Rico’s major life events.

Rico_Tiel

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Things may be slightly off as I do not have the greatest memory so please bear with me here.

Coming home.

It was a gloomy, cold day in Alaska. I was stil depressed about losing my budgie, Ice. I was laying in bed, playing some Roblox as a rare occasion. I heard the walls creak and my heart spiked. It was a sound that only occurred when my worst fear was mere seconds away. The house began to shake and sway. I looked around and just fast as the quake hit, it was gone. I sighed and continued playing Roblox. About ten minutes later, my mom came in. She yelled at me about playing Roblox even though she had never had an issue with it. I closed my game and set my computer back on my table. She then said “anyway, while we were coming home, we dropped by petco to see if they had any birds and I wanted to show them to you.” I was interested. “Any green cheeks?” I asked. “No. Just parakeets and cockatiels.” She told me and she showed them to me. I only grunted. “If you get some parakeets, I wanna pick one too! So I can play with it and you can take care of it! Maybe you should get three!” She said excitedly. She knew I wasn’t going to get a budgie, let alone 3! Two was already a bit much for me. I said “mom, I don’t want budgies. I just lost two in the same year.” She said “oh I know, but you might change your mind!” I sighed and shook my head. Then I said “alright, I guess we can go look at them.” I agreed and I got into the shower, brushed my hair, brushed my teeth and off we went. When we got there, she was going nuts over the budgies and I just wasn’t too interested. Then, I saw the cockatiels. There was like a pearled pied one and a whiteface. I saw the whiteface and something clicked. I told my mom “I think I found one!” She came over and was like “ooh he’s very pretty! You want this one?” And I said “yup! He’s the one!” He didn’t cower into a corner like the other one. He just gave me a look of “what’re you lookin at?” And his energy clicked with mine too well. There was a connection there. And that is what made me choose him. So, we picked a few toys and then my mom went employee hunting while I just stared at him saying weird stuff like “my child you are coming home with ME” in Sméagol’s voice and “mmm my precious! My precious bird” also in Sméagol’s voice. I got some very weird looks. The employee comes over and is the typical customer service-y person and was like “hi! Which bird are you picking?” And I pointed to Rico and said “this one please” and she became kinda nasty. She was like “oh you don’t want that one! He is mean!” And I said “I think I’ll be fine.” She said “no you REALLY don’t want that one.” I said “no, I do.” She said “are you SURE? He is bitey and very mean!” And I nodded. “Yup!” I said, looking at him. She didn’t like that. She grabbed a net and a box. She setup the box and shoved it into my hands. “Hold this and keep it open.” Her tone was… not nice? It really wasn’t as soon as I pointed to Rico but it was worse here. She opened the door to the tank and chased him around his gross tank. She smashed him against the glass and shook him aggressively into the box. She closed it and then she lead us to checkout. We bought the toys, Rico, and left. Now I barely go to petco. No reason to since 1. They abused a baby bird and most animals they get there. 2. Their stuff is WAYYYY too pricey (11 dollars for a 5 inch long toy that is like 2.5 inches wide? Nuh uh.), 3. They don’t carry any food I have to get for Rico. 4. They leave dead and dying animals on display. 5. They promote god awful care. Unsafe toys, unhealthy food, bad cages, on their website, they say “oh birds eat fruits and veggies and seeds! Seed diets aren’t good for your bird because it’s too fatty and not nutritious!” But then sell seed diets. They are hypocrites. Petco is a big fat NO from me. Poor practice and a bad business.



