some questions

[jbsmomto1]

Echo is a quaker, Storm is a TAG. Just so you know what species I am referring to since this post includes both of my boys.

 

When I brought Storm home I realized that the BIG cage I had for him was much to big so I ordered a new one for him. It arrived Thursday. I liked it so much and since Echo needed a new one I ordered his and it came on Friday. I was rather shocked and surprised when Echo started moving in before it was even fully built, For cage territorial Echo this was a big deal.

 

However, he insists on sharing Storms cage, as soon as I open cages in the morning he is gone and can be found on Storms cage. Both are the same with loads of toys but different ones, he doesn't seem interested in anything Storm has, he just wants to be with Storm. I gave up replacing him on his own cage because he just goes back to Storm. At night I lock them in, in their own cages because I feel they each need their own bed.

 

Is this ok for them to share through the day and be in their own at night? Echo who has always been quite a snobby Quaker has really taken to Storm and vice versa however Storm was raised with Quakers so I can understand him liking Echo.

 

Storm still has those sweet black baby eyes, and I wonder how long or about what age will he get his "adult" eyes his hatch date is July 3rd of this year.

 

he doesn't much like crunchy food and much prefers his pellets soaked with water and other softer foods...I worry about this causing diarreah b/c he is taking in so much more water then he would be if he ate the pellets dry, should I stop soaking them or leave him alone? As well he is still on 2 hand feeds a day so he is getting a lot of water. I also worry about the dye in the coloured pellets as I have heard that they can be very hard on the kidneys, is this true? Once he is eating on his own 100% should I try to switch him or is the dye thing a non issue?

 

One final q....how do I post pics, if I upload them to photobucket do I want the IMG code or the HTML code?

[Dave007]

Echo is a quaker, Storm is a TAG. Just so you know what species I am referring to since this post includes both of my boys.

 

When I brought Storm home I realized that the BIG cage I had for him was much to big so I ordered a new one for him. It arrived Thursday. I liked it so much and since Echo needed a new one I ordered his and it came on Friday. I was rather shocked and surprised when Echo started moving in before it was even fully built, For cage territorial Echo this was a big deal.

 

However, he insists on sharing Storms cage, as soon as I open cages in the morning he is gone and can be found on Storms cage. Both are the same with loads of toys but different ones, he doesn't seem interested in anything Storm has, he just wants to be with Storm. I gave up replacing him on his own cage because he just goes back to Storm. At night I lock them in, in their own cages because I feel they each need their own bed.

 

Is this ok for them to share through the day and be in their own at night? Echo who has always been quite a snobby Quaker has really taken to Storm and vice versa however Storm was raised with Quakers so I can understand him liking Echo.

 

Storm still has those sweet black baby eyes, and I wonder how long or about what age will he get his "adult" eyes his hatch date is July 3rd of this year.

 

he doesn't much like crunchy food and much prefers his pellets soaked with water and other softer foods...I worry about this causing diarreah b/c he is taking in so much more water then he would be if he ate the pellets dry, should I stop soaking them or leave him alone? As well he is still on 2 hand feeds a day so he is getting a lot of water. I also worry about the dye in the coloured pellets as I have heard that they can be very hard on the kidneys, is this true? Once he is eating on his own 100% should I try to switch him or is the dye thing a non issue?

 

One final q....how do I post pics, if I upload them to photobucket do I want the IMG code or the HTML code?

 

First off-concerning Photobucket------only use the IMG link or the DIRECT link.

 

It's actually great that they wanna share each other's cage during the whole day. Usually,quakers are not that friendly with other species. Somewhat aggressive at times. The most important thing is putting back in their own cages at night. If you can easily do that all the time, then let them out all day long. Many people wish their different species would get along that nicely. If you see extremely aggressive behavior towards each other ( seriose biting) then, they can't be left together. They will lightly nip at each other during the day but I'm talking about serious biting, not light nipping. One of my quakers will try to hurt my greys every chance she gets. All of them are very leery of her.

As far as the cage, most will say that the bigger the better but your birds have taken to the present cages so just leave that alone.

Eye color for TAGs---The final white color around the pupil will happen at at about 8 to 10 mts.

Food----Just about every brand of pellet has artificial color. The color won't really be harmful but concentrate on giving different veggies. nuts and periodically some fruit. All parrots need food around in a bowl 24/7 because they eat all day long. There is no breakfast, lunch or dinner. So that all day food would be some parrot mix with some pellets. The important thing here is the other food. Veggies will go bad every 3 to 4 hrs so they must be replaced. my opinion concerning wetting the pellets---your bird at 4 mts old is quite able to break up pellets when they're dry but it

s up to you about wetting them. Dry or wet pellets don't cause diarrhea. As far as water, birds should have water available all the time. it doesn't matter if it's in pellets. Parrot mix shouldn't be watered down. You need a bowl of water in the cage all the time. That applies to the quaker too. If your TAG will only eat the pellets if they're wet, slowly decrease the amount of water used in the pellets over a period of time.

Pellets really don't cause kidney problems--the big debates concerning pellets are which ones have the most vitamin content. It doesn't matter though because a bird may like a pellet that doesn't have as much vitamin content. A bird can't be forced to eat what it doesn't like.

Edited November 25, 2012 by Dave007

[judygram]

Dave gave excellent advice as always but I must say you are lucky that the two of them get along so nicely as many of us would welcome your situation. I hope you get the photo thing figured out so we can see both of them.

[katana600]

You are very lucky to have them getting along so well right from the beginning. Our first parrot is such a pip, she has tried to drive out every human and creature to come into our home and it has taken almost two years of protecting Gilbert from her to get to the point that both can now be out of their cages at the same time. I have to admit, I wouldn't have been able to answer your excellent questions but Dave has it covered, phew. I have lived with parrots for six years and still learn something new here on the forum every day.