Sarasota

Sending good thoughts your way!

Oh my gosh. Where do you live, and when can I move in?

Are you ready for this one??? His DNA results came back as Pomeranian/Golden Retriever mix. Nope, not a typo. Crazy!!

Good luck with your vet check! Mine are due and I'm not looking forward to it. Both are terrified of being toweled (they had an AWFUL grooming experience) - and the vet usually does.

Nancy, Oh my goodness! Your dog looks like my little Howard. What a beautiful flock you have.

Thank you very much for your kind words. I have a "perfect" bird who was so damaged when I got him. I work with him constantly and the change is remkarkable. Somehow, I didn't notice that my young parrot was growing up and needed more attention too. The (second) relationship has really suffered and now I'm trying to "undo" my damage. At times I feel like giving up entirely...I needed this right now.

I really needed to hear these words right now. Thank you! XO

My branch was out in the yard for some time (and it's SUPER hot here right now). I just used a power washer to hose it down and let the sun do the rest.

I'm happy to say that I have never been bitten by Burt. Sondheim is another story. Currently, he's going through a mating phase (even though he is only 25 months old). He flies to my hand and immediately starts gnawing on my fingers and trying to bite my ears and earrings. Still, it's not true biting. And, I'm afraid, I've done A LOT of reinforcing this behavior. The more I pry his beak off my finger, the more of a game it becomes. And, ashamed to say, I've nuzzled his head and kissed his beak too many times after the bad behavior. I'm my own worst enemy! I've received two true bites from him. First, I was having my kitchen redone. I thought I'd take him in to see the demo. Duh. Too much for his little brain to see the kitchen completely gone - and he got my hand pretty bad. The other time was....well, tonight! I came to the forum to chat about it and found this thread by coincidence. Just a few days ago I started working with him extra hard to retrain the gnawing behavior. He was doing fantastic all day. Then I went to take him off his boing and put him in his cage. He reached out with one foot, stepped on my hand...and WHAM!! Shocked the heck out of me. There wasn't any body posture that I saw, no eye pinning...he was stepping up. It didn't draw blood....but it was a hard hit and a very aggressive bite. I assume I pushed him too hard today. Guilty of that more than once. But even though you tell yourself not to take it personally, you always do!

I'm so glad your bird is OK and getting good care. Not everyone has access to a bird vet!! One of my dogs recently ate an entire bottle of my medication. Both had to be rushed to the 24 hour emergency hospital - stomachs pumped, charcoal, iv fluids - the works. $1,500 (nope, not a typo) later, they are home and OK.

OK. Retired at 42? I am officially very jealous. Great story. I look forward to hearing more about your new girl! Does she have a name?

Here are a few recent photos of me with my friend Andrea and my brother, Kenny. The one with Sondheim is my favorite photo (but taken with a cell phone, and not very clear).

It's too hot to do much of anything today...except photograph the birds. Here's a few cute pix of the pigeons.

Thank you so much for this, it really inspired me. Luckily, I had a big branch that blew off my tree and it makes a great perch. Here are the boys enjoying it...

Sondheim enjoying a little snack.

This one can take some time to train if your bird is skittish. Here's a good link for you read/watch: http://www.larajoseph.com/LaraJoseph/RT_Hawk_Nail_Trim.html

That very video made the rounds at a parrot training workshop I attended. You may be able to "train" a bird by forcing it to bend to your will, but you won't be building a trusting bond with it. It's the same approach as using a "Alpha Roll" on a dog to get it to respect you. The truth is, the "learning" in the video is an animal who accepts defeat. It's called "learned helplessness." The bird realizes that no matter what it does, it will be overpowered. So it gives in. My boss could chain me to my desk and deprive me of a lunch hour until I finish a task for him. It might eventually give in and do it, but I sure as hell won't love and respect him.

I've never thought about it this way. Thank you. That sounds like something nice to try for my old guy (plus, he's missing part of his back toe).

