Weavers in Petsmart

[Mexy52]

i had to vent a little bit.... i thought high of Petsmart until now. every now and then i'll go to a store or a flea market and look at their finches. if they look like they are in bad condition....i feel bad and end up taking them home to quarantine and doctor it. i've done this countless times at flea market and i dont even want to get INTO what those poor birds look like...but petsmart? i had a lady contact me from Wildlife and Domestic Rescue saying they had two female weavers come in. she asked if i have space for them and i said of course, they can go in my aviary with my pair of bishop weavers.

(i've removed the other finches and made this only a weaver setup)

anywho....she drove down to drop them off at my work since that was the only time available to meet and i live 5 minutes from home (so conveniant)...well we went in the bathroom and she uncovered her transportation cage. i couldn't believe it. they looked like babies. we transported them into my mini cage and she began to tell me their story. Petsmart in jacksonville Florida said they contacted the rescue because no one bought these birds and they had been there for 1...2....jk.... THREE YEARS. they were molting from stress because Petsmart was feeding them pellets and they were having a hard time eating them. from malnutrition their feathers looked rough and they needed vet care. the lady from the rescue advised them that softbills like these cant really eat the pellets they were feeding them. they were more for hookbills. she said the employee/manager (whoever it was) said "well regardless, these birds need to go are you going to take them or not". she couldnt believe it. NOT ONLY THAT, but these weavers were misidentified as GREEN SINGING CANARIES. they were half the size of a canary and didn't even look like a canary!!! these two havent been separated and i am so glad to have them. these poor things are 3 years old and so weak i was scared my weavers were going to bash them since most say they are aggressive (havent seen mine as aggressive yet though, could just be from being out of season though, my zebras use to pick the feathers out of my male weaver lol). well i put them all in since the avian vet i go to ok'd they had no illnesses and i saw them all last night huddled together sleeping. they eat together and dont pick on eachother. the lady said that they hadnt said a peep and didnt even know if weavers really make sounds. i said they do make a type of trill sound to each other. as soon as i put them in there they started chirping to each other, the male investigated them and now they all eat together on the bird feeder i have hanging from the middle or the food bowl and they all sleep together. my female are about twice the size of the ones i got (width size) so they have some weight to gain but since my male is named The Rock and the female is Jewel, i figured id do a "charlies angels type of thing" and name him The Rock and his Jewels hehehehe. i was worried about the smaller one since she was too weak to fly off from the ground of the cage, but by the end of the day she was able to figure it out and she's eating very well along with her sister and are now on the top of the cage with the pair. i normally have good pictures of my finches but considering my camera was dying after every picture i took and not every picture caught all 4 of them like i wanted, aaaand they were already scared after a long day, this is the only crappy picture i got at the moment. i'll take more later. the bottom two are the new females, the one on the side of the cage is my original female. and of course the male (in his not so pretty out of season colors, cant wait for his orange and black to come in for the new season)

 

[Parront]

 

[wonderb]

Thanks for giving them a home! I'm glad you removed the other species, because weavers can be very aggressive. You might even need to split up this group into other cages once they're in breeding condition.

 

[Paradox81]

The birds I saw at my local petsmart look horrible. The jenday and green cheek looked so stressed and feathers looked horrible. The parakeets had no food and thin. Makes me sad, I use to buy them in the past but I just can't afford to anymore with having two kids.

 

[TikiLola]

So sad. Glad you have them now!

 

[Bokkapooh]

With a better diet and life they will be better now. Just be very careful. Male weavers look like females until they most then it's like two male bettas getting at eachother!

How is your male and female behaving towards the new guys?

 

[Mexy52]

as of later in the evening there seems to be a little tension between the new ones. may have to be separated. but i noticed that the weaver has started to weave around a stick with coconut fiber. not sure what set him off to do this if it was the new ones being added in or idk. i thought they started to build in the spring? ive got my eyes pealed on them. if need be ill separate. i have many extra cages for emergencies.

 

[CrazyBirdLady]

That is so good of you to take them in. I think weavers are gorgeous. The spice finches at my petsmart always look so sick, I try to avoid the place. It makes me sad.

 

[Yoshi]

So glad you were able to take them in! I don't know anything about finches and weavers and such, but they sure are pretty.

 

[Anne & Gang]

so glad that you were able to take them in....they are gorgeous but I would absolutely separate them nowas weavers can be very aggressive...so keep them separately...I also do not like the round cage, as birds like corners to hide in and also a hint, birds love toys..our finch loved to play with toys....so glad you have them now and a pellet diet for a finch is just so stupid....they cannot even eat the smallest pellets and would expend way too much energy...our finch loved broccoli and peas and corn too...so those extra veggies might serve to fatten them up.

 

[Daisy's Mom]

Those poor little weavers.. Thank you so much for taking them in.. You truely are a angel..

 

[charisse12]

As an employee at Petsmart I must say I am so disappointed to hear this. The Petsmart in my home town LOVES every animal that we have in the store. We have a quarantine room in the back that is used for sick or harmed animals. We also bring the animals to a vet if needed. Each animal has a chart and we follow the medicine protocol the vet gives us for each animal. I would report ANY Petsmart to corporate for reasons like this. I am a nurse during the day and got the part time job for the discount and extra money for the animals I have rescued. This makes me sick and I am proud to be working with a store that actually cares for the animals we bring in. I wouldn't be working there if they were abusing the animals. Thanks for saving those weavers! I hope everything works out for you.

Sent from my Desire HD using Tapatalk 2

 

[Mexy52]

i love petsmart! a lot of my purchases come from there and i have become famous i guess you could say when we come with our birds and we are all recognized by name (including my birds). i dont know exactly what petsmart this is but i almost feel like i am going to ask the rescue and then keep checking up on their birds. maybe they just have the wrong people working at that store here are some recent pictures i took yesterday. my male has started building a nest and hasnt stopped. he's out of his breeding colores so he's not as pretty right now. luckily there was a bit of aggression for one day but it has subsided to nothing and they all live together well.

in the second picture (two on the far left are the rescues)
in the third picture (two on the far right are the rescues)

ive named the male The Rock since he's such a hard ••• all the time. and his girlfriends are his jewels. hehe. kind of like a charlie and his angels type of thing.

 

[Bokkapooh]

Ohhh look at that nest! Is it his first one?

 

[Mexy52]

it is with me. i got him from a cuban guy. they were together in a regular small cage, normally what you would find small zebra finches in but now he's in a little more room where he can build, i wonder if it is his first? i sit and watch him for a quite a while throughout the day. i just pull up a chair and he doesnt care if i watch he just gets to work. it quite interesting. even though he's in a roomier cage it's still not big enough for what websites recommend as minimum space for weavers. if they do end up breeding i'll have to take the others out. eventually when it warms up i plan to put them in my bigger aviary for just those 4. this will be their winter home for the time being.

 

[Dani]

Denise how are your weavers doing? I love finches, all of them! Yours are so well cared for

 

[Mexy52]

they are good. i ended up leaving the other females in the cage since the aggression stopped. the male tore down his nest after the stick fell. we were all sad but he started rebuilding again he's just not as dedicated to it. i gave them some crickets the other day too

 

[Dani]

Glad to hear everybirdy is getting along for now. My Bourke pair loved live mealworms....I even grew my own! lol Do you think the weavers would eat mealworms too?

 

[Mexy52]

i have given them mealworms as well but i need to find smaller ones :/ the ones they sell here locally is at a bait and tackle shop and they are pretty large. they keep dropping them on the bottom of the cage. then i have to go fish them out. lol how do you grow your own??? tell me mooooore.