Picked up the red loreds today

[IcyWolf]

So, we went and picked up the birds today and we are even more in love. They are such amazing birds, I just can't get over how smart they are. I did something I normally wouldn't do and I gave them baths before putting them in their newly cleaned and refurbished cage. I wanted to wait and let them settle in a bit but I just Knew it had have been awhile since they had a proper shower(I'm guessing at least a year but I could be wrong.) Their cage definitely had a smell to it, it's weird but I swear it smelled like a cockatoo and had white dust all over it. At first I thought that maybe he had one of his cockatoos in the cage and just didn't clean it well before he put the zons in it, but when I gave them a shower I realized that the female was quite dusty. Once I could see her skin, it was all white and powdery like a too that hasn't had a bath in awhile. Her feathers aren't in the best condition, but they were on an all seed(mostly sunflower) diet and living without any sunlight. But we got them cleaned up, and revamped their cage. It had two very chewed up dowels in it and two old toys. Now, they have 7-9(didn't count lol) perches and so many toys that it was hard to get pictures of them because one of their faces was always obstructed by a toy.
Here's the crazy part, as I said, these birds were eating nothing but a very unhealthy seed mix. Just as an experiment, I put two handfuls of zupreem pellets in their dish, no seeds. As soon as I put them in their cage they both went to the bowl and started munching pellets like they have eaten them their entire lives! Then, I hand fed the female some apple slices, the male wouldn't take them from me, and she went to town! By the time she was done it looked like she had apple sauce all over her beak Then, I gave them some baked potato(plain) and they chowed down on that as well. Right now they haven't had any seed since they have been here and I'm not sure if I should even offer them any(suggestions?). So their diet seems pretty promising.
The other strange thing is that the female speaks very well. I read that red loreds are usually on the lower scale of speaking ability as far as the amazon species are concerned, but I have never had a bird that picked things up as quickly as she does and she hasn't even been here an entire day. The male doesn't seem to talk as much, he whistles and does this crazy yell that I swear sounds like an excited monkey. She has so far said, Hello, Hi, pretty girl, pretty boy, pretty bird, meow and a few other things I'm sure I'm forgetting. He told us she said Hi and hello but that was about it. She is also an amazing whistler. She already wolf whistled and did the come here whistle but my bf was sitting next to their cage and whistling different tunes to them. It only took her about 5 minutes and a couple tries before she was imitating the tune perfectly. And when she said meow, my bf randomly starting saying meow to her(not knowing if she knew it or not) and after a couple minutes she let out the word "meow" so loudly and clearly that you would have swore it came from a person! They don't seem to shy about it so I will try and get some video of them talking in the next few days or so.
They seem to be settling in well, they are eating, drinking, talking, and preening each other so I will take that as a successful relocation.
And I know what you guys mean about male zons and their mates now. The female seems pretty friendly, she will sit right next to you and talk and just act as sweet as can be, but if you try to touch her, he will charge at you like your threatening her life! So I guess we need to start building some trust with him first. She did let me pet her for a minute before her man put an end to it
Sorry for the long post, but it's been a very busy and very eventful day.
Now for some pictures

Sorry the pics aren't so good, I hate my camera and they were snuggled up about to go to sleep when I snapped them.

 

[IcyWolf]

Oh and does anyone else think it's strange how far below the grate the pan sits in this cage? I honestly can't figure out exactly how the pan slides in, there doesn't seem to be a lip anywhere to hold the pan up and if your not careful it will fall straight through. All of my other cages have the pan directly below the grate, thought this was weird. Oh and that brown thing in the first pic is just the skin from their baked potato.

You also may notice that they came with a water bottle, which they do drink out of, but I don't like the idea of them only having a water bottle and no bowl, so I gave them a water dish as well. It just seems unnatural for them to not be able to ever dunk their beak and just drink, so now they have the option.

