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Olothreutes posted:I'm trying to find toys that Babs might pay attention to to enrich her experience beyond just being cranky at everyone. Would that be large enough for an amazon to get down on, or are they too big for it? Maybe try some foraging toys - you can put delicious treats in them that she'll have to work to get at. I got Pookie the Grey the 2 I've linked below, and after a few weeks of trying to brute-force her way into them to get the snacks, followed by a day or two of sulking because I wouldn't help her she finally worked out how to use them and is now a pro at getting nuts and things out of them at high speed.  http://www.mysafebirdstore.com/product.cgi?product=15829&group=2189 http://www.mysafebirdstore.com/product.cgi?product=2000&group=1962 OOH Another good one is very simple to make at home - you just need an ordinary clean brown paper bag and some treats that she likes - show here the treats and show her that you are putting them into the paper bag, then roll and scrunch it up so that they are hidden in various folds, then give it to her (tied down on her cage maybe). I do this for Pookie all the time and she'll happily spend an hour tearing the bag up to get all the secrets out .
Pookah fucked around with this message at 22:07 on May 20, 2014 |
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May 20, 2014 07:41
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| # ? Jun 8, 2024 05:30 |
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courtesy of HUG ME FOREVER:
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May 20, 2014 17:43
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After careful research and investigation, I have developed the following helpful protocol: A Guide To Bird Toys Step 1: Purchase several expensive treats for your bird. They should be appropriately sized for the bird, have destructible, chewable parts, and look just like what you would want if you were a bird. Step 2: Place toys in cage. Step 3: Place bird in cage. Step 4: Remove bird from cage. Toys should be untouched. Step 5: Purchase box of tampons. May substitute expensive shoes, favorite coat, or iPhone charger. Step 6: Place object on ground. Step 7: Bird places self on ground. Step 8:  
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May 20, 2014 18:19
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To be fair, a tampon still in the wrapper seems like a very fun shredding toy for a bird, and as an upshot, it is sterile so you don't have to worry about them getting sick from it!
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May 20, 2014 18:48
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So, this happened just now: Yep, that's scuttle, sitting on his food door. He got out somehow, chasing him around the house with a towel ensued. He landed on top of my fish tank light and knicked his nail in the fans that are up there (computer fans that rotate slowly). He's not favoring his other foot or anything so I think he's fine, but we're going to keep an eye on him for the next couple days. He pooped on the floor, and bit me twice pretty bad, blood drawn etc. He's so soft though 
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May 20, 2014 21:50
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greypearl posted:After careful research and investigation, I have developed the following helpful protocol: Possible step 9: Offer bird her very own example of exactly the same drat thing a week later and watch as she holds it for 1 second before dropping it listlessly to the ground.
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May 20, 2014 22:10
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My birds do the whole ignoring their toys thing in favor of tissues and chewing on the fleece ends of the rag blanket in our living room. I have learned just to leave their toys up regardless because a few months later they become super interested in them for whatever reason, and then tear them apart. But seriously, tissues are one thing they NEVER tire of destroying.
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May 21, 2014 12:14
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Was it one of you that said more budgies = more quiet? Because if so, that was a dirty lie. Good thing I love the background burbles.
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May 21, 2014 18:11
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I really need to get Tokyo a bird buddy. I'm trying to see if I can't talk my sister into taking me to PetSmart this weekend to liberate another budgie. Tokyo needs someone to burble with besides me, as much as I love it.
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May 21, 2014 18:14
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Grrl Anachronism posted:Was it one of you that said more budgies = more quiet? Because if so, that was a dirty lie. I really miss the budgie background burbles. They're just the most pleasant bird sounds, I could listen to them non-stop.
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May 21, 2014 18:16
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Budgies definitely make the cutest parrot/parakeet background sounds. 
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May 21, 2014 19:49
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Heck yeah, budgie chatter! It's kinda relaxing, really. Especially when they're tired from climbing all over the place and destroying things, and they just sit their, murmuring. They have a tendency to go loud, though - or at least my two do. Whenever there's television on, they make it their holy mission to drown out any sound. That was quite a show when soccer was on once. Birds went downright crazy. Were very pleased with themselves, though.
