spookyhurst

If you decide the little guy is too much for you, consider taking him to a bird rescue. They would make sure that whoever adopted him was educated and capable of caring for him (and save you the stress of finding him a good home). I did a quick search and found a few places in Michigan: http://www.parrotstationrescue.com/Home_Page.php http://www.maars.org/index.php http://www.beaksandbills.com/ http://www.knapp-time.com/

Quickdood wrote: Both. With non-destructible toys, like ones made of acrylic, the bird will get bored, so you rotate them out. With wood/grass/paper toys, the bird will destroy them. My Nikko loves to chew, so it's a must to keep toys like that around. Her favorite activity after chewing cardboard is playing with a wiffle ball that has a bell inside. They only cost a dollar a piece, and she's only managed to break one, so they're a steal .

A monthly breakdown is kind of hard, because it varies widely month to month. For instance, you'll want a yearly well-bird exam which will cost you anywhere from $50-$150 (depends on whether or not you get bloodwork). If you need a vet visit because your bird is sick, I imagine it would cost more than the annual exam (knock on wood that I haven't found out ). If you get someone to groom the nails and wings, that's about $10 to $20. The wings need done once or twice a year, and the nails need done once every few months (depends on how much they get worn down through play and using sandy perches). Toys can be very expensive, unless you make them yourself. I usually buy $100 worth at once (to save on shipping costs), and then dole them out over time. I've found that Nikko is as happy with a cardboard box that came in the mail as she is with an expensive toy though. Play gyms can be expensive, but are long lasting. Nikko is spoiled and has several :whistle:. Food is tough to estimate. Nikko mostly shares stuff that we eat. Things like a single butternut squash (frozen in individual portions) lasts a fair amount of time, and doesn't cost very much. Her pellets aren't particularly expensive, between $5 and $10 for a smallish bag. I spend the most on her almonds in the shell and pine nuts, which are kind of expensive for the small amount you get. If you need to board your bird, it's about $25 a day. Hence, I never go anywhere . There are a lot of one time costs, like the cage (probably $300 minimum), travel carrier, perches, etc. I've bought a lot of other stuff like a shower perch, Misty Mate (for showers), a humidifier, 2 air purifiers, 2 full spectrum lamps, and more. In the 3 years I've had Nikko, I'm sure I've dropped thousands of dollars. I could look at my money manager to find out, but I'd probably keel over from heart failure. Parrots are not inexpensive creatures to keep :pinch:.

I totally agree! People don't give the little guys enough credit. I love budgies, and hope to get another one someday (I had 2 when I was a kid).

From what I understand, the owners of Gulliver boarded a cargo ship to get back to the US, and the dog and bird weren't allowed on. They were told they could come back and get their pets, but since they didn't have any proof that Gulliver was hatched in America, it didn't happen. The Oasis spent $15,000 and had to cut through a lot of red tape to get Gulliver back here. Here's another new video : http://www.myfoxphoenix.com/myfox/pages/ContentDetail?contentId=7177689<br><br>Post edited by: spookyhurst, at: 2008/08/14 04:46

Nikko loves the "Superstar" comment. She totally agrees B). Now she wants to learn to whisper "Superstar" like Einstein does :laugh:.

I'm the only one that voted for Deacon . Dakota was my second choice though .

Nikko is blushing :blush:. However, she also said to carry on with your wonderful comments about her .

How's Ricky doing Talon? I have a little girl too. I didn't used to care what sex my birds were (I maybe even leaned more towards boys), but if I were to get another and could choose, I think I'd go with the girl . Will you call your baby Izzy for short? I almost renamed Nikko to Izzy when I found out she was a girl.

Gulliver is out of quarantine and on his way to Arizona . Here's a new article about him: http://www.signonsandiego.com/uniontrib/20080808/news_1n8gulliver.html

I told my mom that we should pack up Nikko and head to California :woohoo:. I'm sure the party would be a blast. Gulliver is probably going to get a big head! Oh well, maybe someday I will still get to meet Gulliver. The Oasis is only 2 hours or so away from where I live.

