An old bird

[Georges mom]

Oh wow, thank you both for your answers. George will not be eating eggs.

[liz]

Speaking of bugs... the Rickeybird ate a cricket once, a long time ago. I knew there was one in his room cuz I heard it but couldn't find it. Then a day later, I found one rear left leg, on the cage floor. I think he dropped it below the grill before he could finish it.

Years later, he was a suspect in the disappearance of one of a few tiny guppies who lived in his room for a while, but he was not convicted due to absence of a body. The guppies were placed in a witness protection program and moved to another room.

I live in a very old house and was not warned that it had bugs so I could kill them before my critters moved in. I am mostly fighting them with sticky pads and traps. The Cockatiel room does not have bugs. Funny about that.
Glad you got the guppies in witness protection.

[galeriagila]

The poor guppies were innocent bystanders... byswimmers!

[Georges mom]

Well, took George to vet today and was reassured it's just a molt.... A big molt she said. He should molt 2x a year and I've had him 10 months now and it's his first with me. He won't bathe except for his head and she said he isn't feather pulling. I was able to get him into his travel cage very easily and the dr made the remark that he seemed like a completely different bird compared to last January. He cried very little when she took him out and then cooperated . She said most birds become very aggressive with exams but George was pretty chilled. He lost a little weight and is perfect now. She said it's obvious he gets a lot of exercise which is good for him. She knows I have no experience with big birds but praised me and said I was doing an excellent job. That made my day ! Driving home with George by my side I told him he was such a good boy and deserved a treat. I drove thru McDonald's and shared a French fry with him. He earned it ! He also really liked the car ride which surprised me. At stop lights everybody who saw him waved at him. Love, love, love him

[liz]

Rambo was a good traveler long before I got him. Myrtle is afraid of closed doors so she freaks out. She will not go into a cage that still has the door on it. I should not but they are always rewarded with a French fry. I hope she learns that travel is always rewarded.

[Pajarita]

I am glad it was just a hard molt but amazons don't molt twice a year, they have only one right after breeding season ends.

[galeriagila]

Yayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy, Team GEORGE!

Great news! George really finally hit the jackpot he deserves, with YOU!

[seagoatdeb]

Question...... I've read conflicting articles, can George have eggs?? People say they give them hard boiled eggs with shell. I'd never even think to give him eggs. Answers appreciated.

Eggs were part of the diet that we used to give to captive birds (mostly canaries) because, back then, we did not know anything about vit D3 and all we knew was that, if we fed eggs, the hens did not get eggbound (all animal protein has vit D3 in it while there is not a single vegetarian source that has it). But eggs contain animal protein and, as Wolf said, although some species of parrots do consume insects in the wild, insect protein is not the same as protein from cows, chickens, pigs, etc because it virtually has no fat or bad cholesterol (it's so different that it's always referred to 'insect' protein and not 'animal' protein) . As you know, eggs do have fat and bad cholesterol and, although we are now finding out that it's not as bad for humans to eat them as we previously thought, parrots don't have the digestive mechanism to get rid of bad cholesterol for the simple reason that they don't consume any food in the wild that has it! Amazons are particularly sensitive to fat and bad cholesterol intake and, when fed foods that are high on them, end up with medical issues. I had two amazons with cholesterol deposits in their eyes because they had been fed animal protein on a regular basis and one of our members adopted a 24 year old amazon with high cholesterol and despite his extraordinarily good care, efforts and huge avian vet bills, the bird ended up dying from it.

You are bringing up something very important here, and that is that different parrots do have different dietary requirements. it would be really nice if we had more information about those differences in this forum in one document as so many members would benefit. Would you happen to know of one?

[Pajarita]

Yes, it certainly would but I don't think there is a single document that covers different species much less all of the companion ones. Even research on a single species is hard to do because you have to go to many different sources - even some that have nothing to do with parrots (I usually look at the indigenous flora and the weather patterns in the natural habitat of the bird as well as what is given in as many sites as I can find on their natural diet).

I would like this site to have forums for most of the different species we keep -like one for amazons, one for macaws, one for cockatoos... like that. I think that it would be a great help because members can go to a single place to find all the info we have on their bird - instead, they have to go all over the place and search and search to find anything that is applicable to their bird, their situation and their problem... but this is not my site.

[galeriagila]

I don't have a lot of experience with birds in general, but I have a lot of experience with ONE.

My rambling two cents...

G

My usual narrative...
I have reduced biting to almost zero over the decades... not because I've changed the bird, but I have changed me. And a lot of that has involved giving up on a lot of my desires/expectations. After years of battle, I surrendered. I don't do stuff that gets me bitten. I don't scratch his head much, ever... tail is okay. I NEVER do stuff that makes him mad... I don't touch others when he's out; I rarely try to get him to step up onto my hand first. Hand-held perch first, then hand. In some ways, I swallow my disappointment at having such a little monster for a pet, but he is what he is. I ALWAYS wear my hair down when he's on my shoulder, so all he can bite is hair. Hey, he's one generation out of the wilds of Patagonia!
So I guess what I'm saying is... wherever the dust settles... after you have followed all the best advice... please let it be okay. Don't do stuff that gets you bitten... take whatever ridiculous precautions needed and just love your little maniac.
But please... listen to and try all the good advice you'll get here. Don't surrender until you know you've done your best. Then just accept it, is what I'm trying to say.