ended question, but how should I approach this? klosterdev fucked around with this message at 10:09 on Dec 29, 2012 |
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Dec 29, 2012 10:07
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Sounds like Rosie is the larger version of my aunt's cockatiel Willy. He's been neglected all his life and instead of screaming like baby birds do when they want attention Willy is so beaten down from life that he doesn't even bother, he just sits there looking content in his too-little cage. At least she has him out in an open area, I guess. The biting could probably be worked out of her if she's given enough attention and care, but if you're gone just as much during the day, taking her might not help at all? I just did some quick googling and from what I'm seeing crimson rosella's require a lot of attention and working with to stay tame, not like conures and other 'first bird' birds. As far as the cage, I'm not sure... it's hard to tell by that picture what size the cage is but it looks a little small. Especially if she spends all day for days at a time in the cage you should try to at least coax your mother into getting her a nice sized cage. That's just my 2 cents though.
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Dec 29, 2012 10:55
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Suggest a second bird. Even if she gets another one and keeps it in a separate cage, it'll still be better than nothing. Birds are social animals, they need company. I realized I could only give my cockatiel so many hours each day, so I got a second and now they're best buddies and are always super happy. Also, as the cage does seem small, you could suggest an additional activity stand, something other than the cage for the bird to chill on. My birds love theirs. Chili fucked around with this message at 13:33 on Dec 29, 2012 |
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Dec 29, 2012 13:30
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