When an amazon goes for the head!

We all know that the stocky green ones are rather notorious for their habit of of going for the head and face Today I had my own encounter with the green kind. I had dropped something perilously close to the cage and when I bent down to grab it, this happened!





See, amazons don't always attack, sometimes they just want to play:07: I felt him tugging my braid (he had climbed down the side of the cage) and when I put my head back more, much to my surprise, he climbed on my head! Sorry for the terrible photo quality, but I wanted to get a pic before he decided he wanted down. No time to turn on lights and had to use my horrible phone camera. He stayed up there about a minute before I slowly scooted back to the cage and he got off peacefully

Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhh, Kiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiwiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii!

I'm intrigued by Leo... can we see him?

GaleriaGila said:

I'm intrigued by Leo... can we see him?

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Awww my sweet old man:smile015:. I raised him from such a little thing and there is not a mean or aggressive bone in his body. He likes sitting in warm hands and does not mind his bumpy body being petted. Leo is very very old now, totally blind, missing all his toes from difficult molts and hardly ever comes out during the daytime anymore (they are nocturnal animals, but he used to come out to sun himself when he was younger). He sleeps most of the time now and is not interested in as wide of a variety of insects as before I don't know that he is long for this earth and I'm going to be devastated when he goes. He's just been with me so long and is such a gentle creature. Here's some pictures of my guy in his better days

By any chance, does Leo sell insurance??

And Kiwi on your head! lol! Amy has never attempted that ( thank GOD!!)


Jim

AmyMyBlueFront said:

By any chance, does Leo sell insurance??

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Too lazy to work

Well, He has that tall, thin Amazon look going, which commonly means something like: This is like really cool, but really different. Amazon from on-high, king-of-the-mountain and I wonder how long I can get away with this!

I know that Amazons like getting into our heads, but this is a totally different approach to that thinking!

Kiwi looks right at home atop your head!

Sweet Leo, I am so happy to see him, he has lived a long, wonderful life with you. His colors are truly gorgeous.

That's funny about Kiwi. He's really come to love you, too, to the point of making up his own games like that. I hope my newly inherited Amazon will love both my husband AND me. Your Kiwi is a happy, fortunate boy.

I love Leo. I hope he will be with you for a long, long time. Sometimes they can really astound us with exceptionally long lives.

Leo! Love those guys, used to raise and sell them. I now have only 3 beardies! Tempting!

Awww Kiwi. Such a good boy sitting on your mums head like that. And being gentle.

That one of Millie's favourite places to sit - on top of my head whilst watching tv. She can stay there for ages. She just tends to preen and sleep. Not so comfortable for the mumma though with a very stiff and sore neck afterwards.

Cute pic! But the top of my head is the one place that Salty is not allowed, not being potty trained and all. An absolute no no, and he knows it and respects it. Now, the back of my head, having a fight with my pony tail, well he loves doing that ( he always looses , as the pony tail refuses to die).

I am always fascinated by the variations on the amount of blue on blue front amazons. Some have just a little fringe of blue, and some have blue almost all over their crowns.
That would be a fun thread for all you BFA owners. Think I will start one

Hahaha! I always love the threads where we get to see how much closer to you Kiwi has gotten over the years. Proof positive of what can be accomplished with patience and love! Don't you just love that goofy side?

Jolly will land on our heads from time to time. Funny part is, he loves practicing his high-speed-until-the-last-second landings... but they work far better with my wife than with me. She has hair down past her shoulders, providing him with lots of opportunities for grip. I, on the other hand, shave my own hair perilously low... often causing him to scrabble frantically about upon landing in an attempt to keep from sliding straight off my dome Wile E.Coyote style! High comedy!

Btw, how old is Leo?

OOwl said:

That's funny about Kiwi. He's really come to love you, too, to the point of making up his own games like that. I hope my newly inherited Amazon will love both my husband AND me. Your Kiwi is a happy, fortunate boy.

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I'm sure he will with time, patience and love Amazons are fun birds, really they are. Very curious, fearless and want to be included! I don't think they get a fair reputation.

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Flboy said:

Leo! Love those guys, used to raise and sell them. I now have only 3 beardies! Tempting!

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Beardies are the best! Big, active and very gentle despite their looks (or at least my female beardie was).

Anansi said:

Jolly will land on our heads from time to time. Funny part is, he loves practicing his high-speed-until-the-last-second landings... but they work far better with my wife than with me. She has hair down past her shoulders, providing him with lots of opportunities for grip. I, on the other hand, shave my own hair perilously low... often causing him to scrabble frantically about upon landing in an attempt to keep from sliding straight off my dome Wile E.Coyote style! High comedy!

Btw, how old is Leo?

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PLEASE, Stephen, we need video of Jolly trying to land on your head Good thing that unlike Wile Coyote, Jolly has wings!

A little over 20, I think (I was so young when I got him!). He was bigger than a baby when I got him, but not fully grown so I don't know how long they take to reach full adult size. When my parents bought him for me, the pet store said he would live a couple years. HA!

Kiwibird said:

PLEASE, Stephen, we need video of Jolly trying to land on your head Good thing that unlike Wile Coyote, Jolly has wings!

A little over 20, I think (I was so young when I got him!). He was bigger than a baby when I got him, but not fully grown so I don't know how long they take to reach full adult size. When my parents bought him for me, the pet store said he would live a couple years. HA!

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Hahaha! If ever someone manages to capture Jolly's extreme silliness on video, I will definitely post it! Lol!

A little over 20?!? I had no idea they lived that long! Is that typical? And do other reptiles have similar lifespans?

Anansi said:

A little over 20?!? I had no idea they lived that long! Is that typical? And do other reptiles have similar lifespans?

