When the birdsitter came over…

I went out of town for the weekend and asked my friend Lisa to come over and keep Stewie company for a while, so he wouldn’t be too lonely. She said she read the paper to him and he behaved very well. He even made his trilling/purring happy sounds when he was digging into his apple slices – so it seemed he didn’t miss me too much.

Here’s the video she took on her Moto RAZR from Sprint:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jf86HsuZA3I (Sorry, the resolution isn’t great. Really only meant to be seen on the phone, IMO)

And here is a photo she took on her RAZR:

Stewie Wants to Join Me in the Shower

Stewie did something he’s never done before: he flew to(wards) me while we were in the bathroom together. He was hanging out on his shower perch and I was taking a shower. When I was done and toweling off he flew toward me, but given that his wings are clipped and he’s not too coordinated, and the fact that I wasn’t prepared to catch him, he landed in the bottom of the tub. Now, my bathtub isn’t draining properly and he landed in about an inch of water. He was more surprised by it than I was, I think.

After he hopped around a little bit in the water, I managed to fish him out. After determining that he was in fact alright, I put him back on his shower perch and gave him a good misting so that he could get thoroughly soaked from head to tail (not just his belly).

Here’s the shower perch I have (the toy hanging at the end of the perch is different, but you can hang your parrot’s favorite toy on the end as well) and a photo of Stewie using that perch (attached to the bathroom mirror). Click on the photo on the left to see it in use by an African Grey:

Bathtime

Conures love to take baths and/or showers. Bathing is important for the bird’s health and comfort, especially during molting season. You should give your parrots a bath or shower several times a week. Stewie started taking little baths in his water bowl, but the bowl was too small for Stewie to fit his entire body in. So he’d only get his front wet.

So cute! He’d make these really happy, chirpy (almost purring) noises when he was getting wet.

I tried introducing larger containers into the cage so he could take a proper bath, but he ignored the bowls, tupperware, large plates… And my attempts to spritz him with water from these containers did not meet with approval.

Today I took Stewie into the bathroom while I took a shower. I didn’t take him into the shower because I thought that might be too aggressive. But I did get a pump-style spray bottle and misted him thoroughly. He didn’t act like he enjoyed it, but he didn’t try to run away or react negatively. I played in the spray and cheered like a bozo to show him that it was a fun thing. I think he’s probably going to get cleaned via misting from now on.

Important: it’s important to spray up into the air and let the mist fall down on the bird. Never spray water directly into the bird’s face.

Letting the Conure Out of His Cage

Friday night I let lil’ Stewie out of his cage for the first time. He was quite timid and adorable to watch him checking everything out. At one point he got startled and jumped off the cage to land on the floor. For a split second I was worried that he’d scamper underneath the couch, making it impossible for me to catch him (keep in mind he’s till not trained to step up onto my finger). Much to my delight, his first instinct was to try to fly to his cage. Unfortunately, with his wings clipped, he couldn’t get enough lift to get from the floor onto his cage. So I put his little wooden ladder on the side of the cage so he could climb up. Stewie made a beeline for the door and climbed back inside.

On Saturday, I let him out of his cage again. Based on his behavior the night before I thought he’d stay really calm, but as soon as he climbed to the top of the cage, he tried to fly out the window (which was closed). Luckily it was slow going since his wings were clipped and he didn’t hit the glass hard — he managed to glide into a plant where I was able to scoop him up.
And then… miracle of miracles, the little bugger did some “step ups” for me. And this whole time he was pretending he didn’t know how. Stewie somehow conned me into giving him treats for things as simple as venturing out onto a handheld perch, and this whole time he knew how to do step ups. Now I just him to do that when he has more of a choice (i.e., not just when he’s already on my finger, but when he has the option to walk away). We’re not quite there yet.

Introducing Stewie!

I finally decided on a name for my new conure: Stewie McSkittles. The name “Stewie” because I like the character on The Family Guy — a total misanthrope who says the most evil things, but who everything thinks is adorable because they can’t understand a word he says.

And McSkittles, because … well, he’s all the colors of the rainbow.