For a few month now I have been toying with the idea of getting a canary !
We used to have one when I was a child and although he wasn't "tame" like the bigger birds get,
he was a wonderful little fellow.
So one day I saw an ad on craigslist for a canary male with cage. Curious as I was, I contacted this person.
I didn't get a very good feeling talking to her, though. All she talked about is how she fell on hard times and
needed money badly, she wouldn't really talk about the bird much at all.
And she asked quite a lot of money for a older canary (she thought about 3 or so ..) with a small cage.
So I decided to go to the petstores instead, since I couldn't find any local breeders. One petstore had 2 red/white canaries.
Very pretty. But something made me call that woman back and ask if I could see her bird. Which I did. And I was appalled.
The cage was tiny and dirty, and the bird looked very thin and raggedy. Bent feathers, and just very unthrifty. Again, all
she talked about was money problems and if I could give her even more money then she asked. I really just wanted to leave, but
then again, I couldn't leave that poor little one there, so I gave her the money and left with the terrified bird, a tiny dirty cage, and a bit
of cheap and old parakeet seed mix. First stop was the petstore again, to pick up some quality nutrition real quick. Then I took him home and
while he sat in his little cardboard box I scrubbed the cage in the driveway and threw away the filthy and broken things inside, leaving
a couple of perches. Then I released him into the cage and gave him some high quality seed mix (bought a couple diff. ones).
I know one should never change things quickly, but I made the decision to just throw away that nasty food he came with and switched right away.
At this point he badly needed good food and I wasn't willing giving him the smelly stuff he came with. I also picked up some vitamins and ordered
a few books on amazon as well as reading everything I could find about canaries online.
I decided right away he had to have a nicer cage and I know they should have flight cages. But he was stuck in a small cage all his life and I didn't
want to stick him in a giant one right away, so I ordered a nice sized Avian "Stella dometop". I put nice natural perches in it, but he was terrified, all
he'd ever known were those straight cheap ones. He would only sit on the one straight one and act very miserable. So I finally redecorated with
mostly straight perches, that are still natural though, and of varying thickness. I did order him a nice thermo perch and he adores it. He is finally
comfortable enough to make use of the larger cage, although he isn't as "hyper" as the bird we used to have.
He DOES love to eat though, and eats with gusto. He loves the high quality seed mixes I got for him, and he is also getting fresh veggies, greens and fruit,
mixed with some roudybush pellets. He likes to try everything, and eats pretty good. His droppings look normal, too, so the better diet does seem to
agree with him, even with the rapid switch.
He loves to take a bath, and it took him a few days to try out the new bathtub, but he loves it now. He has also started to sing, and the more background noise, the
louder he sings. I also got him a full spectrum light, even though he is near windows. I felt so bad for him, I wanted to do what I could to make his life better.
I have gotten him some toys, but I haven't put them in his cage yet. Anything new always gets him nervous and I wanted him to be very comfortable with
the new setup, before introducing some toys.
His feathers still don't look the best
He doesn't look as pretty as all the other canaries I've seen on here, but I'm hoping that in time he will catch up and be
just as beautiful. I have ordered some SCATT and also some meds to have on hand if ever needed (antibiotics and meds for dig. issues) also got a little travel cage
if we do need to go to the Vet ever. I know they are so fragile, so time is of essence if there should be a problem. And my little one hasn't had the best start.
I decided to call him "Tequila Sunrise" because that is just what he looks like, LOL. He is of a rich orangey yellow and his head and face seems to have darker, more
orangish feathers.
He doesn't seem overly fearful of humans (faces) but hands he doesn't like. No surprise, the first thing I had to do was cut his extremely long and curling under
toenails. He isn't extremely scared, what seems to worry him more are changes to his cage and surroundings. Since I finally have his "interior design" right, I won't have to move
stuff around in his cage and he seems quite happy with the current setup, since he finally makes use of all areas in the cage. At night when I turn off his light, he hops on the highest
branch to put himself to sleep He waits to be covered.
I really enjoy this overpriced raggamuffin and can't wait to update with pictures of him blooming into a beautiful canary What can I say, I love him already !!
Here are a couple of pictures of him and his cage, I will make new pictures of the current setup in his cage, the way HE likes it
Whoever read this entire long message, kudos to you !!
hm, can't add more then one picture right now and to tired to figure out how to fix it, will add
more pictures tomorrow ! Especially with the cage interior changed and also some closeups of
Tequila
We used to have one when I was a child and although he wasn't "tame" like the bigger birds get,
he was a wonderful little fellow.
