Pajarita's update

[seagoatdeb]

I find Senegals a bit more agressive than Red Bellys too and they are also more inclined to be one person parrots than Red Bellys. I really love all the Pois, but the Red Bellys are my favorite. The Red Bellys are the clearest and best talkers of all the small pois but it will vary and you can end up with a Meyers or a Senegal who is a better talker.

My 18 year old Red Belly Female Gaugan has a large vocabulary and has taught my Meyers male to talk and he even copies her sweet talk. He is not as clear as she is and she will babble away sometimes, so and I cant understand every word, but when they are both in a mellow mood and sitting one on each knee they will both babble away in sweet talk, and I will make out some I love yous and some such a good bird, and pretty birds from it. They really are the cutest most adorable pair and they have formed a nice bond with each other.

Gaugan has learned to have relationships with 4 different adults, one 8 year old and a Meyers but she likes me the best. Sunny the Meyers is much more inclined to be a one person parrot and likes me, but he is not afraid of people, he just does not want to be near them, but he may learn to like some people a little more in time. My Red Belly is the pickiest eater and it has taken a lot of persistence to get her to eat the diet she eats now. My meyers likes and eats everything.

I find the Meyers to be a lot like a layed back version of a Senegal, but then my daughters Meyers is not layed back, so not every Meyers is. My Meyers Sunny is very easy going, and very easy to train. He is not moody and is very forgiving and even tempered, which is good because my Red Belly is moody and unpredictable.

One thing knowing so many of the small Pois has taught me is that they really have their own personalities. Gaugan I can take anywhere. She loves to go out. She will talk in front of strangers and likes to explore new situations. Most Pois are more wary than she is. When I take her over to my daughters house all my daughters parrots give her a wide berth. They have all learned to respect her and keep their distance and she just goes along her merry way exploring. Many people over the years have wanted a Red Belly female after seeing Gaugan, but you can get a Red belly female and it will not be like Gaugan, they have their own personalities.

Love all your pics Pajarita and Davy looks like such a nice parrot.

[Pajarita]

Thank you, Seagoatdeb. Yes, he does seem like a very nice parrot. I can't tell with any certainty yet because, although he now seems to feel quite comfortable in his new house and has accepted the other birds without a single issue, he hasn't yet taken the first step to a closer relationship with me. I have offered head scritches three times (he likes to perch in front of me and look at what I am doing) and all three times I was rejected BUT Lord only knows what he went through before he got here. I do know that his first owner fed him very well (he is an EXCELLENT eater) and that he was treated with love (he doesn't show a single sign of aggression or deep distrust of people) so I have high hopes both for his relationship with me and with Isis. AND, last night, he clearly said "I love you". I have somebody repairing the new floor we had installed at the beginning of the year (two radiators were not installed back correctly and they were losing water which ran under the boards and messed them up) and he had moved the furniture from the living room into the dining room and everything ended up out of place and crowded by other stuff so I was climbing over the coffee table to reach one of the cat litter boxes to clean it for the night and, as I was standing next to his cage in the dark, I clearly heard him say: "I love you!" I always tell them I love them when I say good night to them but I am sure that he had learned this from before which speaks well of his first owner. I don't ever remember been more pleased by how an adopted bird turned out to be! I like and love them all regardless of what they look like or how they behave but this bird has been so very easy from day one that he has gotten the prize for "Best adoption deal" so far

[galeriagila]

It always impresses me to see how different they can be, even within a species.
Some are so sweet, and some are such hellions.
The Rickeybird is perpetual motion, noise, intrusion.
I know two other Patagonians... both are sweet and quiet.
Maybe they're females. lol
The wild Patagonian males seem to scrap constantly. Yet they persist in digging burrows feet apart.

[seagoatdeb]

They sure can be different, if I had my daughters Meyers instead of Sunny then Gaugan may never have gotten along with him. At my daughters, her Senegal and Meyers do not get along, but her Conure and Meyers do get along. I was only hoping for my two to be tolerant of each other but it surpassed my hopes and they have such a nice realtionship. He feeds her and she preens him. They hang around together for a good portion of their time out.

[Pajarita]

That's wonderful, Seagoatdeb! Bonding with another bird brings such huge enrichment to their lives!

[seagoatdeb]

Yes indeed it does. Sunny was persistent. He would approach Gaugan with cute little peeps with his head down and one day he finally wore her down and she started to preen him. They are both very happy parrots. When you tell Gaugan she is a good bird she looks very pleased, and when you tell Sunny he is a good bird he gives a happy little noise. He really is the king of cute noises. It will be interesting to hear how your two Red Bellies get along.

