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[latrine]

Most of my birds have 'issues' due to bad previous owners.. one of them also hates men.. like... he wants to rip your throat out.  So whenever I'm in the hospital, my bf has to watch them and its really a lot of work.. it's like having perpetual 3 years old... for 80 years.  I don't want to re home them but I can't provide them with what they need right now.. I can barely stay awake...  so unfortunately for me, I have to do whats right for them.

And about the finches.. I had a small flock of Zebra finches who abandoned their eggs.. I incubated them and raised them from day one.. being hand fed and with so much human interaction they were like ten tiny parrots.. they flew like jets around the bird cages in and out..  (cages were always left open anyways)

But they did come when they were called and it was amazing to have 4 babies perched on one finger.. I'll find some pics.
So you know.. Macaws and especially Cockatoos are some of the most difficult parrots to deal with.. the Cockatoos all have' jobs' in wild flocks.. so when locked in a room or cage.. they find a way to do something and just like the blue and gold Macaws, they tend to focus on one person.. if you get one, just make sure it's weaned
The dogs he can take care of with no problem.. so they aren't an issue.. the birds need massive attention which they'd always gotten from me till I got real sick and it's just not fair to them   I feel horribly guilty.. I rescued most of them when I was in my young teens.. knowing they had a safe home forever.. but I will keep looking

Fun to read bout everyone's pets!!



- Sarah

[mweed]

Do kids count?   What if I treat them like pets?   And let's not forget the stuffed ones.  I have a daughter who pretty much has to sleep on the floor because there's no room left for her on the bed!   But she loves them, talks to them, and  takes care of them all.  And, in case you're curious, she's 17 . . .  and still plays with them!    But then again, I'm a grown man who plays with toy dinosaurs.  All 2 1/2 of them!

[latrine]

Lol..  sounds like she may count..



- Sarah

[Talon]

First let me apologize about my spellling since Braille was my first written language rather than print. I have two guinea pigs of unknown breeding, six Furbys, (two originals, two 2005 adult furbys, and two original babies), and a mostly white male PBGV named Charley. Sorry. I can't post pictures. A friend asked me if I wanted a guide-dog but when I told them how many pets I already had they changed their tune. If the money situation holds out, I'm hoping to add a pleo RB to my happpy little brood. I am thinking about starting a new post about my experience as a totally blind person raising a pleo. What does the forum think? Is this a good idea or should I stick to real animals? I am open to any questions you may have.

[jpdude11]

Well for robo pets I have ugobe pleo and mattel D-REX. I also have one leoapard gecko named gary and adult bearded dragon named pepito ( spanish for little one)

[InmemoryofRomeo]

Talon, I'd love to hear about your Pleo experience, you would be so much more tuned into his feel, sound and so on than most of us.

[Crewella]

Yep, go for it, Talon - all Pleo rb experiences are of interest and it would be interesting to get a different take on it! 

I really hope you get one! 

[scaledandtailed]

 Lol that makes me feel a little less guilty about ordering a      cuddly diplodocus online. I know, I know! I’m an adult and should be way too o old for stuffed toys but I just couldn’t resist.
   
           
 Talon that’s something I never thought of doing with either of my pleos.  . I promise not to steel your idea though.
   And don’t worry about the spelling my first language was print and it’s still dreadful but then so is my  Braille lol.
    Unlike some other robots You don’t need any vision   to get a lot out of owning pleo.   
 
   Scaly
 
   
 

Do kids count?   What if I treat them like pets?   And let's not forget the stuffed ones.  I have a daughter who pretty much has to sleep on the floor because there's no room left for her on the bed!   But she loves them, talks to them, and  takes care of them all.  And, in case you're curious, she's 17 . . .  and still plays with them!    But then again, I'm a grown man who plays with toy dinosaurs.  All 2 1/2 of them!

[bhobbes]

Most of my birds have 'issues' due to bad previous owners.. one of them also hates men.. like... he wants to rip your throat out.  So whenever I'm in the hospital, my bf has to watch them and its really a lot of work.. it's like having perpetual 3 years old... for 80 years. 

