Is he a lovebird or an owl?

[Z28Taxman]

I think Ditto is convinced that he's an owl. He's out of bed when I come down at 5:30 on days that I have to work and will eat breakfast if it's dark. When I don't work and only come downstairs after 9am, he's in bed and doesn't want to come out right away. But I can tell he'd been out earlier and eating. This morning he was out when I came down but when I came in the room he rang his bell and went to bed. :whistle:

He doesn't eat during the day or eats only a gram or two and just kind of lounges around.

at 5pm he's bouncing around and spends the rest of the evening eating. He eats until his light shuts off then eats a bit more before recluctantly going to bed where he spends the next 2 hours grinding his beak.

I'm just waiting for him to start going Whoooooo and eating mice. :rofl:

[Maxie]

Lol....that's so funny :)

[Z28Taxman]

I swear he reads this board when I'm not here.

Since I posted this he's changed things.

Wednesday morning he was out of bed when I came down, but as soon as he heard me he chirped, rang his bell and went into his happy hut and peeked at me from there.

Today he was in bed when I came down and just chirped and peeked at me until I left.:rofl:

[Maxie]

:)

Nothing beats the morning chirp of a lovebird :)

[Z28Taxman]

:)

Nothing beats the morning chirp of a lovebird :)

Except evening beak grinding with his beak buried in your fingers!!!! :happy::happy::happy:

[Maxie]

Except evening beak grinding with his beak buried in your fingers!!!! :happy::happy::happy:

Awwwwwwwww!

[linda040899]

Ditto has a username so anything is possible!!! :lol He's just trying to keep his slave up to speed and on his toes!

[Z28Taxman]

Ditto has a username so anything is possible!!! :lol He's just trying to keep his slave up to speed and on his toes!

I forgot about that! He has his own smartphone too. I let him play with my old droid razr so he would leave my current phone alone (didn't work). :whistle:

His summer moult appears to have kicked off so he's been itchy and miserable the last two days. Yesterday I saw a tail feather under the grate and he lost a flight feather while zooming around last night. Today I see another tail feather out of whack and he's got a bunch of pins. That would explain the extra sleeping. It is about the time that kicks off, usually anywhere from late may to mid june.

[dittobird]

Ditto has a username so anything is possible!!! :lol He's just trying to keep his slave up to speed and on his toes!

Shhhh, you weren't supposed to remind him! :whistle:

[linda040899]

Ooopps!

My parrots are moulting, too, and Skye (GCC) is having a blast using them as foot toys! I have several in his cage right now and they are getting pretty chewed up/mutilated.........

Skye is supposed to be a Turquoise Green Cheek Conure but I'm not seeing a whole lot of blue in his feathering and he's over a year old. The breeder said he's turquoise but unless I'm color blind, I'm not seeing it. He has the personality of a turquoise, just not the coloring.

[Z28Taxman]

Ditto loves to use flight feathers as foot toys and occasionally tail feathers. The flight feather he lost fell out while he was flying around so he couldn't play with it.

After sleeping most of the morning and all afternoon on friday, saturday and sunday, he didn't nap nearly as much yesterday and ate like a little piggy. He did not want to go to bed last night either. He kept right on eating for a few minutes after the light shut off then stood in front of the happy hut for 5 minutes looking at me like he wanted me to turn the lights back on.

This morning when I came down stairs I again heard him crunching away and when I uncovered him he broke into full song and dance mode (well ok more like screech and bounce). :happy::happy::happy: He was one wound up little yellow ball of fire! That's what I like to see.:happy::happy::happy:

[Z28Taxman]

Today it got very humid and he's miserable. He hates humidity as much as I do. He didn't eat nearly as much, and spent the evening trying to relax, preen, nibble and begging for scritches and playing with his toys.

When we went to the couch for to watch tv, he snuggled in my hand for scritches, hopped to the food dish for a few nibbles than back for scritches. He spent the whole hour doing that.

[linda040899]

I live in FL where it's humid probably 7-9 months out of the year and it's worse when it's hot/humid vs. cool/humid. I agree with Ditto. If I'm miserable/uncomfortable, I don't want to eat much, either!!!

