BIG news about Tobey and...

[LauraKGN]

Tobey's continuing to make progress. He finally stepped up onto a perch! He did it twice! He was nervous about it, but I'm very proud of him! He still does not like hands at all, but he tolerates me putting my hands in his cage near him. He'll just move away if he gets too nervous.
He's still learning to play with toys. He loves bells and he loves his boing! I made sure to get some toys with a little cow bells that have fused parts so he can't hurt himself. I read on this board to try wrapping/twisiting a plain piece of paper around treats, and he LOVED pecking and ripping the paper. He didn't do any tucking, though!
He has also initiated an "adult relationship" with is cuddle buddy, as I was warned might happen! Oh Tobey...:rofl:
AND, we have a new addition! I adopted a female Eclectus from an elderly couple who couldn't keep her anymore! I've named her Ava. I've researched Ekkies for a while (as well as Greys) and this was really a great opportunity. She's nervous around me (she hasn't had too much attention from her old family recently), but she did eat an avi cake out of my hand today! She sounds like she's trying to say "Hi" also! She let me lightly touch her chest for a few seconds and then she snapped! She didn't get me, though. :eek: She's absolutely beautiful, but Tobey will have to wait til we're done with quarantine to stare at her from across the room! :lol
She's been on a seed mix diet for a few years!! No fruits or veggies, no showers... I can't believe she looks as good as she does.

Here are a few pictures of both babies!

http://olympus.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=b4817cm.kuc64rq&x=0&y=-9rqp5j


SO, I now have 2 birdies who need some extra love and attention (and who don't want to eat their fruits and veggies)! PLUS, a wonderfully sweet stray dog found me yesterday! The poor guy, he's either been stray for a while or severely neglected. I'm taking him to the vet tomorrow, after I take Ava for a check-up and a nail and wing trim!

[Janie]

Laura, :eek: Your ekkie is beautiful! :D A species that I admire every time I see one! Did someone tell me that females are easier than males? :confused: Anyway, she is gorgeous and it's nice that you can offer her a home and some much needed attention!

Great progress with Tobey! :D Stepping up is very important and I'm sure he'll do it more and more each day. I love your term, "adult relationship!" :lol

[bellarains]

Laura,

You are a girl after my own heart. Wherever there's a stray, I seem to find room in my home, and my heart. You sound the same. In fact, we have many people here like this. I think it's what makes this board so special, all the big hearts:)

I'll have to wait until I get home to see Ava's pic. I can't access photos at work:(

It sounds like you and Tobey are making great progress. I'm sure Ava will respond to your love and care as well:)

[butterfly1061]

Laura,

Tobey is so adorable! Love those Lutinos. Ava is so beautiful. I love looking at the Ekkies at the birdfairs. They are so intelligent and the males are just a beautiful. Congrats on your new addition. :)

[linda040899]

Congrats on the progress with Tobey! Patience, patience, patience and more patience!!!

Your new Ekkie is just gorgeous and looks good for the fact that she's been on an all seed diet!! The only caution I can offer with Ekkie diet is that they don't tolerate preservatives. Avi-cakes and Nutriberries are preservative free so they are a good addition. Have you found Carolyn Swicegood's website yet (http://www.landofvos.com )?

[LauraO]

Laura: It's great to hear about your progress with Tobey. While tame cuddly birds can be fun, It's always so rewarding when a bird like Tobey makes small steps starts responding to the time, love and patience you are obviously giving your little guy.

Your new Ekkie is beautiful. They are a bird I know little about, but people I've spoke with who have them really adore them. I'm sure you will do well with her and look forward to hearing more.

:) :) :) :)

[LauraKGN]

Thanks everyone!
Bellarains: I am the SAME! My dream is to own a huge farm and take in any animals who needs a loving home. I honestly feel it's what I need to do. The last few years I've worked with animals (as a vet assistant and at a "dog daycare") and I've never felt so fulfilled! Not sure why I'm a communications and english major...:rofl:

Laura: I think it's really rewarding, like you said. I've noticed you take in rescues and work with them, which is wonderful! When I first planned to get a lovebird I was planning to visit a breeder and get a tame, cuddly baby but after I saw Tobey, I knew he needed me more.

Linda: I did recently discover landofvos.com - it's really great! Ekkie central! :) There are some great recipes. She's not interested in any veggies or fruits yet...

Butterfly: Ever since you said something about the little lutino "pink feetsies" I ALWAYS think about how cute Tobey's feet are!

Janie: I've actually heard that male ekkies are easier than females...at least have more potential to be cuddly, but I've heard of many exceptions. I think she has the potential...once we get past the nipping...:omg:

[jknezek]

Laura -- I've had a Solomon Island male eclectus for about a year and a half. I can't say enough about how wonderful ekkies are.