Glass and floors shall break my bones but words will never hurt me


Rico’s flight feathers were beginning to grow in and I was walking by the window. He jumped off my shoulder m, into the window, crashed into it, fell 4 feet, hit a wooden windowsill, and then fell another foot and hit the floor HARD. He stood up and wasn’t moving. I picked him up and asked him if he was okay. He wasn’t even responding to me. I flipped him over to look at his underside and legs and his left leg flopped to the right. I knew his leg was broken. I flipped him back over and cupped him in my hands and speed walked through the hall swearing enough to make a sailor fall in love with me. “Mom?” “What?” “I think Rico needs to go the the vet!” “WHAT?” She rips her door open and is like “What are you talking about?” I explained it and she said “go to your room, I’ll get your father.” I did it and sat on my bed with Rico still in my hands. He was very much in shock. My parents came in and after arguing for maybe 10 or 20 minutes, they FINALLY called the vet. I’m still baffled I even had to argue with them about that! They tried telling me it was a sprain. They tried gaslighting me into thinking I’m a fool and he will be fine and I kept silent until all the anger and panic bubbled over and I said “you really think a sprain causes your leg to dangle and not be able to move?” And that seemed to have been what made them realize “oh sniz, she’s right.” And go call the vet. They were mad at me for it. Rico had to wait 9 days before help arrived. I set up a hospital cage for him (padded bottom, low down rope perch, food dishes as low as possible, and his favorite toy) I cried every single day, preparing for the worst (him dying from shock or him just dying on the examination table) and telling him help was coming in x amount of days and how much he means to me and if this were his final days that I wish him a peaceful passing and how he would be okay and how much I loved him. I was a wreck. Typing this even makes me want to cry. After day nine, the mobile vet FINALLY came out and I rushed him out to the van. They checked him over, confirmed he had a broken leg, I gave my mom an “I told you so” look because I’m petty as all heck. She gave us some Meloxicam and told us “2 doses every day, exactly 12 hours apart, he ain’t gonna like it, good luck.” And sent us on our way. Can you guess how much all this was? Like, 150 bucks. My parents were mad about 150 bucks instead of the 500+ at tier one or the town vet (who are known to harm animals in their care and charge you for what they did). I guess 150 is more important than Rico’s wellbeing 🤑




Hatchday!

My birthday happened, big deal blah blah but my borb’s hatchday is more important! It’s 10 days after mine so it’s the perfect excuse to blow all my money on Rico! i got quite a lot of money in Amazon gift cards from my grandparents and I went nuts! I bought toys and treats! A LOT of toys. Most of it is actually what makes up a majority of Rico’s toy chest! Soooo yah. I bought I think 21 toys total? And I bought some oat groats and oven fresh bites bird cookies (which he didn’t like but stinky and I did 👀) all I got myself was like a big bag of pocky for 11 smackeroonies 🥹 he loved ALL the toys! He really liked the super bird bottoms up toy! He enjoyed the oats and the planet pleasures sunflower toy most! I also bought a planet pleasures foot toy for him and I hang it up for him and now it’s his snuggle toy that he really loves. He was still a hormonal monster so he was very angry about this. He enjoyed everything once his hormones died down but when he saw it at first he was NOT happy.


Christmas 2022

Rico loved his Christmas! He got so many fun toys, he got a play stand, he got a heated perch, and he got a new seed mix! He was super happy with it! He absolutely LOVES the play stand! It was a little after Christmas when it all showed up but he doesn’t know that lol he was very jealous of my candy. Especially since I had so much (my brother gave me all his chocolates which was really nice and I gave him all my cinnamon candy since it’s too spicy for me) and he would try and steal it ever shot he had. I discovered I like caramel that day. I shared my chocolates with my parents and my brother was swimming in cinnamon candy. Rico got his seebs and was happy and then even happier about his toys and play stand and has used each one every day! He is in the process of obliterating his planet pleasures wheel toy!



and those were all the major events in his life (that I could remember)! Thank you so much for reading this! I hope you have a fantastic day!
 

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Nice start to a life thread! I have been documenting Salty's story on 1 thread since I joined in 2015. It's now 76 pages long and has 238K views, so some folks must like reading about him. Do the same for Rico, so you don't forget all the little details that make being a parront so rewarding.
 
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Rico_Tiel

Rico_Tiel

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Nice start to a life thread! I have been documenting Salty's story on 1 thread since I joined in 2015. It's now 76 pages long and has 238K views, so some folks must like reading about him. Do the same for Rico, so you don't forget all the little details that make being a parront so rewarding.
Oh my! 76 pages?! 238k VIEWS?! WHAAAAAT? 🤯 also, that is a fantastic idea! Thank you!
 
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Rico_Tiel

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PEET!
 

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Rico_Tiel

Rico_Tiel

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Update: he is learning Wave and Spin! He is getting spin really well and is starting to understand Wave!
 
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The time Rico almost escaped the house:

It was I think August? Rico was flying around as usual in the living room under my close supervision and I hear my parents door open. I called Rico back down in case someone let the dogs out despite hearing Rico (no one seems to be able to hear the shrieking bird echoing through the house apparently) and I saw my dad walk out. Rico flew off my hand and flew by him and sped past his face. My dad definitely saw him as he can see at least three feet in front of him perfectly fine, and he watched Rico return to my hand. I watched him walk to the back door and grab the door handle as I said “wait, no! Don’t open the door!” He opened it anyway as Rico took off flying IN THE DIRECTION OF THE OPEN DOOR. And he had the door WIDE open as he walked outside. Thank GOD Rico almost NEVER flies out of doors and he flew right past it, went through the kitchen, down the hall, and back to my hand. I didn’t talk to my dad for the rest of the day or the day after it. Rico could have EASILY flown away and been killed due to his lack of awareness.


