CatalystSpark
New member
- Mar 11, 2016
- 9
- 0
- Parrots
- Lucia (Sun Conure), Yamato (aka Yama, Quaker Parrot), Storm (Budgie), Virginia (aka Virg, Lovebird), Nero (Green Cheek Conure), Cassandra (aka Cassie, Cockatiel), Mango (Lovebird)
Well, I normally suck at introducing myself but I'll give it a try. I grew up on a ranch, had a violent, legitimate psychopath for an excuse of a father so I was pretty much the only one running the 300 acre ranch without compensation. Well, my love for birds started then, he got these cockatiels with the intent to breed then and sell their babies, but of course he wasn't going to do any of the work, so I cared for them and their clutches. I fell in love with our three breeding pairs and would often hide out in their outdoor cage, loving on them, until my excuse for a father passed out drunk. Those little birds, I honestly think they saved my life back then, sadly, when I left at age 17, I was going onto the streets because it was safer than that house and I wasn't able to bring the cockatiels with me. I found out later he just let them, and most the other animals on the ranch, die instead of caring for them himself. Shame one of the horses didn't kick him hard enough to put him in the ground before they starved to death.
But beyond the messed up past. I've come a long way in 11 years. Still suffer from PTSD and damage to my joints from that past, but hey, I'm still kickin' and that's what matters. My love for the feathered angels that kept me from ending my own life back then is still strong and I share my home with 7 feathered kids, one of whom, Nero, is going to be registered as an emotional aid animal in the near future so he can go out with me and help with my anxiety issues in public.
These days I work as an indie game developer, I do graphics, 3D animation, coding, level design and storyline work. I'm a trans man, meaning I was, sadly, born in a female body even though I'm a guy and I'm working on getting nature's oversight fixed so my body matches my mind. I have a wonderful fiance, Nikki, and, honestly, I'm amazed she's been able to stick by me with my health issues and PTSD, I guess that just goes to show that I found a very amazing woman to share my life with.
I'll be honest, I can be a bit rough around the edges, sometimes my mind forgets what's normal and proper for society and what isn't, which can make me come off a bit gruff, but I'm pretty easy to get along with if you can overlook how I sometimes word things.
As for my flock, well, I'll start with oldest and get to youngest.
First there's Yamato, Yama for short. We tend to call him the punk of our flock. He will constantly throw seeds at us or at his siblings and laugh when he hits someone/somebirdy. He's also our little Houdini bird who needs a macaw safe lock on his cage to stop him from escaping. He's loud, rude and a jokester, but when he's out he can be the sweetest thing, leaning over while on your shoulder to steal kisses, grooming you and snuggling if you're in a bad mood. For all the trouble he gives, he's a sweetheart in the end. Yama is a quaker parrot and he's gonna be 8 this year.
Then there's Lucia. She's 7 and a sun conure. We call her Lucia the miracle bird" sometimes because of the shape she was in when I found her. She had crop burn, was malnourished due to being force weaned and her breeder clipped her wings so short that he damaged the cuticles so her wing feathers don't grow out properly, so she can never really fly. When I took her to my vet where I use to live, he said she would need so much around the clock care that the vet office couldn't do it and it would be better to put her to sleep, and that vet hated putting down any bird unless he saw no other option. Well, I was on disability at the time due to the damage I sustained in my youth, I had nothing to do all day so I told him to let me know what I needed to do. For three months which her crop was healing I would wake up every half hour to feed her tiny bits of veggie mash from my hand, because what she went through made her terrorized of syringes and spoons, and sure enough, she started to gain her strength. While I was caring for her, my vet and the parrot rescue group I use to foster rescued parrots for took the information I got from the pet shop and went after Lucia's breeder full force. He got shut down, fined and cannot keep another animal for the rest of his life (His breeding pairs were taken in by the rescue group) and I later got to meet him face to face, and I decked him. I you looked at Lucia now, you'd never know that she was on death's doorstep when I found her. Today she is active, a bit bratty, and happy. She'll never fly right and she can't eat a lot at once due to the scars in her crop, but she grazes throughout the day and gets more than enough to eat that way.
Then we have Storm, who's a little budgie who loves to snuggle. Storm, she's just a sweetheart, that's the long and short of it. She loves shoulder rides and is always cleaning either herself or whoever she's hitching a ride on. She's bout two years old.
After that, there's Mango, a 1 year old little peach faced lovebird. He adores Nikki, and mostly just tolerates me. He can be a sweetheart sometimes, but mostly he's all "Get away from my Momma! It's my time with her!" when he's out.
Cassandra, Cassie for short, is our cockatiel. She's about 8 months old, I think. She was already full grown when we got her so we have to guess with her age. She has to be the most chill bird I have ever met. She will just be happy sitting on someone, or something, watching what you're doing and that's it. Hardly ever fusses, unless she's telling Yamato to shush that is, and just takes the love as it comes.
Now to Nero. He is 6 months old, a green cheek conure (yellow sided) who, I swear, doesn't realize he isn't a chick anymore. He is a total snuggle fiend and protective of both me and his little sister, Virginia. Any time my mood in bad he knows what to do to at least lift it a bit. This bird has helped calm me down mid flashback before. He's also a total goofball and does the funniest things before then looking at me to make sure I saw it. He's also extremely talkative. I've lost track of how many words and phases he has at this point. But then again, he is right next to me at all times so it's only natural he picks up words from time to time.
