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So I've been re-training poor Tokyo because of the whole butt-in-cage-door incident, and so far it's going well. She's started begging for cheese again, so I guess that means she doesn't consider hands completely evil. She still screeches like a banshee though, even if she's sitting really nicely on my hand or eating millet from my fingers. Is this just a bird thing?
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Jul 1, 2014 05:58
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Eejit posted:He is a chronic nare whistler because he has chronic bird boogers. That's a serious answer. Mine does that too at times. It's the same thing as human nose whistling aka gross breathing. There's never been any discharge or lethargy or anything, really. I guess he's just gross v  vThanks!
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Jul 1, 2014 08:13
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Sociopastry posted:So I've been re-training poor Tokyo because of the whole butt-in-cage-door incident, and so far it's going well. She's started begging for cheese again, so I guess that means she doesn't consider hands completely evil. She still screeches like a banshee though, even if she's sitting really nicely on my hand or eating millet from my fingers. Is this just a bird thing? Probably! Is it fear screeching, or just regular screeching? If it bothers you, you can encourage her to make other noises instead-don't react at all when she's screeching, but the second she makes a sound you want go crazy with praise and maybe a treat. Even better if you can then pair the noise (say, a kiss) with a word (kiss!) and get her to do it on command for treats... you'll then have a period where she will kiss ALL THE TIME to try to tell you she wants her treats now please human, and she might even start using it to let you know she wants something in general. It's nice giving them ways to communicate that even us idiot humans can understand 
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Jul 1, 2014 11:12
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So I came back from droping my fiance off at the train station this morning and had a slight panic moment when I heard what sounded like Simon and Gunter talking to each other from the tree outside my apartment. It turns out that we have a pair of mocking birds that have been talking to my birds through the window.
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Jul 1, 2014 14:17
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edit: mouse glitch caused double post.
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Jul 1, 2014 14:32
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jadebullet posted:So I came back from droping my fiance off at the train station this morning and had a slight panic moment when I heard what sounded like Simon and Gunter talking to each other from the tree outside my apartment. It turns out that we have a pair of mocking birds that have been talking to my birds through the window. Yeah! I thought I was going to be a hero bird rescuer this weekend, I could have sworn there was a cockatiel in the tree oustide my parent's house but lo and behold, mockingbird.
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Jul 1, 2014 17:37
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 Tokyo has started doing that "I'm very pleased with myself" head bob nearly every two minutes today. I don't really have the money for trick toys, so instead I just put a bunch of millet into an origami star that I made and put it in the cage with her. When she managed to tear open the paper she did this little dance and oh my god I have the beetus now.Edit: I figured out what Tokyo didn't like about hands. It's my nail polish. I love nail polish.  anyway to train her that nail polish isn't evil?
FluxFaun fucked around with this message at 00:37 on Jul 2, 2014 |
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Jul 1, 2014 23:11
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With nail polish it could be the smell or color as much as anything else that she doesn't like. Try different brands and colors and see if she reacts positively but I would also just try going without for a while to make her as hand-happy as possible before you try mixing it up
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Jul 2, 2014 00:50
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Sociopastry posted:
Some of our most successful toys are ones Staryberry made out of chunks of yucca with straws pushed through it. We got a big bag of it from somewhere and the chunks last a few days each depending on how interested he is in them that day.
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Jul 2, 2014 16:44
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Apparently toes are just as good as fingers for birdie headrubs.
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Jul 2, 2014 19:02
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Sociopastry posted:
If you find out a trick to this, please share. I have a huge nail polish collection that I basically never wear anymore because Nugget is TERRIFIED of painted nails 
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Jul 3, 2014 00:17
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Sociopastry posted:
Oliver HATED nail polish. The last time we visited him at the breeder he was acting really weird and finally we figured out that it was because both the breeder and myself had pink nails that day. She intentionally changed her nails a lot to get the babies used to it but he just hates pink. Anyway he REALLY hated darker colors so I found a very pale pink and a flesh-colored polish (I have to wear something or my nails peel and break really badly) and wore those exclusively for a while and when I went back to darker colors he was a lot less upset about it. But all told, getting him to stop attacking me every time he saw dark nails took a full year. Good luck!
