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Philip Rivers posted:So which birds are the talkinest birds? I want a cool dude who will chat with me because I've wanted a talking pet since I was little. Don't do it!  This morning that little punk hopped onto my shoulder and was alighted while I was bent over in his cage changing the paper. I had to go find him since he flew around a corner.
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Mar 11, 2013 19:33
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Philip Rivers posted:So which birds are the talkinest birds? I want a cool dude who will chat with me because I've wanted a talking pet since I was little. African Greys and Amazons are great talkers, but they're also extremely high maintenance. I wouldn't recommend them to a new bird owner. Are you willing to have a bird that chats your ear off but isn't, uh, particularly talented at elocution? Conures are big talkers, cuddly and feisty, but don't pronounce words well. My GCC demands "Weawy?" (really) any time he's annoyed or uncomfortable, "Whayuudo!" (what're you doing?) when he's curious or surprised, "G'booooy! Prii'buuurr!" as good boy and pretty bird, "Doanpin!" (don't pinch!) when I handle him in an uncomfortable manner -- et cetera.
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Mar 11, 2013 20:28
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Though of course no bird is guaranteed to talk, even if they're of a species known for it-my conure says nothing at all, and doesn't even mimic other sounds. My cockatiel apparently learnt "hello" and "whatcha doin", but he hasn't spoken or sang in a long, long time.
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Mar 11, 2013 20:34
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Pigeon, we all love you here, and this is a safe space. It's okay. You can admit that Ohtori isn't the same as other Pyrrhura, we don't judge you. C'mere. He's a beautiful bird. Amadeus talks, but he doesn't flop onto his back and kick his feet. You know? Ama doesn't kick his feet. 'Tori doesn't talk. It's okay. It is. Group hug, everybody, group hug. (Realtalk, yes, he has an extremely valid point. Don't adopt a bird for the sole expectation of wanting a talking pet. Please.)
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Mar 11, 2013 20:46
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 Scout says "Peekaboo!" pretty well, especially when we actually play the game with her. She is also learning "Baby!" She mostly uses them to get our attention.
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Mar 11, 2013 22:48
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I've been thinking about getting a conure for a while now and while it's certainly not going to happen any time soon, I am kind of concerned about my living arrangement at the moment. Right now, any pet I get will be spending most of the time down in a basement. It's a pretty nice basement, but there isn't very much natural light. Is that a problem? Would a parrot even care? I just don't want to get something that would be miserable and crazy.
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Mar 11, 2013 23:43
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Mr Wind Up Bird posted:I've been thinking about getting a conure for a while now and while it's certainly not going to happen any time soon, I am kind of concerned about my living arrangement at the moment. Right now, any pet I get will be spending most of the time down in a basement. It's a pretty nice basement, but there isn't very much natural light. Is that a problem? Would a parrot even care? I just don't want to get something that would be miserable and crazy. My parrots spend most of their time with me in the basement. They're allowed upstairs but they prefer to spend time wherever I am (they move freely between floors) so I don't think it bothers them much.
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Mar 11, 2013 23:57
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Get those full spectrum light bulbs if you`re concerned.
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Mar 11, 2013 23:59
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Mr Wind Up Bird posted:I've been thinking about getting a conure for a while now and while it's certainly not going to happen any time soon, I am kind of concerned about my living arrangement at the moment. Right now, any pet I get will be spending most of the time down in a basement. It's a pretty nice basement, but there isn't very much natural light. Is that a problem? Would a parrot even care? I just don't want to get something that would be miserable and crazy. If you're worried about that, you can get a full spectrum light for your bird, like what you get for people who have seasonal affective disorder. I'd check with your avian vet to determine how much time your bird should get under the light. I know some bird supply vendors already carry bird-specific models, mostly ones that are easy to attach to cages or play stands or whathaveyou.