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May 21, 2014 20:16
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Grrl Anachronism posted:Was it one of you that said more budgies = more quiet? Because if so, that was a dirty lie. Not as loud, but more general noise.
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May 21, 2014 23:16
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My mom's amazon seems to have elected me as her favorite person in the household. She greets me by yelling a greeting to herself of "Hi Crystal!" Then she asks to step up (because she wants me to hold her at all times) and then she either compliments or praises herself. If we don't close her cage, she gets out, climbs down and walks around wherever I go.
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May 22, 2014 15:31
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On the topic of birds making their own entertainment after we all go to the trouble of buying expensive and educational toys for them, Pookie spent pretty much the whole afternoon playing with a penny she found on the kitchen floor - but only that penny. She was offered another penny to add to the first but apparently that was an inferior penny only fit to be thrown aside. The original penny was still enormous right fun up until bedtime when she drank her tea and was put to bed.
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May 22, 2014 22:52
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On the topic of birds being absolutely nucking futs, Zeke just found a little baby tick on my arm and ate it. bird that is so gross why would you even
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May 23, 2014 00:57
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Official Bizness posted:On the topic of birds being absolutely nucking futs, Zeke just found a little baby tick on my arm and ate it. At least your birds eat bugs, Ritz will sit still as a rock, stare at the bug and scream his head off. If he's screaming for no reason, chances are there's a bug on the ceiling. Speaking of being a giant derp:  Apparently towels are now the best things. Frozen Pizza Party fucked around with this message at 01:14 on May 23, 2014 |
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May 23, 2014 01:01
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Somehow my cockatiel cut his foot today and I didn't notice it until now. I let it be but somehow he got the scab open and is streaking little bits of blood. I managed to get some corn starch on it and tidied it up a little, and I'm hoping I didn't make it worse. Stop bleeding you stupid bird  He was chirpy, active, and as destructive as always this evening so I'm hoping it didn't really affect him too much. It looks like a little nick on his foot; maybe the other tiel nipped it (which is uncharacteristic since she's not a biter and very submissive) since I found no real trail of blood inside the cage. I'm just glad I don't work tomorrow since I know I'm probably not going to be sleeping. I guess it scabbed over relatively quickly today since there's not a lot of blood in the cage and I'm hoping to scabs over quickly again. Nothing had better happen to him since he's the "good one"  Being a bird owner really isn't complete without those biannually sleepless, guilt-ridden, ulcer-inducing nights. WorldWarWonderful fucked around with this message at 02:57 on May 23, 2014 |
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May 23, 2014 02:21
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Who was it here who had the cockatiel get its toe stuck in a toy, and instead of screaming for help, just chewed it right off?
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May 23, 2014 02:29
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That's loving terrifying. Tokyo likes to screech, but usually she only does it when a.) the cat has farted and stunk up the whole loving house, b.) there is not enough food in her bowl (i.e. completely full to overfilling), c.) I have dubstep playing or d.) I am tickling her.
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May 23, 2014 04:02
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WorldWarWonderful posted:Somehow my cockatiel cut his foot today and I didn't notice it until now. I let it be but somehow he got the scab open and is streaking little bits of blood. I managed to get some corn starch on it and tidied it up a little, and I'm hoping I didn't make it worse. Stop bleeding you stupid bird If he's acting normally he's fine. Check toys, perches, and the cage for sharp edges or burrs. Birds are designed, just like humans, to be able to survive the occasional bit of blood loss.
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May 23, 2014 04:58
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Tasty_Crayon posted:Who was it here who had the cockatiel get its toe stuck in a toy, and instead of screaming for help, just chewed it right off? This (kind of) happened to my Caique, JJ. She's finally stopped chewing her foot though, and it's healing nicely. She's even using it mostly regularly now!
