Fun With Fang & Jem: A Tale Of Two 'Tiels 💗💗

[GaleriaGila]

The Rb goes to his vet in a few days, to see heart/hematocrit/Enalapril results (see how I rattle that off as if I understand it). He's holding his own so far.
DO WE LOVE MODERN AVIAN MEDICINE OR WHAT???
YES!

 

[LaManuka87]

Wow! That’s great that Fang continues to do so well! I saw the video of them dancing at the top
of this thread for the first time today and it’s so cute! But it sort of looks like some sort of birdie ritual too…

@Jcas, they do that synchronised dance thing a lot. They also sing their Pop Goes The Weasel/Banana Splits mashup in almost perfect tandem with each other too, it’s wild!!

 

[DonnaBudgie]

How do you give Fang his medicine?

$900 for a cockatiel? Wow! Maybe I should breed and raise them. It would help pay for the new aviary/Bird House I'm building on my property this Spring! Of course the problem is that I doubt I could part with any of the adorable babies and soon I'd be overrun with tiels along with my budgies!

 

[LaManuka87]

How do you give Fang his medicine?

He takes it from a syringe to the beak. I thought he'd hate me for it but he's pretty good about it - probably helps that it's tutti frutti flavour

 

[kme3388]

How do you give Fang his medicine?

$900 for a cockatiel? Wow! Maybe I should breed and raise them. It would help pay for the new aviary/Bird House I'm building on my property this Spring! Of course the problem is that I doubt I could part with any of the adorable babies and soon I'd be overrun with tiels along with my budgies!

Don’t feel bad. I’m overran by 4 parrots, and no longer have a life because they feel like they are the only friends I need.

Yes, $900 for a cockatiel at a large chain pet store!!! The conures including green cheeks were over $1000. I had to pick up a big container of nutriberries, and was completely flabbergasted

 

[kme3388]

Awwwwwwwww thank you @kme3388, that's so sweet of you to say! But I've had Fang since he was a baby, so that's 12 going on 13 years now. Jem's the one who found his way to my back yard having escaped from elsewhere. We put the word out everywhere for weeks trying to find his family but to no avail, and I wasn't about to shunt him off to an animal shelter when I could give him a good home here, so we decided to keep him. Which Fang was not impressed about one little bit, I can tell you! But they get along much better now, I don't think they're what you'd call "besties", but they have a mutual enemy in Lovejoy so it's kind of an "enemy of my enemy is my friend" situation. Not that two cockatiels are any match for one feisty varied lorikeet but at least Fang and Jem have each other as allies in the ongoing war!!

I adore lovejoy He seems mischievous like 3 of my parrots. I like to read about others that have to also deal with mischievous parrots.

 

[LaManuka87]

Lucky Fang, he gets to go to the vet on Friday for his six-monthly check up and repeat prescription for his heart meds. He’s looking pretty darned good for a middle-aged gent with a heart condition, dontcha think?

He won’t be happy about being separated from his bestest buddy though…

….gotta tell ya, it can be REALLY hard to get a pic of Fang without Jem hogging the camera. Now there’s a bird who is not lacking in self confidence!!

 

[kme3388]

I hope his vet appointment goes well. He looks very good for having a heart condition. They really don’t like being separated from their flock mates. They are so cute I miss having a teil snuggle

 

[LaManuka87]

I hope his vet appointment goes well. He looks very good for having a heart condition. They really don’t like being separated from their flock mates. They are so cute I miss having a teil snuggle

Thank you @kme3388 Fang actually looks much better since he's been on Pimobendan. His wing covert feathers used to be a very dark grey and almost greasy looking, and he had downy "streamers" hanging from his upper thighs, presumably where he couldn't be bothered or just didn't have the energy to preen them properly. Now he's much lighter and brighter and those streamers are all gone too, so I think that's a testament to how well the meds are working for him.

 

[Vampiric_Conure77]

Thank you @kme3388 Fang actually looks much better since he's been on Pimobendan. His wing covert feathers used to be a very dark grey and almost greasy looking, and he had downy "streamers" hanging from his upper thighs, presumably where he couldn't be bothered or just didn't have the energy to preen them properly. Now he's much lighter and brighter and those streamers are all gone too, so I think that's a testament to how well the meds are working for him.

Soooo glad his energy is up .

 

[LaManuka87]

Fang had his appointment this morning and all is well. Feathers look good, heart and lungs sound great, weight consistent with last visit 6 months ago and passed the poop test as well. Couldn't get a shot of him at the clinic cos there was a B&G macaw in there raising hell and Fang was VERY unsettled by it. But he's back here at home now, looking pretty pleased with himself and I'm pleased with him too - no mother could be more proud

 

[kme3388]

He’s very cute! Im glad his appointment went well. Yes, macaws can enjoy raising hell at vet appointments, when strangers are over, when they are looking out the window and a leaf blowing by was offensive to them! It is what it is

 

[onamom3]

I'm late to the party! They are both so adorable I love their dance.

 

[LaManuka87]

The 'tiels enjoyed a little spelunking this afternoon. Things got a bit ... tense!!

 

[LaManuka87]

Fang and Jem have decided that they REALLY enjoy tunnelling/spelunking/nesting, call it what you will, on my leather couch. Which of course inevitably leads to collateral damage to my couch and holes in the silk blanket that I bought to try to prevent damage to said couch. So I bought a couple of seagrass tunnels, hoping they'd chew on that instead of either the couch or the blanket....

Suffice to say they were a bit, cos within about a week the first one was reduced to THIS!!!

But at $20 AUD a pop they’re pretty expensive, and as I have a couple of seagrass mats lying around, I thought I’d have a go at making my own …

First impressions look promising

 

[GivemeSeedsorgivemeFlesh84]

Juliette sleeps on a seagrass mat. The tunnel looks awesome! We might have to try that.

 

[LaManuka87]

Juliette sleeps on a seagrass mat. The tunnel looks awesome! We might have to try that.

My hormonally-charged purple crowned lorikeet hen Lilly used to sleep on or in a seagrass hut like this one. It was the one thing that never induced her chronic infertile egg laying issues because of it's open-ended, open weave design. Individual results will always vary, but something like this might work for Juliette too.

 

[GivemeSeedsorgivemeFlesh84]

Being a Linnie she loves to burrow. The funniest thing is her sense of time. 20 minutes before nine she invariable finds a place to snuggle down, and if I don't get there fast enough, she'll have put herself to bed in a t-shirt, or whatever she finds handy. (Right now she has a t-shirt on top of her cage to protect her from the drafty AC wall unit). Then when I relocate her to inside her cage, she goes right to her mat and settles down for sleep. She would love a seagrass hut!!

 

[LaManuka87]

Fang had his six-monthly check up yesterday and got his repeat prescription for his heart meds. Absolutely flawless check with the exception of his heart murmur which is being well controlled by Pimobendan. So uneventful in fact that it’s hardly even worth writing about, other than that I get to post a cute pic!

Good birdy, Fang