CaspersRose

hehe...ta!

Ta... that's what I thought!

Rose - Sydney, Australia rosebrown@lycos.com This is Casper. The photo was taken last Christmas, but I thought that seeing as the season has come (well, as far as Westfield is concerned anyway - I recon there should be a moratorium on all things Christmas until at least December 1st!) this photo would be quite fitting! Unfortunately Casper is no longer with us (he died a few weeks ago , but his photo has made its way onto our Christmas decoration collection to be brought out every year! MERRY CHRISTMAS!

I had been away from the forum for a while, and have just read up on you and your Lucas... what an amazing story, and how incredible a son is Lucas!? My fiance had a thalamic and pituitary brain tumor when he was eleven and so I have heard from him and his family what it was like going through the whole process you are right in the middle of. He was fairly lucky sixteen years ago, because much of the treatment he received was relativley new, but compared with what is available today in terms of paediatric medicine, relatively limited. He had surgery, which has left him with an ear-to-ear scar across the top of his head, and radiation therapy, which left him without any hair on the sides of his head, just above the ears. Having seen the cast he had for his therapy, I am surprised you hadn't commented on just how freaky it is to see your own son in it... I found Dave's freaky to look at, and it doesn't even resemble him all that much anymore! None-the-less, it is so small which really made me consider how incredibly resilient kids are... all the best to you and your family, and let Lucas know that there is a 27 year old bloke in Oz who survived his brain tumor and is loving life! Love and prayers

Absolutely... I think training a budgie is more an exercise in training ourselves... to be patient!

When I first got Casper he was extremely timid and easily spooked by me putting my hand in has cage etc. He hardly made any sounds (I thought for a while he might have been a girl! But eventually i could tell he was a boy) and didn't eat from my hand... not even millet. I continued to try to train him though. Just a few minutes here and there of putting my hand in his cage (not trying to do anything to him, but moving his toys, and changing his seeds etc) just to get him used to having my hand around him. I'd also spend a couple of minutes just resting my finger in front of his perch where he was sitting, sometimes, just touching his tummy above his feet. Gradually he began to put one foot on my finger and sit like that, then after a bit more time he would step up with both feet. He would jump off though as soon as i moved my hand. So I kept on doing all the same things, and all of a sudden, out of nowhere it seemed, it was like a switch was flicked and he was confident. It was almost as though he had come of age! I was doing the usual sitting onthe finger inside the cage thing, and he walked right up my arm and sat on my shoulder! From then on he was happy to step up, he'd play outside of his cage and not freak out when I or anyone else came near him. He even started getting up onto other people's fingers adn would spend hours at a time sitting on my shoulder. After that he started getting more vocal too, and learnt a few little phrases. It did take a lot of patience early on, but it did come eventually. Admittedly, he never warmed to being scratched or stroked really, and was a little wary of my left hand (i had obviously done everything with my right hand cos I am right handed!) and would only step up onto my right hand! But it is certainly a fantastic feeling once you have your budgie comfortable adn confident enough with you and its surroundings for it to start letting you be a bit mroe interactive with it!

Yellow Budgie: Hmmm... you see, most of us have eyes up here, ABOVE our beaks... that's why you're having so much trouble with husks getting caught in your eyebrows.

Aw... Merlin is so handsome! He reminds me a lot of my Casper, except Caspy didn't have a white splodge on the back of his head... but it looks as though he and Merlin shared similar personalities as well as good-looks!

It was just dabbed onto the four or five little areas with a cotton bud, so only the tiniest amount was used. I did consider this, but as it will be several weeks before I have any birds in it, I figured any fumes will have gone by then. And because I will be re-painting it as per the article, any residue of it will have to be removed prior to painting anyway, in order to prepare the surface for painting.

Thank you all for your tips and advice. I have ended up just spraying a little WD40 on it for now (as it will still be another several weeks before I get any new budgies), in the hope that that will halt the rusting process, and I might touch it up with some black paint just so it looks nicer. Once I have some new birdies I will give it another clean then simply keep it oiled up with olive oil or the like to prevent any more rust. It is reassuring to know, though, that the rust which I am seeing is not harmful!