The time Rico got stuck behind the living room TV:

Okay, so to preface this, our TV is mounted high up AND it’s a pretty big TV. This may clear some confusion. Rico was zooming around as usual, it was September I believe, and he landed on the TV as usual. He walked to the middle, stepped in the wrong spot and fell down behind it. I tried using my incense holder (I do not use it whatsoever so dw) to lift him up but I ended up pushing him dead center of the TV. I spent a few mins trying to get him but I couldn’t. I panicked and yelled for help and the whole family was in the living room. My dad climbed a chair and scooped Rico outta there and handed him to me like he was a potato. He clung to my shoulder and I took him back to his cage and blew all the dust and cobwebs off him. He was shaken up but was fine five mins later, back to biting and playing.



That’s all I can remember at the moment!
 
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This is a minor life point BUT! I just noticed how shiny his feathers are! I know parrot feathers should shine but I thought it wasn’t the case in ‘tiels. Nope! They apparently should have a shine to their feathers! I believe that means I’m doing something right and I believe it’s primarily dietary (when he was on all/mostly seeds his feathers were MATTE. There was 0 shine to them.) but it does indicate good health! It’s reassuring to know I’m taking good care of him 🙂
 
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This is a minor life point BUT! I just noticed how shiny his feathers are! I know parrot feathers should shine but I thought it wasn’t the case in ‘tiels. Nope! They apparently should have a shine to their feathers! I believe that means I’m doing something right and I believe it’s primarily dietary (when he was on all/mostly seeds his feathers were MATTE. There was 0 shine to them.) but it does indicate good health! It’s reassuring to know I’m taking good care of him 🙂
83CB4B7E-6372-44F4-A55E-31DD10C5EF9E.jpeg

The camera does him no justice but he is very shiny in the sunshine!
 
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well, I took him outside on the harness and showed him the woods. Safe to say he did not like that too much. He saw a wild robin waddling around in the road, he saw 2 fighter jets flying overhead, and he saw horrified by the sight of clouds covering the sun and making it colder. We went in after 5 minutes. But that made me remember last year when I’d take him outside.




The time we saw a bird fight

Ah, this one was absolutely wild. So, Rico was on my shoulder and I was walking around watching the nuthatches fluttering about and suddenly, I heard the unmistakable sound of wings. I looked in that direction and here comes this American Robin, swooping down on us, trying to get Rico. I obviously got freaked out because it came so close to Rico. I ofc swore under my breath and I put Rico on my finger so I could have better sight on him. We hung out in the driveway and I burned my feet on the hot asphalt because screw shoes and screw socks! I don’t really need them on our property. I heard wingbeats coming from a nearby spruce and I saw a lot of movement in it. I watched and suddenly, 2 birds locked in combat, spiraled out of the tree holding onto each other’s talons! Similar to a bald eagle mating ritual honestly. Anyway, the one on the bottom hit the ground only a couple feet away and squeaked loudly, then they took off REALLY close to our heads! It was so awesome! I had never seen anything like that before but it was super cool to see 2 birds fighting in the wild, so close to us!


The time Rico saw an evil butterfly

So, Rico is scared of butterflies. The first butterfly he saw didn’t scare him much and it was a Milbert’s Tortoiseshell butterfly
CAA20B5B-1075-4897-958A-9034551C0DC9.jpeg

And it landed on me as seen here. He didn’t mind it much, but the next butterfly he saw was absolutely horrifying to him. It was a Mourning Cloak butterfly and it flew in his face and he freaked out, flew into the nearby crab apple tree and his leash got tangled in it. The poor chicken was dangling and freaking out, flapping about, and screaming for me to help him. So, I had to untangle it and then gently grab him and pull him close to get the full leash out of the tree and we ended up going inside to let the both of us destress. He was fine obviously but he doesn’t want to fly into that tree anymore, which is probably for the best.


The time he discovered a Great Diving Beetle.