 

[henpecked]

Hey Wolf, congrats on the new Red loreds.If you can make friends with the male your lucky,LOL. I'd suggest some sunlight and things like sweet potatoes,carrots,peppers,etc.Boost their vit A, maybe some deer antler to chew on.Your lucky they are so adaptable ,but amazons are good for that.Now might be a good time to intro the nest box, many of mine seem to nest well after changing cages or after moving them around to a new spot.Good Luck

 

[chksbak]

great, beautifull birds. glad to hear you picked them up

 

[roxynoodle]

I'm so glad to hear they are with you now. I'd say since they are eating the pellets, don't bother with the seed. Often parrots that are sunflower seed addicted are hard to get on pellets.

You might want to also get them a full spectrum bulb. They were in that basement after all, and probably need sunlight pretty badly.

Talking ability can sure differ vastly from bird to bird. Nandays aren't known as great talkers, but mine probably knows more words than my zon does. At least so far that seems to be the case. I did learn just a few days ago that Pete can whistle tunes. We were watching a TV show with animal videos. He first got excited by a BF that was singing (he does sing as well). Then the next clip was a dog howling along with it's owner playing a blues riff on guitar. He suddenly started whistling, and was quite good I must say!

Yes, Pete is pretty dusty, too. And if he goes awhile without a shower he seems to get like oily as well. He definitely needs a shower twice a week to look and feel his best. When he flaps his wings I often see a bit of dust go up in the air. I seem to be allergic, too. So keeping him well showered has helped me a lot as well.

 

[IcyWolf]

I already put their nestbox on the cage(you can kind of see it on the right side of the cage). They haven't ventured in it yet but the male likes to sit next to it and he sticks his head in the hole every now and then For the moment, I am using the one that I got with them, I do want to make one or two of the ones you sent me plans for as well, that way if they don't like this one I can always try the other style and I figure it can't hurt to have a back up in case one day they decide to go all beaver on this one and chew it up

We are also doing taxes next week and we're going to get all of the birds aviary lamps. Does anyone know if this is a good lamp? This store is only about an hour from me and they have them for just over twenty dollars a piece, unless you guys know of a better place to get them. I know in an older discussion about uvb lights someone posted a link to one, I may just order those, what do you guys think is a better light? Avian Sun 5.0 UVB Compact Fluorescent Bird Lamp | Bird Lighting Systems & Supplies | Bird - ThatPetPlace.com

I almost lost it last night, I started sneezing and the female sneezed back at me, then while my SO was sleeping, he started snoring and every time he did, she would snore back at him


I take that back, about an hour after I posted this the male climbed completely into the box Glad they are at least checking it out.

I have to admit, I find it funny and amazing how we sometimes fall into these situations. We had no intentions of adding to our flock and just happened to go buy a cage off of craigslist and we met these wonderful birds, I'm so glad it worked out the way it did. I feel like our little flock is complete now Ya know, except for those babies we're hoping for, but they won't be staying(that's the plan anyway lol.)
I also haven't given them any seed and I don't think I am going to. I'm afraid that if they realize they have a choice in the matter they may stop eating the pellets, although they do seem to really like the pellets.

 

[MikeyTN]

Congrats!!!! That cage pan is like mine, very far off the grates. I like it actually. It keeps them from getting to the paper below and shred them like my macaw is doing. I would just keep on feeding pellets now and give a few as a treat on a daily basis.

 

[roxynoodle]

That bulb looks like it would be fine. The nice thing with those is you can put them into your own fixtures. I use clip lamps because I can move them to the play gyms or put them on the cages. I am using the FeatherBrite bulbs, but I'm sure they are similar.

 

[wenz2712]

Congrats on the arrival of your new Birds. They look beautiful

 

[henpecked]

Hey Wolf , have you put fresh shavings in the box? Try adding some soft pine blocks in the box for the male to chew up, it helps to get him in the mood.

 

[KBEquine]

I kind of like when the poop tray sits well below the grate - you can put a small bird-safe plant there with the leaves above the grate & some birds will get their leafy greens that way. (I especially want to get them greens but keep them away from the dirt, which often has fertilizer & other chemicals in it & the grate is a great barrier for that).

[Naturally, they are small, bird-safe plants that won't survive very long & need rotated often . . . )