Hi from maryland

Hi there guys.

I'm 21 and I'm in school for molecular biology.
I have a diabetic three year old son, a huge husky and 6 mice.

This is a odd intro so I might as well get to it.

We recently had a huge house fire. We lost a very many pets, three of which were parrots. There was Ghost a 40 yr old goffins cockatoo,
Gobo a african gray and Scooter a pionus.
I lived with these birds from the time of my birth, ghost came to live with my mom when she was 15. I was supposed to inherit them and care for them after my grandmother died. I was a member of the Baltimore bird fanciers
for a long time, and a guest member for as long as I can remember.
I've been to many shows, I had quite a few birds myself ranging from budgies to a little quaker that I'd rather not go into about right now. I worked for a breeder for a few months. I loved thos guys, especailly the cockatoo.

I'm joining the forum because I plan to save up for anther goffins.
There is a huge quiet hole in my life right now, and I'd like to fill it with information and plans instesad of dwelling on why there are no screams at 2 am.

I breed fancy mice, I have 6 left from the fire and I'm working on finding some more from my friends. Such cute little critters.

Anyway. I hope I can find some really neat stuff here.

Hi and welcome to the forum, Lycrisa.

You've been through such a lot already...

I felt very sad when I was reading some parts of what you said, and yet other parts showed me visions of hope and aspirations! Thank you for sharing. I'd love to read more!

With sympathy and encouragement,
Enjru

Thanks guys.
Its rough sometimes but what can you do? *shrug*

I'm thinking of adopting rather than buying from a breder but you never know.(once everything is stable again)

Ghost was actually wild caught before they passed the laws. lol
He was a really cool guy. But I should mention he was adopted by us from his first caretaker.

I'll probably lurk around for a wile reading more than posting.
I do love forums, the people on them are so nice. <3

Lycrisa~ welcome, I too am from Maryland, Baltimore County ~ if you are from this area you probably already know of the many bird rescues in the area, good luck with your search. Where are you located?

Hello and welcome, so sorry for your loss. That is one of my worst nightmares, so I really feel for you.

Your welcome to lurk, would be nice to see pictures of your fur/feather/fin family (or even blood related!), fids or not

Goffins are wonderful, there's some 'enthusists' on this forum too and I'm sure they'll be along soon

Welcome to the forum. Your story is heartbreaking and I hope you find a new feathered companion soon. My amazon is also wild caught, but a sweet, loving guy.

Actually..I don't know wehere I'm located right now.
I spend my weeks all over the place.

The house that burned down is in aberdeen and we are rebuilding.

Right now we are in a white marsh hotel, right by the ikea.
but we are getting a rental soon <3

and I stay with my boyfriend in middle river for the
three days I'm in school.

I know about pheonix landing but that's about it.
I always knew three parrots was quite enough and never really looked around. lol.

My little quaker salem was a cutie, but I only had him for a week.
The breeder was shut down by the health department and she sent him home with me. I didn't know he wasn't weaned and because I was so ignorant he died. I never had contact with a baby bird before that, and the rest of his clutch had big issues too. Poor guy.

We still have two of the cages, the african gray's was so charred it had to be thrown out.


I'm excited now. <3

Ghost was a picker but he had gotten a lot better.
He went from almost bald to just a small patch on his wing.

I'll upload these pictures once I can get th stupid computer to read the card *eyetwitch*

I'm so sorry for your losses... Fires are horrific. Just can't begin to imagine what these poor creatures went through.

really sad storry but welcome to a great forum!

The propane tank exploded behind the wall where gobo, the African grey was.
I think he was the luckiest because he was gone before he could have known what was happening. My grandmother almost had ghost out of his cage whe my uncle pulled her away. Scooter, I don't know I think it was the worst for him, poor guy.
All my mice were up high on shelves to keep them safe from the cats.
I've felt guilty about not being home at the time to save them, but the house
was gone withing five minutes. It started where my 3 year old usually plays, so I guess it's a good thing I wasn't there. It still feels like a bad dream to be honest.

I'm trying my best to look forward. I miss my friends, because being the geek I am, I don't have more than a handful of human friends. I spent my time in animal shelters and wildlife rehab centers volunteering. I have the shelter back home keeping an eye out for any parrots in need of a home for me.

We got all three parrots cremated. I didn't have enough money to do it for the mice
so I made 50 little biodegradable boats and floated them down the river. It was really pretty out that day too.

I'm supposed to go up there again and help clean out more.
It's so cool reading about all the quirks the birds have here.

Ghost didn't chew anything other than the buttons off of remotes.
Gobo was the one who would eat the drywall if you let him. lol.

OMG, I hate to say this, but it is best you weren't home, especially with your child. Does anyone know why it exploded? I have to admit, mine is closer to the house than I would like. After my first tornado, that was actually one of my first thoughts was to run and see if the propane tank was still sitting there, connected.

I'm so sorry you had such a thing happen, and I hope you find a new feathered companion soon.

I hope so too.
Oh do please move it away from your house.
I left the day before and thought as I walked out the door that it shouldn't have been up against the wall like it was. I WAS going to move it, but I got distracted by nikel falling down the steps.

