Arika's world, from the beginning

[Scott]

You may find Arika goes through a more assertive "independence" state as she gets older, but you've laid the perfect foundation. With two of you and consistency, there shouldn't be serious issues!

 

[WakaWaka]

A few days ago, I was waiting for Kelly to arrive home from work and had Arika out in her room.

She was sitting on my arm while I was browsing on the computer and I decided to pull up the live cam from Jackson Hole that shows the Elk Refuge.

PJ would enjoy watching some of the webcams with us so we've decide to pass on this "tradition" to Arika.

Despite the lack of motion, the video sparked her attention and I pointed to all the elk grazing in the snow. Her eyes started pinning a little, she walked down my arm and stopped on top my hand that was on the mouse.
Then as clear as day, she looked straight at the monitor, gave them a big loud "Hiiiii", then came back closer to me and continued to watch.

Precious moments. What can I say

Next time, I'll have the video going.

Thanks
Kelly, Karl, and Arika.

 

[AmyMyBlueFront]

How many times,and how many precious moments,have all of us lost,just because that blasted camera was out of reach??
I don't have enough fingers or toes...





Jim

 

[WakaWaka]

Jim,

We could wear go-pro cameras on our heads, but we all know how that would turn out.
Bird attacks owner with camera on head, film at 11

We are working on a more "stealth" way of doing something like that though. When we finally get a chance to try something we'll post the video if it turns out.

Thanks
Kelly, Karl, and Arika

 

[WakaWaka]

Just some knowledge that Arika has acquired recently and we wanted to share.

Her swing hangs from the top bar of her condo and it is just a few more inches closer to the front than the back. If her swing is still and she wants to go to the front bars, it is just out of her reach.

So what does that smart little bird brain come up with.... she realizes that she can actually get a swinging motion going by rocking her weight back and forth on her swing. Just like a child on an outdoor swing.

She has mastered doing this with the right timing and starts the swing moving quite well. When she is comfortable that she has enough momentum and her swinging gets her close enough to the front, she uses her beak to grab the front bars and hop on to the front of her condo.

We were really surprised when we saw this. Another one we need to get on video but have not captured it yet.

Never a dull moment !

 

[DiscoDuck]

We gave her back to Terri so she could return her to the nursery. Terri just couldn't resist giving her some love before returning her to the rest of the babies.
Kelly, Karl, and Arika

Its fun reading your updates!

Its a small world after all! I guess you might know that? So after reading your thread. Your next step should be the harness. I think Rudy is on his 4th harness now. Lets talk... your bird is young.. I believe the more time you spend now, the more you will get in return. And the easier it will be. Spring is coming. I should be able to help really well with flight training.

I am surprised she is complacent about the shower. My suggestion is, they make a perch with suction cups that stick really well to fiberglass. uhhhh kind of funny, I get naked with my uh.... bird.. I think it confuses him a bit. Any ways with the 106F temp it is easy to adjust a hand held temps. Rudy actually picks his wings up, I spray softly under and over.

Towel him off, sometimes the blow dryer, more on the winter days. I replace a couple ceiling fan bulbs with halogen so he can preen.

Here is his pretty boy vanity shot when he was really young

Terri knows us... really really well Not sure if she has read my most recent updates, however she heard some of the minor back stories.. Like Rudy escaping from me twice in Rehoboth!

The B&G and GWM flock together in the wild. It sounds like a really cool match on many levels!

 

[WakaWaka]

Its been a while so we thought we would post an update on Arika.

A few weeks ago we noticed her breath smelled a little "sour", kind of like sour milk. It was most evident when she was being affectionate and started to regurgitate.

Not wanting to take any chances, we took her to her vet on 4/21. They did a gram stain on her fecal and also took a crop sample (that was not fun). She had to be toweled and the vet used a speculum to hold her beak open. She fought so bad she received a little chip in her beak.
It was the first time she had to be toweled and she was not happy at all. We commend the tech at doing an excellent job holding her, and they proceeded quickly to minimize any stress. When the crop sample was finished she came running back to Dad looking for protection against the evil Dr.

