Day 10 - Untitled's progress

[momo]

Hi All,

As some of you may be aware, I have a new fid Untitled that came home with psittacosis. He has been on his medicine now for 10 days and I cannot believe the dramatic change in his behaviour. :omg:

Sometimes you can still see glimpses that he's not 100% well. But he no longer sits in one spot in the cage all fluffy and sleepy. He's alot more alert and active. Trying to chew the bars of his cage, doing all the naughty bird things.

It's hard for me to spend quality time with Untitled because he is contagious. I try to spend 20 minutes with him in the morning and night. With the days that I am home pop in the QT room every 30 mins just to see how he is. He is still petrified of a camera, alas no more pictures. I don't want to stress him out any more.

One funny thing is, when I go to change his medicine water, food and the poop tray in the morning, we have an understanding with one another. He sits in his secure spot and I am only allowed to touch the food bowl and the water bowl without him freaking out. If I put a new toy in or do something out of the routine, he freaks out screaming "This wasn't part of our agreement!!"

I just have a few questions..
Firstly, it's becoming winter here. Untitled isn't into a happy hut and freaks out, so I got him the hanging cozy (http://vetnpetdirect.com.au/files/t_17788.jpg) which he sometimes snuggles up too. When the happy hut tent was in there (before he chewed off the cord that it hangs off) he would only put his head in there. I'm also scared to put the happy hut in there incase he does go inside and poops inside. Because psittacosis is in their poop as well. I don't want to make him any more ill or have him have for a sustained period of time. Which would be better for warmth?

I cover him out at night to ensure he gets enough sleep. Is this enough to keep the warmth in. I don't actually have a heater in my house. Personally, I detest them. The windows are shut so there is no draft. He is up in a high spot away from any draft if there was one. I am just scared because he's ill that he isn't getting enough warmth.

Second question:

Untitled's favourite toy in the whole entire world is his swing. Sometimes he sleeps on it! Everytime I pop my head in the room he's on it. He's not interested in any other toys. I have some bells in there, some toys that are meant to encourage preening, chew toys in there but he's not into them. I never see him move them.
He was from an aviary, alas the reason why he isn't really into toys. Does anyone else have any ideas of toys that I can put in. I was thinking about putting foraging toys in, but he just freaks out with anything new. And I'm not too sure what sort of foraging toys I would put in. I have put a trough of sticks and leaves for him to chew and underneath is some roudybush pellets that he seems to enjoy. But he seems to prefer sitting on the trough rather than investigating what's inside. He will only eat what's in there if there is fresh millet.. :rofl:
The vet said that putting some gum tree branches with leaves in there will be enough to entertain him but I personally feel that this is boring. :confused: Or is the swing sufficient enough to keep him entertained? He has such a different personality to Elmo. I know exactly what toys elmo enjoys. Ball toys to destroy. Untitled doesn't really seem into those types of things. I can see that he's a chewer but he doesn't seem really interested in his gum tree branches.

Any suggestions?

[LovelySydney]

Oliver took a little bit to warm up to toys. He has about 5 toys in there, 3 that he really plays with. Today he discovered another toy which he quickly argued & played with - but this has taken about a month for him to even bother with. They just have to get used to it being in the cage and eventually Untitled will warm up to it (no name yet?! haha) and he will start playing, he just needs some time to adjust. Also wanted to add that Olivers favorite place is also his swing!! I dont know what it is about it but he LOVES IT!! = )

[momo]

What toys do you have on Oliver's cage?

No name as of yet :(.. but somehow Untitled seems to be sticking. I tried nemo for a day.. because I thought it'd be funny.. Elmo and Nemo. But it didn't quite fit.

Untitled can spend HOURS on the swing... I hope he isn't getting obsessive compulsive. I compare it too where he came from. An aviary where they just had lots of other birds. No swings or toys. So I guess the swing is just blowing his mind.

I just have this feeling, Untitled isn't the type to get angry with toys. I see him as a victorian style lady who'd prefer to have tea and would never raise her voice. Strange I know.