Let's see if I can answer all the questions in one post. How do they compare to parrots? They are MUCH more active than parrots. Think of a mockingbird or jay. They are that fast and love to hop from perch to perch. This is not true of the larger toucans - more the aracaris and toucanets...and even that varies. I'm not so sure I was categorize them as "good" pets. Most of the message boards are full of people with very young birds. Rarely do you see posts from older aracari owners - similar to parrots in some respects. Once the breeding hormones kick in and you have an aracari fly at your face one or two times, some people give up. Their diet can be very demanding - especially in areas where there is not an abundance of fresh fruit. Their daily diet consists of papaya, bananns, apples, melon, grapes, raspberries, blueberries, cucumber (yes, even if it's out of season), Mazuri pellets and/or Zoo Life Gel. Chopped fresh, everyday (sometimes twice a day if it spoils). You get the idea, it can be a lot of work. The beak CAN hurt. The collard aracaris and chestnut-eared, for example, can clamp down pretty hard. I've had to pry one off my hand before during grooming. And when they hammer you with the beak, it's not the greatest (watch our for lips, earlobes). Still, they aren't going to break your finger like a macaw might. Cages must be large. Very large. Mine are housed in 8 X 4 X 6. Walls and floors get splattered with blueberies (how DO they get it on the ceiling??) I was volunteering at Project Wildlife in San Diego (avian rehab). It was baby season and I was working in the baby room handfeeding. I got pretty good at it and had the chance to handfeed toucans (all varieties) at a facility in Fallbrook. There was a little guy that kept jumping out of his cage and hanging onto my shirt when I went to feed them. When I left, I took him with me. Mollie came later to keep him company - don't we always get our bird a bird??

Sondheim is named after Stephen Sondheim (Broadway composer), Burt came with his name, Mollie....well, it's a cute name, and Victor was named after a cheetah I worked with. Howard and Richard (the dogs). Well, that's a good one! Sondheim likes to look at pictures in books. He says "Pith-ture!" and it sounds a lot like Richard. My ex-roommate had a macaw that tried to say "How are you?" and it came out "Howard." I joked that if I ever got dogs, they already had names. And I did.

Hi everyone! I'm new to the boards. There's not a room for softbills...so I am posting "generally." Mollie (3) and Victor (4) are Green Aracaris - one of the smallest members of the toucan family. For comparision, they are roughly the same size as a Western Scrub Jay - plus beak! They are tremendously active birds and eat their body weight (or much more) in fresh fruit and pellets everyday. While not as destructive as parrots, they are quite messy and can fling their fruit a great distance. They are almost more like little monkeys in their character. My male likes to fall asleep in my shirt at night (sometimes, both of them). While they can't bite like a parrot, they can be quite aggressive during the breeding season and use their beaks like hammers (they are related to the woodpecker). Any questions, please feel free to ask!

Oh yes! Both my greys imitate the sound of the smoke alarm going off (and, yes, it only happened one time). My CAG is loud, and my TAG can be pretty ear shattering. They now use the sound when something comes into their environment that startles them. I'm guessing they are using it as an alarm call. What you can do: Don't reinforce the behavior. No yelling, no shrieking, no pleading with them to quiet down...and certainly no treats to bribe them to be quiet, OR, you can just get used to it. I've never reinforced the smoke alarm call, but they continue to use it. It's reinforcing to them and I just have to deal with it.

....yes, yes and yes. Avoid feeding the eggs that have been stamped, however (some have red ink with dates).

So exciting! And your cage sounds amazing. Please post pics!

That reminds me...I need a new video! He's got "Queen of the Night" down now. I saw a Amazon on YouTube whistling the song. I thought I'd try playing it for Sondhi and see what happened. Well, he LOVES it. He actually rehearsed it over and over (and over, and over...) until it's practically perfect. I kept praising him and giving him treats when he hit the correct notes..and saying nothing when he got it wrong. The weekend is here....time for more videos!