Gulliver the B&G macaw is getting out of quarantine this week B). To celebrate, there will be a picnic party. It sounds like a lot of fun, so if you're in the San Diego area, maybe you would like to attend. And take pictures to show the rest of us ! Here are the details: Dearest Friends of The Oasis and of Gulliver the Macaw.... I leave for San Diego on Wednesday afternoon Aug 6th and will be getting our beloved boy, Gulliver, out of USDA quarantine early in the morning of Thursday August 7th. I can't believe how quickly this month has gone! Please let all your friends and family know that we will be having a picnic celebration on Saturday August 9th. Although it is being called "Gulliver's Celebration of Life" it is in fact for ALL parrots everywhere. Google "Balboa Park San Diego" and find the park map. We will be meeting at PEPPER GROVE from about 11 til 3 or later. Look for the Blue and Gold balloons and ribbons and the big banner. Bring: A dish to share Your favorite non-alcoholic drink A blanket or lawn-chair if you wish. If you chose to bring a bird, please have him or her on a harness or in a carrier. We want everyone's animals to be safe!! We hope that Gulliver's rescue brings to light the reality of how many birds there are all over this great country of ours who are in need of new homes, of care, or love. With 16-18 million parrots in 6.5 million homes, if only *one percent* of the birds need assistance, that is *one hundred sixty to one hundred and eighty thousand birds* ...and, unfortunately it could be more. We want to publicize the fact that parrots are the third most popular companion animal in the US. We all want the general public, who may not ever have lived with a bird...but who do love their cats and dogs...to become aware of the situation and the plight of the extra-ordinary creatures we live with...parrots. In addition to Gulliver and myself, there will be representatives from Parrots First, PEAC and other Southern California parrot rescues will be in attendance. It is an opportunity to meet one another, find out what organizations are in your area and perhaps even become a Volunteer.... I really hope to see you there. We are all in it for the love of the birds. Let's show our strength and our numbers. Let's work together to keep them all safe!!! With love and thanks for your support these last months.... Syb ...and of course Gulliver! -- Sybil Erden, Executive Director The Oasis Sanctuary www.the-oasis.org 520-212-4737

There was a beautiful Hyacinth Macaw at a bird fair I went to. He was for sale for $10,000. Magnificent bird! I got to hold him (my arm was barely big enough for him to perch on). He was totally into another guy standing there though, and could care less about me . I think Hyacinths need a special diet too. I seem to recall reading that people tend to mess up their diet by feeding them the wrong foods.