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It is not common, but also not unheard of. A lot of reptiles and amphibians have surprisingly long lifespans, but like a lot of other more 'exotic' animals, many don't live as long as they should due to confusion or lack of knowledge on proper care and natural living conditions.

I think some of the reasons Leo has lived so long is he's been fed an assortment of wild bugs as often as possible, he always consumes his skin after every shed (they eat it for nutrition!) and he's been allowed to enter a semi-hibernative state every year where he doesn't eat as frequently as normal, doesn't have as much warmth in his enclosure and uses up his tail fat (which they do in their natural habitat, as it is not warm year round there). You can actually see his how much thinner his tail gets in the winter in the Christmas photo and how fat it starts to get in summer in the other one!

LOLLL! Kiwi is such a character full of surprises. And I second a video of Jolly landing on Stephen's head. Husband and I have been talking about setting up a camera to capture our fids hilarious moments and Canelo's too.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Kiwibird said:

Anansi said:

A little over 20?!? I had no idea they lived that long! Is that typical? And do other reptiles have similar lifespans?

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It is not common, but also not unheard of. A lot of reptiles and amphibians have surprisingly long lifespans, but like a lot of other more 'exotic' animals, many don't live as long as they should due to confusion or lack of knowledge on proper care and natural living conditions.

I think some of the reasons Leo has lived so long is he's been fed an assortment of wild bugs as often as possible, he always consumes his skin after every shed (they eat it for nutrition!) and he's been allowed to enter a semi-hibernative state every year where he doesn't eat as frequently as normal, doesn't have as much warmth in his enclosure and uses up his tail fat (which they do in their natural habitat, as it is not warm year round there). You can actually see his how much thinner his tail gets in the winter in the Christmas photo and how fat it starts to get in summer in the other one!

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Really? Very interesting! Okay, last set of off-topic questions, I promise! How long does this semi-hibernative state last? Do you induce it by lowering the heat at the appropriate time, or do you watch for signs that he's ready for his hibernation and then lower the temp? And same questions for when it's time for him to come out of that state. Induced? Watching for signs?

I'd never heard of the tail fat thing, before. Loving this!

And last question, do reptiles indicate any kind of recognition of you? Or any preference for particular people?

Anansi said:

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Really? Very interesting! Okay, last set of off-topic questions, I promise! How long does this semi-hibernative state last? Do you induce it by lowering the heat at the appropriate time, or do you watch for signs that he's ready for his hibernation and then lower the temp? And same questions for when it's time for him to come out of that state. Induced? Watching for signs?

I'd never heard of the tail fat thing, before. Loving this!

And last question, do reptiles indicate any kind of recognition of you? Or any preference for particular people?

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I don't mind questions Knowledge is meant to be shared! It was fortunate that Leo had to go to a vet very soon after getting him due to bad care information. The vet not knowing how to treat him and not wanting to let a little kids first pet die, hunted down a herpetologist at a zoo who was very kind in providing a treatment plan and all kinds of helpful info on how to take proper care of him (which was, unsurprisingly, very different than what the Petsmart "care sheet" he came with said). It's not widely known they enter a semi-hibernative state in the winter, so I was lucky to have learned that early on from a expert as I suspect it is one reason he's lived so long. He has not been kept constantly active or over-fed year round.

Keeping in mind I have never lived in a home with AC before (so very hot in the summer compared to winter) and do not use an under tank heater for him (he has a sunlamp that gets hot instead, on and off with the natural daylight cycle just like in nature), his dormant period is triggered by lower temps and decreased daylight. It is a very natural cycle and I don't really have to do anything 'special' to trigger it. It's not like he's sleeping for months on end like a hibernating bear either, but he is far less active and only eats about every 10 days-2 weeks. This period lasts about 3-4 months, with a gradual decline/rise in activity levels as days get shorter/longer and cooler/warmer.

Several species of geckos tails are designed to store fat for winter when it is cooler and food is less plentiful. It is natural for them to use up these fat stores every year and their tails get quite thin. When he was a younger gecko and eating tons of grasshoppers and leaf bugs and wild house crickets all summer long, his tail would get HUGE. It always looked quite cumbersome to lug that thing around lol

Your last question is a difficult one. I wouldn't say reptiles form any kind of emotional bond with humans or even other reptiles, but can learn to recognize us. I do not know of any reptile species who lives in a social group in nature, raises it's own young or has a single mate for life. They may live in close proximity to others of their own kind peacefully, but don't think they have social structures of any kind thus do not posses the ability to form social bonds of any kind. They can be hand tamed and recognize humans handling them as a non-threat and many even enjoy humans because we are warm and reptiles seek heat being cold blooded. So, when Leo eagerly crawls up in a hand to curl up and hang out, he isn't doing it so much because he likes you or feels you are part of his social group, rather he recognizes humans as a safe source of heat and part of his environment. Likewise when Tiffany my bearded dragon would get 'excited' when I got home and wanted to come out and curl up around the back of my neck, she probably recognized me in the sense my neck was part of her "territory", just like her favorite hiding spot or basking spot. Or even Mr. Newt, who cannot be handled, comes out of his hiding spot when you come near his tank because he knows that a humans presence means food could be on it's way. Unlike a social animal like Kiwi who gets excited when he sees me or gets up on my hand or shoulder because he views me as part of his social group and wants to interact with me along with being conditioned that humans are safe and provide food or a place to hang out on. If any of that makes sense

Makes perfect sense, actually. With the exception of a turtle I had at around 5, I've never had a reptile as a pet. So I'm rather curious about them and their ways. Thanks so much for the well-considered reply, April.

Anansi said:

Makes perfect sense, actually. With the exception of a turtle I had at around 5, I've never had a reptile as a pet. So I'm rather curious about them and their ways. Thanks so much for the well-considered reply, April.

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:33::33::33: Do I see a scaly friend in your future lol