If you've found Land of Vos you are doing well. I can only recommend, as strongly as possible, that you join the TEC email list as well as peruse the site. Land of Vos is great, but TEC, run by the same woman who runs the LOV site and advertised on the main page of LOV as "The Eclectus Connection" in a box with a heart and two ekkies, is even better. TEC is to ekkies as this board is to lovies. Knowledgable, helpful, friendly, indispensible.

Ekkies are a bit peculiar, as I'm sure your research has shown. Diet is weird, the hormones are a little stranger than other birds, and the personality is definitely different. If you have any questions about joining TEC or ekkies feel free to IM me.

I'll throw one quick caution out right now. Check your ekkies' food. If it is pellets make sure they are all natural, uncolored, unenriched, and spirulina free. That really only leaves one or two pellet possibilities. Any other pellets, advertised as "for eclectus" or not, are generally the root cause of a lot of ekkie health problems.

Good luck.

Jeremy

[Janie]

I was hoping Jeremy would see this post. I know how crazy he is about his Ekkie. :D I've never met anyone who had one who wasn't crazy about them. :) Jackie (Butterfly) and I ran into one that was boarding at our favorite retail bird store. That bird talked to us and kept saying, "I gotta go to work now!" From what we were told by the employees, that's what his owner says every morning when she goes to work. He said a few other things, too. I WANT a bird that talk!!! :D

[LauraO]

I WANT a bird that talks!!! :D

No you don't!!!!!!! I have a regular jabberjaw in Mijo. Given that he is a danger to other birds he sleeps on a perch on top his cage right next to my bed. EVERY MORNING at like 6:05 he starts talking...."what's ya doin'," "Goodmorning," "Chirp Chirp (imitating the lovies and the meyer's parrots)," "Whistle, whistle (really loud), "Hello Mijo, kiss kiss," and on and on it goes as he works his way through his entire repetoire. " If none of this craziness gets a rise out of me he ventures down onto the bed and bites my nose or heads straight for the toes:omg: :omg: .

Laura: When I first got my four year old CAG eight months ago, he would not eat anything but seed and seemed to beg for anything resembling junk food. It's taken months but he has been eating a lot better. He likes apple, grape, kidney beans, birdy bread, and some cooked veggies (not raw). So it just takes time and lots of wasted food:x .

[LauraO]

I WANT a bird that talks!!! :D

No you don't!!!!!!! I have a regular jabberjaw in Mijo. Given that he is a danger to other birds he sleeps on a perch on top his cage right next to my bed. EVERY MORNING at like 6:05 he starts talking...."what's ya doin'," "Goodmorning," "Chirp Chirp (imitating the lovies and the meyer's parrots)," "Whistle, whistle (really loud), "Hello Mijo, kiss kiss," and on and on it goes as he works his way through his entire repetoire. " If none of this craziness gets a rise out of me he ventures down onto the bed and bites my nose or heads straight for the toes:omg: :omg: .

Laura: When I first got my four year old CAG eight months ago, he would not eat anything but seed and pellets. He would also beg for anything resembling junk food like he knew what it was. It's taken months but he has been eating a lot better. He likes apple, grape, kidney beans, birdy bread, and some cooked veggies (not raw). So it just takes time and lots of wasted food:x .

[Z28Taxman]

No you don't!!!!!!! I have a regular jabberjaw in Mijo. Given that he is a danger to other birds he sleeps on a perch on top his cage right next to my bed. EVERY MORNING at like 6:05 he starts talking...."what's ya doin'," "Goodmorning," "Chirp Chirp (imitating the lovies and the meyer's parrots)," "Whistle, whistle (really loud), "Hello Mijo, kiss kiss," and on and on it goes as he works his way through his entire repetoire. " If none of this craziness gets a rise out of me he ventures down onto the bed and bites my nose or heads straight for the toes:omg: :omg: .



Well send him over here then. I get up at 5:30 so he can chat away! :whistle:

Besides, I think Ditto's too quiet most of the time, he needs someone to make him louder.:omg:

[butterfly1061]

Besides, I think Ditto's too quiet most of the time, he needs someone to make him louder.:omg:I'll send up my four. They start chirpping most mornings at 4:30 AM!! Stops. Chirpping again at 5:20 AM!! Stops. My alarm goes off at 6:00 AM and not a peep :rolleyes: I don't get it :confused: Then they're non-stop from 6:10 (when I get them up).