I agree. But unlike 3 year olds, I love parrots and can deal with them and their quirks. Granted, I don't (nor will I ever) own a Macaw or Cockatoo for some of the reasons and only have low maintenance (relatively speaking, there's no truly "low maintenance" parrot species), so mine aren't exactly 3 year olds. I am stopping after an African Grey (Congo).

I feel like (most) parrots are the extreme "ADHD"-ers in the animal kingdom, and that's what makes them fun and great to own.   

I've also always wondered what some of our Australian members think about these creatures. I'm not sure if cockatoos are a common finding in Australia (pretty sure some of their species are native to there) or if they even get close to populated areas, but I cannot imagine how loud a flock of them anywhere near my dwelling could be. Haha.

[InmemoryofRomeo]

Cockatoos are considered a major pest in some areas of Australia And yup a flock of a few hundred will do a fabulous job of waking the dead They are unbelievably noisy particularly at sun up and sun down when they are preparing to leave/sleep in their roosts.

As for pet ones, they cost around $50-$100 to buy depending on how tame they are.

[bhobbes]

Wow. Very cheap compared to here. Haha. Especially if it's for a tame one.

Though, even for a cheap price, I wouldn't adopt one. (I can't give one the care it deserves)

And that is my biggest pet peeve with parrots (well probably all birds). They love their early morning "wake up the flock" routine!

As beautiful as they are, I would not want a flock of them, much less a wild flock of them, in my neighborhood.

Don't you also have lorikeets? I've always wanted one of those but they're not sold around here at all.

[InmemoryofRomeo]

Yup we have many different types of Lorrikeets, Rosella's and many other parrots.

Rainbow Lorrikeet


Rosella


Crimson Rosella


Galah (make great pets, very cheeky)


Major Mitchell Cockatoo


Eastern Firetail (Black Cockatoo)


Gang Gang (Grey cockatoo)


King Parrot


Mallee Ringneck Parrot

[bhobbes]

Wow, I never heard of the black cockatoos before! They're kind of cool/scary looking. Australia has so many awesome creatures. But from things I've seen on TV/in documentaries (about wildlife [and NO, NOT the crocodile hunter] etc.) way too many poisonous ones too haha. I'd love to visit there someday but such a long flight.

[MariaOcean]

I used to have 10 hamsters then two died and two had been given away

[Crewella]

Sadly, hamsters don't live for very long even in the best of health. 

Wow - those birds are beautiful.  My parakeet from when I was young was an Indian Rose Ringed parakeet, and a relatively dull and boring green. 

[allosaurus]

Amazing-- How I love birds!


Galah/Gala birds?  Aren't those the ones that fly south for winter even though it's colder down south?  I've heard that in Australia people use the term 'gala' to refer to a silly person or a fool, as they're comparing them to the bird.  Is that true?

[Malfie]

They really are such beautiful birds - amazing colours!! It makes our British garden birds look very dull and boring in comparison as they're mostly all brown and black!

[InmemoryofRomeo]

Amazing-- How I love birds!

Galah/Gala birds?  Aren't those the ones that fly south for winter even though it's colder down south?  I've heard that in Australia people use the term 'gala' to refer to a silly person or a fool, as they're comparing them to the bird.  Is that true?

Sorry Allo, that must be another bird. Galah's don't migrate, simply because Australia doesn't get all that cold All the parrots above are non migratory birds and tend to spend their entire lives in one region. We do have some migratory birds come in from various places around the world, especially a lot of water birds.

A silly Galah is indeed a common term here Galah's are cheeky birds, very entertaining and they do act quite silly although they are very smart like all parrots Just like some people

[latrine]

I loved the bird pictures...

