CaspersRose

He really is, GB. Initially I was a little disappointed that he was such a timid little man not wanting to sit on our shoulders or hang out outside his cage with us (we wonder if he had a bit of a frightening start to life, and has therefore become quite distrusting and therefore difficult to tame). But he is a really, really social little guy from inside his cage. His cage is right next to the lounge, where we spend most of our time, and he will chat away with us all day, and when he wants some affection, he comes to the side of his cage and gives us little kisses through the bars (as long as our hands are not in sight!). He will even come and give us kisses through the bars if we put our faces close and ask him for a kiss! So we love him... things would certainly be less fun without him!

is the Messiah!!"

I think I

"Behold! I come..."

Very sorry... I was going to suggest the same thing as GB... a lovely planter box at the front door, or on the window sill or somewhere where you walk past it every day, with some lovely flowering plants in it... and Twitter in his little coffin box telling them to grow.

for hours until

front of him.

before he knew

because he didn't

with crunchy crutons

Hehe... some might say it $ just good timing... but as his mother, I definitely have to agree with you, Kaz!

Okay, so I just told Smokey what a right little comedian he is, making Liv laugh like that.. his response: "Thankyou, can I have a kiss?". Doh!

Without detracting from the potential seriousness of your little debarcle, Krosp... it is kind of funny looking at him with his red splotches! It isn't every day that you see a budgie looking as though he's spent the day in the studio creating Australia's next abstract masterpiece! Very cute!

hehe... thanks Liv!

We had friends over on the weekend and were having a bit of a brag about how well Smokey talks. We were telling them his repertior of 12-15 phrases and he was chortling away, showing off and talking for them. Needless to say, our friends were fairly impressed. Anyway, during lunch, we were all sitting at the table, Smokey in his cage in the corner, when we hear "look at me" from Smokey... so we all look over to reply only to see him holding on to his swing with one foot and rampantly humping his rope perch! How embarrassing! But it didn't stop there! He continued to do this until i got up to avert his attention to something else, and you know what he said to me?! "Excuse me!" as though I was rudely interrupting him! Everybody laughed at this, of course, then I got down close to his cage and said to him that he can't stay if he's going to do that stuff and he said "okay"! Oh my gosh... just like a teenage boy! So Smokey was moved to the outdoor table to do whatever it was he wanted/needed to do to keep himself entertained, and we continued our lunch inside. Needless to say he has had a week of early nights since then, and from now on we will be seriously considering what he can and cannot be taught to say!

My Casper was very quiet adn slow to come out of his shell too, but when he did, he tamed up really easily. He would sit on my shoulder all day if i let him, go back to his cage on command, let me scratch his tummy etc. He wasn't very talkative though... learnt two or three phrases, adn didn't really sing much. Smokey on the other hand has been a talker and singer right from day one. He picked up phrases really quickly adn now has about 20 phrases and actually has little conversations with us using his phrases! He sings all day and will come to the side of his cage for kisses and a chat when we sit down on the lounge next to his cage. He seems really interested in us as long as we're not in his cage! He really hasn't tamed up well. He will step up happily unless you try to take him out of hte cage on your finger. He's really freaked out by hands and fingers, even though I have done with him exactly what I did with Casper (perhaps I have even perservered longer than I did with Caspy), but is just as much fun because he's so social. So there are as many temperaments and personalities in budgies as there are in people! My two have been chalk and cheese and I often wonder what they would have been like if had been around at the same time! I loved how tame Casper became, but often wished he'd been a bit more talkative. And I love how talkative Smokey is, but often wish he'd let me have a "cuddle" like I could with Casper.

Grevillea has always gone down really well with the budgies I've had over the years. I have generally found that the light coloured softer, newer shoots at the end of the branches and the flowers are the most popular bits for eating... they generally just shred and play with the tougher, darker leaves. They also love bottle brush branches (soft bits and flowers for eating, tougher bits for playing with).

I must say that I am not a tattoo fan, but those are really nice! ... very classy! I think the big gaudy all over the body, difficult to work out what they are kind of tattoos possibly do spoil the reputation for the classier, more artistic ones!

I posted this one the other day, but it seems to have disappeared... maybe I stuffed up!!

Hehe! What a cutie! It's hilarious when budgies do things which seem so un-budgie like! He looked like he was getting a bit cranky about not being able to catch it by the end of the second clip though! Someone else had footage of their budgie actually flying around the house chasing a moth or fly or something! Was it Hills, maybe?

From what I understand the period between moults can vary a lot from one budgie to the next depending on many factors. For example an indoor caged budgie might moult less frequently that an outdoor aviary budgie as a result of temperature variations, differences in diet and exercise, and just plain old different environment. My budgie is about 18 months old. He is an indoor caged budgie and has had three decent moults (the most recent one being the heaviest by far!) where he's got all scruffy and spikey looking, and just a couple of little light ones where his cage is covered in fluffy feathers, but he has no spikey patches. Others here might be able to add to this and describe the nature and frequency of thier own budgies' moults to help you get a bit of an idea of how different they can be.

"How do you like my meercat impersonation? Convincing, hey?!"

This is my new niece. She was born on Sunday the 26th of April, at 9:24pm weighing 2.78kg (6 pound 2 ounces), 47cm long. We all think she's the most beautiful thing on earth... but we may be a little biased!

Welcome! You have gorgeous budgies... I think Sparky is particularly handsome! And I agree with the others, your English is fine! It is a little bit funny really... we have a number of people for whom English is their second language and often they out us to shame! That and, well, really, it makes me a bit embarrassed about not being bilingual... English speaking people are so lazy because most of the world speaks English either as a first or second language and we just don't bother to learn another language because there is so little need... hmmm. I applaud you!