TextsFromParrots
Biking along the boulevard
Ugh. Just ugh. Sometimes I find the worst things about people. I got a call before going into work tonight to see a coworker I nearly never see around. She'd called because she heard I had an interest in birds. I said yeah and told her we had the budgies and Piper. She went off on this tangent about how her daughter had brought home a bird and all it did was scream and scream. That it was smelly and mean. They had to keep him covered almost all day to make him shut up and that that they had to nearly pin him down to clip his wings because he'd always bite you. Actually she said 'it' the entire time as she ranted and wanted to know if we wanted it because if not she was taking it to the humane society in the morning or in her exact words "I'm just opening the •••• cage and letting it go, it's warm out". She said she had a cockatoo and just wanted to give him away if I"d take him.
Soo yeah horrified I agreed I'd stop by her house on my way into work, I figured if it was a 'too I could see about finding a rescue in Ohio or at least hold onto him/her a few days while I found one instead of having him tossed into a shelter or set free. She meant cockaTIEL not cockatoo. I was horrified. I seriously almost smacked her and even though I intended to not make any choices, I just couldn't walk away.
He was the prettiest grey tiel with bright orange cheeks and stuck in an AQUARIUM with a mesh lid on it. He had ONE perch, a big blue wheel and the entire bottom of his cage was filled with old corn cob bedding that had seen FAR better days. No toys, all seeds in his cup, the water was just...ugh. He thankfully hadn't started plucking but the moment she came in he started screaming and she actually went to smack the side of the aquarium. O.O I stopped her and kind of talked to him a little and went to open the cage when she told me that I couldn't since he would bite and hiss. He was a really mean bird and it was all her daughters fault for wanting the stupid thing.
Well I told her I'd take him, but I didn't want OR need the aquarium. There was no way I was leaving this guy in there. They'd only had him four months and apparently had never handled him since they got him. He was bought from petland and apparently was handfed and raised. They apparently told her that cockatiels were virtually silent and didn't need huge cages and since they had them in aquarium type things she thought it'd be fine. She didn't buy him toys because "He just destroys them so he obviously doesn't want them". And the seed diet turned out to be hamster food of all things since they had a hamster and it was easier to just buy the same food for both.
She went to find a large box since I didn't have a carrier on me and I got out a bit of millet and started talking to him. I tried slipping a perch in to see if he'd step up so I didn't freak him out more and he just stepped right onto it quiet as could be. The woman came back and he started this high pitched whistling and his crest went up so to hell with being polite I took the box and asked her leave. I put some shredded paper down and got him in the box where he calmed down and brought him home.
I got Piper's old cage and did some shuffling around with the budgies so I could put him in the spare room away from the other birds and settle him in. i set up some toys and mixed some seeds into Zureem pellets, some fresh fruits, some millet worked into a toy and a whole thing of nice clean water. I got him out carefully since from what she said he'd gotten into some habits. he kind of turned his head and stared at me before staring at the perch and then climbed onto my hand. He puffed himself entirely up and bent his head down to rub his crest against my thumb so I could rub it. He doesn't have a mean bone in his body.
I got him settled, confessed to m'lady what I'd done and had to go to work. She said that he's been screaming a bit, and he did give me a hard nip when i moved too fast, but he's not anything like what the woman portrayed him as. He seems to really want to bite if you get near his cage, but he steps up fine on a perch and once out all he wants is his head rubbed and to snuggle against your neck. Hell m'lady had a hard time putting him to bed since he kept giving plaintive little calls for her. I'm just..horrified she left him like that. His tail tip is all rubbed off from not having enough room to move around in, his feet have places where feces have got all on them, he's in fantastic condition considering how he was kept.
He's got a vet appointment in the AM and I'm not sure he'll be ours or not. Right now I just wanted him OUT of that situation. Until then we'll be taking care of him and I'll be getting him a bigger cage in the morning when I get off work. I just...UGH...I don't think I can ever be civil to this woman again. Ever.