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Jul 3, 2014 02:37
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LITERALLY A BIRD posted:Apparently toes are just as good as fingers for birdie headrubs. I will never ever get tired of Amadeus pictures.
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Jul 3, 2014 03:37
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H110Hawk posted:Some of our most successful toys are ones Staryberry made out of chunks of yucca with straws pushed through it. We got a big bag of it from somewhere and the chunks last a few days each depending on how interested he is in them that day. Isn't yucca toxic to birds? Like pretty much most of the plant is not good for them I thought.
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Jul 3, 2014 12:46
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Nope! Yucca is safe for birds. It's not good for cats or dogs. It's not that uncommon to see Yucca included in bird toys.
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Jul 3, 2014 16:17
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Staryberry posted:Nope! Yucca is safe for birds. It's not good for cats or dogs. It's not that uncommon to see Yucca included in bird toys. Birdy kabobs etc. are all made of Yucca. It's basically balsa wood in cylindrical form, my guys love it to death.
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Jul 3, 2014 18:18
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It feels funny when Tokyo eats out of my hand.
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Jul 3, 2014 19:22
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Yucca is a daily part of the diet here at the Ara Project. I promise, the birds are alive and healthy.
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Jul 3, 2014 19:49
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I don't take nearly enough pictures of this little dinosaur because most of the time she's stuck on me and I don't really need to take that many selfies. She finally decided that the rope bridge is not an Engine of Birdy Death and has realized that it is fun to hang out, rub her face, or chew on.  
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Jul 8, 2014 01:52
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Sorry for the shaky cam. I had to be sneaky to get this. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=STIX60U2vxI
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Jul 11, 2014 03:11
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Ama is sitting on my knee while I read, apparently going through his entire repertoire of phrases to make sure he hasn't forgotten any. Pretty bird, hey you, you're weird, hey bird, what're you doing, what're you doing there, hey, hey baby, baby bird, hey there cutie, what're you doing baby, you're a good bird, really, really?! You're a pretty birdie bird, hey little bird, I love you, you're a silly bird, hey you, what you do? Pretty bird, pretty bird, hey you! If I don't repeat a phrase back to him he gets stuck on it and says it louder and louder until I answer.
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Jul 11, 2014 23:54
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Jose Oquendo posted:Sorry for the shaky cam. I had to be sneaky to get this. Some of those noises are really funny, and s/he does them so well. Can anyone tell me what kind of bird this is?  Lots more here: http://instagram.com/robineko At first I thought it was some rare parakeet. Then I read about Bourke's Parrots and thought it looks closer to those, but I've never seen one as blue in image searches.
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Jul 12, 2014 06:31
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Is that some kind of color mutation of a parrotlet? I've just never seen one with bars on the wings.
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Jul 12, 2014 07:01
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It's a lineolated parakeet. 
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Jul 12, 2014 07:34
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LITERALLY A BIRD posted:It's a lineolated parakeet. Winner!
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Jul 12, 2014 08:54
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I got a pretty good video of Mindo taking a bath today. It takes hard work to schnoz like his clean.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LKxORD4dTSQ He hates being sprayed by water. The only place he is willing to bathe is in his water bowl. We've tried giving him bigger bowls to bathe in, but he was afraid of those too.
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Jul 13, 2014 03:07
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LITERALLY A BIRD posted:It's a lineolated parakeet. Yep! They're wildly cute but have the largest poo poo to bird ratio I've ever seen. Wish someone would have warned me about that before I got mine. Totally worth it but goddamn.
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Jul 13, 2014 04:36
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Staryberry posted:I got a pretty good video of Mindo taking a bath today. It takes hard work to schnoz like his clean. Ahahahaa the way he stuffs himself into that water dish...
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Jul 13, 2014 04:50
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LITERALLY A BIRD posted:Ama is sitting on my knee while I read, apparently going through his entire repertoire of phrases to make sure he hasn't forgotten any. Pretty bird, hey you, you're weird, hey bird, what're you doing, what're you doing there, hey, hey baby, baby bird, hey there cutie, what're you doing baby, you're a good bird, really, really?! You're a pretty birdie bird, hey little bird, I love you, you're a silly bird, hey you, what you do? Pretty bird, pretty bird, hey you! Amadeus is the standard I hold Inko to. If he ends up even half as cute, I'll be happy.
