Rainbow, Myrtle & Cockatiels

[Wolf]

I know the feeling. Kiki listens when it pleases her, and often it does not please her. Kookooloo, can be a real pain as I tell her to leave a thing alone and she happily leaves it and starts to play with something else, but as soon as she is certain that I am distracted by something or someone else she runs back to the thing I asked her to leave alone.
Kookooloo has started to play ball with me now. It is one of those plastic cat balls with a plastic bell in it. She started by pushing it with her beak and moved on to batting it with her beak. She tried to throw it at me with her foot but the open spaces get caught on her toes, so now she picks it up with her beak and throws it at me. All of this is giving me ideas for new toys for her as she will spend a great deal of time trying to figure out how to get the bell out of the ball. I think that she might like some puzzle type toys.
Marley has a few new feathers, mostly on her legs and they have survived long enough to open up and make part of her legs look bushy. She has also filled in with feathers a patch about the size of a quarter from her legs back towards her vent. I know that it doesn't sound like much, but it is a major improvement in what has been. It gives me hope that she may eventually have some body feathers instead of just bare skin.
I thought that you might like an update on these guys and this just seemed like a good place and time for it.

[liz]

Yay for Marley. Kudos to you for getting her there.

Myrtle destroys the cat toys. I got her a dog ball within a ball with a bell inside. She gets so angry at it that it will sometimes come across the room. That is the only toy Rambo will play with and he does the same thing.

Rambo has pretty much stayed in his room. He has his big cage with a nite nite cage on top that leads to some cardboard boxes. He spends a lot of time with them. The only time he even makes a noise is if someone comes near his window. He is the guard parrot and will call out when he sees something or talk to whatever it is.

Since Myrtle has a place setting at the dining room table she rarely goes in his room to pick on him now. She still has not picked out a place to sleep. She changes every night.

[liz]

Update on Gimpy. He is in a cage in the bird room. I separated the top from the bottom to clean the cage and he took off across the floor. He can't walk and with clipped wings he cannot fly but he Is able to flap enough to travel on the floor.

When I put his cage back together I had to catch him to put him back in. I left the door open in case he wanted back out. When I went back to check on him he was outside the cage and there were 4 others in his cage. I had to evict them so he could go back in. I will only be able to open his door when I am with him.

[Pajarita]

Why don't you just leave him out and put 'steps' going some height so he can climb them (a number of boxes or books one on top of the other will do just fine). I have a tiel, two budgies and a cardinal with only one foot each and they do just fine with flat perches and platforms. The cardinal lays on the flat perch and leaves his stump hanging down while he grabs it with his good foot while the budgies and the tiel do pretty much everything the others do (the tiel even climbs up by 'hooking' his stump on the horizontal bar and pushing up with it so his good foot can grab the next one). I think it's better for them if one doesn't coddle them too much but provides alternatives that make it easier on them.

[liz]

Gimpy climbs the same way.

He knows he has a disadvantage. I want him to be able to fly to give him confidence within the flock.

A bird that can't walk or fly is just a lump of feathers. That was so cruel to trim his wings.

[liz]

http://www.rescueme.org/Florida has 33 parrots that need homes right now. With my multiple cockatiels I did not want to increase my Amazons but I am beginning to wonder if I should for Rambo.

I looked for Myrtle to be a friend to Rambo. Even though they are complete opposites and rarely stay in the same room they call "HELLO" to each other though the day. I really wanted more for Rambo. This past season convinced me that he is a she. Do you think getting an older Yellow Head would be good for Rambo? The only toy he likes is a cardboard box and spends a lot of time in his window. He has isolated himself in his room and I don't know how he keeps from being depressed. I want more quality of life for him.

What do you think? I am not rushing into this and I know that another YH would have to be a male.

[Wolf]

Actually the first thing that I would try is to spend more time with Rambo, this move could have been more stressful on him than you know and be the reason that (s)he is spending so much more time alone or Rambo may be needing to see a vet as they do hide when they are not up to par. How are his/ her poops looking?

[Pajarita]

I think it's too soon after the move, Liz. They need months and months before they feel 100% in a new home, even when the humans are the same. And I agree with Wolf, when was the last time he/she had complete blood work done? I worry about his/her eating all those jelly beans for years as well as not too good a diet.

[liz]

Rambo is content to be in his room. He was raised as a traveler and where ever his human put her purse was home. He now has his very own window for the first time since he came to live with me. He had one before.

His poops are normal and he is eating the good food I give him. He gets one almond with breakfast and half a walnut with his evening meal. He was on free choice with vegetables, seed and peanuts for a long time.

They got a full work up before we moved. I do still have to find an avian vet here.

I think he is staying in his room because of Myrtle picking on him.
He still enjoys our conversations and inter acts with me. (he/she) I just thought he would be happier with a friend of his own kind.

When I got Myrtle I was so dumb that I thought the only difference was color. I in no way regret getting her but it would have been nicer if she had been a yellow head.

It is really too soon for me to get another Amazon. I was just thinking that it would be nice for Rambo.

[Wolf]

If you get another Amazon, DNA'd as a male, there is still the possibility that he will bond with the wrong bird or neither of them. The yellow headed ones and that includes the Yellow Naped Amazon are one of the " hot" species, which can make the a bit dangerous when hormonal. Ask Pajarita for more information on this.