Diary of the Jardy

[Mechanical8dragon]

Figured I'd start a new thread to actually jot down things with a more related title . Cus... why not?

1 Month (a day late actually since I brought her home the 24th last month) since Jardy first came home. Things have definitely made progress, although there are still some step-up issues from things she doesn't want to leave, but some bribery with food is all that is needed.

Doesn't seem to care much for me petting her (she'll deal with it for a few strokes before she kind of snakes her head around with her mouth open) and none of the 'yes that feels good let me raise my feathers, scratch meh!" type of stuff. Not sure if it's just because she's not that kind of bird or she is still getting used to me and such.

I came home from a weekend trip to my grandma's in Montana and when I walked in the door she was bobbin' her head and chatting up a storm so either she was happy to see me, or really wanted out of her cage HAHA.

I've offered her some mango and honeydew and she doesn't seem interested in actually eating the fruit. She'll crush it in her beak, extracting the juice, and then spit the 'pulp' back out. What a picky little turd. -_- LOL

I bought some 'fruit mix' from the pet store thinking that would be a good snack, or just something I can mix in with her pellets, but when I got it home and opened it... the fruit was coated in sugar. What the hell?! For birds?! WHY!??? I offered her a banana chip, not interested, tried the other fruit bits, not interested. It has pecans in it, yeah she gobbled those up fast. I've stopped offering it though since she doesn't eat it anyways and it's sprinkled in sugar -facepalm-. Waste of money there. It's like a bag of trail mix but they slapped a parrot label on it. I don't eat that stuff so looks like I'll just have to toss it.

Can't find unsalted/unflavored nuts anywhere, other than walnuts, pecans, and almonds in the cooking section in the bags. Can you believe that I can't find UNSALTED SUNFLOWER SEEDS ANYWHERE?! I'm baffled.

I haven't tried veggies yet. Not sure where to even start? Should I just get like... a little 'snack tray' from the store or something and offer those to her? I gave her a carrot once, she didn't touch it. lol

Did offer her mango today, again, she just squished the juice out of it and spat the pulp back into my hand. Still need to try other fruits.

She's starting to play with her toys more too, and she absolutely loves her pecans in the shell (that I crack a bit to start her off), now if I can just stop cracking it so much she'll have to work harder to get those big ol' nuts out.

Need to get more grapevine pieces to screw into her playtop, as the gap between the 'ramp branch' and the actual top is a bit too big to climb up.

Here's her now. Ganna go thru a 'perch' clean up sometime this week and a cage rearrangement because I'll be buying a few more perches and toys this week to add in there. Also I know its good to switch things up a bit as well, so I think once a month is a good 'spring cleaning' time to do it. Eventually i'd like to find a smaller cage to set up outside so she can enjoy some rays.

(it was before I cleaned the tray haha, so all those folded paper towels is me wipin' her turds up and I just set them in there, clean it before I go to bed, rinse repeat the next day)

 

[Mechanical8dragon]

So yesterday was the first day she actually bathed herself..... in her water bowl. lol

I've misted her a few times a week before but she didn't seem to like it at all (she'll back away from it and sometimes make birdy noises that make me feel like she dislikes it). So now I need to find a smaller water bowl so she'll more inclined to use the pan of water I've now set up at the bottom of her cage (changed daily of course, currently using a pie pan of dad's until I can get the car from him to go buy my own lol)

 

[JamesC]

See if you can find something that is shallow with straight sides. I was using a glass baking pan for a while because it was big enough for two birds and fit perfectly on the upper door "shelf" of Rosco's cage. He would jump right in it but Tootsie would always stand on the edge and dip a foot in searching for the bottom. If she could not feel it she would not go in. After I got a different pan, which fortunately also fit securely on the shelf, she will get in and get herself nice and soaked. When she is in the mood for it, that is. Old bird does not bathe as much as she used to.

 

[Mechanical8dragon]

yeah Im wondering if the 'clear glass' is throwing her off because you see straight thru to the cage floor, so I'll probably try to find something that ISNT clear haha. That way it makes itself very clearly known and hopefully she'll be more inclined to use that, rather than soaking her food.

 

[Frumpydumple]

She is pretty. I don't see them very often. I saw one up for sale not long ago, they seem pretty rare where I live. Sounds like you're making good progress with her.

Also, I have that same poster on my wall.

 

[Mechanical8dragon]

Yeah I read when I was researching they were hard to come by, but they seemed like the perfect bird for me and my lifestyle and I was so thrilled when I walked into the petstore and there she was.


On another note, it's becoming a lot more clear in the morning that if it's past 8am and she's still covered with her blanket she'll start chattering saying a drawn out "hellooooo" and if she hears me turning around in bed she'll ask "what cha' doin". Both of these are so clear and omg adorable I can't handle it! XD When she's playing with her toys she'll make loud noises, kind of sounds like a "wohooo" type of noise or a "wooooaaah" but drawn out with wavering pitch. Still haven't quite figured that one out yet haha.

She's also become quite fond of the tongue clicking that I often do, and she'll combine that a lot with the "what cha' doin" phrase.

 

[Mechanical8dragon]

She now bobs her head at me when I get home from work and open the door (and makes these REALLY glass-shattering whistles @_@) she even kind of... made the 'regurg-motion' when I picked her up to take her out.