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May 23, 2014 06:05
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Sociopastry posted:I really need to get Tokyo a bird buddy. I'm trying to see if I can't talk my sister into taking me to PetSmart this weekend to liberate another budgie. Tokyo needs someone to burble with besides me, as much as I love it. If you're still in ABQ, the two Clark's pet store locations should have budgies, but they might have to be bought in pairs even though you have one already.
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May 23, 2014 08:17
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Oh no then I'd have three adorable birds oh noooooo.
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May 23, 2014 08:56
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Pookah posted:On the topic of birds making their own entertainment after we all go to the trouble of buying expensive and educational toys for them, Pookie spent pretty much the whole afternoon playing with a penny she found on the kitchen floor - but only that penny. She was offered another penny to add to the first but apparently that was an inferior penny only fit to be thrown aside. The original penny was still enormous right fun up until bedtime when she drank her tea and was put to bed. Pookie I once started teaching Ohtori to pick up coins and put them in a bowl, but didnt bother getting around to finishing teaching that yet. So he goes around the table and picks up all the coins, but doesn't know what to do next. Sometimes he gets mad and throws the coins over the table edge, sometimes they are fun to play with, and sometimes he gets into a loop of pick up coin/drop coin/find different coin/pick up again until he gets bored and just drops them all over the edge. Sociopastry posted:Oh no then I'd have three adorable birds oh noooooo. That does sound terrible. You should get four to make it even 
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May 23, 2014 09:49
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So Gunter continues to be quite the bitch. She now doesn't want to leave her cage, except if I force the issue. She will lunge/leap at us from inside the cage if we come close and the only way that I can handle her is either with gloves, or if she winds up on the floor. (she steps up so nicely on the floor.) My hands are now covered with little flaps of skin from where she has grabbed on and wouldn't let go after she has lulled me into a false sense of security. She still will sit on my shoulder, but after a while she will decide that my ear is the enemy and bite it as hard as she can. I have no idea how to break her of this. She just seems to want to sit places and puff up, just sitting there. Simon and her still get along nicely at least, grooming each other with every chance they get.
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May 23, 2014 20:39
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For anyone in North Carolina particularly in the Triangle area there is the annual Raleigh-Durham Caged Bird Society (registered nonprofit) Bird Fair in Raleigh at the State Fair Grounds in the Kerr Scott Building on May 24th from 9 am through 5 pm. Free admission. http://rdcbs.org/2012BirdFair/tabid/187/Default.aspx
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May 24, 2014 02:52
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jadebullet posted:So Gunter continues to be quite the bitch. She now doesn't want to leave her cage, except if I force the issue. She will lunge/leap at us from inside the cage if we come close and the only way that I can handle her is either with gloves, or if she winds up on the floor. (she steps up so nicely on the floor.) My hands are now covered with little flaps of skin from where she has grabbed on and wouldn't let go after she has lulled me into a false sense of security. She still will sit on my shoulder, but after a while she will decide that my ear is the enemy and bite it as hard as she can. My second conure came from another home and for the first 2 months she was really bad, going after my hands to bite me. If Gunter is lunging for you the moment you go towards the cage the following advice may now work, but if she is relatively calm when you approach I can tell you what I did with Cheeky. At first I simply put my hand in her cage with no attempt to move towards her just so she got used to its presence there, talking to her soft while I did this. Eventually I extended my finger and slowly moved my hand in saying "step up." If she showed signs of aggression I took my hand out and closed the door and talked to her very sweetly. I wanted her to see that acing huffy might get rid of the hand, but not me. I repeated the process and gradually I moved my finger closer over time. I would tell her good girl if I was able to put my finger in with no aggressive reaction from her and dropped a treat in her cup. If I got close and she bit I would firmly say NO and pushed my hand towards her beak. Doing this upset her balance slightly and caused her to release my finger rather than clamping down if I had pulled away. Cheeky still got in a few good bites and I had to remind myself that I was invading this tiny little bird's comfort zone and that she needed to realize I wouldn't kill her before she would stop reacting as such. When she finally stood on my finger I kept my hand in the cage at first, praised her, and gave her treats so she associated my hand in the cage with good things. After awhile I could take her out with no issues. I think that saying step up every time I wanted her to come out helped her understand why my hand was approaching her and let her know my intentions were to take her out of the cage. She is still a little nibbly at times, but never to the point of causing pain. Dunno if my wall of text will help but I thought I'd give you my thoughts.
