The Continuing Capers of Companion-ing Cotton

[Cottonoid]

I keep forgetting to weigh the pellet mash seed mix but until now Cotton's been eating about 12g of seed per day. Good appetite - goes straight for the bowl (as long as I walk away), good poops. So fingers crossed there are no sneaky pathogens in my little buddy after his adventures over the past six months.

I was hoping to schedule a general visit with a bird/exotic vet that does housecalls and virtual visits, but due to covid they're only doing virtual for existing clients and housecalls require you take your bird to their mobile unit. I got the name of another vet highly recommended that has a lot of experience with ringnecks so I'm going to call them and see what they recommend.

My work schedule this month is busier than usual, so I was worried about bringing him home before May, but so far he's doing ok while I've been gone. Lots of cork and balsa shredding being done

...I'm noticing that it's a lot harder to get photos of him when he scrambles all over, compared to holding perfectly still and keeping watch before!

 

[Cottonoid]

Also, note to self: remove contacts before breaking up dried chili pepper and rubbing seeds into pellet mash....


I know better, even! I use these chilies in cooking all the time!

 

[Cottonoid]

 

[StormyPica]

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Aww, poor baby, I hope he stops plucking if he hasn't already.

 

[Cottonoid]

Aww, poor baby, I hope he stops plucking if he hasn't already.

He might, but might not too, since he's been at it for a while. I obviously want him to be as happy and fulfilled as possible but I have to admit I'll miss his naked bits if he gets all his feathers I think he's so flipping cute when his head is all poofy on his teeny bald neck.

 

[Cottonoid]

I'm supposed to be at a kickoff for 30DaysofBiking but i started reading aloud and Cotton turned around to face me while he fluffed up for sleep and now I can't stop staring at him with heart eyes coming out of my actual eyes

 

[Laurasea]

His remaining feathers are better arranged/preened than at the rescue. So that's actually a plus .

And I think the humidity has helped. His skin looks less dry.


Ta- dah looking over my shoulder saying pretty bird
Love your updates, hanging on every word

 

[Laurasea]

he looks so tiny, so I finally Googled their weight range, same as a quaker!!! Just a little more elongated body type with longer tails.

And he doesn't look as bony as he was getting at the rescue. Sure is thriving with you

 

[Cottonoid]

The crazy part about the humidity? It's a whopping 20%!!!! It just gets SO dry here in winter! His legs especially look happier - there were days visiting him where I'd start scratching my legs looking at his flaky gams

Yeah!! He's taller than a GCC but looks soooo smol. If his tail grows in it will be a million feet long! I think their tails are a little longer compared to their body than an IRN.

 

[fiddlejen]

He might, but might not too, since he's been at it for a while. I obviously want him to be as happy and fulfilled as possible but I have to admit I'll miss his naked bits if he gets all his feathers I think he's so flipping cute when his head is all poofy on his teeny bald neck.

Aaannd this attitude will contribute a lot towards him achieving his best possible improvement from the plucking! That is, you FULLY love him looking like he does, and there's no doubt he feels that un-conditional love, as well as your lack of stress regarding his appearance. Relaxed & happy you, pleased with him ====> relaxed & joyful birdie.

 

[fiddlejen]

I keep looking at that last picture and I'm pretty sure Cotton is saying "HELLO why would you feed me something that looks like FINGERS"

So I've had my Sunny for just over three years now. We're finally at a point where she eats veggies as "chop" consistently and regularly.

One of the ways I started with her veggies, was to present them as yet-another-shredding toy.

I use claw-type hairclips (mostly from dollar store) as all purpose clips for cages. For the budgies, I clip a large piece of romaine in their cage, usually every day. Sunny is less interested in the romaine. Oh, dont give up on the pepper but as you go you might try different ones. My Sunny actually Only likes Orange Bell peppers. (Peeled!) Not other colors, not hots.

OH it's possible he doesn't like those baby carrots. Are they the little ones that come pre-peeled in a bag? None of my birdies will eat those, but my Budgies demolish larger carrots that are freshly peeled. (My Sunny is more like... "hmmm this is not a bell pepper...")

Anyway for my Sunny I will give her large-ish chunks of veggies for her to shred. Currently we have a routine and she expects them in one of her food dishes -- along with budgie-chop and some seed mix -- every morning. But at the beginning I basically introduced them as toys. So, it's a toy you will replace with a new duplicate every day but basically in same spot. He would be nervous of a new toy anyway so think of how you approach adding a new toy to his cage, and choose a veggie to offer in that exact way.

 

[Laurasea]

suspiciously quiet! What's going on over there ?
Need updates!

 

[Cottonoid]

Haha! Just a quiet (for me) Saturday! Someone else has been busy destroying toys all day!

He's started hopping from perch to perch instead of always climbing beak-to-toe and it's so fun to watch.

Thanks for the tips, fiddlejen! Cotton's still picking out seeds but at least he's getting tastes of the mashed pellets too.

 

[wrench13]

Gotta admire one who adopts a plucker. He is adorable. Let him show you the way, and adapt as he sees fit, as 'Boats recommends. Try to pick up a cheap on Amazon kitchen scale and perch, and weigh Cotton first thing in the AM after he has had his morning poop, same time every day, that way any minor fluctuations will not upset you. Keep a journal of his weight, because one of the first signs of illness in parrots is a loss of weight; often the only sign they give you, because they hide illness really well, as all prey animals do. THe sick ones get eaten first.