She also got a cage make-over. picked up some new toys and a perch for her and yesterday was the "clean her things and remodel cage' day so now she has tons of things to do. I had a month to watch how she moves around her cage and I've noticed that she uses alot of it, and likes searching for things on the ground, so i kind of put things on all levels. We'll see how it goes (still want to get a few more perches (one more inside and a few for outside her cage)

and a pic of Jardy that's not dark, crappy, and blurry.

 

[RavensGryf]

I'm glad things are going so well . Jardy is a gorgeous bird. I've always thought Jardine's were pretty with their mature colors like she has. I'm curious to hear the whistle lol since Jardine's are bigger than my Poi species. Robin does the ear piercing Poi whistle too, but Griffin only chirps and says hi .

 

[Mechanical8dragon]

I'll have to remember to turn my phone to record and pop it on next time I come home from work ROFL. It's really loud and high pitched, makes my ears bleed ROFL

 

[Mechanical8dragon]

Here's the call I was talking about that she makes when I come home. Watch your volume, I have no idea how loud it may be for you (it blew my eardrums out @_@) Excuse the baby-talking voice.

[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0WihRydV2ZA"]Jardy call - YouTube[/ame]

On another note, the little shiz was lunging at me from the perch on the cage door as I was changing her food and water. Managed to grab my sleeve and kept lunging at it as I pulled it away and continued to try and change her bowls before she lunged at my face. -_- I gave her a very firm and angry 'no'. Not the type of attitude she needs to be giving me. She went right back in her cage. Not going to deal with that at all, VERY naughty of her.

 

[RavensGryf]

That wasn't that bad on the video, I'm sure it's louder in person though, but yeah it's the Poi whistle. I'd still rather hear it than the conure scream lol.

Yeah, establish with her now, what is acceptable and what is not. It won't make her never try to bite again, but having some boundaries and ground rules are so important.

 

[Mechanical8dragon]

-nodnod- yeah she needs to be taught some SERIOUS manners and boundries. One of the people at the pet store that I talked to for a good 20 minutes a few days ago (who owns a few birds herself, and has for years) said that Jardy might be going thru her 'teenage' cycle, what with her being just 4 years old. Kind of a rebelious, turd, I can do what I want and bite who I want phase. but im not sure.

I tried researching the 'life phases' of Jardines, and all that I ever find is just that they go throu 3 phases from baby, to growing up, to adult that involves some form of over-cuddling ily, to biting the **** out of you, to being a chill bird again, but none of them give an age range soooo i don't know how true it is what the woman told me, but it certainly seems like it.

 

[RavensGryf]

I tried researching the 'life phases' of Jardines, and all that I ever find is just that they go throu 3 phases from baby, to growing up, to adult that involves some form of over-cuddling ily, to biting the **** out of you, to being a chill bird again, but none of them give an age range soooo i don't know how true it is what the woman told me, but it certainly seems like it.

IMO and IME (My own plus talking to MANY Poi owners throughout the years), the occasional unexpected bite where you can't see an obvious reason or warning body language just happens at times. It has nothing to do with age. That's how most (even well adjusted) Pois are. BUT if you lay down boundaries, you shouldn't be getting bit an excessive amount. I'm not familiar with female Pois, but the males hormonal aggression is no joke. My Red Bellied will be 21 this summer, and I have seen his hormones seem to have lessened recently, and he is a bit less feisty than when he was a young guy, but that's not to say he never ever bites anymore .

 

[Mechanical8dragon]

Yeah that makes sense.

On another note, I bought some fruit (mango, pineapple, strawberry, blueberry, grapes, honeydew, watermelon, melon) and veggies (broccolie/cauliflower/carrots) for jardy to chop up and stick in a bowl.

She goes bonkers for the fruit but ignores the veggies for the most part. She doesn't actually even eat the fruit, she just like... smooshes it in her beak to drink the juice and then she spits out the pulp (is that how birds eat or is she one of those turds? LOL). I shred the broc. and caulif. up finely so it breads itself over all the fruit so I can only hope SOME of it ends up eaten.

I also bought some other 'flavors' of Zupreem. (natural, veggie, and two of their 'entree' blends) and mixed it all together in a bowl with her old 'fruit' flavor.Hopefully she doesnt pick thru that either lol

 

[RavensGryf]

Robin tends to juice carrots and yams, and not eat the pulp. Make sure you don't leave fruit in too long, but hard/drier stuff like broccoli, yams, carrots, butternut squash, peas, beans, etc can stay in all day.

I wanted to also tell you, my observation with Pois is that they communicate with their beak. They'll nip when they want to tell you something... really ANYTHING lol. For bite pressure training with Griffin, I use my index finger just out of reach over the beak and say "gentle" in a calm but firm tone. If the pressure is too hard, he gets a firm "no biting". When they 'get' the concept, they get profuse praise or food treat if you prefer. I've been training Griffin with this for a while, so he knows what it means, and keeps it under control for the most part, but he still has his nippy instincts. When he's too wound up he gets set down or in his cage until he settles down. I don't think this "training" will ever "end" with him. If I haven't reminded him of "gentle" in a while, he will challenge it to see if he can get away with a hard bite. He then gets a firm "no", repeat step up drills, and a time out. If you don't keep on top of things, they will start to challenge your position.

I think you're doing great with Jardy .

 

[LuvJardines]

Such a pretty Jardine! Our Jardine is very cage protective and will lunge too while changing water, food etc. She will step up from certain positions in the cage if she wants to come out, if not we respect that too. She's great when she's out, but when the sun goes down, she lets you know it's time to be tucked in!