u/rrport

Mine likes saying:

"I'm a BAD bird"

"Peekaboo"

"It's GOOOOD" (when he gets his favorite fruit snacks)

"Hey baaaaabbbbyyyy" (when I come home. I assume he picked this up from his previous owner)

"Good byebye" (when he thinks I'm going to leave)

"Come out?" (when he wants to be let out"

"Come here" (when he wants attention"

"You're a good bird"

"Birdiebirdiebirdiebirdiebirdie"

"Twinkle twinkle twinkle twinkle twinkle" (failed attempt to teach him twinkle twinkle little star)

"Jingle bell jingle bell jingle all the way" (he mostly hums this)

"NIGHT NIGHT" (gets progressively more aggressive if I don't cover him fast enough)

and more...

I found a listing for these cockatiels a few weeks ago and I had been chatting with the previous owner trying to get her to lower the price. The listing showed these two cockatiels in a shitty (literally) cage with a nesting box. When we picked them up and took the entire cage, we found fertilized eggs in the nesting box. I took the parents directly to an board certified avian vet and asked about the eggs. He told me to throw them out, but this was before I knew they were fertilized. They look to be about somewhere between days 7-10? I only have experience with rescuing and not breeding. I mostly despise backyard breeders. I had to throw away the old cage because of the rust and literal shit and the nesting box fell apart. I made a makeshift nest out of Tupperware and placed it in their new cage and they have taken zero interest in it all day. What now? I see embryos in the eggs.

Edit: Let me clarify, I don't want to throw out the eggs when there's life. Just at a loss for what to do. I have them in a maleshift incubator until a real one gets here tomorrow. The temperature is at 83F and humidity is 72%.

Previous post here

And yes, I've taken her to the vet. Four times now.

I need help.

I got this girl in June from someone who kept her in a decorative, fake, and extremely dirty cage. Her feathers were stained with sh*t, and it was pretty obvious she had been neglected. I became concerned about her constant regurgitation immediately after eating and her inability to keep her food down, so I took her to the vet as an emergency.

The first vet diagnosed her with an upper respiratory infection and gave her a nebulizer treatment, saline rinse, and Baytril in her water. I wasn’t thrilled about the medication being given that way, but since it was an emergency appointment and the vet was two hours away, I didn’t have much time to question it.

After I moved five hours north, she started doing it again. Thankfully, there are two board-certified avian vets near me now. I explained her entire history to the vet, and he said he doesn’t like giving birds oral medications, so he gave her a Ceftazidime injection in her crop. There was no change.

I took her back again, and this time he did a crop smear to check for bacteria. If that comes back negative, I honestly don’t know what else to do. I’ve spent over $1,000 on her so far, and I don’t regret a single penny of it. I just feel completely stuck because I want to help her, but I don’t know what else I can do.

I have a Quaker parrot (10+ years old) who was found as a lost pet and was presumably abused. I've been working with him pretty intensely for about three months. He used to not let me touch him at all, but now he'll let me touch his beak and briefly pet the area right above it for a few seconds. I feel like he isn't able to get a lot of social interaction from me or my partner because he's aggressive toward us, which I think is probably a combination of his past abuse and territorial behavior. I've accepted that he may never be fully hand tame around people, so I'm wondering if getting him another bird to keep him company would be a good idea. I love the little guy and I just want to make sure he's content. Of course his new friend would be kept in a separate cage just in case.

I lost my hermit crab for NINE DAYS, and he just reappeared today.

I JUST moved into a new house out of state, five hours away. I arrived at the new house around midnight and was completely exhausted. I had brought 19 animals with me in total: 3 dogs, 14 birds, and 2 hermit crabs. I had the hermit crabs in Tupperware containers that were taped shut with a heating pad on them, and I figured setting up their 55-gallon tank could wait until the next day.

When I woke up, both hermit crabs had somehow managed to get out of the Tupperware. I found my tiny hermit crab on the countertop, but I could not find my massive one anywhere.

There was no furniture in the house at the time, just a few boxes. I checked under and inside everything I could think of, including every appliance. There were no holes in the walls or other obvious openings that could have allowed him to get outside. I searched everywhere and eventually had to accept that I had somehow lost my hermit crab.

I felt terrible. I had never just lost an animal like that before.

Then today, NINE DAYS LATER, I walk into the room and find him casually sitting in the middle of the floor.

Where has he been this entire time? What has he been doing for nine days?

This crab is over 10 years old and absolutely massive. It is genuinely difficult to understand how he managed to completely disappear in an otherwise nearly empty house for over a week and then simply reappear in the middle of the floor.

I am extremely relieved to have him back, but I would really like an explanation.

Just kidding. I'm moving 5 hours and this is their travel cage. Wish them luck.

I saw this girl listed online, and I'd been wanting another female cockatiel for a while so my other one could have a friend. The first thing I noticed was that she was living in a dirty decorative cage, which explains her stained tail. I messaged the seller to ask about her, and they told me I could come get her right away.

I brought her home and set her up in my parakeets' old cage (pictured) to start quarantine. I also scheduled a vet appointment, but the earliest they could get her in was two weeks away. During that time, I started transitioning her to pellets, worked on step ups with millet, and discovered she's a total sass queen. She'll step up, but only on her terms, and she absolutely loves head scratches.

About a week later, I noticed her droppings were very watery. She couldn't keep her food down and was constantly regurgitating. I got really worried, and when she started getting worse, I rushed her to the emergency vet. $400 later, she had a nasal flush, several injections, nebulizer treatments, and antibiotics for what turned out to be a pretty severe upper respiratory infection.