So one day I saw an ad on craigslist for a canary male with cage. Curious as I was, I contacted this person.
I didn't get a very good feeling talking to her, though. All she talked about is how she fell on hard times and
needed money badly, she wouldn't really talk about the bird much at all.
And she asked quite a lot of money for a older canary (she thought about 3 or so ..) with a small cage.
So I decided to go to the petstores instead, since I couldn't find any local breeders. One petstore had 2 red/white canaries.
Very pretty. But something made me call that woman back and ask if I could see her bird. Which I did. And I was appalled.
The cage was tiny and dirty, and the bird looked very thin and raggedy. Bent feathers, and just very unthrifty. Again, all
she talked about was money problems and if I could give her even more money then she asked. I really just wanted to leave, but
then again, I couldn't leave that poor little one there, so I gave her the money and left with the terrified bird, a tiny dirty cage, and a bit
of cheap and old parakeet seed mix. First stop was the petstore again, to pick up some quality nutrition real quick. Then I took him home and
while he sat in his little cardboard box I scrubbed the cage in the driveway and threw away the filthy and broken things inside, leaving
a couple of perches. Then I released him into the cage and gave him some high quality seed mix (bought a couple diff. ones).
I know one should never change things quickly, but I made the decision to just throw away that nasty food he came with and switched right away.
At this point he badly needed good food and I wasn't willing giving him the smelly stuff he came with. I also picked up some vitamins and ordered
a few books on amazon as well as reading everything I could find about canaries online.
I decided right away he had to have a nicer cage and I know they should have flight cages. But he was stuck in a small cage all his life and I didn't
want to stick him in a giant one right away, so I ordered a nice sized Avian "Stella dometop". I put nice natural perches in it, but he was terrified, all
he'd ever known were those straight cheap ones. He would only sit on the one straight one and act very miserable. So I finally redecorated with
mostly straight perches, that are still natural though, and of varying thickness. I did order him a nice thermo perch and he adores it. He is finally
comfortable enough to make use of the larger cage, although he isn't as "hyper" as the bird we used to have.
He DOES love to eat though, and eats with gusto. He loves the high quality seed mixes I got for him, and he is also getting fresh veggies, greens and fruit,
mixed with some roudybush pellets. He likes to try everything, and eats pretty good. His droppings look normal, too, so the better diet does seem to
agree with him, even with the rapid switch.
He loves to take a bath, and it took him a few days to try out the new bathtub, but he loves it now. He has also started to sing, and the more background noise, the
louder he sings. I also got him a full spectrum light, even though he is near windows. I felt so bad for him, I wanted to do what I could to make his life better.
I have gotten him some toys, but I haven't put them in his cage yet. Anything new always gets him nervous and I wanted him to be very comfortable with
the new setup, before introducing some toys.
His feathers still don't look the best
He doesn't look as pretty as all the other canaries I've seen on here, but I'm hoping that in time he will catch up and be just as beautiful. I have ordered some SCATT and also some meds to have on hand if ever needed (antibiotics and meds for dig. issues) also got a little travel cage
if we do need to go to the Vet ever. I know they are so fragile, so time is of essence if there should be a problem. And my little one hasn't had the best start.
I decided to call him "Tequila Sunrise" because that is just what he looks like, LOL. He is of a rich orangey yellow and his head and face seems to have darker, more
orangish feathers.
He doesn't seem overly fearful of humans (faces) but hands he doesn't like. No surprise, the first thing I had to do was cut his extremely long and curling under
toenails. He isn't extremely scared, what seems to worry him more are changes to his cage and surroundings. Since I finally have his "interior design" right, I won't have to move
stuff around in his cage and he seems quite happy with the current setup, since he finally makes use of all areas in the cage. At night when I turn off his light, he hops on the highest
branch to put himself to sleep
He waits to be covered.I really enjoy this overpriced raggamuffin and can't wait to update with pictures of him blooming into a beautiful canary
What can I say, I love him already !!Here are a couple of pictures of him and his cage, I will make new pictures of the current setup in his cage, the way HE likes it
Whoever read this entire long message, kudos to you !!
hm, can't add more then one picture right now and to tired to figure out how to fix it, will add
more pictures tomorrow ! Especially with the cage interior changed and also some closeups of
Tequila
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Kismet and I await pics of your Tequila! Welcome to Avian Avenue!
