Maui woke up at 4AM, whining and whining

Hey guys,

Maui woke up this AM at 4 and was doing is little whining that he does when he's either scared, hungry or bothered somehow. I could NOT figure out what was wrong with him, I thought maybe he was hungry, but nope, not hungry. I couldn't figure out if something startled him and he was upset by that or WHAT!!

However, the weather here in Florida has changed dramatically from 90 degrees to being around 60 or so at night, which obviously makes the house a little cooler than normal. I picked him up, put my fuzzy robe on, put him against my chest and covered the top part of him with my robe and just held him and talked softly to him for about 5 minutes, he settled right down.

I went to his brooder, changed it out (gets all poopy at night), cranked his heating pad back up to get it nice and toasty in there, then back down so that it wasn't too hot, put him in and he nuzzled into his baby (stuffed animal) and fell fast asleep. POOR baby was COLD!!!!! We had an electrical surge that turned the electric off last night for just a moment, but long enough to turn his pad off.

Needless to say, I was a panicked WRECK thinking there was something terribly wrong with him, and even pondered the thought of coming on here last night to post this to see if anyone per chance was here to calm my fears!!! Also, he slept in for an hour or so longer this morning, then ate like a champ.

He is frolicking about this morning, happy as a clam, shaking his tail feathers and flapping his wings (as though hes ABOUT to take off anytime now) and chirping happy little chirps, trying to talk to me, giving me birdie kisses and so on. I'm SO relieved. I just couldn't bare the thought of him being ill.

Poor little one! Glad you figured out why is was so upset. At 7-9 weeks he still needs constant warm temp to keep his little body warm. If he goes from cool to warm and back again, he is using lots of energy trying to regulate the temp. Make sure you keep his brooder at about 74-78 degrees all the time. Soon those feathers will keep him plenty warm.

=) Thanks GC!! Believe it or not, he has pretty much gotten ALL of his feathers in! Such a pretty baby, he is. But, we do keep him in his brooder when he sleeps, otherwise, he wants to be out and about with all of us, frolicking around and playing. He should be ok to do that, shouldn't he? At this point, when he's done napping or wakes up in the AM, he is able to climb to the top of his brooder, stand on the edge and flap, flap, flap until I come get him. LOL

OMG!!!!! Just now, while I typed my last post my grandson (2 yrs old) grabbed a bottle of windex and SOAKED Maui with it. I am crying uncontrollably and have bathed Maui getting all of it off, but am still totally distraught and scared. I called the vet, they told me he'd be ok as long as I bathed him in dawn dish liquid. Luckily he didn't get it anywhere near his face, eyes or mouth, just his belly, but I am still SOOO scared. I can't stop crying and I want to beat the tar out of the 2 yr old. My daughter has been advised to get him the hell out of my house before I explode. The bird is stressed out because of my crying, however, he thoroughly enjoyed the bath, THANK GOD. Maui just sat right there, not a tad upset by the soaking, of course he doesn't know it was a dangerous chemical being squirted on him, he was just thinking COOL, I'm getting wet.

REALLY? Did this REALLY happen. I have ONLY myself to blame, as I ALWAYS keep the bird with me when they're here, for reasons I now do NOT have to explain. I am so angry with myself AND the 2 yr old, as just yesterday, he had the SAME bottle of windex and was squirting Logan, my 5 yr old German Shepherd in the face. I removed ALL chemicals from his reach, yet my daughter left the windex out, she was cleaning the slider door yesterday and didn't put it up where I had it, instead putting it back where we normally keep the chemicals below the sink. BTW... My daughter and her 2 little boys have just moved in here temporarily until they can get on their feet again from their home being burned down.

Lisa, I have also had the experience of waking up to a power outage and a cold house. As a good parront, you go into EMERGENCY MODE! when you find your little fid shivering.

It sounds like you have things well under control.

By the way, I am sooooo jealous of you for what you are experiencing right now. Always take moments and try to "store" them in your head, so you can cherish them years from now (especially after he's been naughty!). I'm certainly biased, but there is nothing cuter to me than a clumsy baby CAG that wants you to COME PLAY WITH ME NOW!!!

Wow, Lisa...

such a change since I started typing my last post!

Try to remember the grandson is just like your Maui, a baby. If you want to punt your daughter, however, feel free. I'm sure she would be upset if you let an unsupervised Maui bite the toddler.

It sounds like he's okay, but I'm sure you'll keep an eye on him.

Pour the windex down the drain, and just use some vinegar and water from now on, or at least until you get your human offspring out of your house.