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May 24, 2014 05:50
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Stupidly high resolution is awful, but this bird is not.
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May 24, 2014 09:18
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Thank you for the advice. That sounds like a very good plan of action. She really is wierd though because this morning she is absolutely in love with me and actively wanted to be removed from the cage to be with me and my fiance. I am definitely going to try the hand thing. And yeah, she was definitely aggressive towards the store staff. While most of them loved her, the store manager "didn't want to deal with her" and grabbed an associate to get her for us, and kept telling us what a horrible, aggressive bird she was, trying to dissuade us from buying her. It is no wonder that she had been in that store for over a year with noone getting her. And no, we don't regret getting her at all.
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May 24, 2014 15:12
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Agent355 posted:Stupidly high resolution is awful, but this bird is not. There needs to be an emoticon that is with hundreds of tiny s pouring out of its eyeballs. Fukkin lovebirds...
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May 24, 2014 19:08
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Agent355 posted:Stupidly high resolution is awful, but this bird is not. Must give kisses Must also give warning: When kissing lovebirds beware of blowing raspberries on them, Boo tolerated this about 4 times before clamping on my lip and hanging on like a snapping turtle
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May 24, 2014 19:24
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It's Ohtori's birthday today! He's a whole three years old now. Also, advice for bird owners #??? : The bird will always be faster than you expect/never assume you're faster than the bird. A few days ago, 'Tori hopped on top of a cupboard door as I was closing it, and it shut on top of his foot. He was screaming and flapping about in panic/trying to stop himself hanging by the trapped foot until I grabbed him for support and opened the cupboard. Straight away he flew to his cage and tucked the foot away, so I had to pick him up, put him on his back in my hand, and pull the foot out to move/squeeze all his toes. He was okay (was terrified his foot was broken or degloved or something) but it took him until today to fully get back to normal usage. Including when he was still trapped, and when I was checking his foot, at no point did he ever bite me. 
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May 25, 2014 15:55
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Happy birthday Ohtori! I'm glad it was just a scare. Pretty sure they can tell when you're trying to help them. (Of course, wing/nail clipping does NOT count as trying to help.)
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May 26, 2014 04:36
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Also getting them untangled from the wool they decided to shred up. Tokyo loves my batting wool, to the point where she'll get herself completely entangled in it if I don't watch her constantly.
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May 26, 2014 08:01
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I think Anaïs the cockatiel has hit new heights of  . The other day I heard her making angry warks and when I walked in the room I found out she was yelling at her shadow.
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May 26, 2014 20:53
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Slaughterhouse-Ive posted:I think Anaïs the cockatiel has hit new heights of This is entirely normal cockatiel behaviour. My sister's will flip an internal coin whether to flirt with or attack his own reflection, but this can be reset by covering up the reflective surface for 5 seconds.
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May 26, 2014 21:09
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So I needed to clean out Tokyo's cage today, so I took her and her cage so she'd be safe with me and I wouldn't have to shut Momo into his kitty jail. I was rinsing out all the soap in the shower for the sake of ease, and who comes by o see WTF I'm doing than Tokyo. She just hung out in the spray and made satisfied clicking sounds until I turned off the water, then she got mad and screeched. She got even madder when I had to towel her dry and shrieked like I was murdering her whole family in front o her. Now she's sitting in her nice clean cage, all dry and warm ad poofy and chirping contentedly. Birds are weird.
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May 27, 2014 17:25
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 You don't really need to towel-dry her though unless it's pretty cold in your apartment. But yes, birds. It's funny how different every parrot I've met is about showers/baths.
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May 27, 2014 17:30
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| # ? Jun 8, 2024 05:30 |
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It's really cold down here in Canberra and Boop still loves to take baths in cold water. I just make sure to turn the heater on when she's soaked.
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May 27, 2014 17:36
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