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04-30-2008, 09:32 PM
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#3 | | |  Re: Uh-Oh
LOL Leah! You are the only one to respond to my insanity! You know, just when you think you've gotten over MBS, it starts ALL OVER again! Here's the email I recieved: Quote:
We purchased Kiwi from a local breeder, right after she was weaned. She was hand fed the entire time they had her. Her breeder is a husband and wife team, who only breed Eclectus Parrots, and are probably the most knowledgeable people on the subject of Eclectus. They usually sell their weanlings for $1800-$2000, and have them spoken for shortly after they hatch, and they can tell the males form the females. Actually, they wanted to buy her back form us and use her as a breeder, but we didn't want that life for such a great bird. We want her to have a daily relationship with a loving human.
Kiwi is great with dogs, as we have 2 Rottweilers. She'll fly down and walk (actually, strut) right by them, and they get out of her way. She has never tied to bite one, but they seem to just understand that she is the Queen, and they give her that respect...it must be some sort of animal communication.
Kiwi has mostly eaten the diet that the breeders recommended to us, and what they feed, which is cooked beans (15 bean soup mix), with brown rice, and macaroni pasta, all mixed together. We put this in one of her bowls, then usually a fruit, like cut up apples, or raw veggies, in the other. Of course, she always has her staple of dried food, which is by Harrison's Bird Food (vet formula). Sometimes we may only do the pasta, and mix in some frozen mixed vegetables, or do the beans separately, or the rice separately. We try to mix it up, so she won't get bored. When the fruits are in season, we try to give her Pomegranate, and kiwi, but Granny Smith apples are her favorite. As a treat, we'll give her a grainy bread or cracker (no salt), or maybe even some pizza crust. In the spring & summer, I will boil corn on the cob, and break it into 1/3's to give her for something different. We never give her seeds (breeder says they're bad for their digestive system), but do give her raw almonds (1-2 per day), and sometimes we'll "grow" some sprouts for her. We keep the dry food in front of her all the time, and change out the wet food, and her water, daily.
Her typical day goes something like this: I get her up (she sleeps in her travel cage in our laundry room; no windows/light) around 8:00 am, and she comes out to the table stand in the kitchen, where I make her food up and have my breakfast. She goes into her Kings cage, and is closed up in there for most of the day. Since I work at home, I'll get her out and let her be with me on the stand while I make lunch, maybe handing her some chicken or bread to nibble on, then I'll put her in her cage for a nap (when I'm home, she prefers to take a nap in the quiet, since I am a hair stylist, with loud clients coming and going). After about an hour, I'll get her back out, since I have to go back to work. Sometimes during the day, clients will go and talk to her, and some like to hold her. She enjoys the attention, but has had days when I don't have animal friendly clients, so she gets no attention from them. I usually don't finish my clients until 6 PM, when I have to go out and feed my horses. If it is a warm day, I'll put her in her smaller Kings cage, in our sun room (it used to be a 3 sided screened in porch until we added the windows), where she feels like she's outside. Usually my husband gets home while I'm out feeding, and he will get her and take her to the bedroom while he changes, where she plays hide-n-seek on the bed. He'll bring her and the dogs out to the barn, and we'll usually have her fly back and forth to each other. She stays out on her kings cage during dinner, which is in the same room that we eat in (the family room), and will play by herself or just sit until it's time to go to bed, which right now she likes her bed time to be around 8 PM (in the winter it's earlier). When we had more time for her, we'd sit with her in our laps, or laying on my husband's chest, while we watched TV after dinner, but that rarely happens any more. I do have some days where I have a few moments of free time, where I'll get her out of the cage and hold her; mostly hugging or kissing her, which she loves. But this is not a daily occurrence. I also used to have more time for her, but when my husband changed careers, I had to increase my hair days from 2 per week to 4 days. With that business as well as my horse breeding business, I am usually doing something which doesn't allow me to spend time with her. On weekends we may handle her more, taking her out to our pear tree and sitting under it with her, or she'll sit in the tree while we swim in our pool or play with the horses or dogs. Of course, this is only in the warm weather, which means the tree has leaves, which camouflages her from hawks, as she is in the tree free. She easily comes down to us when we call her, and doesn't seem to mind the occasional upset Mocking bird that thinks she's too close to their nest. We also may find more time to hold her or play with her on the bed.
She is not preferential to one sex over the other, but seems to love and accept almost everyone. She does have a few people that I don't feel comfortable letting them hold her, but usually these people are the nervous, non-animal types, and I think she can sense it. I always watch her eyes and behavior, to see if it looks like she likes them or not. She does scream at children, ever since one of my clients little boys came running through my house, screaming. It really scarred her, and ever since she'll scream at any little kids that come it. We don't have kids, so she's not used to being around them. Although, my niece comes every summer, and she was only 12 when we got Kiwi, and she is one of Kiwi's favorite people.
As far as toys...that changes with time, as we have quite a few that we change out in her cage so she doesn't get bored. Right now, she really likes this open rubbery ball that has a bell in it. We have it hanging where she can attack it. She grabs it and growls while she shakes her head and makes the bell ring. She especially loves it if my husband will play tug of war with it. She'll also do the same thing with him with the mail. If her has junk mail, he'll offer it to her and she grabs one end and growls while she shakes her head and tears it up. Her most favorite thing is the hide and seek game under the covers of our bed. She'll run under the folded edge of the comforter, and looks out real coy. Then she'll come out and walk over to you so you'll try to "get" her, then she runs under the covers and peeks out. She'll sit under there and scratch like a chicken. It's quite comical! She also does this in her travel cage. Sometimes, when I'm getting her out from her nap, she plays coy and will dive to the bottom and hide her head in the corner and scratch. She wants me to try and get her while she acts coy and won't come. She'll also dive into the cage when I put her to bed. I take her in and hug her and kiss her goodnight, then when I offer her to the perch in the cage, she dives to the floor into the corner, with this happy grin, and hides her head and scratches. She's pretty funny.
We have her offered with her travel cage and table stand for $1000, or she can be purchased with her large Kings cage, and all the toys and perches in and on it, for $1500. Of course, you can see all of this on my site. The cage is pretty big, and she's pretty used to it, so I'd hate to see her go to a small cage, as I don't think she'd be happy. Basically, she's a very happy & healthy bird, which can be seen in her vibrant feathers. She's never plucked, doesn't throw her food, and is relatively quiet and respectful. She does love to get a bath and blow-dry, and she'll easily let me clip her wings. She also travel really well, and I've even taken her to the feed store with me, just right up on my shoulder. She has never tried to bite me, so I feel safe with her near my mouth and eyes. She is also respectful of glasses and earrings, and respects, "uh uh" and "no".
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