LOL! Yes, I would have LOVED to have punted my daughter, however, I just STRONGLY advised she take the children to the park for a couple hours, until I could get Maui's bathing under control, getting him dry without him being cold, etc... She took heed and is now gone for a bit. My GOSH, I was so completely distraught, he's doing wonderful, back to frolicking, chirping, running over to me for an occasional scratch or snuggle.

YES, these moments are so amazing, I love being with him, he's just so adorable and sweet and loving. Nothing like it, I've NEVER had a bond this strong with ANY other pet, ever!!! As you can imagine, the love is so strong, that it hurts sometimes, especially when you think your little fid is somehow hurt or hungry or lonely or anything that causes them displeasure.

Lisa my little worry wart bird buddy, just wish all those owned by birds would be as conscientious of a custodian to their fids as you are to Maui, there sure would be a lot less homeless and unwanted of our feathered friends in this world, I may tease you from time to time about your velcro bird, but your doing fine, keep up the good work

Aww, I don't mind you teasing me about my velcro bird at all. LOL... I just kind of soak it all in now, as I've been told so many times that he may not be quite so snuggly later on in life. I am a worry wart about a lot of things, but this little guy has me frazzled today, even though I can see that he's obviously taken the windex soaking in stride and is all ok. Thanks so much for the kind words, they mean a lot coming from a fellow good hearted bird lover.

wOW, you have had a rough day!. Several thoughts, and a warning... the nurse in me is in full mode... feel free to roll your eyes and mutter through any of the following paragraph.

Windex bottle needs to be stored up as you know and you are going to need to work with your daughter on this and other risky stuff. I imagine she had baby proofed the house that burned so get her to think that way now too. Even if you switch over to Vinegar and H2O instead of this spray bottle, toddlers plus chemicals are bad combo. Get down on your knees, or better yet, get your grandkids into a "find the bad things" game and look at the house they are in now the way you did when your daughter was young. You are houseproofing now for grandkids and also for Maui who will soon be working the rooms with a toddler's "what can I get into next?!" frame of mind. Second, forgive me, but remember that the toddler was merely being a toddler. Spray bottles are way cool. When you have him back explain that not everything that comes out of spray bottles is okay. Some is YUK. Put the YUK stickers (available from cloest children's hospital poison center) on those things the kids may be able to get to...trash cans, alcohol, cigarettes, whatever, and have them help you find the YUKs that have hidden (a lighter on the deck or under a couch, a bottle of alcohol based cough syrup in a bedside table???) Let them know how bad they are. They hurt and make you and Maui sick, sick, sick. Then go ahead and show them where you have put these "bad" things to keep them and Maui safe, and show how you have locked (available from baby stores or rig something up from hardware store) the bad things away to make the house a safer place for Maui and the kids. Put safety plugs in empty outlets and high locks on doors to outside if you haven't already. Try to think like a two year old displaced from home or a CAG on that first world-wide exploration. Then, get a safe spray bottle from store...new... and fill with H20 and with a felt tip waterproof pen, put a smiley on it and label it with your grandson's name and let him go to town in a place you don't mind soaked. He was not "at fault" for spraying Maui. You were not "at fault" for over-reacting. Your daughter was not "at fault" for losing temporary track of one of the kids. You are all human and all need forgiveness and to go forward in unity to make the world safe for democracy... oh wait... I stitched soap boxes there for a second. You get my drift, Lisamarie. Maui is okay. Focus on increasing safety and teamwork for all the human players in Maui's life. Take care!

LOL. Thanks Barbara, yes, we have relocated the chemicals, in fact had relocated them prior to Peyton finding the Windex bottle (for the 2nd time), My daughter inadvertantly put it in the "normal" place when finished using it. I blame ONLY myself, because, my gut instinct was to keep Maui with ME at all times while the children are here, they can't help themselves, and btw... reasoning works for SOME children, not this one, I've tried reasoning with him on plenty of occassions, he was told about the bottle JUST yesterday, when he was going to spray my dog in the face (caught him before it happened,which prompted the putting away of the chemicals), we had a long talk about the dangers of what's inside that bottle, so on and so forth. Again, I blame myself for trusting that Maui would be "O.K." for just one moment. He wasn't and won't be while they're here, trust me on that one.

I had 3 daughters all under the age of 5, I do realize that kids get into things they're not supposed to and to baby proof to eliminate that as much as possible. We have removed dangerous and breakable things from their reach, it's unfortunate that this house is very much a "no, NO, no NO" house for them, but, they're only here short term, and we only have so much space for storage.

Thank you for the cute recommendations, although, I'm not feeling too overly "giving" at the moment, so there will be no "fun" spray bottles anytime soon. LOL

When Peyton starts to become a better listner for me, Mimi will reward his good behaviour. What happened today could have been extremely serious, I'm still very very upset by it.