[Pips mom]

Pip loves swings too! he also loves bells, so maybe a toy with a bell on it.....and I would recommend this toy.....http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod_display.cfm?pcatid=16407
All of my birds love these! I get a big one for Ivy and she's destroyed it, I have to get her a new one! I constantly replace the one I get my tiels also and Pip too.....they love to chew these things! There are couple more different ones on there and one is only 2.99, so they are fairly cheap too!
And look at these......http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod_display.cfm?pcatid=18965
Those look something my birds would love and look at how cheap it is!
These are the kind of toys mine all seem to love and they keep them busy!
Very glad to hear that everything's going well with the new addition! Gotta find a name though! Yeah, listen to me....took me six weeks to name my first bird! You can't be worse than me when it comes to finding a name!

[Enko_chan]

I agree with those two toys- Pips Mom- I buy similar ones for my fids, though they're a different brand that they carry at a local shop. Both toys are $1-$3 thank goodness, because the birds LOVE to shred them to bits. My mother and sisters' birds use them too. I haven't met a bird who didn't love them. It took Freyja and Odinn a month or so to warm up to their toys and now they can't get enough of the ones they have, but they especially love the Planet Pleasures Caterpillars, Balls and Stars, Worms, brooms and Pinatas. Bennu's just recently warmed up to his toys, come to think of it, I guess its been about a month and he loves them too.

Get well soon, Untitled!

[momo]

Ooo thanks for the ideas Pips Mom. I will have to make them myself because Australia has really strict things about what you bring in. Cause it has palm leaf, customs will destroy it before Untitled can :(

it's really hard to find foraging toys in Australia that don't cost you an arm and a leg.

I will have to get my origami fingers to work.

The only new thing he took too was the swing. I just gotta sit tight and be patience. Im just afraid he's bored in there :(

[FuzzyAga]

I bought one of those hanging cozy. Never used it. There's a packet of buckwheat (comes with it) that you can pop into the microwave to warm up, and if you slip it in its pocket, it will keep lovie warm--I don't know for how long, but that's what the ad said! Petey prefers a set-up that I cobbled together, which I'll have to take a picture of for you, and since the lovies are sound asleep right now, it will have to wait until morning.

So glad to know Untitled is feeling much better. I use the thin panty liners (UNSCENTED!) pressed onto the bottom of the happy huts. (BTW, if the unscented are sold next to the scented, the unscented will pick up the scent, so sniff it, first.) These are the plain, no-wing type. I actually use two, one on top of the other, and I just peel off the very top layer and press on a clean one to the bottom-layer liner because the glue on the liner really sticks to the fuzzy happy hut and I didn't like struggling with it. Does it make sense? Untitled may soil the liner but changing it for a clean liner shouldn't be a problem--he doesn't bite, right, just freaks out? Also, in time, he will learn to keep the happy hut clean.

As for the toys, he's happy with the swing, like Petey, and when he's hanging out with Elmo (soon!), I'm sure Untitled will copy Elmo and start to play with the toys, too. It's a case of lovie see, lovie do. I think the swinging action lulls Petey, maybe Untitled, too.

If you're trying to introduce a new thing to Untitled, do it in stages. With mine, I show them that I have the thing in my hands, from way across the room. I let them see that I'm playing with it. A couple of days later, I put the thing closer to the cage. Gradually, this thing creeps closer until one day, you put the thing on top of the cage. Finally, you can put it in the cage. Alternatively, if you have a play gym, put it there, working slowly, then move it into their cage. This is how I have to work with my fids, especially Petey. I think it's the male's job to sound the alarm and be hypervigilant. Juanita is more laid-back, but then, she's a biting dynamo!

Don't worry, Untitled's progess sounds good. :)

It's hard to bend my mind around your southern location, Momo. We're heading into summer, and you're heading into winter. I use an oil-filled portable heater near my fids in winter, which creates a gentle warmth, just enough to take the edge off the chill, since we shut the central heat off at night.

[momo]

Thanks for that Fuzzy. Unfortunately I am waiting to untitled is better before introducing her to a play pen. I don't want to stress him out with too many things yet. He snuck out of the cage under my arm when i was changing the water once! But I will definitely do "starting at the other side of the room and slowly bringing the toy across" I think I just get too excited and put it in there straight away.. :(

I was thinking about what type of happy hut liner to put in. Elmo has trained herself to come outside to poo and then go back in. it is VERY handy for mummy. She initially would poo all over it.. but then I was making them myself.. so I'd be making one every single day!

Im kind of dreading the day Untitled and Elmo play together.... the sound of bells all over the house.. double the amount!!! And the mess.....

[FuzzyAga]

Momo--Poor Untitled--no name yet?

