Valiant Valentino!

LaManuka

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We have had our budgie Val for just under a year now. He has grown into a lovely big fat robust bird who just loves to sing all day long, tease the crap out of poor old Fang by pulling on his crest (bad bird!), play with Lilly (good bird!) and steal Lilly's food (bad bird again!) He is not hand tame but generally if he's out of his cage at bedtime he will let me catch him without too much fuss and pop him into bed, and doesn't seem to mind me stealing a kiss when I do.

He's had a few breakthroughs with trust in the last few days too! Just the other day I had some leafy greens in one hand with Lilly providing a great example for him that it's OK to trust mum when she has yummy food on offer. I know what you're thinking, Lilly being genuinely helpful for a change? Val came over for a few tentative nibbles before Lilly reverted to type and chased him off.

This morning however Val was determined he was going to follow Fang wherever he went, up to and including sitting on my hubby. Sorry the picture quality is not good coz I had to act fast, but here is Val jauntily perched on hubby's hairy leg. He also sat on the back of hubby's armchair and for a moment I thought Val would perch on his head too but that was when Lilly decided she had seen enough!

God bless you Valentino the Valiant, you are one brave little birdie :)

lamanuka-albums-mars-birds-picture22173-valiantval.jpg
 

noodles123

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You had me at "He has grown into a lovely big fat robust bird who just loves to sing all day long, tease the crap out of poor old Fang by pulling on his crest"

That is the best description ever! He seriously sounds amazing! haha
 
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LaManuka

LaManuka

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You had me at "He has grown into a lovely big fat robust bird who just loves to sing all day long, tease the crap out of poor old Fang by pulling on his crest"

That is the best description ever! He seriously sounds amazing! haha

Why thank you noodles, yes Val is pretty amazing. It’s a pity he’s not tame because he’s so lovely and plump you just want to pick him up and snuggle him, but we love him just the way he is. We went without having a budgie for a good 10 years or more before we got him and had nearly forgotten what it’s like to have that almost constant happy chirpy chatter in the house. He really does spend most of his day singing at top note. In fact the only time he’s quiet is when he’s doing his best ninja impersonation and sneaking silently into Lilly’s cage to eat her food. I have to keep chasing him outta there coz I’m pretty sure if he eats too much of her powdered nectar he’ll get gout!

He is your typical pushy little budgie and while he’s worked out that Lilly is mostly all bluff and bluster he does unfortunately tend to push Fang around a bit. I frequently have to lock Fang is his cage so he can eat in peace without the two tiny terrors hassling him. I’m fairly sure Fang is sick to death of having to deal with the pair of them :mad:
 
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noodles123

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You had me at "He has grown into a lovely big fat robust bird who just loves to sing all day long, tease the crap out of poor old Fang by pulling on his crest"

That is the best description ever! He seriously sounds amazing! haha

Why thank you noodles, yes Val is pretty amazing. It’s a pity he’s not tame because he’s so lovely and plump you just want to pick him up and snuggle him, but we love him just the way he is. We went without having a budgie for a good 10 years or more before we got him and had nearly forgotten what it’s like to have that almost constant happy chirpy chatter in the house. He really does spend most of his day singing at top note. In fact the only time he’s quiet is when he’s doing his best ninja impersonation and sneaking silently into Lilly’s cage to eat her food. I have to keep chasing him outta there coz I’m pretty sure if he eats too much of her powdered nectar he’ll get gout!

He is your typical pushy little budgie and while he’s worked out that Lilly is mostly all bluff and bluster he does unfortunately tend to push Fang around a bit. I frequently have to lock Fang is his cage so he can eat in peace without the two tiny terrors hassling him. I’m fairly sure Fang is sick to death of having to deal with the pair of them :mad:


This sugar bowl popped into my head when I read your description of Val---go to 38 seconds if you can't watch the whole thing lol --it's his cartoon self in sugar-bowl form lol---It is from Sword in the Stone (Disney)- Noodles is like Archimedes the owl as well lol.

[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uimyetd3PNo"]The Sword in the Stone: Higitus Figitus - YouTube[/ame]
 
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LaManuka

LaManuka

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Tee hee, the sugar bowl analogy is quite apt. Although I have to say I've seen Archimedes' expression on Fang's face a lot when the other two are pestering him!

This is a video of Val DESPERATELY wanting to eat Lilly's food, he gets a taste before Lilly shoves him off the dish. He can see how close I am to the cage so then he acts all like "No mum, I'm just eating this nice healthy broccolini here, honest!" Towards the end of the video he gets himself into such a state of desperation that he completes a full somersault around the perch, rather than get caught eating of the sweet forbidden nectar. He's a funny little bloke!

