stace

Thought I'd share. Here's Nelson talking to his thumby girlfriend, aka Toots or Boo Boo. This was taken maybe two months ago. *Warning*. Contains a slightly rude word! (Not my fault. It's my idiot husband who taught him that before he realised what a little talker he would become.)

Little Pistachio. He sounds adorable. I'm so sorry. I'm with the others. "Grief is the price we pay for love." Just give yourself a little bit of time.

What a cute little lad is Oscar. Love the old baby photo. He looked like a little teletubby.

When mine had his very first moult, it was only a little tiny one too. His second moult was a bigger one. From time to time they just lose a few feathers, but it's not really a fully fledged moult.

'Lambchop' is a very cute name. Your could pair it with 'Potato' ! As for the brown gelding, what about a nut name. Like Macadamia or Brazil.

If the extra $$$ aren't an issue, I'd go the bigger one. Once you get one, check out the cages topics on here to see how to set it up so budgie likes it. It can be quite fun setting up house, if you like a bit of home decorating! I reckon the best idea is to put seven layers of newspaper on the bottom of the cage, to make cleaning really easy. Just fold up and whip out one sheet every day. No mess. No worries.

Put her open cage outside where she can see it if she happens to be around somewhere close and flies by. You never know. They can fly quite a distance, but you can only do so much flyer posting.

Hi Phylly, If you haven't already....put notices up wherever you can, and call the local vets and pound. When and if someone finds her, they often ring those places, not knowing what else to do. Put notices up online wherever you can too. People will search online for notices of 'lost budgie, found budgie' and so on... Good luck.

So she can throw a tanty just like Russell Crowe! You've got a lovely little Aussie battler there, Pops. I know what you mean about not wanting to cage her up. I went through the same thing with my little rescue budgie. However, he wouldn't have lasted more than a few days in the wilds of downtown Sydney. No food. Lots of hungry bird-eating beasties. And being blue, he'd stick out like a sore thumb. Pity Gladiator doesn't reside in the same continent. Mine is currently desperate and dateless. He likes sunsets, good food and a cheeky sense of humour. Looks not important

Gladiator. What a great name for a brave little budgie. Love to see the picture of the nesting box set up you've made, Pops. Good on you. (Maybe one the forum people on here can help. You've got to upload them onto Photobucket. I think there are instructions up in the guidelines section) I've heard about escaped pet budgies hanging out with other small birds, sparrows and the like, seeking the company of the flock.

Sorry Pops, I presumed you were here in Oz. Obviously not an Aussie bird then.

This was in Kaz's excerpts from a present day mice expert. He suggests a surrounding barrier. Too hard? "

Hey Pops, Just to be sure, it's a pet-type budgie, not a wild one?

I just heard on the ABC news this morning that there's a mouse plague on in South Australia with conditions around much of the country ripe for uncontrolled breeding. Not much help, but at least it might explain why you've got a problem.

Radish and beetroot! I'll give it a whirl. Can you serve the canned stuff, too? I tried feeding tomato, as I wanted him to eat something red, but he doesn't like it.

Mine goes mad for carrot. So much so I have to ration it sometimes because his face - and poops - turn bright orange. Fruit isn't much to his liking. But he does like apple, and sipping on orange juice. Sometimes he likes a strawberry, especially the outside bits. Makes a big mess of himself with it though, covered in bright red splatter spray or else just a completely red face if he's done a face dump. For a real treat, find some seeding grasses (collected away from polluted roads and doggy doo, and washed). I keep a small bunch in a cup of water in the fridge for those times when he simply won't get back in his cage when I really need to leave the house pronto. Sucks him in every time.

Pity the snake didn't hang around long enough to eat the mice! I don't have an aviary, but it sounds like a bit of horror story. Remember than mice plaque out bush a few years back? Had a mouse (or two) in my house once, that I couldn't ever catch. Only thing that got rid of him was when the next door neighbours got a cat.

Thanks for the reality check, Kaz. For a moment there I'd nearly set him up with a new wife, kids and a mortgage! And yes, Hezz, he kisses everything. Big smacking kisses. I had no idea they'd mimic that as well. I've created a little kissing monster. A while back when he went through his first ever moult, I had a brief problem with him biting. I tried all the stuff everyone said to do, like ignoring him, putting him in his cage, blowing on him, saying NO. The only thing that stopped him was repetitive kisses on his beak. It seemed to throw him long enough to make him forget he was in a bitey mood. As for his name, it started off as Nelson. That's his "official' name. It's the name of my hometown, as well as the famous English Admiral. But he gets called Toots, Little Toot, or Boo Boo. I just uploaded a photo of him in to my profile. It's from about a month after I found him. Or he found me, really. One day he just flew in through my open balcony and started dancing on my head while I was on the phone. He loves my husband. I'm still wondering if it's because he grew a moustache for Movember and hasn't shaved it off yet - and it's a lot like a birdie snuggle. I work from home a lot, so Toots gets to fly free for much of the day. When His Majesty arrives home from work, and I say "Daddy's home!" he gets so excited, flying up and down the house from one end to the other squawking like a mad thing. We've got a really long skinny terrace house so he gets around 20 metres of flying space. He can't really get some speed up. There you go. Just put his photo as my avatar.

My budgie is a hopeless romantic. Lucky I'm not too prudish, I guess! Poor little thing. It's sad really. He was a rescued baby, so I was never prepared for the whole budgie ownership thing. They're adorable things, birds, but a little strange. At least to a first-timer like me. I know he wants a girlfriend, but I just can't commit to another bird at the moment, especially when I wasn't planning on any at all. He likes to sit perched on my finger and pressed up really close under my nose. We call it his 'facetime'. This afternoon I sang him "Rockabye Birdie in the treetop". He sits there really still, pushing his beak into my top lip and goes off into a complete trance. My little weirdo.

Righto. In the meantime, I'll just have to hide my mobile phone, my pens, the TV remote, the sugar bowl, my keys, sunglasses, all the cutlery, jewellery.... It's made all the worse as he's once of those talkers: "I love you. Who's a little cutie. You're gorgeous. My little baby. You're so naughty. Daddy's home. Yeah, baby..." Careful what you say to your bird. It may come back to haunt you in ways you never imagined.

Hmmm. My single male budgie, upon reaching the age of around 8 months, has suddenly decided he wants to mate with every inanimate object he comes into contact with. Everything, to his eyes, is a girl budgie. My question is: is this a 'stage'? Or will he keep it up forever?

Clearly he's not disabled. Just 'differently abled'. When do you give him a name? Too soon?

I'm in Sydney city, and don't know of any local cheap as chips places. If anyone knows where I could get a cheapish flight cage in Sydney, let me know. I'd like one for a spare when and if I need to have my budgie babysat or for easier transporting. The bigger one I've got set up at home is a nightmare to lug around, even when dismantled.

If you check out unshun's post about "Found budgie, a little concerned", there's a photo in the 10.03 am post. That's a flight cage that the rescued bird is in. Your little budgie would be much happier in a cage like that. You can find them online, and they cost between $40 and $70 here in Oz.

Poor little fella. About six months ago i rescued a little guy, too. Never found his owner. Just goes to show. If you ever lose a budgie, or any pet, post its details up online ASAP. If it was up in the internoodle somewhere, I would have found it.