[Z28Taxman]

I live in FL where it's humid probably 7-9 months out of the year and it's worse when it's hot/humid vs. cool/humid. I agree with Ditto. If I'm miserable/uncomfortable, I don't want to eat much, either!!!

Yeah, it's not the first time he hardly ate anything. He probably ate a total of 3 grams if that yesterday (plus whatever pellets he snacked on). During TV time I handed him a nutiberry and he ate most of that, then he made several trips to the food dish for a few bites (food dish was on the couch with me) before going back for more skritches.

Once he went back in he ate for another 5 minutes before going to the happy hut for half an hour and he came back out again for more.

I hope he eats more today though. He did eat very well on monday and tuesday. This morning he just poked his head out of the happy hut at me. Of course it doesn't help that I had a 4 day weekend (fri-Mon) so he got to sleep in. That always makes for a few sluggish days when I go back to work.

[Z28Taxman]

Well, I came home tonight and peeked in the window and what did I see, a little white face pop up from the food dish. :happy:

Once I started cleaning his veggie bowl he started bouncing around the cage and chirping up a storm. He does that because he knows that as soon as the bowl is clean, he comes out!

He waited patiently while I filled his food dishes then hopped on the scale, he was down to 39-40 grams which isn't surprising since he ate almost nothing yesterday. He did eat what appeared to be a normal amount though.

He seems to be following what has become a pattern of late. If I have a long weekend, he gains a bit of weight, then the second day back to work he's sleepy and doesn't eat much and loses a few grams then goes back to normal. I guess, like me, he doesn't like having to wake up early after being able to sleep in.

[Z28Taxman]

Well tonight he was a bit better than last night. He ate a bit more than a gram between 5:30 and 6 and spent a lot of time preening and giving himself scritches on his toys. When he came out at 9 I put a nutriberry in my hand and he ate a good bit of that then another. After 15 minutes of scritches he went down to the food dish and ate some more.

I put him back in the cage and he's eating again so while he hasn't eaten as much as he normally would he is eating more than yesterday.

He ate good after going back in. When the light shut off he kept on eating in the dark for at least 5 minutes. Transition to owl complete!

[linda040899]

Transition to owl complete!
An owl with at least one hollow leg!!! All that food he eats has to be stored somewhere!!!!!:rofl:

[Z28Taxman]

An owl with at least one hollow leg!!! All that food he eats has to be stored somewhere!!!!!:rofl:

Well he has cut back drastically in the last 2 days, that's what I don't like. although he did eat a good bit more yesterday than wednesday. He did eat a lot on monday though. He got his weight up to almost 46 grams monday night.

I know he ate more yesterday because his poops were larger and more frequent, wednesday he didn't go nearly as much which isn't surprising since he hardly ate anything.

[Z28Taxman]

An owl with at least one hollow leg!!! All that food he eats has to be stored somewhere!!!!!:rofl:

After today, I'm convinced that it's more than just his leg that's hollow. His food dish was down 9 grams from what it weighed when I put it in this morning! :omg:

Everything that was left in the bowl was tiny crumbs and dust, he probably would have eaten more if it wasn't for the 4 nutriberries and 3 avicakes that he tossed to the cage floor. I did pick up the crumbs from the tray under the grate and they amounted to 2 grams, there was a bit in the water dish but that was only a tiny bit of a nutirberry, probably 1 gram so he ate 6.

Now how he can do that and still weigh 39 grams is beyond me. I think he's full of helium! :rofl:

When I came home he was snoozing on his toy in the back corner of the cage. As usual though, once I got ready to clean the veggie bowl he jumped up like someone hit him with a tazer and started chirping and dancing.

After the dish was filled he hopped on, took a bite, flew back to the cage and looked at the spot where the food dish should go, and when I didn't follow him, he flew out to the kitchen and did it again. He did that 3 times before he decided to just eat there! :rofl:

[Z28Taxman]

Well it took awhile but his weight has gone up again. It had been very slowly creeping back up since the big drop at the end of January with one drop again about a month ago.