[Pajarita]

There was another 'beaking' session this morning but, again, it had an edge of aggression to it. The good news is that, this morning, Davy flew to perch on my head - this is the very first time he has approached me personally.

[seagoatdeb]

That sounds like fast progress, it sounds promissing.

[Pajarita]

Yes, but it's not to my credit. This bird was obviously treated very well by its first owner.

[Pajarita]

Lots of changes.

The lovies are doing great! I am talking kisses, cuddling, feeding in the beak, etc. so this relationship is going great, Peachy continues to be as sweet-tempered as ever and Cherry is not so afraid of me any longer (doesn't even move from the perch when I clean the cage, etc).

Sunny sunconure is now coming out of her cage on her own every single day and flying to my shoulder and all around all the time. She is still a bit clumsy and weak but she is getting better and stronger every day. Took her to the vet for bile acids and, although the value is still too high for my taste, it is now within normal levels so I will continue the new treatment (I added theanine to the milk thistle, dandelion root and methionine).

Davy has not bonded with Isis but I am not losing hope yet. He is now talking more (says "Good morning!" every single morning when he sees me going around opening cages at dawn), he has flown to my shoulder several times. The first time I thought it was Isis and only realized it was him when he flew off, the second time I knew it was him because I saw the orange on his chest out of the corner of my eye but just kept on going as if I had not noticed - just to get a hard nip on my cheek before he took off He has learned the routine and has established his personal changes to it - he likes to eat his produce while perching on top of his cage so I stick it there first thing and before I start cleaning all the cages. He is also super smart! He has already learned that when I go: "Davy, SHOOOO!" he needs to fly off wherever he is perching.

Pookey continues to improve but soooooo slowly it's making me nervous! She eats well and no longer screams so much even though she is no longer on any medication but I wish I had more time to devote to her one-on-one and a room where there were no animals whatsoever so she could live cage-free.

But, I am having trouble with Sweetpea and Zoey... Sweetpea changed after Davy joined us. He did not seem to mind him at all, he perched next to him, flew around, etc but, for some reason, he started going after Zoey whenever she was first put back into their cage. I don't know if this was because of Davy coming here or if it's that he just got fed up with Zoey rejecting his advances but, whatever the reason he has for it, it has screwed things up because Zoey started flying away from me whenever it was time to go back to her cage and one day, I had no choice but to go after her and grabbed her (the poor cats had been locked for hours in their room and I had to go run an errand). It took me two entire hours to convince her to forgive me and trust me the next day but, when I tried to put her back (it was already getting very dark in the afternoon and she had not had a good meal all day long, stubborn thing that she is!), she bolted and would fly away every time I walked toward her. So I went to the basement and brought up a spare cage for her. This brought comments from my husband ("There are now NINE cages down here!" "This is a family house, not a shelter!")... comments I ignored, of course!

Linus, the shy little boy who ran to a corner of the room and would not make a peep, has done a 180 and is now not only screaming his head off, he also started going after Freddy. But, I guess he went a bit too far with his new courage because, Chirstmas morning while I was doing the cages downstairs, I heard screams coming from the birdroom (not 'normal' screams) so I went to check on them and he was perching inside his cage with his left leg up in the air and stretched out in front of him (looking for all the world like a little boy with a booboo on his finger, all stretched out so I could see it). The poor baby had a boo-boo on it so Freddy must have gotten tired of putting up with Linus' new found courage and must have bit him. No biggie, just a small bite and quite superficial at that but it had broken the skin and there was blood so I cleaned it out and put some sulfa powder on it (I LOVE my sulfa powder!) and locked both of them in their cages -Linus because he was going to feel safer in it and Freddy so he wouldn't open Linus' cage and bothered him. It's completely closed now with a very small scab on it and, although it's still a bit swollen, he uses it normally and does not even look at it so, obviously, it doesn't hurt him at all (it's in a 'good' place because it's not anywhere near a joint). Let's see if he learned his lesson and is now leaving Freddy alone...

The other parrots, Mami, Naida, Zeus, Precie and Sophie, are all doing great but I lost Itsy, the old male button quail, so I now have to look for a new mate for Bitsy, the remaining one and much younger female; Pibe, a young male Floreado, was looking poorly (nothing I could put my finger on but I did not like the way he was acting and looking) so I put him on Baytril in his water and is now back to normal; and poor little Yaga Zebra finch is not looking good at all but I've had him for 5 years and the lady I got them from told she had had them for many years so I am thinking it's old age (he is the one that has only one leg and toes missing from his only foot and was already with only half his plumage when I got him).