To end on a cheerful update m'lady said he looks like an overly dignified penguin when he puffs up and decided his name shall be Admiral Sigmund Fluffington since he didn't come with a name. Siggy for short. Sigmund is a stuffed penguin in a book series we read by the way.
Ugh now back to work. What a freaking day!
Soo yeah horrified I agreed I'd stop by her house on my way into work, I figured if it was a 'too I could see about finding a rescue in Ohio or at least hold onto him/her a few days while I found one instead of having him tossed into a shelter or set free. She meant cockaTIEL not cockatoo. I was horrified. I seriously almost smacked her and even though I intended to not make any choices, I just couldn't walk away.
He was the prettiest grey tiel with bright orange cheeks and stuck in an AQUARIUM with a mesh lid on it. He had ONE perch, a big blue wheel and the entire bottom of his cage was filled with old corn cob bedding that had seen FAR better days. No toys, all seeds in his cup, the water was just...ugh. He thankfully hadn't started plucking but the moment she came in he started screaming and she actually went to smack the side of the aquarium. O.O I stopped her and kind of talked to him a little and went to open the cage when she told me that I couldn't since he would bite and hiss. He was a really mean bird and it was all her daughters fault for wanting the stupid thing.
Well I told her I'd take him, but I didn't want OR need the aquarium. There was no way I was leaving this guy in there. They'd only had him four months and apparently had never handled him since they got him. He was bought from petland and apparently was handfed and raised. They apparently told her that cockatiels were virtually silent and didn't need huge cages and since they had them in aquarium type things she thought it'd be fine. She didn't buy him toys because "He just destroys them so he obviously doesn't want them". And the seed diet turned out to be hamster food of all things since they had a hamster and it was easier to just buy the same food for both.
She went to find a large box since I didn't have a carrier on me and I got out a bit of millet and started talking to him. I tried slipping a perch in to see if he'd step up so I didn't freak him out more and he just stepped right onto it quiet as could be. The woman came back and he started this high pitched whistling and his crest went up so to hell with being polite I took the box and asked her leave. I put some shredded paper down and got him in the box where he calmed down and brought him home.
I got Piper's old cage and did some shuffling around with the budgies so I could put him in the spare room away from the other birds and settle him in. i set up some toys and mixed some seeds into Zureem pellets, some fresh fruits, some millet worked into a toy and a whole thing of nice clean water. I got him out carefully since from what she said he'd gotten into some habits. he kind of turned his head and stared at me before staring at the perch and then climbed onto my hand. He puffed himself entirely up and bent his head down to rub his crest against my thumb so I could rub it. He doesn't have a mean bone in his body.
I got him settled, confessed to m'lady what I'd done and had to go to work. She said that he's been screaming a bit, and he did give me a hard nip when i moved too fast, but he's not anything like what the woman portrayed him as. He seems to really want to bite if you get near his cage, but he steps up fine on a perch and once out all he wants is his head rubbed and to snuggle against your neck. Hell m'lady had a hard time putting him to bed since he kept giving plaintive little calls for her. I'm just..horrified she left him like that. His tail tip is all rubbed off from not having enough room to move around in, his feet have places where feces have got all on them, he's in fantastic condition considering how he was kept.
He's got a vet appointment in the AM and I'm not sure he'll be ours or not. Right now I just wanted him OUT of that situation. Until then we'll be taking care of him and I'll be getting him a bigger cage in the morning when I get off work. I just...UGH...I don't think I can ever be civil to this woman again. Ever.
To end on a cheerful update m'lady said he looks like an overly dignified penguin when he puffs up and decided his name shall be Admiral Sigmund Fluffington since he didn't come with a name. Siggy for short. Sigmund is a stuffed penguin in a book series we read by the way.
Ugh now back to work. What a freaking day!
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He already seems rather friendly, I have suspicions it was mostly the mother that was the problem. Someone had to have been handling him given how he behaved when we got him home. Poor little guy.
poor baby...bet your feelings for the coworker just went down about a gazillion percent
he is soo handsome.. 
Thank you sooooo much for taking this little one in.. He surely was living in a nightmare at his old home.. Gee whiz living in a aquarium, poor little guy.. 
