poisparrots

[poisparrots]

This Velociraptor Drogon I got tattooed today has to be the most accurate depiction of him I've ever seen. It's incredibly in character!

[poisparrots]

...What do you have to say for yourself, Meg(g)?!

[poisparrots]

4, 13, and 16 for the ask game :D

4. Tell me something that you’d like to work to improve! Ohhh can I say everything? I mean, I do some things pretty decently already, but there’s always room to improve. I want to be better at all the things!  One thing that’s been on my mind for a bit is that I’d ideally like Drogon to have a bird to interact more closely with. Ghost and Meg have eachother, and Leia and Donnie are often even housed together because of how much they love eachother. Drogon loves other birds but is pretty intense and the other birds are pretty annoyed with him, so as far as direct interactions go, he’s only got me. Some day..... sigh 13. Where do you look for information on pet care? I love this question! I spend a lot of time learning from other parrot owners - discussions, stories and information on birblr and the two bird discords that I like, Facebook groups (though those are chaotic and all over the place as for whether people’s advice is good or not, but sometimes there’s some good stuff!), forums etc. I also have a love for reading any and all research studies I can find, both about wild parrots and pet parrots.  This weekend also happened to be Phoenix Landing’s Virtual Wellness Retreat - a big conference about parrot health (with lots of amazing speakers including avian vets and behavior experts) that I was only able to attend due to it being online this year, since I’m all the way in Sweden. I’d love to be able to attend more conferences and webinars like that in the future! One of my favorite places is the World Parrot Trust’s reference library (which you can find here) though! I’m a behavior person and I LOVE parrot behavior people like Pamela Clark and Susan G Friedman. You can find articles by both of those (and plenty more!) for free on there, and pretty much all of it is fantastic! 16. What’s a dream thing to do with your pets? Popular question! I answered this already here and here - I’ll give a third answer though! Working from home and getting to spend so much more of my time with the beebs - while still affording the ABSOLUTE best care for them - is of course a big dream! imagine.... how good... aah...

[poisparrots]

3, 7 and 12 for the pet care questions!

3. Tell me something about your pet care that you’re proud of! Oh hmmm. I’m proud of the work I put into my birds and always making sure they have plenty of enrichment and managing the time I spend with them even when I’ve been busy with work or studies. I’m proud that I don’t have any birds that are the only one of their genus - they all have conspecifics (ish) to interact with in one way or another, which is something that definitely isn’t always possible, but that I’ve been wanting for ultimate enrichment for my birds almost since I first got into parrots. Mostly I’m proud that I always keep learning! My bird care knowledge is better now than it was a year ago, and in a year from now I’ll be super bummed if it hasn’t improved even more! 7. Talk about a mistake you made and what you learned from it. Can be big or little as you want! Oh god, so many things. I got into parrots by accident, found myself in care of a bird that I knew nothing about and didn’t even know where to start researching. I relied on really questionable and outright bad sources for a good ol’ while and a lot of things I did 10 years ago wasn’t that great.  Honestly, getting birds when I was 15 wasn’t that great in itself, and having at one point had 6 birds while still living at home was.. uhh... Maybe not that well thought out? When I work out of town for months at a time and don’t have money for a big enough place to fit two large cages and a big indoor aviary for the IRNs, I leave the Ringnecks at my parents’ house for them to take care of and only bring Leia and the ‘zon boys. Luckily my dad really likes birds and takes care of them and spends time with them, and when he isn’t hanging out with them, they have eachother, so they always have company and I give strict enrichment/care directions - but even so, it absolutlely isn’t ideal.  Me at 17: “Ummm of course I can get another bird, I have the time and resources, and of course I won’t move out of my parents’ house until I find somewhere I can take them with me??“ Me at 24: “oh god man i wish that was true but how the heck did i ever think i would be able to EVER afford to move into a house that can properly fit all my birds if i wasn’t willing to move into a cheap small apartment/cabin to get a job and make money in the first place???” Anyway yeah that’s what comes to mind - not something I’ve been able to correct after learning from it, but definitely a “you can learn from my mistakes” situation lmao. If you’re a teenager living at home maybe don’t get 6 parrots? Imagine being my poor dad who has to call me and ask what the heck to do when Ghost suddenly starts attacking him because he didn’t know not to leave Ghost’s favorite balls out since he gets attached and protective lmao.  12. What’s a good way to save money without sacrificing care? I know not everyone will have access to this - but natural branches for perches, stands and enrichment goes suuuch a long way! Leia used to go through the BIGGEST macaw sized hardwood toys in like a week - I’m super duper proud of her and I still give her those now and then just to watch the destruction for my own enjoyment, but it wasn’t great for my wallet. Now I use trees from my backyard to make my own wood toys for free and she can chew as much as she wants! I’m all for all kinds of DIY though! I absolutely don’t have lots of money so I just do what I can with what I’ve got and like to get creative lmao. See: The 20 feet flight training aviary that I built for like $100 in total, out of a discounted pole tent base and some nylon netting.

