3rd month

September 2006

Checking out everything this included my art closet. Here he is in my Art Closet & Laker has  made a successful landing, after hovering outside & in. Psst! ~ he's in the upper left section of the photo - looking at a photo of my cat. :-)

 

This month Laker has been hormonal.       Introducing him to foods other than seeds has been very slow going.  Basically he steals food from whatever I'm eating.  Which means I have to be careful what I am eating around him. He began feeding his waterer. Then he started to feed his hanging rope/wood/bead toy.  He was very busy - day & night - regurgitating seeds & mineral block everywhere.  The floor of his cage 'looked' as if many budgies lived there - or i never clean his cage.                                We went out & bought 2 new toys.  A plastic backer with a wheel  that held a bell + a Coconut shell & wood dowel toy.  He fed the plastic one right away.  He leaves the coconut one alone.  We moved his 'buddy' out for a while.  So it looked pretty good - he stopped for at least 5 - 6 days.  Then this morning he had the cage floor littered with seed & one of his new toys was a mess.  I have introduced a fresh food assortment as a evening feeding & hope this will get him used to the new food quicker - who knows how long it will take!  He has seed to munch on over night.  I also re-arranged his cage as this worked for me when I got my Mom's Tiel hen to stop laying.

Update                       September 23rd, 2006 We went out again  & got 2 more toys.  A bulky wood ladder that hangs from the top of his cage to the bottom & another preening toy so the other one can dry. Which Toys are part of the Problem?  Toys to the left have no sexual tension but the ones on the right are very sexy???   He's feeding the rope on top of the toy, you can just see behind him, more than anything else + he's been coupling with this toy since yesterday.  The plastic toy got a lot of attention when it arrived & was difficult to clean. The one hanging toy that doesn't get bothered is the coconut shell & dowel toy.  Today we cleaned the toys again & replaced the preening toy with the Coconut toy.   The regurgitation is less, almost immediately.

We'd been playing with him more - he is getting very free with our persons.  He barely moves away from me when I sit next to him or move.  He flies to us without encouragement & would like to have the  cage open all the time. Diet:  He has been enjoying the grasses i brought home from the farm + the basil & thyme i picked from my herb garden.  He is ready to try whatever I'm eating.  Thyme has become a big hit. Communication:  Although he's going through this molt & the hormonal swing - he is pretty sweet - his gives lots of warning twitters & tall sleek body language - but basically still sweet.    When we say, "Excuse me" he has learned by some miracle to step aside without offense.

The Cure As he was also attached to a plastic toy - a wheel with a  bell inside - it could have been the 'bell' that was the trigger.     Hormones have been delt with.  We did everything we could think of to do - all the research & time spent thinking & interacting with our little guy was worth it .  We had to backtrack to the successful time & took away his 'preening toy'.   The mating with it & constant feeding was not transfered to anything else at this point.  The other measures we took probably had a positive effect as well.  He did feed his waterer for a few days but that has stopped as well.

On my Birthday I spent a great deal of time with Laker on that day.  He gave me a special Present - he flew to my shoulder & stayed for company.  He did this many times.  He chirped, chattered & groomed my new hanging earrings - he was quite proper & respectful. One of the things we did was share some Corn on the Cob.  We buy organic so I didn't worry about sharing the whole plant with him.  Together [Laker helped by pulling & standing on the weaving as it was being woven] we made these toys.

Here's how it looks in the cage.

Playtime with the Corn Husks

	I was interested in what I could do with the husks - it drys much smaller.  If you want braiding to be tight, you either work with it when it's almost dry or keep tightening it as it dries.  It also cork-screws as it dries - quite a playful effect & Laker likes the shapes as well
playing with the bunch	One woven husk, shredded & braided - it weaves into the cage bars.

Story Board

Laker loves to play with ribbon & the husks were no different

- he was running all over the place - very comical & you can also see, my husband's pleasure.

Here is Laker stealing from my cereal bowl Notice that I have not put any milk in with the cereal.  The last time he tasted milk he had very loose stools for a day. Now if I want him to try something it has to be Ok for him.

 

This was a good time, I thought  to read my new book from the Library.  He came right over to find out why I'm not directing 100% of my focus on him.	Unfortunately he quickly punched some holes in the book - was shooed away a lot, but kept coming back until the book was put aside. Notice the red fabric covers [jewelry bags from Hong Kong] on the brass Bed post - to discourage licking of said object - worried he's get sick.   Now my bed looks like I'm a frustrated Golfer!

 Working at the computer

now-a-days Laker makes bold with our persons - I just hope he is tidy.

		Pictures like this make me wish I wore make-up or at least tidied my hair on a Saturday morn.
Laker really likes my son	I think the feeling is mutual