lil_fuzzy

Yeah, I know lots of people don't treat their animals right, it's just frustrating to know about a specific case and not being able to do anything:( We've complained about them to the housing commission and mentioned that they might wanna notify child services, but they have ignored us so far...

I was out in the garden just now, and heard budgies. I thought it was mine at first, but then I realised it was coming from the house over the back. I had a look over the fence and noticed a tiny round cage hanging from the ceiling in their patio area with 2 budgies in it. It wasn't up against a wall or anything. These are the last people who should be keeping any kind of animals. Only reason they can afford to live in this area is because the housing commission bought the house. They have been a constant pain for the last 2 years with constant screaming and swearing at their 10 kids, and the neighbours on both sides of them have packed up and moved to get away from them. They keep throwing rocks and balls at our roof and cats, throw rubbish like empty wrappers and dead toads into our garden on a regular basis, and are generally unpleasant people. Their house is a total dump with rubbish and toys and laundry everywhere. And now they are keeping animals. Excellent.

I've read the taming part of the FAQ and have started on your journal. Looks very useful and your birdies are gorgeous:) I'd prefer them to be hand tamed, but I don't really expect them to be. Will give it a try tho, thanks:)

Is this okay to give them? We have heaps and heaps of it growing in the veggie garden, but it's too tough to be eaten raw and we prefer raw veggies... So if the birds can eat that would be good. And also, from the list of unsafe foods it says organic strawberries are fine, so the ones growing in ouor veggie garden would be fine? There's also lemon grass, parsley and tomatoes growing there, do they like any of those?

Yeah, makes sense. My old budgies were out all day and returned to their cage on their own when they got hungry in the evening. I'm just worried that these won't wanna go back in the cage, and because they're scared of me catching them would be a problem... Do you think they've been here long enough to know that the cage is home? (3 weeks today)

I absolutely adore ferrets:) I used to have one years ago, and they are sooo much fun. I want one or two now, but my partner has put his foot down:( "Rats", he says.

Hehe:) I'm sure it must be because they were aviary birds... My old budgies never made much noise, and they were never in an aviary.... Oh well:/

Right.. The screaming wouldn't be so bad if it was just a couple of occasional screams, it's just they keep screaming and screaming and I can't hear myself think...

Here's a video. They actually haven't been too bad today, they get worse than what the video shows. I don't think it shows how loud they get, this leaves me with ears feeling numb and ringing... And this is the pleasant kind of chatter which I don't mind at all, I think it's cute:) They have actually been very brave today:) Usually they stop what they're doing to go and huddle in the corner whenever I walk past, but today they were getting into the millet spray and just stopped and looked at me while I walked past and then continued eating:)

If it doesn't get better then yeah, they have to go somewhere else. The thing is the whole house is open plan and I wanted them in a room where they can be let out occasionally without having to move the cage back and forth. The only other rooms with doors are the other offices and bedroom.. I'll make a video tomorrow, they're covered up for the night now:)

Oh good, cause I bought some wormer today and I wouldn't have liked it if it was a waste of money:)

Well, covering doesn't really work. It worked the first couple of days, prolly because they were so spooked by me going over to their cage that they went quiet for a while. But now they're used to it and usually keep screaming after they've been covered up. I think they actually enjoy being covered, it makes them feel safe or something...

Are you saying that ivermectin also treats worms? The pet store stuff sounds like a hassle, with repeated treatments. I checked the list of avian vets and there's one a 15 min drive from here, and I guess they will definitely have ivermectin, so I'll go with that. Thanks:)

Thanks for the excellent advice:) I don't really like the thought of having to catch them every day to rub oil on them... I'll check if the pet store has anything for SF, the vet said they would. If not, I'll go to a different vet and get ivermectin. Thanks for the tip on detol, will definitely get some of that:)

The Avitrol bird mite and lice spray is the one I was looking at in the pet store, but I thought I'd ask before getting anything. So is it worth getting, or should I just go to a different vet and get the ivermectin? I can't drive my partner's sports car (stupid gears) so he'd have to drive me to a vet, but the pet store is in walking distance, so if the pet store stuff works I'll stick with that. Even if I have to repeat the treatment it's really cheap and one bottle should last ages... But I'll do whatever you recommend, you're the gurus:)

We went to the vet just now to get something to treat scaly face, but the vet didn't have anything and when I told her it was for SF she just said to go to a pet store to get something for it. But in here people say don't get stuff from the pet store... I would have thought the vet knew what she was talking about? And the pet store stuff says it treat mites and stuff, and I thought they weren't allowed to say it treats something if it doesn't, because that's false advertising? And also the vet said that all wooden perches must be replaced, but the pet store stuff just says to spray the perches. Is there any way to disinfect them so we don't have to replace them?

I don't think whether or not they would be able to survive in the wild should be the requirement for whether or not they are worth breeding. Just think of all the dog breeds we have that are pretty and healthy, but wouldn't survive in the wild, not to mention all the species of aquarium fish which have been changed both in shape and colour. You have the fanatics who won't keep any fish which doesn't exist in the wild, and then you have the ones who just want the fish to be pretty and colourful. For me the requirement for breeding is that the animals being bred are healthy and happy and can have normal lives without disabilities, not whether or not they can survive in the wild.

You never know, some people might still be breeding these types of birds. I know there are people still breeding the 'old' standard of certain purebred cats, so why not budgies?

No, haven't tried those. Will do:)

Thanks for the tip, I'll move their millet spray to the side nearest me. It's on the opposite side at the moment, with their seeds. They are still refusing to touch any fruit or veggies, so millet spray is the only thing I can use at the moment. I offer the fruit and veggies nearly every day, so I hope they'll learn to like it soon...

Awww that's terrible:( We've been really lucky here in Murrumba Downs, the storms have pretty much fizzled out by the time they reach us and we just get lots of flashes, noise and rain, but no real damage, apart from some fallen branches. Sunday's storm left us without power for 16 hours, but other than that nothing.

Yeah, pretty much what I've been doing. I'm in my office all day until 5 pm, and then sporadically throughout the evening. The cage is partially covered by a sheet, and that gives them a corner which they like to hide in when I do something scary, such as shift in my chair or look at them, or something equally dangerous. I haven't been offering them food, I wanted them to settle in a bit before I starting bugging them too much, but I guess now that it's been 2 weeks it's time to start..

An aviary was my first choice, but I was hoping they'd be able to get used to an indoor existence. I never expected them to be completely tamed, but to be reasonanly comfortable in my presence would be nice...

When I was a teenager I used to hang out in chat rooms ALL the time, and one day someone said the word 'bumfuzzle' which means to confuse in the southern part of Usa, and I thought it was a cute word so I started using it as my username, and had it for years. But then a couple years ago I signed up somewhere and didn't feel like using the same old username anymore, so I changed it to lil_fuzzy. I use it a couple of places, but my more commonly used username these days is Mvjnz, because I signed up to a forum about a year ago and just wanted to use the first letter of my name, M, but the forum required at least 5 characters, so I just put in 4 random letters. I've since used that in several forums..

The jump around a scream like they are very excited. The cage is more than big enough for 2, and we bought them lots of new toys last week, but I don't think they've figured out the purpose of toys yet, being aviary birds. I haven't let them out of the cage yet, they've been here for 2 weeks and I wanted to wait until they've settled in a bit more. They're still scared of me, and I'm worried that letting them out will freak them out and they'll injure themselves. As long as I'm sitting in front of my computer they're fine, and ignore me, but if I look at them they stop what they're doing to look at me in case I'm gonna do something scary, and if I get up and walk past the cage (which I have to to get to the door) they will huddle together in a corner.