So, for those who don’t know, diving beetles are aquatic beetles that are predatory. They can be the size of a large coffee bean to the size of a police badge (I found a dead one 2 years ago with my cousin and it was approximately 2.7 inches long and 1.5 inches wide. I tried preserving it in hand sanitizer but that pretty much accelerated it’s decomposition. Here was the bug before I tried preserving it
6B1804A8-AED6-474B-931D-081DA2547F82.jpeg

So that’s what a diving beetle is)

Rico discovered one in the grass when he was waddling around in it and I saw it and picked him up, then the beetle. I showed it to him and obviously he tried eating it. I didn’t even let him lick it. After we observed it, I set it on the top of my index, held it up in the sun, it began vibrating, it opened its elytra, then it flew off. It was pretty cool! Although, this one was the size of a pumpkin seed. I find it funny that he is so fascinated by something that bites hard enough to freak me out but is terrified by something that tastes with its feet and can’t even bite.


The time rico catcalled a random woman.

So, my mom taught rico the cat call whistle despite me telling her that I do not want her teaching him that. Rico and I were outside and this woman was walking by and ofc, rico being a young tiel and not knowing that I did not like him making that noise, catcalled the woman stopped and said “excuse me?” I said “oh, sorry, that was my bird. My mom taught him that.” She didn’t seem convinced but she kept on walking. I obviously couldn’t be mad at him since he didn’t know and even if he did, he’s a bird. What can I do? Just say “bad chicken. No.”? I did manage to get him to stop the cat call whistle and this god awful screeching he used to make that would make me want to die, by going “shh” At him only when he did those sounds. He learned that those were sounds that got him shushed so he quit with those sounds.

And that’s about it really. Just posting random, notable memories of him.
 

DonnaBudgie

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well, I took him outside on the harness and showed him the woods. Safe to say he did not like that too much. He saw a wild robin waddling around in the road, he saw 2 fighter jets flying overhead, and he saw horrified by the sight of clouds covering the sun and making it colder. We went in after 5 minutes. But that made me remember last year when I’d take him outside.




The time we saw a bird fight

Ah, this one was absolutely wild. So, Rico was on my shoulder and I was walking around watching the nuthatches fluttering about and suddenly, I heard the unmistakable sound of wings. I looked in that direction and here comes this American Robin, swooping down on us, trying to get Rico. I obviously got freaked out because it came so close to Rico. I ofc swore under my breath and I put Rico on my finger so I could have better sight on him. We hung out in the driveway and I burned my feet on the hot asphalt because screw shoes and screw socks! I don’t really need them on our property. I heard wingbeats coming from a nearby spruce and I saw a lot of movement in it. I watched and suddenly, 2 birds locked in combat, spiraled out of the tree holding onto each other’s talons! Similar to a bald eagle mating ritual honestly. Anyway, the one on the bottom hit the ground only a couple feet away and squeaked loudly, then they took off REALLY close to our heads! It was so awesome! I had never seen anything like that before but it was super cool to see 2 birds fighting in the wild, so close to us!


The time Rico saw an evil butterfly

So, Rico is scared of butterflies. The first butterfly he saw didn’t scare him much and it was a Milbert’s Tortoiseshell butterfly View attachment 50167
And it landed on me as seen here. He didn’t mind it much, but the next butterfly he saw was absolutely horrifying to him. It was a Mourning Cloak butterfly and it flew in his face and he freaked out, flew into the nearby crab apple tree and his leash got tangled in it. The poor chicken was dangling and freaking out, flapping about, and screaming for me to help him. So, I had to untangle it and then gently grab him and pull him close to get the full leash out of the tree and we ended up going inside to let the both of us destress. He was fine obviously but he doesn’t want to fly into that tree anymore, which is probably for the best.


The time he discovered a Great Diving Beetle.

So, for those who don’t know, diving beetles are aquatic beetles that are predatory. They can be the size of a large coffee bean to the size of a police badge (I found a dead one 2 years ago with my cousin and it was approximately 2.7 inches long and 1.5 inches wide. I tried preserving it in hand sanitizer but that pretty much accelerated it’s decomposition. Here was the bug before I tried preserving it View attachment 50168
So that’s what a diving beetle is)

Rico discovered one in the grass when he was waddling around in it and I saw it and picked him up, then the beetle. I showed it to him and obviously he tried eating it. I didn’t even let him lick it. After we observed it, I set it on the top of my index, held it up in the sun, it began vibrating, it opened its elytra, then it flew off. It was pretty cool! Although, this one was the size of a pumpkin seed. I find it funny that he is so fascinated by something that bites hard enough to freak me out but is terrified by something that tastes with its feet and can’t even bite.