Here's some info about Sybil's trip to collect Gulliver: Dear Friends of Gulliver and the Oasis One of the first unexpected things which surprised me on Christmas Island was the fact that most people had Cell-phones. These phones only worked on the Island, but since many had built-in cameras, Mamarau's co-workers all pulled out cameras and took pictures of Gulliver playing "big bird" or sitting on my shoulder. My greatest, unspoken fear before going to Kiribati was that Gulliver wouldn't like me. At the Sanctuary, birds are allowed to "select" their people and their bird-friends. And while there are a number of birds who really adore me, there are probably more who couldn't care less…and a few how are obviously hostile toward me. Some of these birds absolutely adore other staff members. Others only like birds. Here, we really don't care if we are individually liked by a particular bird….as the main thing is that the bird is happy. None the less, I was concerned that Gulliver might take a dislike to me. But I should not have feared. Gulliver is a delight. Much of his flexibility with new people and strange situations is due to the wonderful job that Darla, the ship-wrecked lady, did in raising and socializing him. The other reason is that he is young. While I had been told that he was 3 to 5 years of age, it is obvious that he is very young…his eyes are still slightly grey and have not yet become their adult yellow. Mamarau and I agreed that Gulliver would come to the hotel with me. She needed time to separate herself from him. And I needed time to "bond" before I would have to, temporarily, relinquish him into US quarantine. When Nautonga caught up with us, we went back to the Captain Cook hotel which would be my home for the week so that I could rest. Again, not having any previous experience with companion animals, the hotel never questioned Gulliver's presence in my room, or in the dining hall during meals. My new companions, Chris Paul and Dave, Aussies working temporarily in Kiritimati with the government as consultants, were amused as none had even had a parrot as a dinner companion. While the Capt. Cook is somewhat limited by American or Western standards, but was certainly much more than I had expected. While Hawaii has truly incredible natural landscape, Christmas Island has a yet-unspoiled and natural authenticity. Kiribati is poor. Kiribati is third world….not even emerging at this point. Many people live in shacks put together with tin (sometimes scavenged from the abandoned US and British military bases) and or with a type of composite board or plywood. Instead of using rock, coral debris cast up on the beaches are used to walk-ways, building walls or foundations. Many homes have dirt floors, with raised sleeping platforms. Other homes still have thatched roof outdoor sleeping areas. It is not uncommon not to have running water or electricity. Many homes have a shutter instead of glass levered windows. The homes have no heating or cooling…which is generally unneeded as the daytime temperatures are 85 and the nights 75. The difference between summer and winter temperatures are about 5 degrees…with winters having stormier seas and rougher, higher tides. In London town there are blocks of "government housing"….which consists of a row building, with a one-room apartment, one next to the other, with one wooden shutter in the front, and perhaps another in the back for cross-ventilation, and an extended family who live within spilling out of the doorways. Out-door cooking areas as well as out-houses are common throughout the scattered villages. There is no sanitation on Christmas Island, other than the occasional "pit" dug by a family to collect their personal garbage. Garbage is dropped by people walking along. Plastic from wrappers, water bottles, paper debris litter the roadway. However there are not aluminum cans as they are collected for recycling by people on bicycles or small motorbikes. There is no privately owned land on Christmas Island. Rather it all belongs to the government. If you wish to build a home, you apply to the government for a land permit. They chose the parcel and you have five years to build you home and settle in. Vehicles have right hand drive and it took me a few days to become accustomed to the seemly backwards traffic. Few passenger cars are in evidence, and t hose that are seen are often older, sometimes with mismatched fenders, missing windows or windshields. Tires on most vehicles are bald by American standards. More often there are "bush trucks" piled high with people, mini-van "buses", or 125 to 200 cc motorbikes, sometimes carrying three people, zipping around on the concrete main road, build by the Brits before World War 2. All other roads are dirt, winding into the bush. There are no noticeable street signs. There were no stop signs other than on private property (such as the airport or the hotel.) Nor where there any traffic lights anywhere on the island. Cars were available for rent for $40 a day. The nearest and largest store within walking distance from the hotel also rented motorbikes for $20 a day plus gasoline, which they called benzene. Gas was often sold by the liter for $1.45 per liter or approximately $ 5.49 a gallon; only a dollar more than we are paying here in the US. Since Nautonga and Mamarau were chauffeuring me around, I bought gas several times during the week. There are churches everywhere. The people are very involved with religious life. Catholic, Mormon, Seventh Day Adventist, Baptists and many other denominations dot the roadside. The best schools are all church schools, and schooling is not free, as in this country. Mamarau's daughters get partial grants or scholastic scholarships, with the family paying the rest. . I told Mamarau I wanted to go to her church – Seventh Day Adventist – with the family on Sunday. She liked the idea. For me it was another way to learn about their loves on Kiritimati. ------------------------------------------------------------------ I could see the beach from the front door of my bungalow. I spent a lot of time on the beach and took photographs of the sand, the sky…and the crabs, which were everywhere. Christmas Island has Hermit crabs ranging from shells the size of half a pinky-nail to palm sized giants. Every whole shell I picked up had an inhabitant! There were other crabs as well….but they would dig into the soft coral sand which cover the beaches and the island during the day…and come out in the cooler evenings, covering the roadways and walk-ways during the nights. I have always told people that there is an invisible neon sign which hovers over me wherever I live. It can only be seen by animals, and says "Look pathetic for food. Sucker lives here." Apparently it is translated into the Kiribati language, for I had not been in my room for more than 10 minutes when one of the local cats showed up. While I first thought that she was a kitten, I soon learned that all the cats on the Islands are tiny. Not necessarily skinny….but small. They remain the size of 6-7 month old American cats. In all other aspects, colors and such, they are "normal"…but, as is the case with most animals on Kiribati, if they are not food, they are ignored. As a result the cats are very feral. The hotel cats, fed and played with by western guests, are far more affectionate than most. Since there is no spay or neuter available on the island, the cat population has burgeoned. Given the number of ground-nesting sea birds, this has become a serious problem. Dog birth control is simple however. No female dogs anywhere on the island. Just unneutered, fairly mellow, mostly human-fearful boy dogs everywhere. ---------------------------------------------------------- On Saturday July 5th I went to sea. Well, not exactly to sea….but Gulliver and I went out on the lagoon on Dive-guy Kim Anderson's motorized outrigger. We went with Chris and Dave the Aussies, Kim and his two local staff members, a local friend of theirs, and a Canadian named Gary. Gary and Chris knew one another and had been diving with Kim previously. David and the local friend did a little scuba diving in the calm, teal blue lagoon waters. Although I had planned to try my hand at scuba-ing….I ended up feeling like a Desert Tortoise trying to pretend she was a Sea Turtle. (We did see Sea Turtles, but they moved too quickly for me to get a photograph.) I splashed around in the water for a bit, but was content to sun-bathe (wearing SP 50 Sun Block) and play with Gulliver. Gulliver was a natural….at home on the boat except when salt-water would splash on him. He would then bury his face into my chest and squawk. Gulliver was the same color as the water. It was beautiful! ------------------------------------------------------------ -- Sybil Erden, Executive Director The Oasis Sanctuary www.the-oasis.org 520-212-4737