[poisparrots]

15 and 16! 💜

15.  What’s your favorite thing to do with your pets? Ooooh! I’m sure you’re able to tell by scrolling through my blog, but I really really like different kinds of enrichment! I’m super interested in behavior and I definitely enjoy training - but my favorite part of parrot behavior is watching them interact with different types of enrichment; be it toys, foraging, big spaces for flying, bird friends, new humans, training, puzzles, games, sounds, new types of food, etc.  I always try to find new things to do to enrich my beebs to make sure they’re happy and healthy! This far I’ve been able to note that some of their collective favorite things seem to be outdoor time (outdoor sounds and sights are super enriching in itself, they can just sit and watch and listen to the world for a while and that’s a whole lot of brain activity!), natural foraging (like picking fresh apples from the branch or fresh berries from the shrub), and interacting with other birds. Weirder individual-specific enrichments include Donnie’s favorite sound being fast cars, Drogon’s favorite thing in the entire world being watching dogs from afar, and Meg’s thing for throwing anything and everything on the floor and watching it fall.  16. What’s a dream thing to do with your pets? I already answered this here but I’ll do another one! I low key and very super hypothetically also dream about free flight because in theory it seems awesome - but it’s also super scary to me so at the same time I, uh, don’t, lmao 

[poisparrots]

2 and 16!

2. What’s your least favorite species/breed to take care of?  For animals in general I think horses? I took a horse husbandry course back in animal care school so I spent one day a week taking care of horses for I think a year, and it’s not really my thing! I do think horses are cool though, so I’m not sure if it’s just that the whole culture around horses and equestrianism isn’t for me personally - I’m sure I’d like a horse if I got to know one in another setting!  I was about to do a parrot specific answer too but I don’t think I have a least favorite! I love all parrots... Though big cockatoos intimidate me a bit, but then again, so did amazons before I got my boys hehehe 16. What’s a dream thing to do with your pets? I!! Want!! More!! Aviaries!!! I want a big big big huge tiled bird room with a floor drain for easy cleaning and I want it to be full of plants and trees and branches and natural enrichment and fun things and a waterfall and I want it to open into a BIG super safe and sturdy and secure outdoor aviary so that they can go in and out as they like! 

[poisparrots]

Pet Care Asks

1. What is your favorite species/breed to take care of?

2. What's your least favorite?

3. Tell me something about your pet care that you're proud of!

4. Tell me something that you'd like to work to improve!

5. What's your favorite part of pet care?

6. What's your least favorite part?

7. Talk about a mistake you made and what you learned from it. Can be big or little as you want!

8. What's the hardest thing you've ever had to do to take care of your pets?

9. What's your favorite tip or shortcut that makes something about your pet care easier?

10. What's something that you find difficult and haven't found a fix for yet? (Maybe someone will have a suggestion!)

11. What's the most expensive part of your pet care, besides veterinary care?

12. What's a good way to save money without sacrificing care?

13. Where do you look for information on pet care?

14. What are your favorite pet care communities? What do you like about them?

15. What's your favorite thing to do with your pets?

16. What's a dream thing to do with your pets?

17. Share one of your favorite pictures of your pets!

Share and ask your friends questions! Let's learn about each other's pet care and experiences! :)

[poisparrots]

incoming!!