How about Prince? Something that a titled (get it? Titled/Untitled?)person would have. Count, Peer...umm...:)

I know what you mean about twice the mess. Learn to love your vacuum cleaner. :) But you will enjoy watching the companionship between the two and it will gladden your heart. One lovie understands another lovie.

I wash the commercial happy huts by hand because of the plastic in the bottom. Be sure to pick the solids off first before dunking in soapy water. The solids don't dissolve--they just swirl around in the water--such amazing properties, I'm sure the space program could use this! :) I made happy huts, too, with a slot at the bottom for a thin cardboard/plastic insert to provide stiffness and support. Washing the homemade one was even easier--remove the insert and throw it in the washing machine.

Now that I think about it, I don't think an insert to provide stiffness is needed for the homemade ones. Just ply on two-or-three panty-liners on the bottom and that should provide all the stiffness that a lovie needs. Duh!

Yeah, try the panty-liners for the bottom of the happy hut. It worked well for me.

[FuzzyAga]

Forgot!

If loofahs are allowed in your country, make 1-inch thick slices of it, like salami, poke almonds in the natural holes, and string it up. The nuts are lodged in the holes and lovie would have to fly to it, cling to it, and dig out the treat. You can stick sweet pea pods in there, quarter of an ear of sweet corn (do you have these?), a thin raw carrot slice, etc.

FYI--people use loofahs when they bathe, scrubbing themselves with it. They are the dried out fibrous remains of large, long gourds.

I've never tried this, just saw it on an internet site.

[LovelySydney]

LOL Well when I say "angry" I really mean chirping as loud as he can and swinging the toy around then chewing on it then swinging from it, etc. It just looks like he's trying to fight it (from my perspective) but its adorable!! Below I posted pics of his toys.

This is his favorite. He sleep on the wood pegs every night, preens with the bottom and LOVES when he rings the bell. This is definitely his #1 toy:
http://pet.imageg.net/graphics/product_images/pPETS-3761352t400.jpg

Spends a good few hours a day tearing these up:
http://pet.imageg.net/graphics/product_images/pPETS-3761622t400.jpg

This one he's played with briefly, but its becoming more common:
http://pet.imageg.net/graphics/product_images/pPETS-3757647t400.jpg


The the other two that are his favorite I cant find. One is pretty much yarn and wicker, he preens and chews and "fights" that one a lot! lol The other has feathers on the top which he preens constantly, he loves that one. I think any toy that reminds them of another bird or stimulates their brains they end up loving. Especially with Oliver, he loves the challenge. I look forward to buying him new toys because he really loves them and its fun to watch him!!

[dieflying]

i just wanted to throw in that i love the name untitled. i like unique names like that.

[Pips mom]

i just wanted to throw in that i love the name untitled. i like unique names like that.

Are you serious?? Untitled?? that isn't a name! :omg:

[bbslovie]

Hi, glad the new birdy is making progress but you need a name! The name will come to you and then you'll let us know but I agree, "untitled" is not a name! Just my :2cents:

Barb :)

[dieflying]

Are you serious?? Untitled?? that isn't a name! :omg:

maybe not a name for a human, but animals don't care. if you say something mean to them in a nice voice, they'll still think they're good animals. the bird won't care if it doesn't technically have a name (though untitled IS a word, therefore can work as a name).

the question is will its human be bothered by it?

[momo]

I've seen those kabob things before. I just though they looked way too big for a lovie. Will have to go and get it :)

As much as I love calling him Untitled; it doesn't roll off the tongue too easy. It's just a temporary name because he really is.. untitled.

I didn't realise fids could eat loofas. I have one.. but I will have to find the fids their own. :)

[FuzzyAga]

Whoa, Momo!

Fids don't eat the loofahs. They eat the things that are stuffed into them! Nuts, peas, etc. :) The loofah is merely the holder.

[momo]

ahhh.. sorry.. it's early the morning here. What happens if they do eat the loofah because I can see elmo doing it

[FuzzyAga]

The short answer is, I don't know.

It would seem to me that compared to the goodies that can be found tucked into the foraging toy (aka, loofah), why eat the tasteless fibrous matter of a long-dried gourd? :) Does your Elmo shred paper? Does Elmo also eat same? Probably not. My guess is, Elmo may chew the loofah as she tries to free a goodie, but not eat it.

But, in the end, you know the answer, Momo; if in doubt, don't.