[ame="https://youtu.be/ZwSnPJIie0w"]https://youtu.be/ZwSnPJIie0w[/ame]
 
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Rozalka

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In the first seconds I thought: "What? Two budgies? Martina has one budgie afaik:confused:" My thoughts when I noticed one of them is Lilly: "Purple crowned lorikeets are the budgie size?:eek:" I knew they are small lorikeets but I've just understood how really small. This made I started love them more.... I wanna a PCL*!:D
*I wanna but not too quickly;)
 
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LaManuka

LaManuka

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Rozalka that video isn’t the best quality due to the very bright light outside that washes out a lot of the colour, so the easiest way to pick Lilly apart from Val is tail length. Lilly is only about two-thirds of Val’s size now (tail not included) and I actually think Val is now the dominant bird in our flock!
 
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Laurasea

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Mum I really love broccolis! Sweet nectar, naw not me was looking for more broccoli! Look I do tricks! Tricks for broccoli! Too cute!
 
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LaManuka

LaManuka

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Yeah yeah Val, nice try but mum’s not buying it!
 

Rozalka

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Rozalka that video isn’t the best quality due to the very bright light outside that washes out a lot of the colour, so the easiest way to pick Lilly apart from Val is tail length. Lilly is only about two-thirds of Val’s size now (tail not included) and I actually think Val is now the dominant bird in our flock!
I also noticed it but in the first moment all shapes were simillar:D
 
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LaManuka

LaManuka

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Val usually prefers a misting to a full-on bath, but not today! Perhaps it was the sight of pretty little Lilly splashing about in the water that encouraged him to take the plunge.

True to form, Lilly stopped frolicking when she realised the camera was on her. Val then tried to fly over and join Fang but he was so weighed down with water he flew in exactly the same way that bricks don't and needed rescuing from the floor!

[ame="https://youtu.be/JSlZu-uEaM0"]https://youtu.be/JSlZu-uEaM0[/ame]
 
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LaManuka

LaManuka

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Poor old Val is SO not happy right now. He was scheduled for his second annual wellness check today and did NOT want to be caught and bundled up into his travel cage. He passed his faecal test with flying colours and unsurprisingly showed a bit of lorikeet food in the exam from his crop wash. His weight is down a bit from last year and is now 50 grams, down from a hefty 56, less lorikeet food and more exercise this year than last! Did a follow up psittacosis test and will get the results back tomorrow.

Last year he had 3 vet visits in the space of about 2 weeks with a weepy watery eye, and at that stage we figured it was from when he and Lilly had had a big fight over her food. His eyes look fine now but the doc examined both of them anyway and it seems he may have an eyelash one each side that is prone to encroaching on his eyeball. I check his eyes constantly and fortunately he hasn’t shown any further irritation on either side so the doc thinks it’s a congenital thing that may just act up from time to time. Turns out it wasn’t Lilly’s fault after all :)
 
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Scott

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Val usually prefers a misting to a full-on bath, but not today! Perhaps it was the sight of pretty little Lilly splashing about in the water that encouraged him to take the plunge.

True to form, Lilly stopped frolicking when she realised the camera was on her. Val then tried to fly over and join Fang but he was so weighed down with water he flew in exactly the same way that bricks don't and needed rescuing from the floor!

https://youtu.be/JSlZu-uEaM0

I'm sure you provide the finest imported bottled water for bathing? Or possibly a fine champagne? :D
 
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LaManuka

LaManuka

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I'm sure you provide the finest imported bottled water for bathing? Or possibly a fine champagne? :D

Weeeeelllll there was a time when I was worried about contamination in our water pipes (our house is very old, as is the estate it was built on!) and I was buying some extremely nice mineral water imported all the way from Iceland. I stopped after having the water tested and it seems to be fine so now we just have an under-sink filter for drinking water. Still miss that Icelandic stuff though... but the champagne is strictly for adults only!

Valentino meanwhile got his psittacosis results back today and happily is negative so a big sigh of relief there. After sulking for the remainder of yesterday after all that unpleasantness he was back on song today. Interestingly the vet also pointed out that Val has a bit of a curved spine. I had noticed he has a tendency to hunch over a bit more than average when he gets tired so we think he probably didn't get sufficient nutrition as a hatchling or maybe his mum sat on him a bit too long. Doesn't seem to slow him down however, he was a devil to catch yesterday to get him to the vet, I suspect he knew what was in store for him. But he's a lovely big healthy boy so fingers crossed he won't need another visit to the D-O-C-T-O-R for another year :)
 

Rival_of_the_Rickeybird

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None. My wife has one too many. Kidding!
Now if I did all this stuff, I'd be called a nincompoop, whereas Val is '''valiant'''. It's just not fair, the perks and fringe benefits that accrue to being tiny, cute, plump, a good singer, and... Australian!
Signed,
Ratty ol' Rival
:)
 
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LaManuka

LaManuka

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In the (slightly modified) words of Donald “Duck” Dunn from “The Blues Brothers”, Rival if the poop fits, wear it!
 

Laurasea

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So glad all is well. Course I need pictures, can't eat h vids on phone.......new phone back order for like 6 months....... Or longer....
 
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LaManuka

LaManuka

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As requested Aunty Laura, here's a shot taken today of my lovely big fat boy, for your viewing pleasure :)

lamanuka-albums-mars-birds-picture22325-img-0431a.jpg
 

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