[poisparrots]

Wouldn’t tying something around a birds foot be more practical and better than a harness? The only reason I can think of is smaller parrots have more delicate feet than a falcon but still. A harness doesn’t seem very comfortable for them.

Good question! The short answer is that an ankle leash can actually be very dangerous for a parrot, unfortunately. You’re right that parrots have more delicate feet, but in reality, it isn’t a “but still” issue. While birds of prey will have strong legs (hunting with their feet = appropriate muscles!), a parrot’s leg muscles aren’t in any way built for that. Parrots’ legs are pretty much just meant for perching, holding stuff, and a bit of waddlin’ around.  Restraining a parrot by the foot means that if they make any attempt to fly (or even if a clipped bird gets spooked and takes a little leap), they’re at high risk for breaking or dislocating their leg (or worse) as it gets caught by the leash.  A light harness like the Aviator isn’t actually that physically uncomfortable once they’re used to it! It does often take time and patience to get to that point because parrots are naturally wary of new things and usually aren’t accustomed to having something touching their body - but once they’re at that point of comfort and they have the harness on, it isn’t heavy, it isn’t ruffling their feathers, and it isn’t constraining their movement at all.  It’s also a much safer alternative, so absolutely worth the extra training for them to be comfortable with the idea of wearing a harness!

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i’ve been trying to harness train my rn parrot, but i can’t seem to get past the first step of getting it over his head. he pulls his head out, and if i put the harness on his back when he’s got his head in it, he freaks out. i know to do it in small steps, but i’m not getting any further. do you have any tips?

Sorry this took me a while to answer - hopefully you’ve had time to make some further progress! I do have a couple of suggestions on how you might proceed though! First off, it’s great that you’ve gotten this far! Before you move forward to the next step, it’s important to make sure your bird is comfortable with this first step. If he quickly pulls his head back out, he might not be comfortable having his head in the harness loop - and if he’s not, it’s going to be hard to move on. In order for him to allow a next step while his head is in the harness loop, he needs to be totally cool with having his head there to begin with! Take notice of his body language - does he seem relaxed and eager to participate? Or twitchy, feathers slicked tight to his body, ready to grab the treat and quickly get out of the situation? Work on the head in the loop step until he’s comfy, feathers relaxed and lightly fluffed, not in a hurry to get his head out. Be consistent, don’t try to put the harness on his back, just keep at that one step and try not changing it up at this point - until he’s fully comfortable with that and could practically do it all day with no fuss.  I personally noticed a lot of improvement in harness training once I stopped thinking about it as just training one behavior in a step-by-step order, and started dividing the behaviors. There are a lot of different behaviors involved in putting a harness on (not biting the harness, putting the head through the loop, lifting the wings, having the harness around their body), and sometimes it might be beneficial to train all of them individually! For a bird like my Leia for example, she doesn’t really like being touched at all, so pretty much not a single one of those behaviors is going to come naturally for her. Training her to let me lift her wings and tighten the harness around her body, while she already has the loop around her neck? Nearly impossible! But if I divide all of these behaviors - I train her to let me lift her wings, then I train her to let me lift her wings while having the harness in my hand and touching her with it. I train her to be comfortable having me hold the harness strap under her wings, and around her body, while her head isn’t in the loop. I train her to stick her head in the loop, then to keep her head in there for longer while I hold the harness, and then I train her to be comfortable with me letting go of the harness while her head is in there. When all of that is down and she’s comfortable with each step on its own, I can start combining them. Putting her head through the loop, keeping her head in while I let the harness go, lifting her wings up, putting the harness under her wings and around her body.  Combining the steps is probably not going to take just one try, so make sure to always check the body language and make sure they’re comfortable with every step - and step back and take it slower if they aren’t! With Donnie, who was initially “easy” to harness train because he just kinda accepts anything and basically just allowed me to put it right on him (but later started chewing the harness and getting kinda worked up when I brought the harness out and uncomfortable when I took it off him - so I started over completely and did the different steps training instead - with a much better outcome), I even added verbal cues for each behavior, so he’d have an easier time connecting the dots and knowing what’s coming. “Head” for putting his head in the loop, “wings” for lifting his wings and getting the harness under there, and “harness” for tightening the harness around his body. Not totally necessary, but I like that he seems able to anticipate the next step (like- he lifts his shoulders a bit to get ready when I tell him “wings”) and is comfortable with that. If I’ve asked him to put his head in the loop and then I ask him to do “wings”, and instead of lifting his shoulders, he takes a step back or slicks his feathers tight to his body - I know he doesn’t want me to do the wings right then, so I won’t!  And let it take time, but be consistent! I know it can be super boring to just keep training and training and seemingly never getting to the good part - but it’s so worth it to do it on your bird’s terms!  Good luck with your harness training, I hope any of this helped :’) 