The weather had gotten cold and warm really quickly, it cracked the rubber valve, the gas is heavier than regular air (who knew) so it stuck close to the ground. The propane tank was close to a outlet and that one had a loose wire, so the gas just hung around it, when the furnace in the basement kicked over, the outlet sparked and BOOM. The wall was on fire and the deck was weakened so the fire fell down where underneath there were other propane tanks and those exploded, which caught the oil tank for the heater on fire, which caught the lawn on fire...final destination crap. My son nikolai, he had a kitchen set he would play with next to gobo's cage while I sat at the computer desk down the hall.
I was standing on the kitchen set without realizing it for 5 minutes the other day. It's just a layer of melted plastic on the hardwood floors now. My mother remembers trying to save ghost and looking out to see if she could get gobo, but his blanket that we used as a cage cover was on fire and melting. He never made a noise so she knew it was too lat to get him. Then the house was so full of smoke she couldn't see her nose much less the bird or my grandmother. Knowing nikoali, he would have tried to hide instead of get out. And they described the noise as expecting to see a jet engine sitting in the yard, so I wouldn't have been able to yell for him. So I am glad he I wasn't there, and had him with me.

I'm looking for sure. I just want to make sure we have a place to put the spoiled brat to be first. lol.
My grandmother spent more money and time on vegetables for her birds than she ever did on her kids or herself. She would leave the TV on cartoons all day jus so they would have something to listen to. Lights went off in the kitchen at 10. Period. If you went out there even tip toeing ghost would behead you verbally which would bring on my grandmother's wrath. Any bird we have after this..I'm almost afraid. "yeees, master. Of course master" lol.

It's exciting but scary at the same time. Like looking for a new boyfriend.
I know how long these birds live so I hope it likes me.

Well, it's not up against the house like the old oil tank was. But, it's probably only 20 feet from the house. I don't think there's really anywhere else it could go that the propane company could get to it to fill it up though. I may have to talk to them about it. But I have a lot of out buildings and trees. And I don't want it out in the horse pasture.

Birds can live a very long time. That was why I chose to adopt older ones after one of my conures died. You can look up lifespans on whatever species you are considering. I admit, it was a big reason why I never got a Greenwing macaw, even though they are my favorite birds.

At least you have a child who would hopefully care for the bird if it outlived you. I sadly don't.

Welcome to the forum! So sorry to hear about your house fire and the birds. That's one of my greatest worries.

I'm in the Aberdeen area too, right in the town limits! Are you rebuilding here? It would be great to know someone close by that knows and understands parrots (Besides the "oh do they talk?" my other friends give me. )

Fire is always a great danger. Sorry you went through that. But, you've come to the right place. Lots of good people who know & love BIRDS!

Lycrisa, I remember hearing about your house fire on the news, it must have been devastating! Good luck rebuilding!

Thanks, and yes we are rebuilding!
My grandmother purchased that house almost 50 years ago and is really established in the community.

I know what you mean too, it's the same with my mice.
People have their minds blown when I tell them my bird can dance and my mice can walk tightropes. Crazy, the things mice do for popcorn.

I don't know what took me so long to get *on* a bird forum.
I'm on one for mice and another for the breed of dog I have.lol
It's nice knowing there are people out there just as crazy as I am.

I am so sorry to hear of your fire, that is one of my biggest fears. I've been fortunate enough to have never had to deal with a fire but for some reason I am abnormally worried about one. I have laid in bed more nights than I can count, unable to fall asleep because I'm afraid something may catch on fire and we won't wake up in time to get all of the animals out. I have gone over 100 times in my head exactly what I would do if there ever was a fire but I still feel like sometimes you just can't plan these things out, depending on how and where it starts really decides how much time you have to evacuate. I've even said that if there ever was a really bad fire here, I would be grabbing the birds and putting them all into a small cage that could be run outside, I figured that with the panic and commotion of everything, they would probably be too distracted to be worried about fighting with each other for the short time they would be together, it's a scary thing to think about but I can't help but think getting them out, no matter how, is still better than leaving them inside to surely perish. Ugh, it's upsetting to just think about it
I'm glad that you were fortunate enough to have not been home at the time, if you or your child were anywhere near that tank when it exploded this could have been an even greater tragedy. I wish you the utmost of luck rebuilding your new life and look forward to speaking with you more. PS, this forum and all of it's members are awesome

Lol I did the same thing with intruders. I knew the second I fell asleep someone would sneak in and kill us all. So I stayed up all night until everyone else woke up.

I'm still getting a hang of things here. It's so cool to read about other birdies.
I got a call today from a lady in new york trying to rehome a goffins.
But he's not happy with dogs in the house and turns into a mess. If he saw my husky mutt, I think he'd have a heart attack. I've known for as long as I can remember that I will be spending my life tending to a bird. At least now I have some say in what we get,lol. I am going to have it considerably longer than my grandmother so I hope I have some say-so anyway. Not a ton, just a preference.
(I'd get a quaker if it was my pick personally, but I love the goffins even more)

Thank you, and I agree.
I'm very glad Nikolai was there, because I'm certian he would have died.