New pet, discretionary driving
It's official. I am a tiel enthusiast. And a sleep enthusiast.
My trip to the breeder was weird. It was an hour drive. I guess, in the words of some Bush administration d-bag, this was "discretionary driving" . Dbaggggg. But I digress. The breeder was a little strange. Her house contained, 3 standard poodles, 7 juvenile cockatiels, a daucshund on the verge of giving birth, several boxers in a kennel, two unimpressed teenage girls, and a capuchin monkey in a diaper. I tried not to look horrified and headed to the cockatiels.
The breeder grabbed a few of the "normal gray" or wild-type tiels and plopped them on top of the cage:
Cockatiels are climbing the sides of the cage, cockatiels are running around in "confuse the predator" fashion, cockatiels are falling off the back of the cage. Cockatiels are hissing at me and backing away. One cockatiel is sitting looking shell shocked at the edge of the cage close to me. Gingerly, I reach out a finger and stroke its back. Then I remember Cockatiels for Dummies says cockatiels don't like to be scratched on the back. So I offer my finger. The bird looks up at me with an expression like "WTF DO YOU WANT!?!" And I'm like "you wanna get on my finger, maybe, nice birdy...uh, froinlavin?"
Long story short, I chose that one. The breeder uncerimoniously dumped the baby into an Applejax box, took my forty bucks and sent me on my way. She did give me some food, though. That was nice. But she feeds all her birds seed; according to Dummies, seed doesn't cover all their dietary needs, pellets are much better, like kibble for the avian set. I'm inclined to go with what Dummies says, but I see the breeder's point. She's all like, that's what they eat in the wild etc. Who knows.
So I was a little worried this morning cause birdy was hanging out at the bottom of the cage looking terrified or sick or something. But after talking to someone who also just got a tiel, she reassured me that this is typical first day/night behavior. She was right. As soon as I got home from school, the little bugger started scarfing food. Apparently, she likes both her regular food and millet. She ate a whole spray by herself, little hoglet. We ate dinner together, so we're off to a good start.
More as things develop...
My trip to the breeder was weird. It was an hour drive. I guess, in the words of some Bush administration d-bag, this was "discretionary driving" . Dbaggggg. But I digress. The breeder was a little strange. Her house contained, 3 standard poodles, 7 juvenile cockatiels, a daucshund on the verge of giving birth, several boxers in a kennel, two unimpressed teenage girls, and a capuchin monkey in a diaper. I tried not to look horrified and headed to the cockatiels.
The breeder grabbed a few of the "normal gray" or wild-type tiels and plopped them on top of the cage:
Cockatiels are climbing the sides of the cage, cockatiels are running around in "confuse the predator" fashion, cockatiels are falling off the back of the cage. Cockatiels are hissing at me and backing away. One cockatiel is sitting looking shell shocked at the edge of the cage close to me. Gingerly, I reach out a finger and stroke its back. Then I remember Cockatiels for Dummies says cockatiels don't like to be scratched on the back. So I offer my finger. The bird looks up at me with an expression like "WTF DO YOU WANT!?!" And I'm like "you wanna get on my finger, maybe, nice birdy...uh, froinlavin?"
Long story short, I chose that one. The breeder uncerimoniously dumped the baby into an Applejax box, took my forty bucks and sent me on my way. She did give me some food, though. That was nice. But she feeds all her birds seed; according to Dummies, seed doesn't cover all their dietary needs, pellets are much better, like kibble for the avian set. I'm inclined to go with what Dummies says, but I see the breeder's point. She's all like, that's what they eat in the wild etc. Who knows.
So I was a little worried this morning cause birdy was hanging out at the bottom of the cage looking terrified or sick or something. But after talking to someone who also just got a tiel, she reassured me that this is typical first day/night behavior. She was right. As soon as I got home from school, the little bugger started scarfing food. Apparently, she likes both her regular food and millet. She ate a whole spray by herself, little hoglet. We ate dinner together, so we're off to a good start.
More as things develop...