While letting her cool down for a few minutes, we noticed the chip in her beak.
Her vet moved slowly and tried to get a closer look at her beak, but she went into full scream alert, beak open, ready to kill mode, and would not let him near her. We've never seen her like that before, but it was justified after being toweled, beak pried open, and a swab put down her crop. I would have done the same thing

So, she is standing on my arm while this is going on and as we were loosing our hearing from her screaming in a small room, I was also anticipating the removal of a good sized piece of skin from my arm but thankfully, she behaved. The Dr. backed off and after a little more time to cool down, I was able to take a few pics with my cellphone and we looked at the photos. It was deemed not to be anything serious, just a note to keep an eye on it for any further chipping and to bring her back in if we noticed any deterioration of the chipped area.

Her fecal had elevated gram negative so they prescribed Baytril for 7 days. We mixed it with some mushed up banana and she happily devoured her "banana pudding" twice a day. We made sure she received lots of praise and treats for being a good girl. The Vet called a few days later to inform us that all other tests came back normal. It took a few days after the vet visit for her to return to normal, plus I think her jaw hurt a little from fighting the speculum.

This Saturday, she finished up her Baytril and is not showing any signs of "sour" breath. She continued to eat well while on the Baytril and is contuing to do so today. No weight change, and behavior appears normal. We discussed a post antibiotic treatment with a probiotic with her vet and they recommended waiting a few days, but noted it will help improve her good flora. We have the Bene-Bac as recommended, and will start that early this week.

We are thankful that we caught the symptoms early and the treatment seems to have taken care of the issue. How her bacteria count got elevated??... could have been numerous things. Something on our hands, something left on her fresh veggies despite washing them, who knows. Hopefully it does not return.

She had a bath this weekend in her plastic tub and loved every second of it including her regular blow dry on her play stand. She seems to like this routine so much. She even rolls over on her back and enjoys having water drizzled on her tummy with a wet paper towel. We really need to get that on video. She seems to have so much fun with her bath this way, I'm not sure if we should attempt the shower again. We will most likely stick with what works. Perhaps someday we will get her close to the shower again, but if she stresses out, we'll back off.

*** A special note to LoveMyConlan, We hope you got Rhage to the vet, they were able to diagnose the reason for his sour breath, and hopefully he is doing better. Please let us know how things are going with your baby.

Its getting late and time to call it a night. Arika and Kelly already snoring, so I must join the sandman to do the same.

 

[Tami2]

Glad she is doing better.
Did the Vet tell you why this happened, so you can avoid future problems?

 

[WakaWaka]

Thank you. She's been doing much better.
Not sure how she wound up with elevated bacteria levels, it could have come from anywhere. We do our best to wash our hands, rinse her food thoroughly, wipe down her condo every day. Hopefully it won't happen again.

 

[WakaWaka]

Today is Arika's 1st Birthday. She's a whole one year old
We ordered a few foraging toys for her but didn't want her getting into them since they were not washed yet. We'll take care of that this weekend.

We let her see her new wood and rope knots toy. I don't think it will last long but that's ok. She didn't seem that interested in it but that will change once we hang it up this weekend. We don't want to introduce a new toy overnight or while we will not be home in case something goes wrong with it (like her rope boing). Glad we checked on her an hour after we put it in her condo.

Anyway, a short video of her checking out her Birthday toy. Enjoy

 

[SailBoat]

A VERY HAPPY BIRTHDAY, Arika!!!


Enjoy your very special first Birthday,


After all you only get one, first Birthday!!!

 

[Anansi]

HAPPY BELATED HATCHDAY, ARIKA!!!

Loving this thread, btw! A joy to follow. This bird is so loved!

 

[AmyMyBlueFront]

A very Happy Birdday Arika And many many more!





Jim

 

[WakaWaka]

Thank you very much everyone!!!
We spent as much time with her yesterday as possible and she was all lovey She's really spoiled rotten.

We'll wash the plastic foraging toys and put them in her condo, then hang her new wood/rope toy this weekend so she can have fun destroying that. I relly expected her to dive in more tearing up the paper but I guess she wasn't in the mood.

On a sad note, today it's been one year since we lost PJ. We miss him, but if PJ would not have been in our lives for so long, we may not have crossed paths with Arika. This little girl is really amazing.
I'm glad Kelly talked me into looking for another feathered friend.

 

[Anansi]

I'm so sorry for your loss of PJ. But I'm glad you took the risk of opening your hearts again and welcoming Arika into your family.

