snoepgoed123

when Archimedes and I have our snuggle sessions, I have the opportunity to really just look at all his feathers... and I've noticed something. each of his feathers have these little hairs on the tips, and when those feathers are angled just right... they turn this gorgeous shade of violet... I've tried to show my family, but all they see is grey... I can't be the only one to see this, right?

Every time Archimedes is out he charges me... head down... and demands to be pet... he will sprint to my hand, do a fly by, whatever it takes for some sweet lovin... and once he has it, he will sit there for an hour just purring away as I scratch every little feather on that noggin. Ofcourse nobody else can dare this... he'll let them look at him... he'll even let them hold him.... and if they're really lucky, a few quick pets until he perks back up... I wish he just knew if he accepted petting from everybody he could get hours of petting, if he so pleases...

the first a nice simple *step up* but i'll take it. the second one I really enjoy and that's *go poops*... any time he squats down where he's not supposed to I quickly put him on the tree and say *go poops* now after a week of doing it the moment he's on the tree he drops a bomb.... and gets lots of praise for going where he should.... now he still goes elsewhere but its getting better

yea, Archimedes needs to experience something 3 times before he's comfortable around it... 3 times with the harness, 3 times with new foods, 3 times with my chinchillas... next time I'll take him out for maybe 10 minutes, and then next time 10 minutes as well.... All I'm giving him is a taste of the outside world.... I'm excited to take him to the gazebo... but that's at the other end of the street, so we'll have to work up to it... also I know there are a lot of predator birds up in the sky, so I wanna stay close to home incase one of them pops up, I don't wanna scare him

Misty just told me that she would've used *inspected by #9* but she couldn't find the stickers so she had to make do with what she got.... lol she's such a cutey!

We've been using the harness inside with him since before he came home, and he's pretty much comfortable using it (aviator harness) and today is really nice (66f/19c) so I figured I could bring him outside for a few minutes, just to see what he would do. Well he had a bit of a death grip on me, he did NOT want to let go... I put him down in the grass and just stayed there, didn't move... and he wasn't liking the wind.... it was his first time, so I wasn't expecting him to be excited right away... heck, I would've been surprised if he was... so within 5 minutes, I brought him back inside, took the harness off and let him just relax... part of me wanted to take pictures, but those can come later, today was more of him seeing the outside world

sometimes I'm hanging out with Archimedes and I could consider him a tornado.... a gush of wind and destruction is bound to happen... luckily so far it hasn't, but I'm sure it's not far from happening. So i'm just curious.... was the first thing your grey destroyed.... bonus points if theres a story behind it

Chez that last part sounds pretty familiar... for every area of the house we hang out with is a bin of stuff to keep him entertained, usually for 5 minutes before he goes for the keyboard, remote, phone, cell phone.... anything with buttons does it for Archimedes.... now he has his own "phone" that he stands on and presses buttons while trying to destroy

here is the box toy that I got http://www.mybirdstore.com/product.cgi?group=232840&product=245852 then I also got: http://www.mybirdstore.com/product.cgi?group=232840&product=236529 http://www.mybirdstore.com/product.cgi?group=232840&product=232857 http://www.mybirdstore.com/product.cgi?group=232840&product=241725

I just went to bird paradise (and spent a small fortune as always) on a whole bunch of foraging toys. I got drawer box, a couple of circle spinny things, and this tube spinny thing... I'm excited that Archimedes is figuring out the box... slowly but surely... and I'm just curious as to what you guys use for foraging and what you fill it with

please understand that what I'm about to say isn't meant to deter you, but more realize what you'd be getting yourself into. I used to belong to a forum of a different pet species, where about half the members were breeders. One thing that was often quoted was "don't get the pet if you can't afford the vet" which is something that is true with all animals. If you do decide to get a breeding pair, what vet care will you be providing for them, understanding that they are not pets, but breeders, and they won't be as affectionate as normal pets. Also what vet care will you be providing for the offspring? What if there is a large clutch and all the birds in the clutch need vet care... could you afford $3,000 to treat them? Then there is the emotional cost, how will you handle death of the chicks or death of either the female or male. Lastly consider the actual time that you need to invest, are you in a position where you could take 2 weeks off at work if need be, are you about to wake up at 3 o clock in the morning for emergency feeding or what have you... do you have experience hand feeding the chicks... like I said, I'm really not trying to deter you from breeding, because without breeders, most of us wouldn't have these crazy feather balls we fall in love with, I'm just making sure you're able to handle what comes at you when you do become a breeder. If you feel that breeding is for you, first either work at a breeder, or at a bird shop that you are able to get hands on experience. I know for me I could never be a breeder because personally, I wouldn't be able to handle the emotional aspect of losing a chick or losing one of my birds.

