Parrot owner with a full-time job?

[LyzGrace]

Thanks for the info again, guys!! I am subscribed to most of those - soakin' up the ekkie knowledge!

Speaking of ekkies... it's official!!! I have a deposit on a little SI angel that I went to see tonight =D I took a drive out to the breeder and sat and played with him and a few of his brothers and sisters... He was sickeningly adorable, sat in my hands and let me do anything to him. His hatch date is 2/1/11 and she said he was still in his "lumpy" baby stage and he didn't do much as he hasn't entered the terrible twos yet, but she said in another month or two he'll be ready to come home... I can't wait!!!!

yoshi.jpg (77.93 KiB) Viewed 2695 times

Sorry the photo is dark and stinky - it wasn't very well-lit and I took it with my cell phone... but... still cute!!

[sidech]

Congrats ! You're in for lots of fun with your new baby.

[coral]

Congratulations! Can't wait to hear how things go have fun! Choose a name yet?

[LyzGrace]

I have chosen a name... now don't judge me... my husband and I are children of the 80s... but ever since I thought of the name and knew I wanted a male ekkie I knew his name would be Yoshi

I'm going to visit our little lizard on Saturday, hopefully I'll be able to get a few better pictures for you!

[zazanomore]

That's a fantastic name! Suits him

[coral]

I love that name its perfect! I love yoshi I even have a stuffed animal of him you should get yoshi a yoshi toy lol

[LyzGrace]

Haha - coral I definitely have to find him a Yoshi stuffed animal!! And... y'all can call me crazy... but I downloaded a clip of Yoshi's "yahoo!" from the video games to try and teach him. I'm 100% aware that it probably won't work... but if it does it'll be epic

Here's a picture from him on Saturday - I went to a bird fair to scope out cages and toys and supplies since I'm starting from square 1... got an AWESOME deal on a cage for him! Anyway, the breeder was going to the fair, too, and they weren't going to take him along because obviously he's not available, but because I wanted to go visit and I was going to be at the fair anyway they brought him along. He was SO much more lively than when I went to see him at the house - bouncing around on a boing they had out for him and once they took him down for me to say hi he was even trying to fly around. He had a hard time getting on my hand from the ground as opposed to a perch, so I just picked him up like a football and he couldn't have cared less. So excited to be able to take this sweetie home!!

[coral]

i think that could totally work just give it time be repetitive do it like right when you walk in the door when hes all excited, just dont get discouraged if it doesnt work right away. ive had marty since december and every day i always go ooooh when im holding him and he just started doing it so give it time
pics of the cage?? show us pics when its set up to!
he is sooo cute!
you can actually make a lot of your own toys to see what he likes ill put some links, you can even make your own boing and its really easy and inexpensive! i made one but marty doesnt really like it cuz hes picky.. you can also buy stuff offline and bluesbirdtoys.com has really good prices on stuff!

heres some toy making links :
http://frombeakstobarks.wordpress.com/2 ... s-at-home/
http://www.birdsnways.com/birds/ideas.htm
http://www.fluffies.org/en/diarypage-us ... dp639.html
http://parrottoymaster.co.uk/makingahangingtoy.aspx
http://www.bellaonline.com/articles/art6814.asp (this is to make a boing!)
http://www.birdtricks.com/blog/how-to-m ... ur-parrot/
http://www.cheepparrottoysntips.com/index.html

here are a couple of my favorite online stores:
http://www.greyfeathertoys.com/
http://www.bluesbirdtoys.com/
http://www.birdsafestore.com/

have you thought of yoshi's diet yet? are you going to sprout because roz has some really good articles on her blog about sprouting and heres a good link for sprouting : http://www.landofvos.com/articles/sprouts.html
also birdie bread is pretty popular also you can buy mixes from harrisons bird food but some people decide to make their own : viewtopic.php?f=8&t=5092
also have you figured out what kind of pellets you want to use? kaylayuh did a good topic about free samples that i thought was cool because a few popular companies send out free samples or charge a small fee so you can see which yoshi prefers! heres the link : viewtopic.php?f=8&t=5304
Heres some parrot food recipes : http://www.thelaughingparrot.com/RECIPES.html

i know this is a lot to look through i found the toy sites while i was waiting to get my bird to and i started making things lol, look into sprouting its a great way to get the needed nutrition and birds love it! birdie bread is also popular with birds to hope this helps! if you have any questions feel free to ask were all here to help!

[coral]

found the yoshi stuffed animal
http://cgi.ebay.com/Super-Mario-Bros-Yo ... 4aa23eef96
they have a bunch of different colors but classic green is the best

get your parrot to do this with the yoshi doll if you can
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iB52iP2a_MY

[LyzGrace]

Whoa- that ringneck's eyes were caRAZY!!! I think he was smitten And perfect Yoshi doll!!!! I hope Yoshi likes it as much as the other bird and his bunny, haha.

Thanks so much for the toy links! I've definitely been trying to do a lot of DIY toy research, toys are so freakin' expensive... especially when most of them you buy especially so that the bird can destroy it. It's like dogs... why buy them a $20 Kong when they have 3x as much fun with an empty milk carton

I already have his diet pretty well set. The breeder is semi-local and is also a supplier for a brand of organic pellets that she feeds her birds, so I'll be using those for the pellet staple, which will make it an easy transition for him. I DID buy a sprouter, I can't wait to use it... it's so nifty looking! And I actually did find that recipe page, I was so excited I put them all into a word document, print it out and put it in my kitchen There's a farmers' market on the town square down the road from my house every Saturday, so we'll be able to walk down and he'll help me pick out his menu for the week

Thanks again so much for all those resources!!!!! The cage is together, but it's boring and pretty empty at the moment - I'll be sure to keep you posted though!