 

[WakaWaka]

Thank you.
I'm glad we were able to bring her into our home and she is a well established part of our family. She has brought us much joy and she seems to be very happy with us too.
We need to work more on harness training so she can go outside and have some fun. All in good time as we want the experience to be positive and fun for her.
We will post soon when we've captured some more precious moments

 

[WakaWaka]

Its been a while since we've posted so here is an update on what's been going on.

Arika is doing really well, weighing in at 952g, eating well, active, and talking / laughing a bit more. She is saying "hello", and "hi" very clearly, still sounds like "you're a good girl" but not sure, and of course the laughter coming out of her is absolutely hilarious!

We've been able to get her to take treats through the "hole" in the aviator harness and she seems to be more accepting of it being close and even on her back. Still taking it very easy so it remains a positive experience.

So, last Sunday was father's day, Kelly and I do not have any children so naturally we look to her as being our baby. I had her out of her condo, I was sitting in the computer chair, looking at some of the bird web cams (Its our thing ), when she started her regurg motions. I distracted her a little by getting her to look at some birds on the monitor, but she came up on my arm and started the regurg motions again. Now this girl had a really good breakfast, so I knew she was full. Next thing I know, I look down on my shirt and there is a huge blob of what she had for breakfast, just sitting there, slowly sliding down my shirt. She looks up at me, straight in my eyes, and I could swear there was even a little sparkle there, just staring a me. She must have been saying Happy Father's Day, she was so proud to offer that to me. I was touched, I scratched her head, told her how much I love her, then proceeded to clean up the present that she gave me. What can I say, That's my girl It doesn't get any better than this.

A belated Happy Father's day to all out there no matter what kink of children you have. Cherish the moments, they go by fast.

 

[WakaWaka]

Another cherished moment that could not really be captured on video.

I was in Arika's room, on the computer, looking at some live cams of the outdoors hoping to catch a few birds to spark Arika;s interest. She is on my right arm, waiting patiently for me to find something that would really get her attention. Every outdoor cam didn't show even one feathered friend.

I'm still looking at the computer monitor while she walks up my arm and looks at the monitor from my shoulder. She turns to face the right side of my head and pushes her chest firmly up to my ear. I place my hand gently on her back because i wasn't sure what she was doing and didn't want her to fall. I just listened. I could hear my little girl's heartbeat!! She stayed like that for about a minute then turned to face the monitor.

I turned my head to look at her, scratched her head a little, and said "Thank You".

I have no idea what prompted her to do that. Not sure if her intention was to let me listen to her heart or just hang close for affection but it was priceless. I'm hoping that Kelly has the opportunity to experience a wonderful moment like that when Arika presents the opportunity.

 

[Anansi]

I love reading of the loving bond that continues to develop and deepen between you and Arika. There's something special, there.

I think it's about time for some more pics!

 

[WakaWaka]

Thank you Stephen
She is very special to both Kelly and myself. I'm so glad Kelly pushed for another feathered friend.

I know, we've been slacking lately on the pics and videos. We are just enjoying the special time with her, watching her grow, her antics, and seeing her learn so quickly.
We do have a hilarious soundtrack of her laughing and acting up. Captured that when I put my cell phone in her room to record her antics. We'll see if we can upload just audio to YouTube.

We did not have her clipped when we were at the vets office last time and she now has full flight. This has been good and bad.
She is doing very well flying from her play stand over to us for treats and now we are making sure she also knows what "stay" means. The stay behavior is a little slower coming about, but she is getting there. She's made a few laps around her room and the living room. She is also doing quite well flying through doorways. Her navigation and control is really good and has prevented any major "crashes". This also seems to give her the impression that she can get away with a little more and tries to push the boundaries a little further.
Kelly wants to have her clipped just a little, I'm hesitant because I really want to get her used to the harness so she can go outside and enjoy a larger area to fly back and forth between Kelly and myself. We'll see how that discussion goes

While working with her flight harness the other day, we had a little setback. She was taking a treat from the "hole" in the harness, she stepped on the bottom of it and since it was already over her head it pulled down a little on her neck. She panicked, started to get tangled, and I had to grab her before she fell over. Fortunately I pulled it off of her before the situation got any worse and without any injury to her. I took a mild nip on my finger but made sure I apologized to her and we were good a short time later.
We waited a few days before trying again and we may be back to square one, she is not liking it at all. We'll take it slow again and hopefully we can make some progress with positive reinforcement.