Hi, I have just given Casper's cage a good, final clean-out (he died recently and it has taken me a little while to get myself to di it) in preparation for one or two new occupants. I washed it down with a mild domestos solution in really really hot water, hosed it down and dried it in the sun (along with all the toys). As I was cleaning it though, I noticed a couple of small rust spots, in the corners of the cage where the wire wall panels join, and on the door bit, where the latch hooks over the horizontal bar. The rest of the cage is still as good as the day I bought it. I have attached a few photos to give an idea of the size and location of these spots and was wondering a)if these are likely to be problematic given their size and location, and b)if there is a way of treating the rust spots which is budgie-friendly? The cage itself is 40x50x60 cm and it is a lovely cage (Casper loved flitting from one side to the other, and running around on the top where his play gym was) so I'd hate to have to replace it for the sake of some tiny rust spots. Any advice would be much appreciated. The corner, where the side panels join - this is the worst of them. There are three or four of these points showing signs of rust The loop which the door latch hooks over - here the paint has just worn through, I think, form the latch being used so much The cage - a bit hard to see cos it's black, but you get the idea!

I agree with all the pros and cons of clipping, but as far as in the house pet budies go, I think clipping is a worthwhile consideration. for all the reasons people have already mentioned. My Casper had always been unclipped, and whilst it took an age for him to be comfortable with my hand in his cage, he did get to the point where he would step up onto my finger, sit on my shoulder, say a few cute phrases etc. Unfortunately though, I lost him during the week, when he was out for a fly and he misjudged a landing, hitting the wall on an awkward angle. When I eventually bring myself to get another bird, the fact that it will be an indoors bird, and my first-hand experience of losing a budgie to the dangerous environments which are our homes, will, i think, lead me to having its wings clipped... I don't want to have to see another happy, healthy bird die if i am in a position to prevent it.

Hi all, My little man seems to be taking a fairly sudden spell of warm weather a bit poorly. He is all lethergic, has his wings out etc etc and is generally a bit dopey. I have given him a shallow bowl of water to paddle around in, and he has plenty of drinking water, but to you guys have any other tips on ways to cool him down? He just doesn't seem his usual self...

Woah! It has been months since i was last here! And it is really funny that one of the first posts i come to is this one, cos Casper has been "acting strangely" the last couple of days. he hasn't been madly humping anything (well, no more than usual - his poor calcium perch! If it were mine i wouldn't want to be sitting on it!) but he has certainly been flirty... and aggressive!!!! He charged at me when he was on top of his cage the other day - went straight for my nose and instead of giving me his normal kisses he took a chunk out of me! He loves the upright pole on his playgym and tried to rip shreds out of my hand when i went to get him on my finger while he was mid-pole dance! I decided to take away his ouside mirror, just to calm him down a bit (he still had his inside one if he wanted it) and just as i went to put it on the table, he flew at me and actually grabbed the chain on the mirror in his claws! He has been flirty to the point of distraction before, but never bitey or aggressive. I think there must be something in the air!

Thanks for your suggestions. I can see how a time out may not neccesarily be effective. I initially figured that if he was having fun on my hand, cutting his play time short by leaving to play by himself, rather then interacting was punishment enough - he would run to the edge of the cage for me to pick him up again, and i'd just ignore him (like you do i kid i suppose!). I will try what you suggested, eterri, using a word or a sound. In retrospect, i think i have kind of been doing this as every time he bites my face i shrug my shoulder and say "nice" - telling him to be nice! I will try to be a bit more conscious of doing it properly and see if it helps. He isn't at all agressive, just a bit too rough, so i don't want him to stop being the happy, playful budgie he is, just to know how rough is rough enough so to speak.

i wish Casper liked a bath because there's something cute about soggy budgies, isn't there? A bit like scruffy dogs... odd-lookingly cute!