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Jul 14, 2014 01:12
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Battle Pigeon posted:Amadeus is the standard I hold Inko to. If he ends up even half as cute, I'll be happy. Happily, GCCs are genetically disposed towards adorableness.
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Jul 14, 2014 04:14
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LITERALLY A BIRD posted:Happily, GCCs are genetically disposed towards adorableness. He is adorable, but it's the biting I take issue with We got the birds a sunflower head at the weekend! Usually we cut it up into sections and then hang them in Ohtori's cage (Steve doesn't eat sunflower). Inko had never seen one before so he was shown, and it was apparently terrifying so it's been beside his cage so he can see and get used to it. I then had the idea of putting Ohtori on it to show how awesome it was:   Inko still doesn't seem convinced. Ohtori doesn't care.  
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Jul 14, 2014 22:35
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So I have a cool black-capped conure who is about a year old now and I figured maybe I should try teaching her to be more vocal despite finding talking birds kinda creepy. So far the only thing she has picked up and imitated is the beeping sound my fan makes when it turns on/off. Any suggestions for teaching methods, or apps, or something to get her to be more entertaining while being annoying?
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Jul 14, 2014 22:48
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Leave the room. Seriously, while we were gone yesterday the people in the apartment below us said Jade was talking non-stop all the things we were trying to teach her. "Say hi jade! Say pretty girl jade! I love you!" :aargh:
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Jul 14, 2014 23:33
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Yeah, birds like to practice their phrases when nobody is around to listen. Which is pretty hilarious IMO, like, what, are you afraid you're going to get teased for your accent or something bird?
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Jul 14, 2014 23:36
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So its been a few weeks now and our budgie still will only eat millet. We've tried everything to encourage him to eat seed, fruits and veggies. We constantly line the floor of his cage with lots of different foods and seeds. At this point would it be a bad idea to just stop giving him millet and keep putting all the food in there for him until he is eventually hungry enough to eat it. Spoiler alert: we have already started doing this and for the past day it feels like he hasn't eaten anything, are we going to hurt him trying to get him off millet?
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Jul 15, 2014 02:55
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Tasty_Crayon posted:Leave the room. All she does when I leave the room is do her regular caws and screams which I am hoping I can turn into more entertaining phrases so when I am gone and the roommates are around at least they'll hear something entertaining instead of generic bird noises.
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Jul 15, 2014 03:21
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ScienceAndMusic posted:So its been a few weeks now and our budgie still will only eat millet. We've tried everything to encourage him to eat seed, fruits and veggies. We constantly line the floor of his cage with lots of different foods and seeds. Nope, bird will be fine. Bird will get hungry and eat veggibles eventually. Keep an eye on it closely, though.
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Jul 15, 2014 03:46
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Try mashing up the veggies and mixing the millet into it. He will have no choice if he wants his forbidden bird crack!
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Jul 15, 2014 03:59
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Tasty_Crayon posted:Try mashing up the veggies and mixing the millet into it. He will have no choice if he wants his forbidden bird crack! He will literally just dig into it and pick only the millet out barely eating anything else if he can avoid it, we've tried this for a week. Eejit posted:Nope, bird will be fine. Bird will get hungry and eat veggibles eventually. Keep an eye on it closely, though. He looks thin and is barely pooping. How will I know if he is in danger? ScienceAndMusic fucked around with this message at 04:07 on Jul 15, 2014 |
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Jul 15, 2014 04:03
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Can you weigh him? If you can and keep track, then you can tell if he's losing weight or not. You wrote in your first post that if you offer it at least nibbles before spitting it out, can you keep offering over and over, even hulling sunflower seeds if you must? Will it try fruit juice, fruit tea? Keep mixing millet into other things, he'll bite into the other food eventually and may realise one of them is worth eating. Have you tried pretending to eat in front of him (no, mine, you can't have it. Oh, you want it? FINE)?
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Jul 15, 2014 04:15
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