Happy Pet Store Visit

[summoora]

So since the pet store I got Eggplant from didn't have any unexpired formula, I went to the next closest place. I didn't remember just how nice the place was! It's a small store, and they sell mostly budgies, cockatiels, and the occasional conure, but today they had a three year old cockatoo! She was gorgeous. They left her cage open (which had several toys) and let her come out and chill on top of her cage, where she greeted everyone that came in. She was super sweet. And such a great mimic! I told her that she was such a ham, and she went, "such a ham!" Of course it wasn't very clear, but you could totally tell she was copying. They were selling her for 1200, including her cage (which is taller than me). I wish I had the space/courage/money for a pretty girl like that. I also noticed a baby lovebird at the back of the store, next to the breeding station, and it was one of the babies from the other pet store! The lady that was grooming dogs said she has handfed hundreds of birds(used to be a falconer), and her husband worked at a labtech type place. He brought her a 3cc pipette home to try which she loved, and she gave me one as well. I don't know if it was the fresh formula or the pipette, but Eggplant has never eaten so well! The tip is so much longer than the syringes, and he just latched right on. Plus, the numbers are indented in, so they don't rub off!
AND the formula was cheaper at the second pet store. Between an bird-lady employee (she also has a cockatoo and cockatiel, and her husband wants to get a green-cheeked conure at some point) with hand-feeding experience that has a lovie about the same age as Eggplant, the superior prices, and the general superior appearance of their stock (no dying budgies), I don't see a reason to ever go back to the closer store! I had been there before, but I just didn't remember how impressed I was!

[linda040899]

Sounds like a win-win situation all around. There really ARE a few nice pet shops around. Too bad there aren't more of them!

Hey, if the pipette works, I would use it. There's nothing written in granite that says baby lovebirds need to be fed with syringes. Sometimes a teaspoon is the feeding implement of choice. Bottom line is that the baby is fed and content! :)

[JudiNh]

Thats great to hear. Always nice to support the shops that are doing it right.

[summoora]

Hey, if the pipette works, I would use it. There's nothing written in granite that says baby lovebirds need to be fed with syringes. Sometimes a teaspoon is the feeding implement of choice. Bottom line is that the baby is fed and content! :)

With the way he was eating yesterday, I honestly don't know if I was going to be able to keep his weight gain steady. He was doing better with the 10cc, but he still wasn't letting me fill him up. It took less than two minutes to get him to a nice, full crop. He ate at least 5cc's, probably more!

[Z28Taxman]

There used to be a store like that here too. They had a B&G Macaw who had a huge area with 5 foot tal branches to hang out in (no cage) and would scream hello to everyone who walked in the store (alas he was the owners bird and they wouldn't sell him to me). He also usually had a sun conure or 2 In the middle of the store was a similar (smaller area) where the cockatiels hung out (and occasionally a lovebird or 2 when the cockatiels weren't there).

The store Ditto came from was also a good one. None of the birds were in cages, they all had there own play areas.

[summoora]

I must confess though, I kept my energy as low as I could, but that big cockatoo beak is scary! I think I'm happy with the smaller parrot species. I've been bitten in the face by a hormonal Quaker that didn't like one of my freckles (not my bird), and even that beak is quite a task to handle.

[summoora]

It's amazing how impressed and annoyed you can be at the same time. So the store I originally got Eggplant from sold me his small kritter keeper for 8.99, and the (expired) formula for 6.59. When I asked if I would be able to trade in the expired formula once I discovered it was expired, the answer was,
"well, you've opened it, so we wouldn't be able to sell it."
You intend to sell expired formula??? the stuff lasts over a year. Once it's expired, give it a rest! I'm actually worried it had mold in it or something. Every time I fed him the first couple of days, I felt weird, like I had allergies coming on. I haven't had that problem since I switched. And I've tested positive for mold allergies before. I'm also allergic to milk, so I thought maybe the probiotics might have been milk derived, but now I think there was something wrong with it. Hopefully it didn't hurt Eggplant. :(

The new place not only sells the medium (I would think more appropriate as an evenutal hospital cage) kritter keeper for 9.99, they are willing to give me a little bit of credit on the one I already have from the other store and let me upgrade. Also, their non-expired formula costs 5.99.