I'm so happy she pulled through. I was terrified she'd be mad at me afterward and that all the trust we'd built would be gone. Thankfully, even if she's a little more reluctant now, she still steps up for me and happily takes treats.

Has anyone had a quaker do this? I've only had him for about a month, and he's at least 8 years old. He's normally extremely aggressive and would lunge anytime I tried to touch him. I've been working on getting him comfortable with me and trying the "head rub trick," where I rub my own head, act relieved, then pretend I'm going to scratch his head.

Yesterday, after a month of trying, he finally let me pet him. It started with just above his beak and his cheeks, then by the end of the day I could pet pretty much anywhere on his head with only an occasional lunge.

Today, though, he didn't even want to come out of his cage, which is unusual. He still came over to eat here and there, just maybe not as much as normal. I am also working on transitioning him from the fruity Zupreem pellets to regular natural pellets. He seems alert, and yesterday he was flying around like crazy and honestly got way more exercise than he usually does. I can usually voice command him too. I can say "night night" and he normally gets so excited and flies right into his cage. It was two hours past his bedtime and I finally had to pick him up with a blanket and tossed him in. He LET ME? He flew onto his swing in excitement then and let out his usual goofy noises. Today he's been oddly quiet.

I'm not sure if he's just settling in now that I finally got to pet him, if he's worn out from all the flying yesterday, or if I should be worried that something else is going on. He still let me pet above his beak a little bit today here and there. Has anyone experienced something similar? It's like he hit a switch somehow.

I supervised him the entire time yesterday and I don't recall him hitting his head or anything like that. I already have a vet appointment made just in case.

I've always referred to him as a he. He's 4. The yellow-sided one is a younger girl.

he's never done this?? please tell me it's just silliness

I'm honestly scared of my quaker, and I've only had him for a little over a month. He'll take treats from my hand, but if I try to pet him or get him to step up, he'll lunge at me. I'm at the point where I'm nervous every time I put my hands near him.

I got him from someone who had him for eight years after he was believed to be an escaped pet. She tried to find the owners, was unable, and kept him. I also have three conures, two cockatiels, and six parakeets, so I'm not new to birds. I can handle conure bites tearfully, but this little guy honestly scares me.

I've tried target training as suggested into oblivion by this subreddit, but every time I bring out the stick, he climbs to the top of his cage and stays there. He hates the sounds of the clicker, too. He does the same if I try to get him to perch on a standing perch in my hand. I've tried gloves. I feel like I'm doing something wrong. I feel so defeated.

The weird part is he's doing great otherwise. He loves taking treats, enjoys being misted for bath time and says "bath time" over and over, and I've already taught him two songs and a trick where he spreads his wings and bows. He is cute and hilarious and I hope he is happy. I just can't seem to get him comfortable with my hands. I would love him to allow me to be his friend. I feel like I'm not a good fit for him as an owner sometimes.

I've had her for a little over a month and she's almost 4 months old now.

She will step on perches for millet and will eat seeds from my palm if my other conure does. But she will not step up on my fingers still. Sometimes she'll "feel" my hand and fingers with her beak and will bite. But still won't step up for a treat. I felt like I was making real progress and now things are stagnant.

She'll perch on me if she falls onto the floor and needs help getting up. That is the only time and she'll immediately fly off once she's a little higher to reach her cage.

I just got a new cockatiel two days ago who wasn't tame at all when I got her. She's already stepping on me and letting me pet her.

Is it even possible? I got him only a few weeks ago from a woman who owned him for about 8 years. She found him as an escaped pet all those years ago and was unable to find the owner, so she kept him. She was never able to make him comfortable with hands. He will take treats from you, fly onto your head, and will even do tricks for you. But he is not comfortable with hands. He has never perched on people nor been pet before.

I'm sorry for the video. I'm not trying to antagonize him or anything. I only tried to start desensitizing him to hands today and I don't think it's working.

I have ten other birds and I'm only really having problems with taming him. He must've been abused before.

I've been searching for a friend for my 8 year old cockatiel who I've only had for two months. I can't find anyone who is rehoming a single cockatiel in my area, besides babies. I see a lot of people rehoming cockatiels in pairs who are closer to her age. Would it be bad for me to possibly take in two more instead of one? I don't want her necessarily being singled out if I were to get two.

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And yes, I'm aware about the quarantining period and taking them to the vet for checkups.

Mom is fully cinnamon

Dad is fully yellow-sided

I recently learned that female green cheeks can't be split for cinnamon or yellow-sided. If they inherit the gene, they show it. Only males can be split. So a normal-colored baby from a cinnamon mom and yellow-sided dad would actually be expected to be a male split cinnamon and split yellow-sided. Am I understanding this correctly?

I took my 8 year old female cockatiel to the vet today. I've only had her for two months and I'm her third owner.

She's had excessive polyuria since I got her. Her previous owner claimed her watery droppings were normal, but I don't think that's right, especially since she's on a good diet of Zupreem pellets. I read hormones can sometimes cause polyuria in cockatiels, so I waited until I could get her to the vet.

Her fecal test came back completely clear, which surprised me since I expected a bacterial or fungal infection.

She does have occasional hormonal behavior, and my vet said if the polyuria continues after hormonal season ends, kidney issues could be a possibility, though bloodwork would be needed to confirm it. She wants to rule out hormonal causes first before doing bloodwork under anesthesia.

I'm nervous about anesthesia because I previously lost an 8 year old sun conure during a procedure. The vet said I can keep bringing in stool samples to monitor for infection.

Has anyone dealt with this before? If it ends up being kidney related, are there any foods or supplements that may help? She's very picky and mostly eats Zupreem pellets. Rarely will she eat veggies.

Oh, and the vet did suggest adding some nutriberries to her diet..