Well I am hopeful she learned

[Colorguarder08]

Today my grandma took me with her didn't tell me where but she took me with her and to my surprise and dread she took me with her to get 5 more parakeets. Bringing her total up to 12 now she got these 5 parakeets with a huge cage and some left over food and 3 toys and 3 perches 2 of which the lady had went out to into her yard and cut branches from her trees. Having 4 Conures herself that she spent time perch training and is trying to tame I hope she knows weather or not the trees are safe for them I assume they are as we have tons of finches around this area in the wild. Well I asked a lot of questions of the lady when we got there. 2 of the 5 are hand tame the other 3 not so much. They were her sisters but her sister was forced for health issues to get rid of ALL her animals and there was orignially 6 parakeets but one was killed by one of the conures so she decided just to get rid of the parakeets as she couldn't see getting rid of her conures to keep her sisters parakeets. SO after we got back to my grandmothers place she did something she has never done she let all her birds of the cage at once (she didn't bother quarentining as I'm sure she doesnt even know what that is) she even went to petsmart and got a large bag of pellets 5 or 6 new toys the biggest bag of millet sprays they had AND a few more perches of various sizes. So her parakeets all got atleast 45 minutes of free flight then when the giant cage was put together (it's 3 feet tall by 2.5 feet wide) My neice who is 3 and was told all the birdies we got today were hers helped me decorate the cage. It ended up with the two branches the lady turned into perches another wooden perch (much smaller in diameter) 3 swings 1 of which is a plastic star shaped swing 3 toys that hang down and have ropes and wooden blocks and paper for them to tear up (all 3 are different but similar) 2 millets 1ft of the woven shredders toy and a treat stick in it the cage looks so much better now than what my grandmother ever has done with any of her cages. I have offered to help tame the birds if she will clip there wings to make it a little easier especially since the area the training will take place in is super small I don't want to look for a bird that flew and accidently step on it. OH almost forgot to say I even got one of the new birds to step up on a perch which is exciting.

 

[Ratzy]

Seriously, you NEED to educate her. Over here I believe it is illegal not to provide proper quarantine. Not that anyone actually gets caught. It ties in with animal cruelty laws. I read that somewhere.

 

[Colorguarder08]

Yeah Ratzy cause you know have done absoultely nothing whatsoever to try and educate her. Seriously you wonder why the pet store near you won't listen to you? It's because you assume that because someone isn't perfect they are horrible and know absoultely nothing. IN CASE YOU FAILED TO READ THE POST SHE IS STARTING TO DO STUFF BETTER. what that means is she is taking baby steps to becoming a good bird owner so she's not perfect she IS getting better accept it and stop assuming you are the only person in the world who knows anything about parakeets.

 

[Bobby34231]

Being nasty to a 12 year old is not very mature on your part, especially since your old enough 20-21?, that you should act like an adult, I just wish more people would be as responsible at an early age with their pets as Ratzy is .....comming from someone that had an attitude of "Oh Well" and felt that when their grandmothers parakeet flew out the window it was better off being free in the wild that being with her....shouldn't cast stones in a glass house!

 

[Colorguarder08]

Ok first off I am responicible with MY pets second I am not the only person here who thinks she is extremely rude when replying to peoples post. And the parakeet that flew out the window is still alive and we cant catch it as its fully flighted but it does hang around my grandmothers house and as been spotted 2-3 times DAILY feeding off the seed my grandma throws out the window for it

 

[Beilana]

I suppose rude is what you make it. I found no rudeness in Ratzy's post. Only saying that your grandmother should be educated how to properly care for her pets, which she probably should. It's great that she is getting better though and that your helping her along the way. There really is no reason to get extremely defensive here. Everyone is entitled to their opinion and your right, they are YOUR pets and your grandmothers pets so no one can TELL you how to care for them. Taking some advice is never harmful though.

 

[Colorguarder08]

I have been trying to educate her however it will require an extremely large amount of patience my grandmother is 73 years old by now you better believe she is set in her ways so that fact she's even taking baby steps is a good sign.

 

[Ratzy]

I apologise, that was really thoughtless of me. I just saw that no quarantine thing and blanked out. I'm quite touchy on the subject of quarantine, having lost 6 birds due to not quarantining. I realize that she MUST love her birds, and you are really trying to educate her. As for the pet shop comment, that was like a slap in the face. Like saying "if you had been politer, you could have saved that sick bird." I was extremely polite to the pet store staff and instead of demanding that they get that bird to a vet, I didn't. I suggested it. I have a motto for myself on here, don't say anything that you wouldn't say to their face. I have been known to seem rude on here, which is why I could never be a moderator or administrator. I say things without thinking twice, that is my downfall.

 

[wildheart]

I say things without thinking twice, that is my downfall.

We learn to think twice as we get older and all of us, even the Ooms and Tannies (older people) still have slip-ups now and then, so dont break your head over it. I bet that even if you read your post 3 times you still would not have seen that Colorguarder08 would think you were rude. Plus Colorguarder08 heading says "well I am hopeful she learned", he/she is already beating herself up because of the mistakes that were made and you unknowingly pored salt on the wound. Colorguarder08 is sensitive about the issue because after all it is her grandma.

I found Colorguarder08 post very hard to read because I am Afrikaans. It was written in a manner that did not make sense to me, sorry.

 

[Von1983]

Ratzy, you're more than mature for your age and as Linky says, thinking twice is something that can only come with getting older and boring.

Very sweet of you to apologise.

Things often get misread on the internet and if something is particularly sensitive, then perhaps a public forum is not the place to discuss it. Just my thought for the day.

OT, I think ideally, anyone who owns animals or birds of any kind should be well equipped with information before they get them. 99/100 times, this is not the case for many legitimate reasons. I think the way the wheat is seperated from the chaff comes down to people's willingness to be educated. Those are the good guys in my eyes and if we use that basis, that makes pretty much everyone in the forum wheat.

Just my nonsensical ramblings worth haha.

 

[CrypticDelirium]

Kudos to you for being so helpful and trying to help your grandmother learn how to better care for them!! I totally applaud your efforts, (I only wish my own grandmother would be as receptive!!) TRUST ME I know exactly how you feel, it's not easy. Thankfully, mine only owns three and has no intention of acquiring more! They get set in their ways, and the fact that you've managed to talk her into changing ANYTHING is, in my opinion, ab-so-lutely fantaboulous! = )

 

[Beilana]

I agree about your grandma taking baby steps being quite the miracle....knowing MY grandma lol

 

[Colorguarder08]

I realize I may have over reacted due to matters outside this forum and for that I will apologize. I also have more good news well kind of good news even though my grandmother has not taken her birds out again she has had me go over there daily to work with the birds on the "step up" before it was just micky and pluto (keep in mind they were named by a 3 year old) that would step up on the perch now we can get patrick to step up on the perch as well I really should get some pics up here of the 12 parakeets. I was considering making a rope perch for her birds seeing as how even the smallest rope perches here for birds are a minimum $35 and I am sure I can make more than one for that price however I was wondering what others thought.

 

[bogo1]

Definitely make rather than buy. I did the whole thing for a total of 7 USD from my local hardware store. Just make sure you get the kind of rope that won't put little sticks out into their feet or get long frayed ends. I got about 1/3 more than the length I wanted and then put ends through big metal (non toxic) washers and then tied knots in ends to hold the washers where I wanted them. Then I strung the thing up by attaching the twine through the washers to hangers . I have another one that I hung in the cage itself and just attached the washers to the cage walls.

 

[Colorguarder08]

what are some bird safe ropes and things that I could use