.We've now had Stitch for almost a year, and Leroy for 6 months, and its been a joy and a pain in the behind at the same time, but mainly a joy
. Both me and my wife love them both dearly.Leroy, which we got in january, has now settled in. He accepts us in a completely different way now, and actually enjoy our company rather than just tolerating us. Trick training is progressing, if slowly, and we have learned him flight recall, targeting, turn around and are currently working on wave. Its slow going with Leroy but he likes it, which makes it very worthwhile for building trust
!Leroy's flying has improved after a very long molt, and with new flight feathers his landings are getting better and better. He's still, after 2 months molting though, only not as heavy and now he is changing his tail feathers.
Leroy
Stitch is doing great in most aspects, his training is progressing and he now knows 10 different tricks =). His tameness has regressed a bit though (due to Leroy arriving and us being a little too casual about it), and while he is fine with day to day handling, stepping up etc, he isnt comfortable with being grabbed atm. We are working on that now, trying to correct it.
He's also started speaking which is fun and entertaining to hear =).
Stitch
When Leroy moved in here, they first lived in separate cages during quarantine and a get used to each other period, but later we moved them into a cage I built myself. While the cage was working great, was good size, I here discovered that the mesh used for most aviaries can actually damage parrot's nails. Through some dectective work I learned that this was the cause for Leroys broken claw that required a vet visit with a sleep over with drip. Hopefully other people will learn from this and I believe that the wire mesh is okay for part time aviaries, but not for actual everyday cages!
Now they live in a HUGE powder coated cage which we bought for them. At first they lived together, but Stitch started to go for Leroys wings, so we put the divider in (with added plexiglass so they cant reach eachothers feet), and this is how they live now =). It works great, I really reccommend this type of cage when used with the divider and plexiglass.
This is how they live now, only that they they are divided with plexiglass and a divider. They change sides every tuesday.
Our ultimate goal has always been that they should be able to be out together, and preferably that we could let them out when we get home. This has worked somewhat, but now we're getting there
! They can be out and entertain each other for at least 3 hours in a row now with their favorite thing being to sit on a window sill perch and look out the window, trying to spot other birds outside . They really are the best buddies in the world, and love to preen each other and hang out. When we let them out of the cages, we are worth squat for the first 10min or so, they only care about each other.
Best friends for ever!
All in all its been a great year, full of challenges and rewards. When you discover a problem, you learn to solve it, and you learn everyday with your parrots ^^!
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