Hi! It's been a while... Over the last few months my family and i have noticed Casper has become somewhat of a biter! Previously he was just a nibbler, but more recently has been having a real go at fingers and faces. It started with kisses on the nose becoming chunks out of the nose, and he progressed to biting the finger and hand he sat on and then into biting the face next to the shoulder he perched on. I have been really conscious of not putting up too much of a fuss when he does it so he doesn't think its all fun and games, and as mine is really the only shoulder he sits on and face he kisses, that part's not caused problems with him biting other people. But he does sit on the fingers of my family and friends when they are over, and now seeks out the fleshy bits, grabs hold and has a real good bite! He is getting better in the finger department as i have been doing a lot of work getting him to step off one finger and onto another etc trying to re-aquaint him with the basic etiquette of sitting on somebody's finger, and when he bites, i just put him back on his perch and leave him alone for a minute or two (a bit like "time out" with the naughty kiddies i work with!). I also stopped doing kisses up close, just so he wouldn't begin to associate my face with something to chew on! He doesn't bite mum and dad as often as he used to, but he still does it more often than i'd like and still goes for my face when he's on my shoulder! Is there anything else you guys recon i could try, or should i just persist with what i have been doing? It has been going on for about three months, and i have been working wiht him for about two of them to try to elimitate the behaviour. He is otherwise healthy, sociable, talking, flying around the loungeroom and dancing for his play gym pole as i write so i can't think of anything that might be distressing him (i can usually tell when its a grumpy bite and these are not grumpy bites)

yeah, i think it's all in the name!

how cute! Casper likes to do that, but i get a little paranoid that he'll nibble his way through the screen and escape! not likely, but still a little unnerving for me! He nibbles everything!

I had a budgie called bert when i was a kid. He came to us by accident one day, presented to us at the back door by our loving and genteel ***** cat. We had him for another 13 years after that. we don't know how old he was when we got him... he was fully grown, and didn't have any forehead lines... but we figured if he could survive such a dramatic arrival at our back door, he could survive anything and would probably be one of those pets that lives forever!! Incidentally, we still have that cat, but she's rather elderly now (20yrs old) and rather less mobile than she was back then!

Well it is now just over a week since i posted re: Casper's rather unattractive face, and here he is today: As you can see, all those feathers have grown, or are growing back and he is beginning to look handsome again - despite the spikeyness!!! His new feathers are so lovely and white too... oooh! So thanks to all who offered advice... in the end, the vet came to the same conclusion we did - it was just an unusual face moult, and she said that based on his heavy face-moult last time, it is probably normal-ish for Casper. He is all chirpy and dancing for his pay-gym pole as I speak! So yay for Casper and his weird feathers! :ausb:

yeah, our fluffy hut is now just a plaything...good for jumping on, stamping feet on, nibbling on, pooing on, and generally observing the world beyond the bars... makes me want a snuggle hut! It's currently just sitting on top of the cage and sir has got more use out of it flat and useless that he ever did with it hanging up!

Casper is exactly the same... i have never actually caught him inside his blue fluffy thing, except for the times when i have had to handle him and i put him back inside it. Even then he shoots out the other side the instant he's let go. I have tried all kinds fo things to entice him into it, putting millet inside, putting his ladder right up to it, hanging it on the outside of his cage with his play gym, i even put his beloved mirror inside it and he didn't go in! ... nothing! just found his gym pole to talk to instead! The closest he has come is sitting on top of it like your little one... ah well, whatever floats his little boat i suppose!

okay, just got home from uni and took another photo of the man, just to see if there are any changes: The new feathers (well, spikes) coming through are getting longer really quick and are between 2 and 5 mm long now, whereas yesterday they were only 1 or 2, maybe 3. My brother in law recons he looks like a gremlin after it has been in the water(?) with his whispy straight feathers making a bit of a mohawk. Have still got him in to see someone, just to make sure this hasn't happened because of anything sinister, but he seems to be back to his normal self, flying freely, chatting, singing and letting us handle him as usual. I've been home for an hour now and haven't seen him scratching at all either, which is a good sign. So hopefully it isn't too nasty, and something that can be easily treated and prevented from happening again! Thanks for all you help! :ausb:

that has got to be the funniest thing i have seen for a while!! I had mice when i was kid that culd run fast enough to power a light globe (school science project!), but i would never have imagined a budgie could run that fast!