The time rico catcalled a random woman.

So, my mom taught rico the cat call whistle despite me telling her that I do not want her teaching him that. Rico and I were outside and this woman was walking by and ofc, rico being a young tiel and not knowing that I did not like him making that noise, catcalled the woman stopped and said “excuse me?” I said “oh, sorry, that was my bird. My mom taught him that.” She didn’t seem convinced but she kept on walking. I obviously couldn’t be mad at him since he didn’t know and even if he did, he’s a bird. What can I do? Just say “bad chicken. No.”? I did manage to get him to stop the cat call whistle and this god awful screeching he used to make that would make me want to die, by going “shh” At him only when he did those sounds. He learned that those were sounds that got him shushed so he quit with those sounds.

And that’s about it really. Just posting random, notable memories of him.
When I lived in Malibu 30 years ago, my cockatiel Charlie was walking around on the carpet one day and picked something up with his beak and began playing with it. I was sitting nearby and scooted over to investigate and saw that it was a small silvery SCORPION! I immediately took it from him and killed it before Charlie got Stung!
 
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When I lived in Malibu 30 years ago, my cockatiel Charlie was walking around on the carpet one day and picked something up with his beak and began playing with it. I was sitting nearby and scooted over to investigate and saw that it was a small silvery SCORPION! I immediately took it from him and killed it before Charlie got Stung!
Holy smokes! That is SCARY! I’m so glad you got that before he was stung! Good on ya!
 

DonnaBudgie

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Holy smokes! That is SCARY! I’m so glad you got that before he was stung! Good on ya!
Glad we don't have scorpions and tarantulas in Maine, though tarantulas are really pretty cool for spiders. They seem to move in slow motion and are usually very gentle with people but I wouldn't trust one with a small bird.
 
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Glad we don't have scorpions and tarantulas in Maine, though tarantulas are really pretty cool for spiders. They seem to move in slow motion and are usually very gentle with people but I wouldn't trust one with a small bird.
That’s good! Because while I do like both of them, I do NOT want to find them near my house or in it! That’s why I like AK lol but Maine sounds like a more laid back version of alaska, just minus the 9+ feet of snow (depending on where in Alaska you are ofc)! And yeah, both could easily take out a small bird! That is why they evolved it after all!
 

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Things may be slightly off as I do not have the greatest memory so please bear with me here.

Coming home.

It was a gloomy, cold day in Alaska. I was stil depressed about losing my budgie, Ice. I was laying in bed, playing some Roblox as a rare occasion. I heard the walls creak and my heart spiked. It was a sound that only occurred when my worst fear was mere seconds away. The house began to shake and sway. I looked around and just fast as the quake hit, it was gone. I sighed and continued playing Roblox. About ten minutes later, my mom came in. She yelled at me about playing Roblox even though she had never had an issue with it. I closed my game and set my computer back on my table. She then said “anyway, while we were coming home, we dropped by petco to see if they had any birds and I wanted to show them to you.” I was interested. “Any green cheeks?” I asked. “No. Just parakeets and cockatiels.” She told me and she showed them to me. I only grunted. “If you get some parakeets, I wanna pick one too! So I can play with it and you can take care of it! Maybe you should get three!” She said excitedly. She knew I wasn’t going to get a budgie, let alone 3! Two was already a bit much for me. I said “mom, I don’t want budgies. I just lost two in the same year.” She said “oh I know, but you might change your mind!” I sighed and shook my head. Then I said “alright, I guess we can go look at them.” I agreed and I got into the shower, brushed my hair, brushed my teeth and off we went. When we got there, she was going nuts over the budgies and I just wasn’t too interested. Then, I saw the cockatiels. There was like a pearled pied one and a whiteface. I saw the whiteface and something clicked. I told my mom “I think I found one!” She came over and was like “ooh he’s very pretty! You want this one?” And I said “yup! He’s the one!” He didn’t cower into a corner like the other one. He just gave me a look of “what’re you lookin at?” And his energy clicked with mine too well. There was a connection there. And that is what made me choose him. So, we picked a few toys and then my mom went employee hunting while I just stared at him saying weird stuff like “my child you are coming home with ME” in Sméagol’s voice and “mmm my precious! My precious bird” also in Sméagol’s voice. I got some very weird looks. The employee comes over and is the typical customer service-y person and was like “hi! Which bird are you picking?” And I pointed to Rico and said “this one please” and she became kinda nasty. She was like “oh you don’t want that one! He is mean!” And I said “I think I’ll be fine.” She said “no you REALLY don’t want that one.” I said “no, I do.” She said “are you SURE? He is bitey and very mean!” And I nodded. “Yup!” I said, looking at him. She didn’t like that. She grabbed a net and a box. She setup the box and shoved it into my hands. “Hold this and keep it open.” Her tone was… not nice? It really wasn’t as soon as I pointed to Rico but it was worse here. She opened the door to the tank and chased him around his gross tank. She smashed him against the glass and shook him aggressively into the box. She closed it and then she lead us to checkout. We bought the toys, Rico, and left. Now I barely go to petco. No reason to since 1. They abused a baby bird and most animals they get there. 2. Their stuff is WAYYYY too pricey (11 dollars for a 5 inch long toy that is like 2.5 inches wide? Nuh uh.), 3. They don’t carry any food I have to get for Rico. 4. They leave dead and dying animals on display. 5. They promote god awful care. Unsafe toys, unhealthy food, bad cages, on their website, they say “oh birds eat fruits and veggies and seeds! Seed diets aren’t good for your bird because it’s too fatty and not nutritious!” But then sell seed diets. They are hypocrites. Petco is a big fat NO from me. Poor practice and a bad business.