Love the name Cotton - in the old Little Rascals, the black and white ones from the 30's, the Spanky character had a pet squirrel monkey named Cotton!

 

[kme3388]

Cotton has so many down feathers coming in!!! I am excited for him. He is too cute for his own good.

I know my vet explained to me that she has to see birds in person once a year in order to provide care for them, or to give advice on their specific situations. It's required by Minnesota. If you contact a vet by email, chat, video, or in any other method online they can only give general information, and cannot give medical advice. That's why they may be asking you to meet in person so they can physically evaluate Cotton to better assist him.

Diet is huge with parrots. My conure still gives me a hard time if I try to introduce her to new food. She screams until it's removed from her cage. I tried to give her veggies a few weeks back. She sat there all day, and didn't touch it. I had concerns for her health so I just gave her her nut flavored pellets. Nico will try anything that is introduced to him. He just gets bored with things very quickly, and then stops eating whatever was offered too much. Don't get discouraged if Cotten is a little difficult as you try to introduce new food to him. You are doing so wonderful with him!!! You two were meant to be.

 

[Cottonoid]

Thank you wrench and kme! That's funny about the Little Rascal's Cotton because Cotton sounds very much like a monkey

Yes I've been chatting with a couple vets for general husbandry advice but yep, they require a physical exam for more than that. There's one vet that used to do housecalls but since Covid requires you bring the bird outside your house to their mobile clinic. I do want him checked out but it's also a balance of stress on him vs information. Ugh.

I haven't been able to get a weight on him yet - I rigged up a perch scale in his cage but I haven't caught the right timing yet for it to stay on - also he seems to know I want him to stand there and he walks around it instead

Video of him playing this morning

 

[StormyPica]

Thank you wrench and kme! That's funny about the Little Rascal's Cotton because Cotton sounds very much like a monkey

Yes I've been chatting with a couple vets for general husbandry advice but yep, they require a physical exam for more than that. There's one vet that used to do housecalls but since Covid requires you bring the bird outside your house to their mobile clinic. I do want him checked out but it's also a balance of stress on him vs information. Ugh.

I haven't been able to get a weight on him yet - I rigged up a perch scale in his cage but I haven't caught the right timing yet for it to stay on - also he seems to know I want him to stand there and he walks around it instead

Video of him playing this morning

Awwww

 

[Laurasea]

So happy! Such sweet voice! Is so active, loves his stuff and mommy. Ahhh so glad to get my Cotton fix

 

[Cottonoid]

Here are the feathers my little guy has pulled 'til now - he was averaging 5 a day at the rescue for a while and these were from just the first few days of the week.

I've been aiming the mister slightly toward Cotton once a day for about ten minutes, and today since it was so sunny and he was so playful, looking at me lots and checking in on "my" corner of the cage, I left it a little longer to get some misty droplets on him. He didn't move away from it but wasn't running toward it by any means.

I went to the parrot store and talked for a while about food (I just love this place, he has totally different recommendations by species and just gives a ton of information as to the Why of everything he recommends) and bought food and some more perches/toys to set up a way for Cotton to get to the top of his cage.

I got home and he was still playing and happily went straight to his food bowl and munched on his new seeds! I haven't checked yet to see if he ate any of the pellets too.

I'm not sure if misting was a mistake, or if it was just time, but he had been busy while I was gone:

They aren't healthy looking feathers, that's for sure. The funny part is just this morning I was thinking his wings were looking better and shinier, and poof his longest primaries are gone

He's been more adventurous though too, and I noticed when I left he had a wing feather sticking out, so maybe they just bothered him. I'm just so glad he didn't break his tail blood feathers! Those are the only ones that make me anxious when I see him preening.

He's being his normal self this evening, watching me and listening to me talk. The dog is upset she's behind the baby gate (with a treat!), but after dinner is mommy and Cotton time

I'm excited he's eating his new seeds even if nothing else yet - it's a healthier mix than what he had before. I got some more good tips about food transitioning - I just love all the advice I've been given; it's all so helpful and I definitely enjoy hearing things more than once, it helps the info stick.

Tomorrow is (so far) a slower day at work so I'm hoping to be able to call a couple vets for advice on making an appointment, and also hoping I can leave early to set up the climbing perches to the top of the cage, and leave the door open for a bit.

 

[Cottonoid]

Oooh he's gone back three times now for food which I think is a good sign.

He's also given some very loud chomps on his wing feathers while I was looking at him lol - I've seen him pull out brand new little chest feathers and didn't react, but I had to make myself not imagine what a fully grown feather would feel like, ha. Maybe I should start plucking my chin hairs in front of him

Edited to clarify: Laura your posts across this whole forum continually amaze me, and I LOVE that every time I've been curious about something and search for past threads, you've provided not just a kind answer but links to more reading. I LOVE that and I'm so grateful you do that so often for all of us!!

My joke (removed) was meant as an acknowledgement of my respect for how much you do for us, but reading it again I can read it as poking fun which isn't fair since I dearly love your posts.