Xakana
04-24-2005, 01:00 AM
Okay, let me tell you about Dionysus. She is a goof. She likes to hang upside down and perform acrobatics with her perches, cage door, whatever lets her swing the best.
!http://img199.exs.cx/img199/9417/dionysusflaps4sl.jpg
When I met her, she was about a month old, at the pet store (her hatch date was Feb 28, 2003 and I met her at the beginning of April). She had a full red belly and goofy looking feathers. After bathing, she would look naked. But she was also terribly shy and had a really bad habit--she rubbed the top part of her beak completely off on the pellet litter they had in her cage. It grew back, although you can see the dent in her beak from the damage. Anyway, she wasn't the prettiest bird in the room. But when I walked over to her (although at that time, we all thought she was a boy), she talked back to me (with chirps). She cooed and made zebra finch noises and climbed her bars to meet me (and promptly fell off--she was the clumsiest bird I've ever seen). I fell in love.
http://img199.exs.cx/img199/5365/dionysusonmyfinger8sc.jpg
I saw her interact with other customers--they mostly ignored her and she them. She would turn her back and hide when they said "Well, that one's not pretty at all!" And she got overlooked for the sun conures and cockatiels and parakeets.
http://img199.exs.cx/img199/170/dionysushanging4hu.jpg
I always went for her cage. It got to the point that she would run to the front of the cage when she saw me coming in. Once, she turned herself upside down in her food dish and finch-noised at me (she knew I liked that noise best) and I told her not to let anyone else buy her, that I would be able to afford her in July. Each time I came, I told her that again. Her brother was bought and I got nervous that the old lady who bought him would buy Dionysus. I didn't want her to have Di because she had been one of the people to tell her she wasn't pretty. (I now know her and she's changed her mind about Dionysus and they have fun together when they see each other becuase she's really sweet).
http://img199.exs.cx/img199/263/dionysusregal6qw.jpg
In July, I walked up to the sales clerk and asked to hold her. This was the first bird I had ever held and it was weird to me. But pretty quick, we figured out what worked for us and I forked over $550 for her and $30 for a cockatiel/small parrot cage (that was to be temporary--I had ordered a bigger one with a stand for $100 and was waiting on it being delivered).
She came with her toys and I bought the food they said she'd want (I later reaplaced it, since it was just seeds and nuts and she finally converted to pellets instead of just nutriberries--which was what she went to from her seed mix--a couple months ago).
She was scared for about two days and I learned that she suffers the usually 'tiel problem of night frights. I can't cover her cage or she hurts herself flying around in fear. In fact, she doesn't tolerate any dark at all, so we leave the living room light on for her all the time. Jack prefers it this way as well.
Now she's a happy, healthy little parrot who likes to have a 'napkin' after eating something sticky (like mango)--meaning I tear off a corner of Kleenex and she wipes her beak with her foot, then cleans the top inside with her mandible and drops the tissue to the floor when she's done. But she'll chirp at you to give her one--she doesn't like having a dirty beak (so much so that she mutilated her beak over it). She's finally started eating veggies as long as they're the ones I'm eating (or corn--she'll eat that any time).
http://img59.exs.cx/img59/3079/distretch6ud.jpg
http://img104.exs.cx/img104/9316/prettydi4sk.jpg
http://img59.exs.cx/img59/5683/dihangingaround4oc.jpg
http://img235.exs.cx/img235/2356/disoak49cq.jpg
She's bossy, friendly, loving, snippy and tremendously opinionated. She was my first baby and I adore her immensely. She's just hit puberty last month (right before her second birthday) and is in the 'terrible twos' testing stage (her second here--she had one when she first came home, too) but it seems so much easier this second time around, LOL.
That's my baby!
~Xak
!http://img199.exs.cx/img199/9417/dionysusflaps4sl.jpg
When I met her, she was about a month old, at the pet store (her hatch date was Feb 28, 2003 and I met her at the beginning of April). She had a full red belly and goofy looking feathers. After bathing, she would look naked. But she was also terribly shy and had a really bad habit--she rubbed the top part of her beak completely off on the pellet litter they had in her cage. It grew back, although you can see the dent in her beak from the damage. Anyway, she wasn't the prettiest bird in the room. But when I walked over to her (although at that time, we all thought she was a boy), she talked back to me (with chirps). She cooed and made zebra finch noises and climbed her bars to meet me (and promptly fell off--she was the clumsiest bird I've ever seen). I fell in love.
http://img199.exs.cx/img199/5365/dionysusonmyfinger8sc.jpg
I saw her interact with other customers--they mostly ignored her and she them. She would turn her back and hide when they said "Well, that one's not pretty at all!" And she got overlooked for the sun conures and cockatiels and parakeets.
http://img199.exs.cx/img199/170/dionysushanging4hu.jpg
I always went for her cage. It got to the point that she would run to the front of the cage when she saw me coming in. Once, she turned herself upside down in her food dish and finch-noised at me (she knew I liked that noise best) and I told her not to let anyone else buy her, that I would be able to afford her in July. Each time I came, I told her that again. Her brother was bought and I got nervous that the old lady who bought him would buy Dionysus. I didn't want her to have Di because she had been one of the people to tell her she wasn't pretty. (I now know her and she's changed her mind about Dionysus and they have fun together when they see each other becuase she's really sweet).
http://img199.exs.cx/img199/263/dionysusregal6qw.jpg
In July, I walked up to the sales clerk and asked to hold her. This was the first bird I had ever held and it was weird to me. But pretty quick, we figured out what worked for us and I forked over $550 for her and $30 for a cockatiel/small parrot cage (that was to be temporary--I had ordered a bigger one with a stand for $100 and was waiting on it being delivered).
She came with her toys and I bought the food they said she'd want (I later reaplaced it, since it was just seeds and nuts and she finally converted to pellets instead of just nutriberries--which was what she went to from her seed mix--a couple months ago).
She was scared for about two days and I learned that she suffers the usually 'tiel problem of night frights. I can't cover her cage or she hurts herself flying around in fear. In fact, she doesn't tolerate any dark at all, so we leave the living room light on for her all the time. Jack prefers it this way as well.
Now she's a happy, healthy little parrot who likes to have a 'napkin' after eating something sticky (like mango)--meaning I tear off a corner of Kleenex and she wipes her beak with her foot, then cleans the top inside with her mandible and drops the tissue to the floor when she's done. But she'll chirp at you to give her one--she doesn't like having a dirty beak (so much so that she mutilated her beak over it). She's finally started eating veggies as long as they're the ones I'm eating (or corn--she'll eat that any time).
http://img59.exs.cx/img59/3079/distretch6ud.jpg
http://img104.exs.cx/img104/9316/prettydi4sk.jpg
http://img59.exs.cx/img59/5683/dihangingaround4oc.jpg
http://img235.exs.cx/img235/2356/disoak49cq.jpg
She's bossy, friendly, loving, snippy and tremendously opinionated. She was my first baby and I adore her immensely. She's just hit puberty last month (right before her second birthday) and is in the 'terrible twos' testing stage (her second here--she had one when she first came home, too) but it seems so much easier this second time around, LOL.
That's my baby!
~Xak