Sailorwolf

Put him on more millet too as this actually has less fat in it than the seed mixes that you buy. He probably can't fly because he is so fat. When I had obese budgies they found it hard to get off the ground. Now they are a bit lighter they can fly perfectly. Rat wheels are a good idea. I have one and when I had Saffy my runner budgie, she loved it to bits and would just run on it all day. Now Bacardi just likes to use it as a hiding spot. Take him for a few short flights and just watch to see that he doesn't get too puffed. (vet advice for my fatties)

I love fish tanks that have landscaping with layered levels of gravel and rocks they look beautiful. One of my local petshops has the most gorgeous setups and specialises in fish.

I'm just being a little brat/@%$&, that's all. I call Truce. I started it

Grit is not needed by budgies because they dehusk their seeds before eating it. Chickens and doves eat their seed whole, so they need it more. Overeating of grit is quite a common cause of crop impaction as grit would be either very hard to digest or undigestible and would thus not leave their system, sitting in their stomach and crop and slowly building up in numbers as the bird eats more and more. The idea that budgies needed grit came from when people raised poultry and thus they assumed because chickens needed it budgies did too. But they don't.

Hey Andrew I suggested that first! But mine is the Greek version and sounds more like Hera. Heracles = Greek Hercules = Roman He was a greek dude, so makes sense to call him by his greek name lol

I love "Robin Hood men In tights" haha. "Monty Python and the Holy Grail" is a classic. "Lady in the Water" is very good Any Indiana Jones movie "The Count of Monte Cristo" is a very good movie. I can't think of any more.

Yep, both are definitely BOYS! You might have to call Hera Heracles instead!

Haha that's absolutely awesome MB. Neat - You guys have given us more diseases an pests than we have given you. lol

Here is a cute little cartoon about a cat and his owner: Sequel: Trequel:

Anyone ever been to Homestarrunner.com It's a great internet cartoon, that has heaps of 'toons, including a famous series call "Strongbad's emails". It is the home of Trogdor and has fun vintage games to play. It's jokes are always clean too, so it is a great chuckle.

Auditioning for the part of Owl in Winnie the Pooh. This'll be a cinch.

I was asking, because some photos convey colours really badly, more grey than colour and if dad is a lacewing and that chick is a hen then it will be a cinnamon.

Haha and you can keep Russell Crowe too. Yea for some reason we got really scary versions of your possums, like they were mutated by radiation or something or got crossed with Tazzy Devils. The fur made from possums is made from possums that had to be killed in order to reduce their numbers. So every time you buy a NZ possum fur, you are saving our environment. I had the chance of raising a baby possum, but the farmer took it out of my hands and killed it. I don't know what I would have done with a possum anyway. Vets can't treat them (apart from euthanasia) and you have to have a license to keep one. Cute though. Not al of the possums carry TB, it's just like any disease in any animal in any country. We get to learn about lots of diseases and where they come from and fortunately NZ because of its isolation has very few. Australia on the other hand.... lol Just kidding, Or am I????? he he

Really? It's so even coloured. He looks like someone dropped him in a cup of coffee

That's okay, was a little worried I might offend.

Greywing is a recessive gene, meaning that the parents would have been carrying it but not showing it. Could it possibly be a cinnamon?

Possums in New Zealand are a major disease vector for tuberculosis, infecting cows, deer and humans that they come in contact with. Thus when they infect cows they doubly infect anyone working with cows. Apparently Australia does not have tuberculosis in their wild possum population. Over here we sorta think of them as disease-ridden animals = equal to rats but more disease ridden. We also don't like them cause they eat our native birds. They are kinda cute, but I've heard horror stories about panicked ones climbing up people's legs and faces and shredding them as they go. One cool fact that you guys would probably like. Possums here graze on grass like cows and then go hide in the trees during the day. Tuberculosis is a disease caused by Mycobacterium bovis (in cows) which is zoonotic (meaning it can cross species) and is spread by inhalation of aerosols and saliva (I think) or ingestion of infected milk (and faeces?). It usually sets up base in the lungs where granulomas form. The bacteria invade immune cells and thus can never be eradicated from the body, so the way the body reacts is to wall them off in granulomas. If you get stressed or your immune system is compromised the bacteria can escape from the granuloma and set up new infection. Once you are infected you are infected for life. Every country has tuberculosis and about 1/3 of the whole population is currently infected. But they may not be showing signs because their immune system is covering it up. Once they get stressed (bad stress, stress from sickness, ill health etc, not everyday stress) or immunocompromised they can get reinfected. This goes the same for those who are vaccinated. Vaccinated people carry the vaccine form of the disease which acts the same as the wild form but is not as dangerous. It only really becomes a problem when they are immunocompromised, like have AIDS or something. Possums make eradication of the disease difficult because they act as a reservoir. If we did manage to get rid of all infected cows, then the possums would come down to the pasture and reinfect the cows. (To people who don't know, Aussies introduced the brushtail possum into New Zealand where it's population has grown to huge numbers (70 million) and eats our forests and native birds, not to mention infecting us and our livestock - so now you can see why we don't like em lol ) Sorry that went waaaaaaaaaaay off topic, but she did ask. You don't have to read that, I like to write it because it helps me study.

See how his brown colour covers his body completely, you could use that to develop your black birds.

Mmmm tuberculosis

I think she is just adorable.

They still don't know what is wrong with him and he is still the same. His only symptom is the PU/PD and the wing tremors. He is going to go in for a kidney biopsy tomorrow morning. I hope they find something, because they are stumped. The head of the avian and wildlife department (who is an aussie lol) suggested maybe a septic arthritis and to take a kidney biopsy. If it is not one of those then he may have a pituitary tumour, which can be hard to diagnose with out post mortem in budgies (not enough research has been done in that area). And if he has one, it would be very hard to treat as well. So it is either kidney problem or in his head (behavioural or literally in his head). Poor little fella, apparently he is quite happy there at the moment and the vet loves him.

I've seen an emu walk backwards, that's a load of bull ****. They can also kick backwards too (we got warned in our wildlife lecture). Therefore if they can kick backwards they can walk backwards Kangaroos don't walk in the first place, so they wouldn't walk backwards. It's like the whole 6second memory thing with goldfish. If that was the case how would they survive, you have to learn to live. Plus my goldfish know who I am (they look for food when they see me) and are always happy when they are home (they get moved to other people's houses during holidays). Dogs can definitely look at the sky. Pigs I'm sure can. A baby hare is called a Leveret (sp?)

Sorry AV, I know you don't want to hear this, but I think from what point's you've raised you probably shouldn't get Olly. For a first big pet bird, you need one with no issues and you have to be sure. If it's me I wouldn't want to hear that. I'd be like "Well. ... bah!" and then go sulk.

However in the picture his grey looks really grey, like black grey, not like mauve. Kaz, your Rocky looks different to me. MB post pictures of his rump, his wings etc etc.

But remembering that cinnamon can produce plum eyes which appear red on flash (my Bacardi monster). So she could also be a dilute cinnamon (aka cinnamon black eyed self). Can be a mystery with out known the back ground.