Glass and floors shall break my bones but words will never hurt me


Rico’s flight feathers were beginning to grow in and I was walking by the window. He jumped off my shoulder m, into the window, crashed into it, fell 4 feet, hit a wooden windowsill, and then fell another foot and hit the floor HARD. He stood up and wasn’t moving. I picked him up and asked him if he was okay. He wasn’t even responding to me. I flipped him over to look at his underside and legs and his left leg flopped to the right. I knew his leg was broken. I flipped him back over and cupped him in my hands and speed walked through the hall swearing enough to make a sailor fall in love with me. “Mom?” “What?” “I think Rico needs to go the the vet!” “WHAT?” She rips her door open and is like “What are you talking about?” I explained it and she said “go to your room, I’ll get your father.” I did it and sat on my bed with Rico still in my hands. He was very much in shock. My parents came in and after arguing for maybe 10 or 20 minutes, they FINALLY called the vet. I’m still baffled I even had to argue with them about that! They tried telling me it was a sprain. They tried gaslighting me into thinking I’m a fool and he will be fine and I kept silent until all the anger and panic bubbled over and I said “you really think a sprain causes your leg to dangle and not be able to move?” And that seemed to have been what made them realize “oh sniz, she’s right.” And go call the vet. They were mad at me for it. Rico had to wait 9 days before help arrived. I set up a hospital cage for him (padded bottom, low down rope perch, food dishes as low as possible, and his favorite toy) I cried every single day, preparing for the worst (him dying from shock or him just dying on the examination table) and telling him help was coming in x amount of days and how much he means to me and if this were his final days that I wish him a peaceful passing and how he would be okay and how much I loved him. I was a wreck. Typing this even makes me want to cry. After day nine, the mobile vet FINALLY came out and I rushed him out to the van. They checked him over, confirmed he had a broken leg, I gave my mom an “I told you so” look because I’m petty as all heck. She gave us some Meloxicam and told us “2 doses every day, exactly 12 hours apart, he ain’t gonna like it, good luck.” And sent us on our way. Can you guess how much all this was? Like, 150 bucks. My parents were mad about 150 bucks instead of the 500+ at tier one or the town vet (who are known to harm animals in their care and charge you for what they did). I guess 150 is more important than Rico’s wellbeing 🤑




Hatchday!

My birthday happened, big deal blah blah but my borb’s hatchday is more important! It’s 10 days after mine so it’s the perfect excuse to blow all my money on Rico! i got quite a lot of money in Amazon gift cards from my grandparents and I went nuts! I bought toys and treats! A LOT of toys. Most of it is actually what makes up a majority of Rico’s toy chest! Soooo yah. I bought I think 21 toys total? And I bought some oat groats and oven fresh bites bird cookies (which he didn’t like but stinky and I did 👀) all I got myself was like a big bag of pocky for 11 smackeroonies 🥹 he loved ALL the toys! He really liked the super bird bottoms up toy! He enjoyed the oats and the planet pleasures sunflower toy most! I also bought a planet pleasures foot toy for him and I hang it up for him and now it’s his snuggle toy that he really loves. He was still a hormonal monster so he was very angry about this. He enjoyed everything once his hormones died down but when he saw it at first he was NOT happy.