His summer moult cranked up full force over the weekend and he started eating like a horse. Or at least a parrot twice his size :rofl: and tonight he weight 44 grams when I gave him dinner at 4:30pm and just now he hopped on the scale at 47. He hasn't been 47 even with a full stomach since January.

At least he's realized he's not an owl. With the pin feathers on the top of his head pushing up the feathers he looks like he's growing a cockatiel crest! :rofl::rofl:

[Z28Taxman]

Well he's given up on being an owl and gone back to being a lovebird (albeit a very hungry one). HE's decided to start going to bed once his light comes on and waits until he's uncovered to come out of the happy hut. Unless I'm off work and sleep in until after 8 then he's up.

His summer moult has really cranked up. The feather explosions started last weekend and he's a little pincushion now. And he's eating almost as much as he did during the winter.


Today for the first time since January his empty stomach pre-dinner weight was 45 grams. :happy: Last night after eating all evening he weighed 47!

Funny unlike the winter moult which saw him lose almost 10 grams this one has him gaining it back. He started gaining weight at the time the feathers started falling.

He has to keep me guessing.

[linda040899]

45 grams on an empty crop is good! He's gaining the lost weight back and at least you know he's healthy, even if he's driving your sanity to the brink!

I've got feathers everywhere, too, including chicken feathers! Seems like every feathered creature is getting new feathers at the same time. Downside to chickens moutling is that they also stop laying eggs..... :(

[Z28Taxman]

45 grams on an empty crop is good! He's gaining the lost weight back and at least you know he's healthy, even if he's driving your sanity to the brink!

I've got feathers everywhere, too, including chicken feathers! Seems like every feathered creature is getting new feathers at the same time. Downside to chickens moutling is that they also stop laying eggs..... :(

Yep, 45 is good, 38 not so much. But as long as he's healthy. Last June his empty crop weight was 48 and he seems determined to get back there. The heaviest I've ever seen him was 53 but that was right after a big breakfast. Usually his vet appointments are in the late morning after he eats and his average is 50.

[Z28Taxman]

He hates the end of long weekends.

I had a 4 day weekend and he was great! Ate well, gained weight and was a happy little fella.

Well this morning of course I had to go to work so I uncovered him at 5:45, and as I suspected he refused to come out. Heck I wouldn't have either if that darn alarm hadn't gone off. >:

I came home today and he only ate a few grams during the day, and had managed to get regurgitated gunk on himself again.

Of course today gave him a double whammy of things that throw him off. The temperatures since last week have been in the 60's, well today it's up to the mid 80's and humid (his and my least favorite weather).

It'll take him a few days to get back in the swing of things again.

[linda040899]

Long week-ends with dad spoil him and he loves having you there! Got a clone hanging around anywhere????????

[Z28Taxman]

Long week-ends with dad spoil him and he loves having you there! Got a clone hanging around anywhere????????

Yep, he loves it when I'm home, even if he does snooze most of the afternoon.

He made up for what he didn't eat during the day. from 5pm until 9 he ate. When he came out on the couch he would snuggle for beak rubs and head scratches, run over for a snack (food dish was with us on the couch) and after a few bites he was back for scritches.

If I had a clone, it would be sitting here and I'd be at home! :rofl:

[linda040899]

If I had a clone, it would be sitting here and I'd be at home!
I hear that!!! My flock would love to have me at home full time and I keep telling them it's not too far in the distant future. They will all be alive to see it! :lol

[Z28Taxman]

Well being a little cactus had him napping (uncomfortably) all weekend. He'd snooze, wake up preen and move to another spot to try and snooze. Poor little guy couldn't get comfortable.

He only ate a few grams for breakfast but ate well in the evening except during couch time. Then he spent the hour hopping between my hand for scritches, down to the food for a beakfull (that he took up to crunch on while getting skritches and make a giant mess).

He's down to 42 grams on an empty crop today but he ate 5 grams during the day today so I don't expect that downward trend to continue.