[poisparrots]

Just strutting about

[poisparrots]

A Guide To Flight Photography: 

Show him the treat to catch his attention

Set the focus and call him over

Still absolutely fail 

[poisparrots]

Hi, I was looking for someone who’s got experience with birds. Basically, my friend saw a bird crash into a tree and then it couldn’t fly and in its panic it could only flutter about knee high before it crashed into a wall. He took it in, and he’s kept the bird in a big cardboard box with food and water, but the poor thing is really scared and shivering. He wants to help but isn’t sure how. Could you please help us out?

Oh no! Please call a wildlife rehab! Ideally would be if there’s a wildlife rehab in your area that could take the bird in, so call the nearest ones, and also maybe try some local vets to see if they’re equipped to help or know someone local who is. If noone can take them in or if you don’t have a rehab near you, call a wildlife rehab anyway, since their advice on this is a lot more valuable than mine.  I wish all the best to you and the lil’ friend! 

[poisparrots]

How to you clean fresh branches (like, with leaves and fruits) for your birds? I want to try putting a few lemon branches in with Holly (as far as I've been able to find, the leaves and sap are safe) to see how she reacts.

Oooh, fun, I’m sure she’ll love that! I start off by making sure the branches and leaves are looking fresh and healthy before I pick them out, and try to select the best looking ones (without ruining the tree, unless I’m using the entirety of the tree). I then scrub the tree/bark parts down with some water, vinegar, and a sponge, and look through all the leaves for stuff like snails or outside bird poop. If there’s any bit of poop on there I just remove those leaves entirely.  Then I spray the leaves down with some vinegar as well, and then try to get the whole thing in the shower to rinse off with some hot water. Lastly, I set them outside to dry in the sun for a while, usually also putting the ends in some water to make sure the leaves stay fresh!  I know a lot of people would never dare give their birds natural branches without baking or boiling first, and that’s valid, but when it’s fresh off the tree I argue it’s pretty much the same as buying fresh fruits at the grocery store - they were likely grown outdoors, exposed to all the same things as the branches they grew on, and they weren’t boiled or baked in order to be cleaned either. It’s different if someone finds a dead branch on the ground - I wouldn’t give that without baking it either as there might be all sorts of things living in there that I’d want to kill first. But fresh twigs and branches straight off the tree are a lot easier to keep clean and safe, in my experience :’) 

[poisparrots]

i want to.... eat the makeup.... yes?

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Would you be interested in consulting an aspiring Parrot Behavior Consultant? Aaah hey guys! I’m very excited to have finally gotten around to more actively pursuing my behavior consultant goals. I’ve been, slowly and to my best ability, working towards eventually becoming a parrot behavior consultant since I started animal husbandry/zookeeping school in 2013. I have been taking more specific classes and attending conferences for a year or two, and taking on a few clients/behavior cases whenever I’ve felt comfortable to do so! Now that I have a lot more time I’m finally able to start taking on a few more clients. In order to one day become a Certified Parrot Behavior Consultant I’m going to need lots of consulting experience, meaning that the experience itself is the most value I get out of helping people with their parrots at this point. That, combined with the fact that I’m still a non-certified new kid, means that I’m definitely not asking for a lot of money! More info about that here. So - if you have a parrot with any sort of problem behavior (any degree of problem; it doesn’t have to be severe to look for help) that you’d like help with figuring out and handling - I’d love to help! To learn more, visit my about page and then click through to the consultations page. 

[poisparrots]

2 boys waving hi (to you!!) together!