Judy, you're right! I do love it! except when he goes after the keyboard... but even that is cute, he'll try to attack the keyboard a couple times, then just gives up, wants to be pet for a millisecond and then goes back to trying to attack the keyboard... over and over... and then he'll give up and go for the picture frames, then back to the keyboard, then the desk, the picture frame, keyboard... over and over..... it's a good thing he's cute!

haha thanks!!! and a mini update.... HE'S PRACTICING HIS TALKING!!!! I had to put him back because I needed to get some work done... and he's in the other room making all sorts of sounds, it's cracking me up!!!

aww I wish Archimedes likes frozen food... but anything cold he looks at it like I'm trying to poison him

I don't know what he's been eating but he's gone NUTS I tell ya! For the past 2 days Archimedes has been off the walls... He'll be hanging out doing nothing then he'll just run around like a psycho, start throwing stuff left and right grunting and growling and then he'll STOP and just asks to be pet, and purrs... it's really odd... oh yea, and he clucks too... like a chicken.....

aerial I am more than a *wee bit whipped* right now archimedes is on my lap grunting and purring (grunting when I'm not petting him, purring when I am) and Chezron thats awesome! I want a stroller for him! I got him a harness so that I can take him out but a stroller would be awesome!

ahhh the coolest thing today... once again he didn't like the consistency of his mush and flew over, I put him back on the tree and grabbed the food so I could add more water... well he followed me into the kitchen, then he realized he went too far and hovered for a second before turning around and landing on me.... I can't believe how well he's flying already!!!!!!! I am so glad I didn't get him clipped like my breeder, my family, and the vet suggested.... I told them all... I would rather live with him fully flighted and if theres a reason go back to get a clip.... you can always take away the feathers, but you can't put them back... (and if it stays as it is right now.... those feathers are staying!)

haha thanks guys... it continued when I came home... this time he just wanted snuggles, for an hour... until he kept getting annoyed that I wanted to watch the next youtube video (eventually he just gave up)

this morning I made Archimedes some mush (pellets with water to make em mushy, it's how he likes it) and after a few minutes he stopped eating... (very unusual for him, trust me) and flies over, and starts doing his meow type chirp... well apparently he come over to let me know the mush was not mushy enough... so I added some water, and now he's back on his tree gobbling up the remaining mush.... so tell me... is he smart to figure it out to come to me to improve the food, or does he just have me whipped?

I just saw you asked about calcium, TOPS doesn't have calcium, so you would need to supplement, I just supplement with veggies that have enough calcium. Though my guy is still a baby, so I'm still figuring everything out as well!

welcome to the forum! Kinda excited to have a vet tech on board! One brand of pellets that are good are TOPS (totally organic pellets) and they have no corn in them whatsoever... Harrisons does, but the corn is pretty far down the list. I would still be risky with using pellets with corn because if your guys are anything like my CAG they will love throwing their food.... and I know dogs tend to be living vacuum cleaners, so I would be worried that she might hoover up the food. once again welcome to the forums and post some pictures!!!

I forgot to take the chop out earlier today so by the time I wanted to feed it to archimedes it was still a nice solid brick... and apparently he doesn't like frozen food... well I added hot water to it to quickly thaw it... then gave it to him once it's cooled off... OH MAN! he loves his soup! He drank up all the "broth" and in between the sips he's nibbling on the chop in between... I also slipped in a couple harrisons pellets so it's like little croutons... all I can say is he's one happy boy right now, and I just wanted to pass it along if anybody else has chop, something else to do with it

I feed Archimedes first thing in the morning, leave food in the cage for 2 hours then remove, then feed again an hour later and just repeat through the day, that way his food stays fresh all day long (I also leave dry pellets in his cage, but he likes his pellets mashed so I can't leave those in his cage as long as I wish) I also alternate between mushy pellets and mushy pellets with fresh veg. also I see you're feeding seed, it's better to switch to a pellet formula, seed has been linked to fatty tumors... there are topics on here that can help you decide which pellet is best, I know a lot of people like TOPS pellet, Harrisons, roudy bush, and lafaber also post in the intro room!!! We would love to find out more about you and your TAG (and we love TAG pics)

Jeff you hit the nail on the head! I think Archimedes is more a teenage boy with the amount of food he consumes... and he always needs more more more. I too get the bird trainer feeling, except he's mastered how to land on the glass ramekins instead of my hand... he doesn't have too many crash landings yet (though he is partial to landing in the blinds aye aye aye) I am really astounded for how well he flies at only 15 weeks... and I know as time goes on he'll get even better

ahh it's so much fun though! One thing is if he knows I'm making him food he will hunt me down and follow me every step of the way! tonight when I was trying to eat my dinner, boy was he interested in trying what I was having... by the time I actually got to finish it all, it was cold because I had to chase him away from my food.... next time I'll just have to set him up with his own little plate and have him take from his plate instead of mine