Christmas 2022

Rico loved his Christmas! He got so many fun toys, he got a play stand, he got a heated perch, and he got a new seed mix! He was super happy with it! He absolutely LOVES the play stand! It was a little after Christmas when it all showed up but he doesn’t know that lol he was very jealous of my candy. Especially since I had so much (my brother gave me all his chocolates which was really nice and I gave him all my cinnamon candy since it’s too spicy for me) and he would try and steal it ever shot he had. I discovered I like caramel that day. I shared my chocolates with my parents and my brother was swimming in cinnamon candy. Rico got his seebs and was happy and then even happier about his toys and play stand and has used each one every day! He is in the process of obliterating his planet pleasures wheel toy!



and those were all the major events in his life (that I could remember)! Thank you so much for reading this! I hope you have a fantastic day!
Im going to do something like this for my babies
 

Saravp

Member
Aug 20, 2023
57
63
Parrots
None
Things may be slightly off as I do not have the greatest memory so please bear with me here.

Coming home.

It was a gloomy, cold day in Alaska. I was stil depressed about losing my budgie, Ice. I was laying in bed, playing some Roblox as a rare occasion. I heard the walls creak and my heart spiked. It was a sound that only occurred when my worst fear was mere seconds away. The house began to shake and sway. I looked around and just fast as the quake hit, it was gone. I sighed and continued playing Roblox. About ten minutes later, my mom came in. She yelled at me about playing Roblox even though she had never had an issue with it. I closed my game and set my computer back on my table. She then said “anyway, while we were coming home, we dropped by petco to see if they had any birds and I wanted to show them to you.” I was interested. “Any green cheeks?” I asked. “No. Just parakeets and cockatiels.” She told me and she showed them to me. I only grunted. “If you get some parakeets, I wanna pick one too! So I can play with it and you can take care of it! Maybe you should get three!” She said excitedly. She knew I wasn’t going to get a budgie, let alone 3! Two was already a bit much for me. I said “mom, I don’t want budgies. I just lost two in the same year.” She said “oh I know, but you might change your mind!” I sighed and shook my head. Then I said “alright, I guess we can go look at them.” I agreed and I got into the shower, brushed my hair, brushed my teeth and off we went. When we got there, she was going nuts over the budgies and I just wasn’t too interested. Then, I saw the cockatiels. There was like a pearled pied one and a whiteface. I saw the whiteface and something clicked. I told my mom “I think I found one!” She came over and was like “ooh he’s very pretty! You want this one?” And I said “yup! He’s the one!” He didn’t cower into a corner like the other one. He just gave me a look of “what’re you lookin at?” And his energy clicked with mine too well. There was a connection there. And that is what made me choose him. So, we picked a few toys and then my mom went employee hunting while I just stared at him saying weird stuff like “my child you are coming home with ME” in Sméagol’s voice and “mmm my precious! My precious bird” also in Sméagol’s voice. I got some very weird looks. The employee comes over and is the typical customer service-y person and was like “hi! Which bird are you picking?” And I pointed to Rico and said “this one please” and she became kinda nasty. She was like “oh you don’t want that one! He is mean!” And I said “I think I’ll be fine.” She said “no you REALLY don’t want that one.” I said “no, I do.” She said “are you SURE? He is bitey and very mean!” And I nodded. “Yup!” I said, looking at him. She didn’t like that. She grabbed a net and a box. She setup the box and shoved it into my hands. “Hold this and keep it open.” Her tone was… not nice? It really wasn’t as soon as I pointed to Rico but it was worse here. She opened the door to the tank and chased him around his gross tank. She smashed him against the glass and shook him aggressively into the box. She closed it and then she lead us to checkout. We bought the toys, Rico, and left. Now I barely go to petco. No reason to since 1. They abused a baby bird and most animals they get there. 2. Their stuff is WAYYYY too pricey (11 dollars for a 5 inch long toy that is like 2.5 inches wide? Nuh uh.), 3. They don’t carry any food I have to get for Rico. 4. They leave dead and dying animals on display. 5. They promote god awful care. Unsafe toys, unhealthy food, bad cages, on their website, they say “oh birds eat fruits and veggies and seeds! Seed diets aren’t good for your bird because it’s too fatty and not nutritious!” But then sell seed diets. They are hypocrites. Petco is a big fat NO from me. Poor practice and a bad business.



