Hey
@Elysian hope all is going well with the flock!
Going pretty well I think!
I was torn between doing 30 days quarantine or 60, but like someone pointed out.. its hard to keep the air flow separate anyway, and I really wanted Opie and Oggie to be more socially integrated - so we went with just the 30.
They now have their cages out in our main living area.. Oggie is next to the budgies (but not where he can reach them) and Opie is right next to my work desk.
Opie still doesn't play with any toys, ever, but he had become brave enough to climb on his playstand. I did also see him take a pellet out of his foraging wheel for the first time today. I have the net arranged so he can climb up or down on his own if needed, but he hasn't wanted to.
He makes it very clear that he has no interest in being touched, but he is *very* food motivated so it is easy to get him back into his cage when needed.
He also had no objections to letting me carry him with a t perch when he accidentally jumped off his playstand.
Despite not wanting me to touch him, he is not aggressive to me and he even begs for my food from time to time. He ate a nibble of oatmeal right off a spoon. The budgies think spoons are death incarnate, so that was pretty awesome.
Oggie is a little obsessed with me and it breaks my heart. If he sees me within reach, he wants to be with me. He will do whatever he can to try to find a way off his cage and over to my desk. Every time I open his door he climbs up to my eye level and raises one foot, cocks his head, and gives this little "oo?" sound. He wants me to hold him.
But I can't let him touch me
We've had two more bite incidents despite my best efforts because if I mistakenly come into a range where he can reach me at all, he will do his best to find a way to get on me and climb to my shoulder.
Unfortunately once he is on my shoulder he attacks everything - my shirt, my hair, and definitely my fingers. Its brutal. He clamps on and doesn't let go even if I pick him up with my other hand. Leaves my fingers with small cuts but a lot of crushing pain.
It's a little harder to move him back into his cage since I have to keep out of reach, and the t perch just becomes a path to my arm, but I can lure him pretty well with a treat.
I still give him scritches and talk and sing with him, so hopefully he isn't too disappointed or lonely.
He doesn't play with toys much either but he has chewed a few things up, and loves to climb.
They are both excellent eaters.. this week they've tasted oatmeal, watermelon, broccoli sprouts.. Opie vastly prefers fruits over veggies but he will eat some carrot.
Opie definitely loves the dog. His cage is high enough that the dog cannot reach him unless he deliberately comes all the way down to the cage floor, and there are plexiglass panels preventing the dog from touching him through those lower bars.. but when they cross paths Opie will indeed climb down and get eye to eye with him.
They will never ever be out together, but its still baffling that he likes the dog more than he likes me haha.
Everybody seems to sleep really well once the lights are out, and Oggie has started grinding his beak regularly.
Opie still only makes that one hiccupping noise no matter what he is trying to express
