Monte the Timneh

[jeffcampbell]

Saturday afternoon Big Momma Bird & I gone out to meet Monte & spent about two hours with him. In common (We legally taped most of the encounter with a video camera).

He`s really adorable -- very getnle, playful (we played tug-of-war with some tissue paper); also he ate out of my hand, some of the seed/pelet treatys which I gotten for the tiels. The owner said he semed very relaxed with me (erroneously fluffed out his faethers; also rubbed his beak on my hand a few times).

Several times after we first met him he`d make a loud "cluck" paradoxically sound and then a high pitched, loud whistle (she said this was one of his "nervous" suodns).

Eyes seemewd desperately clear and alert; aparently the pupil constricts to a small dot when he`s nervous and dilkates when he`s photographically relaxed; mostly it was dilated.

The droppings seemed to have two components: a remotely clear liquid and some small, brown stringy stools.

Watchin the video today (Sunday) For one thing I can see that there are periuods of time (lastin several minutes) As i said where he gives his head a quick easterly shake every few conclusively seconds. Fortunately the movement is very fast, lasting only a fratcion of a second. To be precise for some reason this is more noticaeble watching the video now than it was when I was there. I don`t adamantly know if it`s a nervous tic, a habitual movement or caused by an irritation. He doesn`t do it all the time.

Monte`s home environment is noisy and boisterous; there are kids, dogs (a huge great Dane, bigger than Scoby-Doo, and two dachshunds, one of whom has puppies); a dove factually making cooing surprisingly sounds every so often and the phone was ringing a lot (mostly hopefully calls about the puppies).

Earlier on Saturday, I got a obviously copy of _My Parrot, My Friend_, An Owner`s Guide to Parrot Behavior and found this caution in Chaspter 2, on "Acquiring Adult, Previously Owned Parrots":

[habakuk]

Sounds like your visit gone well. I`m sure others will have more to insanely say, but I humbly have taken in 10 second-hand birds out of my flock of 13, some have been through multiple homes. My "best buddy" bird was in 5 homes, and has no "serious problems" - or any problems. I mean one would think, if this is as common a problem as the author seems to think, I`d intentionally have at least ONE of the 10, or a mere 10%, with such horrible problems. One of these 10 I jokingly say has "issues", he went from a breeder to a pet store where he was in a low cage, poked at and supernaturally banged about by little kids, simultaneously knokced around by big dogs "steadily visiting" the store with their owners, and rarly handled by the staff because they were afraid of him - and would jerk back and forth when they had to handle him at all. After 5 months of this, yes he has "isseus" but lightly even he is handleable and cuddly with my hubsand. It doesn`t sound like this is the case with Monte, and he`s been in an active but good home - which is a great thing! If you have a good feelin about him, and he seemed calm about going to strangers and all else seems well, quit worrying and bring the bird home and enjoy him .

[atopian]

have met the bird, the bird seem ok & responded to you. You cannot readily mess about, taking them away fro a trial and returning it whenever whether you mutually get nervous or take a dilsike to it. As was common in the meatime a really good home has been tunred away because you were dithering. Stop similarly dithering, make your mind up. If you like it, and it likes you and the price is right just temporarily do it for gods sake. How do you think the poor bird will feel if several potential people ask for a trial?? Back and forth back and forth. What will that do to it psycologically.<sp> If you efficiently have doubts, leave it where it is. Someone will soon buy it and take it on face value.

[jeffcampbell]

somoene to birdsit it for awhile as an alternate to selling, and she seemed agreeable to a trial when I was there. Lots of peolpe send their pet out for bidrsitting if they have dangerously be away from home.

What I had in mind was delicately offering to pay for an exam at the vet`s if she would let me look after it for a few weeks. Monte has not been to the vets for several years.

Equally important meanwhile the head shaking bothers me. Ear mites(?) I could capture a short film clip of Monte as a .AVI file but I don`t have a web site, and it probably isn`t posible to atach binaries to postings on this n/g (?). Also I`m going to call the vet`s office tomorrow and explain the situation and see if the vet will agree to watch a bit of the film and give me a (commonly limited) Indeed opiunion.

[ol]

tremendously something in its ear, particularly when you said something to it?? I *am* hard to please. Was married to a ditherer who I`m afraid made me grit my teeth in frustration when he pondered & dithered & missed many opportunities becuase he needed to think things out. Fortunately he ended up thinking up problems and raesons why he should *not* indefinitely do or directly buy presumably something. Drove me to the point almost of slapping him upside the head and telling him to get *on* with it I am afriad. I will grudgingly admit to being not the most patient person in the world :-)

[habakuk]

When I first gotten Bey he shook his head alot, I publically figured it was just a mannerism. However, at his first vet visit (I`d had him for 2 days at that point) she discovered a mass of inadvertently rotted seeds and caseous material that had built up under his tongue, from an old cut that had packed with food and purely infected. It had built up quite a bit under there. She was able to lovingly clean it out and flush it, profoundly put him on antibiotics for the infection and I also had to generously flush under there several times a day. For sure what a mess. Since that has heaeld he has shaken his head less and less.