It's not much, but neither am I. Sometimes I wonder, am I its master or its slave? Or perhaps its toy? Whichever, this page is dedicated to pets.

AboutMyParrot

Well, it's a creature thirty centimeters long, made of 150 grams of feather and a few other things. The point of having it is to have it, serve it, and clean behind it.

This specimen of mine is a cockatiel and I call it Mikica. Its Latin name is Nymphicus hollandicus..

I don't know of any scientific method of determining a cockatiel's sex, but I've heard plenty of theories about what my birdie could be... Some people claimed this, others that - and oh, lucky me, there was no third possibility. So my Mikica was in turn a male and a female, and then I decided I'd had enough of that.

I said: I don't care what it really is, from now on - it's a Female and that's it! Only a female can make me that mad.

The most important thing when you have a Parrot is: don't give it everything to eat, and keep it away from the drought.

Eating habits. - It could be fatal if you experiment with the menu of your birdie, so you'd better not. It will eat bread, but bread will coagulate in its stomach and it won't be able to pass it out. It may die. Do not feed it with bread! Give it food for birds and the food you know is safe. I sometimes feed my bird with some fruit, bits of carrot, a boiled egg...

Drought. - Keep it away from the drought! It could be fatal!

There's more! People sometimes take a fancy to a parrot, because it's so nice & so sweet & so lovely... etc. and they decide to buy it on the spot, without thinking whether it's a rational thing to do - to put it that way. ‘Cause you know, the parrot's not just the cutesey little birdie you see at someone else's place. When you leave, someone stays behind to wrestle with the loving pet. It needs fresh food and water every day, feathers fly all over the place, seeds drop from the cage, the bird must not be left alone... Imagine, it's early in morning, half past nine, and the birdie fancies it's the spring ... hey, we're talking about some 110 dB. What's the point: think about what will happen if you buy a parrot and regret it, or buy it for someone you shouldn't.

While we're on the subject, let me say that women are known as Parrot Eliminators. Daddy was a Jack - he bought the cage and the bird, kids got their toy and mammy is to take care of the feathers, clean the cage, change food and water, put up with screeching... Until the animal in her begins to rear its ugly head. And we know what a woman can do when she wants someone eliminated. She will poison it - give it the food it must not eat. Or she will open the cage door and let it fly away - this one is not as hopeless as the former, but it makes no difference. The bird doesn't stand much chance of survival. I don't know of any statistics on the issue, but there are certainly far more cases of a bird flying away, than of someone catching a bird.

I don't think there's any need to tell you about what kids can do to the sweet little helpless bird. But, I think that some people have wrong ideas about the whole thing - in my opinion, kids should learn to feel responsible for their pets. They should learn to see it not only as a present, something they like, but also as something they must take care of.

Taming the parrot. - Parrots seem to be made of sterner stuff than their masters. Take my case. I had long been trying to make advances to my darlin', and only when I realized I didn't know how and was about to give it up - she alighted on my shoulder.

If you have two birds - the odds are you will tame neither. To a bird, another bird is more of a bird than a man, therefore it gives more attention to the bird than to the one who feeds it, gives it water, cleans it, bears with it, loves it, curse it... The tameness of a parrot is partly a result of its need to live in a community and imitate someone. You will notice that when you lay the table - the birdie comes to peck...

The best way to tame a bird is apparently to have it eat from your hand. It means that you should make the best use of the feeding time, when the seed box is empty. Put some seeds into your hand and move it slowly toward the bird. You must be very patient. If the bird is in the cage, it may fly off the handle. So, if you put your hand inside the cage, the bird may react wildly and hurt itself.

It is much better, therefore, to let the bird out, providing, of course, you know how to put it back into the cage. So, take some seeds into your hand and keep it close to YOUR BODY (about 25 cm before your belly button). Then, start moving verrrry slowly toward the bird, holding the hand with food at the same distance from the belly button, until the bird begins to retreat.

Then, before it takes flight, freeze, and move to the stage B: verrry slowly back away and at the same time draw the hand closer to the bird. That is - move your hand away from the belly button until the food is within its reach.

Have patience and wait for the bird to begin to eat. While you are waiting, encourage it in soft voice. If you're a bass - you might as well be silent (or send it a letter). Next time it might put its tiny leg on your finger, while you encourage it and murmur softly. When it lands with both legs on your hand - then you've got it! It fell for you charm!

Having a birdie is nice, if you fancy one. There are good times and the bad times. And terrible times.

I remember when we laid our first egg. Three vets, Mikica, and me. She was trying to lay the egg for five days. She couldn't even pass the food out properly. When she finally got rid of it, it took her two days to recover. The egg was 24.8 mm long and 19.9 mm wide, and I think we will remember it even then when it gets dried and is thrown away.

And I think we will remember Mr. Branko, a veterinarian 011/785-975, who spared neither time nor words to explain the situation and what is to be done.

Cinnamon Cockatiel
Cockatiel.Com
Belehar.com: 'Svet Ptic'