Nikko adores her Adventure Pack! She loves to go on outings. She freaked initially, and I had to stuff her in the first couple of times, but then she realized that Adventure Pack = ride in the car + visit to the park. Now, whenever she see me get it out, she stretches, poops, and puts her foot out to be picked up.

Here are a couple sites that might help. If your bird is allowed in the country, he will need to enter for a 30 day quarantine in either L.A., Miami, or New York. http://www.aphis.usda.gov/import_export/animals/nonus_pet_bird.shtml http://www.airanimal.com/contact.html<br><br>Post edited by: spookyhurst, at: 2008/07/16 23:21

It might be that Rikki is still settling in. There's a "honeymoon period" where a newly adopted bird is more subdued than they normally would be. Rikki might end up as active as Talon in a month or two :ohmy:. Keep us updated! I'd love to hear what else you discover about your 2 girls .

Here's one more little video of Gulliver : http://kgmb9.com/main/content/view/8177/40/ They did a DNA test, and Gulliver is a boy. They say he's doing fine in quarantine, and is talking to the staff, eating well, and playing with his toys. In about 3 weeks, he'll move to Arizona to be with the rest of the macaws at The Oasis.

I've read that when Alex would get bored, he would start giving the wrong answers on purpose. They knew it was on purpose because he would consistently list off everything but the correct answer. Here's a story about how Alex would behave when frustrated: Thus we are trying to get him to sound out refrigerator letters, the same way one would train children on phonics. We were doing demos at the Media Lab for our corporate sponsors; we had a very small amount of time scheduled and the visitors wanted to see Alex work. So we put a number of differently colored letters on the tray that we use, put the tray in front of Alex, and asked, "Alex, what sound is blue?" He answers, "Ssss." It was an "s", so we say "Good birdie" and he replies, "Want a nut." Well, I don't want him sitting there using our limited amount of time to eat a nut, so I tell him to wait, and I ask, "What sound is green?" Alex answers, "Ssshh." He's right, it's "sh," and we go through the routine again: "Good parrot." "Want a nut." "Alex, wait. What sound is orange?" "ch." "Good bird!" "Want a nut." We're going on and on and Alex is clearly getting more and more frustrated. He finally gets very slitty-eyed and he looks at me and states, "Want a nut. Nnn, uh, tuh."

I almost changed Nikko's name to Izzy. However, I pondered it for such a long time, that I finally just ended up sticking with Nikko. She knew her name, and it's kind of cute, plus I think she came from a happy home, so there's no negatives attached to her name. However, she has gained a lot of nicknames over the last three years. I think we call her Beaker, Beakie, or B more than anything .

Yes, Nikko was retested 2 weeks after completing the antibiotics to make sure she had kicked it.

I'll have to look for the source, but I'm pretty sure that I read that Alex and company spent time at people's houses.

When I adopted Nikko, she tested positive for a gram negative bacteria. I think it was something like acineobacter. She took Cipro for a week to treat it. The rescue said it probably took hold of Nikko due to the stress of being surrendered by her original owner.

Thanks for the link! I've read that Alex plucked while in Arizona, but quit once he moved to Massachusetts. I live in Arizona, and it's super dry. Maybe that could have contributed to some of his plucking?

Gulliver the macaw is back in the U.S. . To watch a little video of him stopping over in Hawaii before heading to L.A. for quarantine, visit here (stupid 30 second commercial shows first): http://www.kitv.com/video/16827296/index.html