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Yogie
Jul 5, 2007 6:01:28 GMT
Post by freswood on Jul 5, 2007 6:01:28 GMT
You don't kill anything - they are only eggs! They are a natural food for them. But they've still been fertilised. The difference between chook eggs and larvae are chook eggs are like the chooks' 'period' and haven't been fertilised. Ant larvae are going to hatch into ants. Yogie is so well-behaved now. He's affectionate and doesn't mind having hands in his cage now. The only problem now is his flying - I don't think he can fly. He was standing on top of his cage and took off (when we had him out) and he glided straight into the wall. Should lorikeets be able to fly by the age of 6 months? I hope he hasn't been confined to a small cage his whole life.... that would explain it.
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Yogie
Jul 4, 2007 1:05:05 GMT
Post by freswood on Jul 4, 2007 1:05:05 GMT
He might not have been weaned correctly. Just keep trying. If you can, find an ants nest and dig up half a teaspoon of ant larvae. Hold them in the palm of your hand and Yogie will love them - they are soft & full of protein - very good for him & they love em! Thanks for the advice, but I'm vegetarian and could never kill anything. That's why I went for a bird and not something like a cat or a dog. We're really starting to wonder whether Yogie is going to need a mate. It was terrible yesterday - he was indoors and chatting to a wild lorikeet outside. The wild one flew over to get to Yogie but banged into he window and flew off. I checked the garden thoroughly in case he was injured, but he'd gone. Poor Yogie, I really don't know what to do. I'll have a chat with the vet about it.
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Yogie
Jul 2, 2007 8:17:44 GMT
Post by freswood on Jul 2, 2007 8:17:44 GMT
Yogie's definitely got a lot of attitude! He gives a lot of warning nips (I'm allowed to hold his corn with one hand and not two, and I'm not allowed anywhere near his cage when he's eating dry mix!) but is also quite affectionate. Yogie loves sitting there sucking on my fingers, almost like a baby would. He's having a lot of trouble eating - I get the feeling that he's too young. The owner has finally decided that he's 6 months old - is it normal for them to have trouble eating greens at that age? He can suck leaves and chew on them, but can't seem to eat them properly. And he can only eat corn if I slice each kernel in half because he can't get past the skin!
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Yogie
Jun 29, 2007 1:40:31 GMT
Post by freswood on Jun 29, 2007 1:40:31 GMT
2 days left to go, so I've been trying to organise his greens. We've already bought wet and dry mix, and fruit (apples and kiwi)
We've already bought broccoli, corn, and carrot. There's lots of conflicting information, so I was wondering if you could check the items below to see whether the list includes anything dangerous. I've even been through them one by one to check if they are high in iron! But perhaps I've missed something.
snow pea celery cabbage zucchini cauliflower cucumber
Thanks for your help!
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Yogie
Jun 27, 2007 7:36:05 GMT
Post by freswood on Jun 27, 2007 7:36:05 GMT
There's a huuuge toy area in the pet store we went to - they specialise in birds. Are all toys specifically designed for birds safe? I just wonder, because I'm a bit apprehensive about rope toys (though I did end up buying him one). There were macaws at the pet shop too! They were so beautiful Turns out they cost AUD$13,000! I can understand why though; they're so amazing. At the pet shop, the large birds aren't caged and are free to roam around. Mind you, their wings are clipped so they don't get very far.
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Yogie
Jun 26, 2007 23:31:19 GMT
Post by freswood on Jun 26, 2007 23:31:19 GMT
If you go into lory pics in this board, you will see a video of harriette bathing. If you cant get video to work, right click on photo and open link. Awww, that's gotta be the cutest thing I've seen in ages 4 days to go. I'm going out today to buy food supplies and toys.
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Yogie
Jun 26, 2007 2:15:17 GMT
Post by freswood on Jun 26, 2007 2:15:17 GMT
5 days to go
Another couple of things that suddenly popped into my head are:
- if he doesn't bathe himself, how often do I do it and should the water be room-temperature? - is it important to know gender? The current owners might just be assuming that Yogie is a boy. I know with cockatiels the females suffer from egg-binding - do gender-related problems occur in lorikeets?
This forum is such a fantastic resource! Thanks everyone!
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Yogie
Jun 24, 2007 23:26:09 GMT
Post by freswood on Jun 24, 2007 23:26:09 GMT
I thought you guys might like to see a pic of Yogie that his current owner posted: Do you consider this cage size to be adequate?
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Yogie
Jun 24, 2007 10:57:01 GMT
Post by freswood on Jun 24, 2007 10:57:01 GMT
I plan on spending about an hour a day directly playing with him, and at other times I'll provide him with lots of toys and have music/TV on. Do you think he would be happier with a lorikeet friend?
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Yogie
Jun 24, 2007 8:25:49 GMT
Post by freswood on Jun 24, 2007 8:25:49 GMT
Great, that sounds easy enough. Another big question that everyone is asking me is whether I'll eventually get him a friend. I know that all parrots are social birds, but is there a high risk of him fighting with / killing a newbie? I just want him to have the best possible life.
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Yogie
Jun 22, 2007 11:14:25 GMT
Post by freswood on Jun 22, 2007 11:14:25 GMT
Thanks Loribabe, that was all very helpful. So do you just spray the cage with a hose to remove the visible mess? Do you ever use a cleaning product?
Hehe that neighbours would go nuts if they saw me cleaning a cage with a hose! Darn water restrictions. Though, the dams have gone up today for the first time this year!
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Yogie
Jun 22, 2007 5:59:11 GMT
Post by freswood on Jun 22, 2007 5:59:11 GMT
Another thing I was wondering was about cleaning the cage. I've read that you should clean the cage every day - how thorough do you need to be? Is it just cleaning the poo, or is it a full bleach? How often do you need to clean it thoroughly?
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Yogie
Jun 19, 2007 7:07:05 GMT
Post by freswood on Jun 19, 2007 7:07:05 GMT
to Pm you can either just go to where the persons name is on the left and click on that then click on personal message, or go to top row on board and click on members, find the member you want then click hteir name then perosnl message there, hope that makes sense. Thanks for that! Ack I've just realised the need to bird-proof our house. We just realised that we're going to need to cover up our fireplace. Mum's been making some calls about buying a large piece of perspex to place over it.
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Yogie
Jun 19, 2007 0:37:55 GMT
Post by freswood on Jun 19, 2007 0:37:55 GMT
How do you PM? I find this site a little hard to navigate.
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Yogie
Jun 18, 2007 4:39:25 GMT
Post by freswood on Jun 18, 2007 4:39:25 GMT
Thanks for the replies! Thankfully I found out that the local pet stores stock wet mix in powder form, which makes my life a whole lot easier! Today I spoke to an avian vet on the phone, who recommended a diet as follows:
- wet and dry mix - fruit such as apple, banana, pear - cooked pumpkin, silverbeet
is there anything important missing from the list?
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