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Mar 12, 2013 00:00
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Whenever I talk excitedly at Cody, he starts doing these higher pitched whirry noises and I realized the other day they were words! He was pretty Silly bird/good bird ! Whenever I greet him, its usually Hiiiiiiiiii silly biird! You g'biiiird! in babyspeak so he does it too now! His vocab atm.. Watchu doin? Hi Silly biiird Good biiiird Step up Kissy noises Jujujujuju - okay not word but I say it at him a lot He doesnt mimic any noises though... not that I know of. Not sure if thats weird or not. The step up is recent too...I asked him to step up and he wouldnt and bit me and started chattering step up! step up! that douchebird. 
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Mar 12, 2013 00:13
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I'm convinced that Archer is actually some cockatiel prodigy because he prefers talking to whistling and I think he has a shred of understanding about context since he often does things like say "what's up buddy?" whenever I walk in the room but say "what's up derp?" to the other birds. Charlie is a pretty brilliant speaker, but right after he learns a phrase he seems to get bored with saying it right and will make it into some weird Sengal Parrot version. He does like to say "did you miss me!?" when I come home though. 
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Mar 12, 2013 02:41
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Eejit posted:If you're worried about that, you can get a full spectrum light for your bird, like what you get for people who have seasonal affective disorder. I'd check with your avian vet to determine how much time your bird should get under the light. I know some bird supply vendors already carry bird-specific models, mostly ones that are easy to attach to cages or play stands or whathaveyou. Hrm, how much time? We've been using ours as a little "sun" - it's on when he's supposed to be awake. Is that bad?
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Mar 12, 2013 04:09
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Has anybody watched the marnie talks videos? I think they are hilarious. Especially marnies birthday with the cockatiel under the napkin.
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Mar 12, 2013 04:14
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H110Hawk posted:Hrm, how much time? We've been using ours as a little "sun" - it's on when he's supposed to be awake. Is that bad? Yeah, you should not have them exposed all day. It's not a big deal and something you can sort out with a phone call to your vet. I don't use one, so I don't know, and I'd be far more willing to trust someone with a vet degree over google.
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Mar 12, 2013 04:20
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Marshmallow Blue posted:Has anybody watched the marnie talks videos? I think they are hilarious. Especially marnies birthday with the cockatiel under the napkin. Marnie is pretty much the best Internet parrot. I like the video where Marnie's talking to the cockatiel who's too busy wolf-whistling to notice it 
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Mar 12, 2013 04:26
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So we took Ritz to the vet on Saturday for his annual checkup, doc said he looks great and was very impressed with his dietary habits. His CBC came back perfect and we're waiting on his blood panel which will be back tomorrow. We also had the doc swab a dab of blood on the Zoogen DNA testymajig, so now we're also waiting on sex results. Its like Christmas as a little kid waiting for this stuff! 
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Mar 12, 2013 04:54
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SaNChEzZ posted:So we took Ritz to the vet on Saturday for his annual checkup, doc said he looks great and was very impressed with his dietary habits. I'm here for you sun conure buddy
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Mar 12, 2013 05:24
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Woah you can do a blood test to determine the sex of your bird? Our boy is 15, has obviously never laid an egg, and has black eyes (female umbrella cockatoos tend to go reddish) so we just assume he's male, but we were always told sexing a bird was some sort of invasive surgery. drat 
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Mar 12, 2013 05:38
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Eejit posted:Woah you can do a blood test to determine the sex of your bird? Our boy is 15, has obviously never laid an egg, and has black eyes (female umbrella cockatoos tend to go reddish) so we just assume he's male, but we were always told sexing a bird was some sort of invasive surgery. drat I think you can send a feather off somewhere and they can DNA test from that, but Im not 100% sure.
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Mar 12, 2013 05:42
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Frogmanv2 posted:I think you can send a feather off somewhere and they can DNA test from that, but Im not 100% sure. Its $20 USD from zoogen with a blood sample, freshly plucked feathers, or part of the baby's eggshell. The blood is the most typical, and easiest to work with. They ask for five feathers plucked from the chest, so the blood is also easier, just a shortly trimmed nail away.
