We finally got some nice weather! I took the opportunity to put Bumble in her harness and go for a walk.
First though-finding a harness the right size for a parrotlet is a struggle. First I bought a flight suit. It seemed a touch big, and I am certain she would have chewed through the shoulder straps in no time. Then a Leathers4Feathers harness. I used pretty much the same method Desi has described-the “just put it on” method. Immediately took a quick walk outside. Bumble chewed like crazy and the harness was obviously a little too big. Had been messaging with the gal who makes the harnesses because you can now get them with snaps so you don’t have to pull them over the head. When I said it was too big and sent her a pic, she said she would replace it because she guarantees they will fit. She immediately sent me TWO replacement harnesses that were smaller and even smaller, with snaps since that was a new feature since I’d originally ordered, and a little tube of the glue she uses so I can adjust if necessary. (WOW is that customer service!) Even smaller was too small-had it almost on and then struggled with it for a few minutes. Since we didn’t get the harness all the way on, there was no “go outside” payoff and Bumble flew to the other side of the room and scolded me and stayed ticked off for the entire evening! Haha I thought she might hate me forever, but she was fine the next day.
So today I grabbed the third harness and put it on. Out we went for a walk to Starbucks (5-10 minute walk). They were out of fruit cups but I did get Bumble her own straw. I used that, a toy, pine nuts, the string on my hoodie, and my fingers to distract her from chewing the harness (with limited success). I held her like an ice cream cone for most of the outing because that was the best way to keep her from chewing. Also, I realized that this harness is too big but in a different way than the first one, so having her in my hand felt a little safer. You can see in the picture that it sort of hangs over her wing. I’ll try to adjust it and if I don’t have any luck, well, I don’t know what my next plan is.
When she wasn’t chewing, she was very calm and seemed to sort of enjoy looking at the world. A couple of times when we walked into bright warm sunlight, she stopped chewing on whatever she’d been chewing and seemed to just soak it in. I get that. In the Seattle area, we have to soak it up while we can!
When we got home, she flew to her boing to rearrange her feathers but then flew immediately back to me and fluffed up and made happy noises and demanded skritches. Not a bit mad at me! This is also why I think she might have enjoyed our outing.
I got a picture of her at Starbucks with a beak full of pine nuts, and one of her after we got home and she was being extra cute.
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