[Z28Taxman]

I'll send up my four. They start chirpping most mornings at 4:30 AM!! Stops. Chirpping again at 5:20 AM!! Stops. My alarm goes off at 6:00 AM and not a peep :rolleyes: I don't get it :confused: Then they're non-stop from 6:10 (when I get them up).

Ditto doesn't wake up until after 8. :p He pokes his head out of the happy hut when I uncover his cage at 6 but goes to sleep again as I'm leaving. On weekends he's quiet until I uncover him around 9 or 9:30. :happy:

[butterfly1061]

Wish I could get some extra sleep like that. You're lucky! And now that I've taken on a 2nd job, I'll never get enough sleep:eek:

[Janie]

Laura, I am so jealous....really I am! :D I do want a jabberjaw....to drive my hubby and kids crazy! Me? I'm already there and want company! :rofl:

[LauraO]

Well send him over here then. I get up at 5:30 so he can chat away! :whistle:

Besides, I think Ditto's too quiet most of the time, he needs someone to make him louder.:omg:


Dave: You say that now, but if and when he ate Ditto you wouldn't find his witty banter all that amusing:x :x .

Janie: Did I ever mention that Mijo loves to walk to the edge of the bed and mock me as I'm on my hands and knees scrubbing his pooper out of the rug:eek: .

[Janie]

Janie: Did I ever mention that Mijo loves to walk to the edge of the bed and mock me as I'm on my hands and knees scrubbing his pooper out of the ru

No, you did not but OMG, that is too funny! I would rather have a bird mock me than the humans that I'm living with! :rofl:

[LauraKGN]

:lol :lol :lol :lol

Ava sounds like she's trying to talk, which is really cute. I love the ekkie voice! I am not as fond of the ekkie teradactyl scream, which is pretty frightening! She does it when she hears Tobey fussing in the other room! :rolleyes: It's actually not THAT bad, as it's quick and not too often. Let's just hope she doesn't decide to do it at 4:30 am OR 6:05 am!:D

Laura: I know about the wasted food!!! Especially with Tobey - I've tried tons of fruits and veggies. Also with Ava over the past few days. It's good to hear that they'll eventually catch on...

Jeremy: Thanks so much! I'm sure I'll have lots of questions for you! The food that she "came with" is mostly seed but I noticed it does have a few colored pellets!! I'll take it out. I plan to cook for her but she won't eat anything else yet! I can't believe she's been on this food for 4 years!!!

[jknezek]

Nice thing about ekkies is once they are done being afraid of it, they eat anything... When I board mine at the vet for vacations I always bring bags of cut up and frozen fruit and veggies and a bean, pasta, and veggie mash I make. The vet is amazed. Kiwi's head goes down in his bowl and it doesn't come out until the bowl is clean. Of course, he gets a full food beard down the bottom of beak and neck and he proceeds to flick it everywhere in my house. Invest in plexiglass to cover the walls behind the cage and to the side with the food dishes. Otherwise, you're going to hate scrubbing wet food off your paint/wallpaper everyday.

The ekkie voice is cute. Kiwi sounds like a little girl. And he does talk. His vocab is well over 2 dozen phrases and more than 50 or 60 different words. He didn't talk at all when I got him from his first home at 10 months. Once the males start talking, you have to traumatize them to get them to stop (and yes, this happens unfortunately).

As for females, once they get hormonal they have a tendency to stop talking. Not all, but many. JUst one of those things. Do you know what subspecies your girl is? Each subspecies has a slightly different maturity schedule. Solomon Islands are the smallest and mature the quickest. Vos, of the species kept in the U.S., are tied with Grand for the largest, but the Vos mature the slowest. Red-sided are medium sized. Feather color on the tail and chest as well as size should help you figure our the subspecies. Unfortunately a lot of hybridization has occurred, which can muddle the analysis.

Good luck and show that little one how good veggies are. One of the best tricks is to get some kale or spinach and hang it in the cage. She'll probably shred it to pieces once she gets over how scary it is. Once she has a taste, you'll probably start to eat more.

She'll also know what her food bowl is for. So if you put chopped up veggies in one day, she'll probably get curious and try it.

Jeremy

[LauraO]

No, you did not but OMG, that is too funny! I would rather have a bird mock me than the humans that I'm living with! :rofl:

Yeah! If it was my hubby mocking me I probably wouldn't be so humored:p

[Eliza]

Tobey is such a pretty lutino lovey!

I'm so jealous -- I absolutely LOVE ekkies and have been researching them for years. I did some preliminary interviews in an attempt to rehome a female but since she had issues with children, I couldn't go any further (I don't have kids but since I couldn't say that I'd never have 'em...).

As everyone mentioned, Land of Vos and TEC are wonderful sites.

Best wishes to you and your beautiful birds,

-e-