Dyer1125
Member
Hello to all.
It's been a week of happiness, some disappointments and a couple of breakthroughs.
Oh ya, and the first visit to the vet, LOL.
Squiggy has settled in nicely and doing really well socializing with us, our daughter and his new "Gramma and Poppa" (my wife's parents). We take him on daily tours of the upstairs of the house to get him used to all the rooms. He loves his head and chin scratches and cuddle times. We have had daily games of "Pass the Parrot" before his bed time, and even Gramma, though a little hesitant at first, joined in. She was amazed at how willing he was to step-up to her and how gentle he was, before passing him off to the next person. Poppa says he's not interested until he learns how to say "Poppa's the Best", but still visits him in his cage to chat. He gets daily out of cage time, but usually picks one person to hang with until game time with everyone. He enjoys most of his cage toys, especially the weird, soft puff-ball thingy toy (you can kind of see it in the first picture), which is almost completely destroyed already.
First miscue came when he nipped my wife on a mole that was on her neck, as he had just been cuddling with her and it took her by surprise. She didn't get mad at him, just startled her and him when she jumped, and she knew that he was just trying to help get rid of that pesky mole. And being a persistant helper just got him passed to me for a bit of distraction. He wanted to go back after a few minutes for more mom time, and didn't bother her mole again.
First real disappointment came in the form of him reverting back to begging to be hand fed. I know the stress of the change/move will make them lose their appetite, but he has no problem eating his pellets, but I don't think what we have been offering him as a fresh chop mixture (which my wife made and froze for easy use - 2 different styles) is what he was used to, so I think he has been bit hungrier the last few days. As you can see, he is a cute little beggar, lol.
Which leads to the first breakthrough....
(Sorry for the orientation of the pics, still trying to figure that out)
I had been trying all week to get him to try apple and finally yesterday, success!! I had been sitting beside the cage eating the slices and he really seemed interested, so I slid a slice through the bars, and yay, Yum-Yum time. He nibbled on it for a few minutes, but any progress is a step forward.
And his second breakthrough came this morning when after changing his water and pellets, I put his chop in the wet bowl, but decided to try something different this morning. I offered him, by hand, a piece of brown rice that was in the mix that kinda looked like his pellets and he took it. I tried a few more pieces and he gobbled them down quite nicely. He even took smaller pieces of red pepper, sweet potato and carrots that were in there too. I offered him the blueberry and corn that were in there too, but he only licked them. I put the bowl in the holder and he climbed down and proceeded to chow down like he had been doing it all his life. Man its great to see them open up like that.
The Vet visit went a well as we could have possibly hoped. In the exam room, the tech asked if she could take Squiggy out before the vet came in and of course he stepped up like a trooper. She mentioned that she had a CAG for 32 years, and it showed, Although not a 'Certified Avian' vet (closest to us is over 2hrs away), the attending vet was very well versed in all things birdy. She had no concerns after his physical exam and he got clean bill of health, except that he was at the lower end of the weight range for a Quaker, weighing in at 90g, but once we explained that today was his first day eating any amount of fresh food, she understood why. She said to start weighing him daily for the next week and would check back with us to see how he is doing.
All in all a good week.
I will update more frequently, as last week was a whirlwind emotions, Poo-Patrols, cleanings and of establishing routines, ours and his.
Thank you all again for such a great community of fellow bird lovers.
It's been a week of happiness, some disappointments and a couple of breakthroughs.
Oh ya, and the first visit to the vet, LOL.
Squiggy has settled in nicely and doing really well socializing with us, our daughter and his new "Gramma and Poppa" (my wife's parents). We take him on daily tours of the upstairs of the house to get him used to all the rooms. He loves his head and chin scratches and cuddle times. We have had daily games of "Pass the Parrot" before his bed time, and even Gramma, though a little hesitant at first, joined in. She was amazed at how willing he was to step-up to her and how gentle he was, before passing him off to the next person. Poppa says he's not interested until he learns how to say "Poppa's the Best", but still visits him in his cage to chat. He gets daily out of cage time, but usually picks one person to hang with until game time with everyone. He enjoys most of his cage toys, especially the weird, soft puff-ball thingy toy (you can kind of see it in the first picture), which is almost completely destroyed already.
First miscue came when he nipped my wife on a mole that was on her neck, as he had just been cuddling with her and it took her by surprise. She didn't get mad at him, just startled her and him when she jumped, and she knew that he was just trying to help get rid of that pesky mole. And being a persistant helper just got him passed to me for a bit of distraction. He wanted to go back after a few minutes for more mom time, and didn't bother her mole again.
First real disappointment came in the form of him reverting back to begging to be hand fed. I know the stress of the change/move will make them lose their appetite, but he has no problem eating his pellets, but I don't think what we have been offering him as a fresh chop mixture (which my wife made and froze for easy use - 2 different styles) is what he was used to, so I think he has been bit hungrier the last few days. As you can see, he is a cute little beggar, lol.
Which leads to the first breakthrough....
(Sorry for the orientation of the pics, still trying to figure that out)
I had been trying all week to get him to try apple and finally yesterday, success!! I had been sitting beside the cage eating the slices and he really seemed interested, so I slid a slice through the bars, and yay, Yum-Yum time. He nibbled on it for a few minutes, but any progress is a step forward.
And his second breakthrough came this morning when after changing his water and pellets, I put his chop in the wet bowl, but decided to try something different this morning. I offered him, by hand, a piece of brown rice that was in the mix that kinda looked like his pellets and he took it. I tried a few more pieces and he gobbled them down quite nicely. He even took smaller pieces of red pepper, sweet potato and carrots that were in there too. I offered him the blueberry and corn that were in there too, but he only licked them. I put the bowl in the holder and he climbed down and proceeded to chow down like he had been doing it all his life. Man its great to see them open up like that.
The Vet visit went a well as we could have possibly hoped. In the exam room, the tech asked if she could take Squiggy out before the vet came in and of course he stepped up like a trooper. She mentioned that she had a CAG for 32 years, and it showed, Although not a 'Certified Avian' vet (closest to us is over 2hrs away), the attending vet was very well versed in all things birdy. She had no concerns after his physical exam and he got clean bill of health, except that he was at the lower end of the weight range for a Quaker, weighing in at 90g, but once we explained that today was his first day eating any amount of fresh food, she understood why. She said to start weighing him daily for the next week and would check back with us to see how he is doing.
All in all a good week.
I will update more frequently, as last week was a whirlwind emotions, Poo-Patrols, cleanings and of establishing routines, ours and his.
Thank you all again for such a great community of fellow bird lovers.