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Mar 12, 2013 08:52
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Ohtori's DNA sexing test certificate says he was sexed via a feather sample. He turned out to be male, obviously-as did his four other siblings. Aaaand as I was writing this, the courier came with the package containing pellets, a foraging wheel, and the desk perch gym thing! Time to investigate
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Mar 12, 2013 13:09
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Battle Pigeon posted:Ohtori's DNA sexing test certificate says he was sexed via a feather sample. He turned out to be male, obviously-as did his four other siblings. We got our parcel yesterday! It was full of awesome things for Pookie (and a little bonus gift of sweets for me )She got:  Space Circles by Creative Foraging.  Buffet Ball Foraging Ball by Creative Foraging.  Planet Pleasures Nature Cluster Small.  Push and Pull Foraging Toy by Creative Foraging  Reinforcement Foraging Wheel by Creative Foraging. Plus some free chinese finger traps for her to destroy, which she's doing right now. So far she's played with the buffet ball, and tried to break the space circles thingy to get at the pistachios inside. She's never had foraging toys before so I'm going to hold off on giving her the more complex ones 'til she's worked out how this simple one she has is supposed to work. I'm really really pleased with what we got - most of this stuff I've never even seen for sale in this country and anything you can get is easily 2-3 times more expensive than buying online.
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Mar 12, 2013 13:47
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Ohtori has that push and pull toy! Where did you get them from again? It looks like the foraging wheel Ohtori got today might not be an appropriate size, and the stand? It appears to have one piece missing, and if I'm putting it together correctly, doesn't fit properly. The instruction diagram is unreadable, it's printed so lightly. Not impressed.  Going to leave it for now.
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Mar 12, 2013 14:10
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Battle Pigeon posted:Ohtori has that push and pull toy! Where did you get them from again? From: http://www.mysafebirdstore.com. And boo on missing bits in your stuff All of Pookie's stuff looks to be fine, the only thing to discover now if is she has the brains to work out how to get stuff out of them...
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Mar 12, 2013 14:37
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Does anyone have any thoughts on getting a finch from petsmart? I realize that it's not going to do anything except sit in it's cage and probably scream at me but they are cute.
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Mar 12, 2013 15:21
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Mr Wind Up Bird posted:Does anyone have any thoughts on getting a finch from petsmart? I realize that it's not going to do anything except sit in it's cage and probably scream at me but they are cute. Get more than one so he can have some buddies. I always see the zebra finches in there chillen out making cherps. We got Maru our Cockatiel from Petco. Black Friday special 50% off all live birds (dead ones were still full price), But don't tell her that!
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Mar 12, 2013 16:43
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Pookah posted:From: http://www.mysafebirdstore.com. And boo on missing bits in your stuff Thanks! I wonder how much shipping to here would cost-shouldn't be much more than for UK/Ireland, I think. Was it reasonable for your stuff? And I'm sure if 'Tori can manage, she will. The thought of her pouncing on a foraging ball is very .
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Mar 12, 2013 17:11
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It worked out as around $55 for the stuff itself and $45 for the shipping via the postal service as it was a pretty big (3lb) box; so shipping did nearly double the cost. Buuut that coverted to around 75 euro in total and I'd expect to be paying 20 euro+ for the bigger items and 10-15 for the smaller if I had bought them in a shop here, assuming I could even get them. Also they give you 10% off your first order if you use the code "FIRST" which is a nice little bonus.
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Mar 12, 2013 17:31
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So I've been sick, and Noodle hates me for it.  I ended up losing my voice from it all so to her I guess I'm some sort of scary, flashy-nailed (she also hates my nail polish) silent thing. If I go out of sight though, she starts contact calling and I can't call back to her! Whenever I cough I guess it also sounds like Angry Budgie Noise which she'll repeat back to me in a sort of "Fine, be that way!" tone.
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Mar 12, 2013 19:37
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Pookah posted:
I showed Pookie that there were tasty snacks in this thing today by tipping it on end so that she could grab two of the pistachios inside, then I showed her a small jellybean and hid it inside too, but refused to help her with the toy any more, so that she'd, you know, grow her brain and be more intelligent about solving problems. She blew angry kisses at me for a couple of minutes before progressing to very angry food-chewing noises. Then she tried to brute-force her way in to the jelly bean. It didn't work so she beat up all her other toys and is now sulking. She is a big old spoiled baby and I love her. (She will learn to work these toys by herself though).