They also have a nice selection of small and medium bird toys, a box of spray millet you can just shop for like produce, and these super tiny take-home boxes for hamsters and such that work much better as a nest for Eggplant, taking up less of his already cramped space. I might not be able to use this size for long (it fits a 5-week-old masked pretty well, but I think Eggplant might outgrow it sooner), but it's great for now. I got 5 of them for a quarter each, so his nesting area won't be so gross. I can just change it halfway through the week or whenever he needs.

It's also small enough that I don't think he'll be tempted to use the corners for pottying and will just squirt out the door like a good lovie :)

To be fair, I might be a little bit more mad at the old pet store than necessary. I had a nightmare this morning that they ended up selling me an even smaller keeper for 20 dollars this morning. I woke up boiling.

[thebubbleking]

Honestly i have been bitten by all sized birds and bigger beak does not mean more damage as an example my sun conures beak is 5 times the size of my love birds and altho it has more power it crushes where as my hen lovebird baby boo her beak pierces and digs out divots of flesh! my worse bites i ever got was from lovebirds XD

[summoora]

Honestly i have been bitten by all sized birds and bigger beak does not mean more damage as an example my sun conures beak is 5 times the size of my love birds and altho it has more power it crushes where as my hen lovebird baby boo her beak pierces and digs out divots of flesh! my worse bites i ever got was from lovebirds XD

I read about cockatoo beaks though, and supposedly they are potentially the worst kind of bite because they have two prongs on the bottom half of the beak. They can leave you needing plastic surgery. Also, cockatoo beaks are larger still than a conure's. She is a really sweet bird, though. Very friendly. Likes the attention she gets from "dancing"

[linda040899]

I've been bitten by a cockatoo and I've been bitten by a macaw. The Too was the worst of the 2 because of the shape of the beak. A Too beak is tightly curved and the upward thrust from the lower beak is much more concentrated, even though the psi of a macaw bite is 3,000 psi. The angle of the Too beak, plus the shape of the lower beak, causes much more damage than I ever would have imagined. The bite I got was from a pet Moluccan and I got bitten because I disturbed a blood feather which caused pain. Not something I will forget anytime soon and that happened many, many yrs ago!

[summoora]

hahaha, I would love to NOT remember being bitten by a too. In fact, my mother is surprised I even like birds, because when I was seven I had a hormonal quaker try to bite a freckle off my face. He wouldn't let go o.o
I still remember the bird fondly :lol:

[linda040899]

That Too bite made enough of an impression that I was terrified of anything that had a large beak until I got my first macaw in 1991. I actually bought 2 but the one I got for my own personal pet was an 11 week old baby. The older one was a bit more animated than I could handle so I opted to let my husband at that time work with her. It took me a long time to get comfortable handling large parrots! The Too bite went straight to the bone in my finger and it was sudden, unexpected. One minute my finger was fine. In a split second, the finger was numb and there was blood everywhere!!! The bite wasn't malicious. I moved a blood feather the wrong way and it was painful for the bird. Ignorance on my part ended up producing quite an injury!

[summoora]

Imagine if the bird had WANTED to hurt you out of malice!

[linda040899]

An angry macaw can actually kill a small dog and I would imagine a larger Too can do the same thing. Never underestimate the power behind those beaks. If it can crack the shell of a Brazil Nut, it can do some REAL damage!

[summoora]

*shudders*
Who ever decided that kidnapping macaws and toos from the wild was a GOOD idea? Budgies I understand, lovebirds, parakeets, even cockatiels. But who took a look at a B&G and said, hey, that would be a cool pet! I guess the same people that have pet tigers...

[thebubbleking]

XD that would be me..the bigger the bird the better but i would never trap a free bird just to be with me, i love seeing them in the wild!!!! Sadly because i dont own my home and it is just a one bedroom i am limited to size and number of my flock. But one day will will have my shoulder bird my scarlet macaw XD

[Z28Taxman]

An angry macaw can actually kill a small dog and I would imagine a larger Too can do the same thing. Never underestimate the power behind those beaks. If it can crack the shell of a Brazil Nut, it can do some REAL damage!

I think Ditto would kill a chipmonk if I let him out! :rofl:

[summoora]

Eh. The chipmunks around here need to have the fear chip reinstalled, anyway.

[Z28Taxman]

Eh. The chipmunks around here need to have the fear chip reinstalled, anyway.

Ditto was just feeling his oats because he found a critter smaller than he is! :rotfl

[summoora]

lol. Not by much.