And finally, Virginia, or Virg for short. She's only about 4 months old, a little peach faced lovebird, runt of her clutch. She loves to sleep under my hand while I'm watching youtube or movies and is just such a sweetheart. She is so tiny too, but she thinks she's a lot bigger. Her and Nero get along amazingly and, if they're both out at the same time, they'll play, cuddle and groom each other. Sometimes Virg gets a tad pushy and will actually puff out her chest and shove Nero around. . .well, until he has enough of it and grabs her foot with his to trip her. Watching those two together is both adorable and funny. Then after all is said and done, Virg normally needs and nap and leans against Nero to fall asleep and he big brother won't move because he doesn't want to wake her, it's so cute.
The photo attached is Nero with Virginia when they were ganging up on Momma (Nikki) while she was trying to play a game.
But beyond the messed up past. I've come a long way in 11 years. Still suffer from PTSD and damage to my joints from that past, but hey, I'm still kickin' and that's what matters. My love for the feathered angels that kept me from ending my own life back then is still strong and I share my home with 7 feathered kids, one of whom, Nero, is going to be registered as an emotional aid animal in the near future so he can go out with me and help with my anxiety issues in public.
These days I work as an indie game developer, I do graphics, 3D animation, coding, level design and storyline work. I'm a trans man, meaning I was, sadly, born in a female body even though I'm a guy and I'm working on getting nature's oversight fixed so my body matches my mind. I have a wonderful fiance, Nikki, and, honestly, I'm amazed she's been able to stick by me with my health issues and PTSD, I guess that just goes to show that I found a very amazing woman to share my life with.
I'll be honest, I can be a bit rough around the edges, sometimes my mind forgets what's normal and proper for society and what isn't, which can make me come off a bit gruff, but I'm pretty easy to get along with if you can overlook how I sometimes word things.
As for my flock, well, I'll start with oldest and get to youngest.
First there's Yamato, Yama for short. We tend to call him the punk of our flock. He will constantly throw seeds at us or at his siblings and laugh when he hits someone/somebirdy. He's also our little Houdini bird who needs a macaw safe lock on his cage to stop him from escaping. He's loud, rude and a jokester, but when he's out he can be the sweetest thing, leaning over while on your shoulder to steal kisses, grooming you and snuggling if you're in a bad mood. For all the trouble he gives, he's a sweetheart in the end. Yama is a quaker parrot and he's gonna be 8 this year.
Then there's Lucia. She's 7 and a sun conure. We call her Lucia the miracle bird" sometimes because of the shape she was in when I found her. She had crop burn, was malnourished due to being force weaned and her breeder clipped her wings so short that he damaged the cuticles so her wing feathers don't grow out properly, so she can never really fly. When I took her to my vet where I use to live, he said she would need so much around the clock care that the vet office couldn't do it and it would be better to put her to sleep, and that vet hated putting down any bird unless he saw no other option. Well, I was on disability at the time due to the damage I sustained in my youth, I had nothing to do all day so I told him to let me know what I needed to do. For three months which her crop was healing I would wake up every half hour to feed her tiny bits of veggie mash from my hand, because what she went through made her terrorized of syringes and spoons, and sure enough, she started to gain her strength. While I was caring for her, my vet and the parrot rescue group I use to foster rescued parrots for took the information I got from the pet shop and went after Lucia's breeder full force. He got shut down, fined and cannot keep another animal for the rest of his life (His breeding pairs were taken in by the rescue group) and I later got to meet him face to face, and I decked him. I you looked at Lucia now, you'd never know that she was on death's doorstep when I found her. Today she is active, a bit bratty, and happy. She'll never fly right and she can't eat a lot at once due to the scars in her crop, but she grazes throughout the day and gets more than enough to eat that way.
Then we have Storm, who's a little budgie who loves to snuggle. Storm, she's just a sweetheart, that's the long and short of it. She loves shoulder rides and is always cleaning either herself or whoever she's hitching a ride on. She's bout two years old.
After that, there's Mango, a 1 year old little peach faced lovebird. He adores Nikki, and mostly just tolerates me. He can be a sweetheart sometimes, but mostly he's all "Get away from my Momma! It's my time with her!" when he's out.
Cassandra, Cassie for short, is our cockatiel. She's about 8 months old, I think. She was already full grown when we got her so we have to guess with her age. She has to be the most chill bird I have ever met. She will just be happy sitting on someone, or something, watching what you're doing and that's it. Hardly ever fusses, unless she's telling Yamato to shush that is, and just takes the love as it comes.
Now to Nero. He is 6 months old, a green cheek conure (yellow sided) who, I swear, doesn't realize he isn't a chick anymore. He is a total snuggle fiend and protective of both me and his little sister, Virginia. Any time my mood in bad he knows what to do to at least lift it a bit. This bird has helped calm me down mid flashback before. He's also a total goofball and does the funniest things before then looking at me to make sure I saw it. He's also extremely talkative. I've lost track of how many words and phases he has at this point. But then again, he is right next to me at all times so it's only natural he picks up words from time to time.
And finally, Virginia, or Virg for short. She's only about 4 months old, a little peach faced lovebird, runt of her clutch. She loves to sleep under my hand while I'm watching youtube or movies and is just such a sweetheart. She is so tiny too, but she thinks she's a lot bigger. Her and Nero get along amazingly and, if they're both out at the same time, they'll play, cuddle and groom each other. Sometimes Virg gets a tad pushy and will actually puff out her chest and shove Nero around. . .well, until he has enough of it and grabs her foot with his to trip her. Watching those two together is both adorable and funny. Then after all is said and done, Virg normally needs and nap and leans against Nero to fall asleep and he big brother won't move because he doesn't want to wake her, it's so cute.
The photo attached is Nero with Virginia when they were ganging up on Momma (Nikki) while she was trying to play a game.