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Mar 12, 2013 20:53
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Pookie, this internet stranger thinks you are adorable. Sadly the foraging wheel seems too big for Ohtori, he isn't really tall enough to turn it. I'll take a photo tomorrow, as it's late here. We also put together that stand and it turned out to be okay after all, and it's pretty nice. Just have to find a good spot for it as it turned out to be too big for the window sill we planned on. Ohtori got his toe caught in a cabinet door earlier. He screamed and flew around a bit, and wouldn't use his foot for ages, then when he finally put it down it had a weak grip and the toe was swollen. He seems to be better now though-he's using it to eat-so it seems nothing is broken. He became very cuddly and begged to be comforted after it happened, but it didn't stop him flying around and investigating things and being his usual curious self while we were in the shower. Oh, 'Tori.
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Mar 12, 2013 22:18
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Argh I went to petsmart to kill some time after a movie and I spent probably 20 minutes looking at their sun conure. He hopped around his cage and hung from the bars with his feet the moment I got close. He's just too expensive at probably 700 dollars after him, a cage, and some toys and food. Aaaaa I want one so bad.
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Mar 12, 2013 22:43
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Mr Wind Up Bird posted:Argh I went to petsmart to kill some time after a movie and I spent probably 20 minutes looking at their sun conure. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bYFMo5Ar1k0 You should probably be aware of that.
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Mar 12, 2013 23:23
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I clicked and now all my birds are screaming back at it.  Can't remember if I posted about Chiyo's ~*Burgeoning Womanhood*~, but after her first, misshapen egg worked itself out, her bum was so swollen that the skin sagged for three days. "Hot dog down a hallway" indeed. Meanwhile, her parents are banging each other 24/7 again, so that's another two months of fruitless egg sitting in their future. Oh, lovebirds.
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Mar 12, 2013 23:33
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SquadronROE posted:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bYFMo5Ar1k0 The realities about noise and poop and needing to provide constant attention and care for something that could live for 20 years or more makes my head spin. I can't even keep a houseplant alive for more than a few months. edit: I think my current obsession is just coming from some misplaced urge to have children. Mr Wind Up Bird fucked around with this message at 01:14 on Mar 13, 2013 |
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Mar 13, 2013 01:11
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Mr Wind Up Bird posted:I think realistically I enjoy the idea of bird ownership more than I would enjoy it for real. I actually gave myself a panic attack the other day thinking about what I would do if I accidentally hurt or killed a bird that I only owned in my imagination. Haha, no worries. We go to the bird stores about once a week as well, trying to get our fill of cute feathery things. I think we're going to have to wait until the next crop of cuteness is harvested, sometime this summer.
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Mar 13, 2013 01:27
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Mr Wind Up Bird posted:I think realistically I enjoy the idea of bird ownership more than I would enjoy it for real. I actually gave myself a panic attack the other day thinking about what I would do if I accidentally hurt or killed a bird that I only owned in my imagination. Are we the same person? We're starting to think harder about getting a budgie. But the idea still terrifies/excites me.
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Mar 13, 2013 01:40
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It's official we are horrible parents. This is day 2 of coming home to a picked clean food dish. Birdy must be growing or something because he is sure eating a lot. We've increased his pile daily, and previously we were always throwing away 15% of it. Still has little to no interest in the pellets, even soaking them in a big of cherry juice isn't getting him to eat them.
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Mar 13, 2013 02:41
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We just put pellets in there one day instead of the regular food and went to work. Came home to a clean food bowl.
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Mar 13, 2013 04:39
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mikerock posted:We just put pellets in there one day instead of the regular food and went to work. More or less what I did. I started giving the birds seed for breakfast, pellets for lunch, and seeds for supper. Eventually phased out supper when I saw they were eating pellets during the day, then phased out breakfast a few weeks after that.
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Mar 13, 2013 05:16
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