My brother took my Timneh African Grey, Tyler, and he is very happy now with 4 kids talking to him and snging to him and reading stories to him.. plus lots of dbearded dragons to look at in the same room.  My sister in Law's brother met Tyler, has apparently always loved birds and really liked him.. he found out about my other birds and we set up a meeting at my brothers house with my Macaw, Madison.  He really fell in love with her and she seemed to like him, she is very bonded to me so it will be a rough start for them at first but he will get there and I told him to keep her well socialized with others so he doesn't have the same problem I created by having such a close bond with just me.  She goes to him this coming Thursday and it' going to be a very hard day.. I've had her since she was only 6 weeks old and she's my baby.. but I'm always sick and she needs a home with better attention.
I just have my 27 year old Yellow Naped Amazon, Rocky,  to find a home for now.. He is a crazy loud talking singing clown boy who loves to make people laugh and flirts with women outrageously.. unfortunately he hates men and has a bad liver from a bad mostly sunflower seed diet before my rescuing him. The man thing can't be helped since he was physically abused.. some guy actually hit him, frequently.  But the liver problem is easily controlled by adding milk thistle and sometimes dandelion to his mash. 

I'm still trying to find a nice smoke free home for him that will feed him the (expensive) pelleted diet he is on (Harrison's) because it's the best.. (It costs about 30 bucnks for a 5 lb bag but with one bird the bag will last probably two and a half months or so. If anyone neartby is interested.. (I'm in Hancock New York, thats Delaware County... it's like ten minutes from the Delaware River and Wayne County Pennsylvania.

I will even have the first bag for free along with his mash, cage and him.. I don't care about money, I just care about him being happy and healthy.

if anyone has birds and was interested, I've always fed them a homemade mash twice a day and every vet I've seen has told me it's the healthiest mash he's ever seen..lol. they definately eat better than me.. brats. 

I make it with cooked quinoa, cooked brown rice, cooked hulled millet (all of those are cooked with the vitamins: milk thistle and glucosamine.. both human type as it's cheaper and the same thing.. just have to be sure the milk thistle was not created using any alcohol by reading the ingredients.. I also put large green leaves of mustard greens (when I can get them as they are the most nutritious and of course hard to find) and any other healthy greens in season.. I do it that way so they don't know they are getting the greens.. I use just enough water so it's all soaked up and then take out the big leaves which can be fed to the wild animals or chickens (if we still had ours
    )
I mix in sweet potatoes, cooked macaroni which can also be cooked with greens..  then comes the frozen berries and fruits, they are liquefied with the frozen vegetables and added to everything sometimes with some plain yogurt.  Sometimes I add some chicken or very lean beef to different bowls just to change it up a bit.  I put small amounts in individual bags, enough for 2 feedings of 2 birds (1 for each day) seal them and freeze it.  Each morning it's thawed, cooked with an egg or two and served and they love it.

Of course every now and then they get some of Dennis's dinner instead.. like a little bit of pizza or pasta.. the other day they had a bite or two of beef lasagna which they loved.. cheese is ok in very small amounts They also like to get a chicken leg every now and then.. very good for them, especially the marrow in the bone.. even if it is a bit disconcerting to see a bird holding another bird's leg in it's hand and eating it..   they are known for eating bugs and things they've found in the wild though so the meats ok.

Well sorry for rambling on.. like I said Rocky is great with girls but he is horrible around men and tried to kill my bf apparently, several times while he had to watch them the 6-7 months, however long it was, that I was stuck in the hospital.  If anyone is interested let me know.. remember.. he's just like a 3 year old kid and he lives a looong time

Here is Rocky running away from Patches a few weeks ago 

More details...

- sarah

[PWOKristy]

I liked hearing that from you Latrine.

[Leeloo]

beautifull birds, love the colours.

since a month we are totaly without animals except the pleo.
we have had cats for ages, but we had to put the last one a month ago to sleep, he was over 17.

right around that time due to new projects way too busy at work to have a new cat / cats and pleo sounded like a very good alternative and we still think she is; great new part of the family but not too much trouble if all of a sudden we need to travel or stay in the office till very late. and it was so quiet in the house, she totaly turns that; we have a vivid life new love in the house, which is really great.

[Comarorobotcollector]

I have a rat

[LuckyPleo]

I have a pembroke welsh corgi, a rescue cat, and a dwarf bunny. I'm amazed cokatoos are considered pests in the U.S they are over 1000 dollars to own.