There are other cheap foraging toys: wrap about 7 seeds in a square of paper, with twists at the ends, like hard candy (she has to shred the packets apart to get to the seeds). Let her see you wrapping the seeds so she knows what to expect; or put her seeds in her food bowl, then top it with some thinly shredded strips of paper so she has to push aside the paper to get to her food. She should be able to spy the seeds through the paper. If she wants the seeds, she's got to forage for it!

It will take Elmo longer to eat, and she'll work harder for her food, but that's the idea.

Good luck.

[LovelySydney]

Oliver has a piece of loofa in his cage that came from the breeder - he hangs from it from time to time but usually leaves it alone. Anyway I just wanted to post about it because I know it's bird safe!!

[Bubblelady]

How about U.T. or Yooty, The Cutie?

[FuzzyAga]

Oh, good, Lovely--thanks for the answer about the loofah. :) It's always reassuring and helpful when a fidma has had experience with a particular care-and-feeding problem and passes that knowledge on as it directly benefits the next birdie. :)

Oh, a thought, Lovely--have you tried to stick tidbits in the loofah? Maybe when he's hanging on it, he's also looking for something interesting and, maybe, yummy that might be lurking within those fibers. :)

[FuzzyAga]

You might be interested in looking at Petey's sleeping corner. Here's the link to my website: //home.rr.com/reflection.

In one of the photos you'll find Petey as he's just about ready to start beak-grinding and I'm just about ready to cover him for the night.

The blue fleece is available commercially and comes in small, medium, and large. This is the small. It's bent over because Petey sleeps on top of it.

Momo-- if you are concerned about the illness having weakened Untitled's ability to keep warm, you might want to set up a hospital for him using a plastic reptile cage (buy this at a pet store--comes with a vented top) and a heating pad, at least for the night, and maybe the day, depending on how he is.

I tried to look in the Resources but I didn't see anything in there. But the idea is that you set the clear plastic cage partially over the heating pad, line the inside with paper towels, place a portable perch(s), water and food bowls in there, and close the vented top. I think the pad could be set to "low" and Untitled can move to the unheated end if it gets too warm for him. One end of the hospital will receive the low heat and the other end will receive nothing.

Alternatively, here's how I did it. I placed the heating pad under the grate of the cage, in the slide-out tray, and placed some newspapers over the grate to catch the poop (to protect the heating pad), set the pad on "low" and partially covered the top of the cage. The pad only covered part of the bottom of the cage, which was fine.

I tested the temperature in and near the cage periodically during the night, and didn't need to make any adjustments. They go to sleep around 6:00 PM, so by the time I was ready for bed, I'd tested the temperature several times, just to ease my mind and I slept soundly. :)

These two choices are something for you to mull over. Of course, if you ask me, I would recommend the proper hospital bed, because you can exert more control over everything, but if Untitled is hard to catch to transfer over to the hospital, then you might want to put the heating pad in the slide-out tray and work from there--maybe cover more of the cage if you think it needs to be warmer.

These guys definitely need additional warmth when they are ill. It's good that you're looking out for Untitled. :)

[momo]

So the happy hut has gone in. But luckily the past few nights have warmed up a bit. Thanks global warming?? Though I have found that Untitled really likes to sleep on his swing..

I just saw today Untitled has been playing with the toys that I have put in there. He seems to love the preening toy/chewing toy. He has been talking all day.. quiet loudly too..

It's such a strange feeling.. a warm feeling.. because I see the way he acts now compared to the way he acted when he first came home. Knowing that I have contributed to him getting better.

I tried to hunt around for a heat pad in the shops in Perth.. unfortunately we seem to be about 1000 years behind the world. Does anyone have any reputable places on the net to buy one?

For some reason the photo section of your website won't load for me :(

[FuzzyAga]

Sorry, try this:

http://home.rr.com/reflection

[FuzzyAga]

Try this:

http://www.petsonthepark.com.au/prod458.htm

I'm too uncoordiated today to try to put two links in one message so I had to try two posts!

This heating pad might be good to investigate.

I have an old heating pad (for people) from the '70s, which stays on until one shuts it off. As I understand it, modern heating pads are designed to shut-off after two-hours, or so, which defeats the purpose of a heating pad, IMHO. I don't know this for a fact, merely read it. So you may need to do a little detective work, like checking out second-hand shops if you want a constant-on-type -- or other web sites.

Untitled is loosening up and relaxing. Such cheerful news!