Glass and floors shall break my bones but words will never hurt me


Rico’s flight feathers were beginning to grow in and I was walking by the window. He jumped off my shoulder m, into the window, crashed into it, fell 4 feet, hit a wooden windowsill, and then fell another foot and hit the floor HARD. He stood up and wasn’t moving. I picked him up and asked him if he was okay. He wasn’t even responding to me. I flipped him over to look at his underside and legs and his left leg flopped to the right. I knew his leg was broken. I flipped him back over and cupped him in my hands and speed walked through the hall swearing enough to make a sailor fall in love with me. “Mom?” “What?” “I think Rico needs to go the the vet!” “WHAT?” She rips her door open and is like “What are you talking about?” I explained it and she said “go to your room, I’ll get your father.” I did it and sat on my bed with Rico still in my hands. He was very much in shock. My parents came in and after arguing for maybe 10 or 20 minutes, they FINALLY called the vet. I’m still baffled I even had to argue with them about that! They tried telling me it was a sprain. They tried gaslighting me into thinking I’m a fool and he will be fine and I kept silent until all the anger and panic bubbled over and I said “you really think a sprain causes your leg to dangle and not be able to move?” And that seemed to have been what made them realize “oh sniz, she’s right.” And go call the vet. They were mad at me for it. Rico had to wait 9 days before help arrived. I set up a hospital cage for him (padded bottom, low down rope perch, food dishes as low as possible, and his favorite toy) I cried every single day, preparing for the worst (him dying from shock or him just dying on the examination table) and telling him help was coming in x amount of days and how much he means to me and if this were his final days that I wish him a peaceful passing and how he would be okay and how much I loved him. I was a wreck. Typing this even makes me want to cry. After day nine, the mobile vet FINALLY came out and I rushed him out to the van. They checked him over, confirmed he had a broken leg, I gave my mom an “I told you so” look because I’m petty as all heck. She gave us some Meloxicam and told us “2 doses every day, exactly 12 hours apart, he ain’t gonna like it, good luck.” And sent us on our way. Can you guess how much all this was? Like, 150 bucks. My parents were mad about 150 bucks instead of the 500+ at tier one or the town vet (who are known to harm animals in their care and charge you for what they did). I guess 150 is more important than Rico’s wellbeing 🤑




Hatchday!

My birthday happened, big deal blah blah but my borb’s hatchday is more important! It’s 10 days after mine so it’s the perfect excuse to blow all my money on Rico! i got quite a lot of money in Amazon gift cards from my grandparents and I went nuts! I bought toys and treats! A LOT of toys. Most of it is actually what makes up a majority of Rico’s toy chest! Soooo yah. I bought I think 21 toys total? And I bought some oat groats and oven fresh bites bird cookies (which he didn’t like but stinky and I did 👀) all I got myself was like a big bag of pocky for 11 smackeroonies 🥹 he loved ALL the toys! He really liked the super bird bottoms up toy! He enjoyed the oats and the planet pleasures sunflower toy most! I also bought a planet pleasures foot toy for him and I hang it up for him and now it’s his snuggle toy that he really loves. He was still a hormonal monster so he was very angry about this. He enjoyed everything once his hormones died down but when he saw it at first he was NOT happy.


Christmas 2022

Rico loved his Christmas! He got so many fun toys, he got a play stand, he got a heated perch, and he got a new seed mix! He was super happy with it! He absolutely LOVES the play stand! It was a little after Christmas when it all showed up but he doesn’t know that lol he was very jealous of my candy. Especially since I had so much (my brother gave me all his chocolates which was really nice and I gave him all my cinnamon candy since it’s too spicy for me) and he would try and steal it ever shot he had. I discovered I like caramel that day. I shared my chocolates with my parents and my brother was swimming in cinnamon candy. Rico got his seebs and was happy and then even happier about his toys and play stand and has used each one every day! He is in the process of obliterating his planet pleasures wheel toy!



and those were all the major events in his life (that I could remember)! Thank you so much for reading this! I hope you have a fantastic day!
Wow, what an amazing story! You two were meant to to be together.
 
OP
Rico_Tiel

Rico_Tiel

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Oct 21, 2022
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Wow, what an amazing story! You two were meant to to be together.
We really were. He’s my absolute best friend! Been there when no one else was, and he is my absolute soul bird… love the little guy!
 

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