Iggy and Ollie

[entrancedbymyGCC]

Thanks for the tip, Entranced. I can't seem to get it to post here from my DeviantArt site, so I'll just leave the link as is.

Sure you can! The direct link to the photo is

Code: Select all

http://fc08.deviantart.net/fs71/i/2011/097/1/a/iggy_and_ollie_by_saerphe-d3dg3so.jpg

which I got by right clicking on it and selecting "Copy Picture Location" on my mac. Not sure what the equivalent PC selection process is, as I'm thankfully PC free at the moment.

If I paste it, select it, and click the Img button, we get:



You do want the img tags and the full URL on one line for it to work properly.

[Saerphe]

So I was eating a TV dinner tonight and I caught Iggy feeding Ollie. Like, the courtship regurgitation thing.

It's official. My budgies are gay.

I still love them to pieces and I'm working on building trust with them. I tried to feed them bits of a treat stick through the bars and even though they didn't take any, they seemed interested and less nervous this time, so I'll call that progress.

[kaylayuh]

So I was eating a TV dinner tonight and I caught Iggy feeding Ollie. Like, the courtship regurgitation thing.

It's official. My budgies are gay.

I still love them to pieces and I'm working on building trust with them. I tried to feed them bits of a treat stick through the bars and even though they didn't take any, they seemed interested and less nervous this time, so I'll call that progress.

I'm kind of jealous that your budgies are gay. I imagine it'd be less stressful having gay budgies than waking up every morning and checking for eggs because it's that time of year. But then again, I've always said I wanted gay children and one of my actor crushes is gay.. so my opinion may be skewed here.

It sounds like they're doing great and adjusting well to having attention and being outside of a closet! Good for you for rescuing them.

[Saerphe]

So I thought I'd post another little update. They seem to be adjusting well and are getting a lot more active in their cage too. I've been offering some fresh foods but they haven't tried any yet. I put some broccoli in their cage in the hopes that they might nibble on the florets.

I was also able to put my hand inside the cage with no major drama today. They seemed nervous but they didn't fly all around trying to avoid me; they stayed fairly calm on their perches. I feel like I've hit a bit of a milestone... previously I could get pretty much as close to their cage as I wanted (though I maintained a respectful distance for the first week) as long as my hands were in my pockets or behind my back. They would get nervous and flutter when I changed their food and water and they didn't like me touching their cage from the outside either.

I've gotten to the point now where I can touch their cage anywhere on the outside without them startling. Ollie came close to taking food from my hands through the bars today too. Hopefully when the bathroom renovations are done I'll be able to graduate to feeding them millet by hand and then with any luck we'll be on to target training. I decided with all the craziness going on right now that it wasn't the best idea to start working a little more intensively with them and it seems to be working out for the better.

[Saerphe]

I finally got them to eat millet from my hands today! This excites me to no end. I feel like the sweet-talking and slow-moving acclimatization to hands is starting to pay off.

They had a shower with a plant mister yesterday too. They seemed to enjoy it. They climbed all over the cage after and licked the water off the bars. Very cute.

[kaylayuh]

So glad everything is working out for you! How are your parents liking them?

[Saerphe]

They don't seem to mind. Mom always reminds me to clean up their space before I go anywhere, but I'm always way ahead of her. I sweep or vacuum around their cage and change their paper, food and water every day as soon as I get home.

They aren't quite as tolerant of their noise as I am, but they don't have a major problem with it. My little brother tells them to hush fairly frequently and I always remind him that that's not going to work. I also constantly tell him that I hope he never has any pets except for rocks. ;P They were quiet all afternoon yesterday after their shower though. Too preoccupied with preening and whatnot, I guess.

[kaylayuh]

They were quiet all afternoon yesterday after their shower though. Too preoccupied with preening and whatnot, I guess.

The only time I ever get any quiet is when the birds have all been in the shower. And then I'm shocked by how quiet it is! Have your brother listen to a Cockatoo, Conure, or Eclectus screaming and then tell him it could be worse!

[Saerphe]

I brought him with me when I went to drop off my resume at a pet store that had a blue fronted Amazon. So he definitely knows it could be worse.

He's just not very noise tolerant is all.

[Saerphe]

Having had a couple weeks to deliberate, I'm going to give their training a fresh start. I'm going out tonight, so I'll pick up a second cage and I'm going to separate them. Asides from it being easier to train single birds, Iggy has been getting more and more in the habit of bullying Ollie and chasing him away from toys and food.

On top of all that, I find Ollie seems to be naturally friendlier towards people than Iggy is. He's definitely timid, but he's also the more willing of the two to try new things. He was always the first one to accept millet from my hand. I figure if he can get away from Iggy and his 'what's mine is mine, what's yours is mine' mentality it might boost his confidence and tameability. Then maybe Iggy will be able to learn from example. If he sees Ollie getting to come out of the cage to play and getting fed millet by me, maybe his more jealous nature will get in the way of his fear of people?

Anyway, I'll keep y'all up to date on their progress.