M's doing well. He's loud, messy, and turning into a chatterbox. He can TALK! I finished his play gym 2 days ago, and he just started playing on it a little bit ago today. He hasn't discovered the mirror yet, but he is using his spiral perches and the swing. Finding a large enough shatterproof mirror turned out to be harder than I thought. The gym is sized to fit inside a washer stand/tray, but the tray unfortunately made the stand too wobbly. I even made sure to make it where he had 7 inches of clearance to potty inside the tray on papers (that's how far he messes away from a perch). My plan was that the raised lip would have been great to keep quite a bit of his thrown stuff from flying across the floor, but oh well. I guess we'll just return the tray.
K is getting much better at reading him. He's not been without her since my first posts. I bought her her own broom, dustpan, and small vacuum to pick up after him. She puts him in his cage each night without too much fuss. That's a big step because he used to panic.
There are no avian vets anywhere nearer than 2.5 hours to us I've learned. There is ONE vet near that sees birds on a "limited" emergency basis.
There are safety difficulties (IMO) in transitioning M from home to car, car to dad's car, car to dad's house that we haven't smoothed out yet. M is an incredibly good flyer. He can maneuver and make complicated turns in flight. His flight ability is honestly my biggest fear for him at this point, even though I don't mind him flying in our open-floor-plan house. K's dad refuses to believe there is ANY danger in M getting loose. K is trying to convince him, because I've convinced her; but he just says he climbs trees (he is a professional tree climber) and will get M back that way if he flies off. K told me it happened last summer in their backyard and he climbed up and got M back from a tree. I know she cannot make her dad do anything, but I do not want the heartache of M flying off and the anguish of the unknown in that scenario. He refuses to realize that M could fly away completely just while he's climbing the first tree! I feel that is the biggest danger now, beyond anything else like the way he treats M or M's former depressed state when K started bringing him. Our vehicle is not big enough to hold a large dog pet taxi like M was purchased in. There are changes I've insisted on with K in transitioning M.
Prior to my involvement, M had routinely been taken places to show him off by her dad (people were permitted to "pet" him--I'm shocked he didn't bite). Now I insist K keep him against her with his wings held down by her hand while taking him to the vehicle. I handle the doors so she can keep hold of him. I pull the car as close to the house door as I can, and pull as close as I can to K's dad's vehicle. But I've also wondered if sensing my nervousness will make him want to fly, when he's had tons of opportunities before I even knew about it. Maybe I'm overthinking this. I know there are people that routinely take their birds out, but there are also people that lose them. I've scared K enough about it that she wants M's magnificent wings clipped to slow him down. I have mixed feelings on that but want him safer. K is currently too chicken to try putting a harness on him, but I'm ready to clip a tiny dog leash to his ankle ring if nothing else.
Exposing M to the transitioning danger would not be necessary if he could stay full-time. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that K's dad just decides he prefers life without M at all since he's only been around M on every other weekend and his midweek 24 hour visits for the past month or more now.
Overall M seems to have settled in here well. He wanted my husband to hold him for the first time last night. He spends his days in whatever room K or I are in, and he gets put to bed at night. He's a big, noisy goober. He likes me a lot, and even scolded K the other day when I told her to come take him. I believe I am viewed as the goody dispenser, or the fun aunt.
