The Dino-Aspie Ex-Café (for Those 40+... or feeling creaky)

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I went past 3000 posts without noticing!

3000 is excellent!

Very cool!

C ngrats!! !

Spike's second week portrait (two days after "he can't live the night" - never blindly believe an "expert" ....)



The tan bulge under his neck is his crop, where food is stored until he gets around to swallowing it. Perfectly normal.

May he become a world beater...
Go Nan
Go Spike...

he looks like an actual little bird now

Yeah, he has even MORE feathers this morning. I can hardly see his crop now, and have to remember that he doesn't know he's full until about 3 minutes after he's eaten so to not give him all he asks for. He'll keep asking to be fed well beyond his exploding point!

We have to work with him a bit on his perching soon, I think. He's scooting around in his box now - moves to "do his business" away from where he sleeps. I don't think he's got splay-leg, which is what it looks like in the most recent photo, because most of the time his legs are solidly under his body. If they aren't raised with them under their bodies the chicks' hips won't develop properly and their legs will splay out at weird angles, keeping them from ever walking or perching. Spike sits up on his knees now sometimes when we feed him, and he seems to be wanting to try to stand, so we'll have to figure out something here.... maybe stick a little bamboo skewer in the box across one corner for him to try to perch on, not too far from the floor. Maybe also encourage him to try to sit on a finger when we feed him - if we support him with other fingers so he can't fall, maybe that'd encourage him.

Hmmm, now what would a momma bird do? Nothing, actually. I think it's pretty much hard-wired into the species what they're supposed to do at what age and there's very little nurturing that happens, other than feeding. Which is good. Fostering all those kittens was one thing - they were mammals and extra-easy to understand. Birds are a complete other realm. It's like trying to raise a dinosaur, with feathers. Gut instinct has worked so far, but they are a whole 'nuther universe there.

Dang, he's cute and he knows how to work us. Turns his head to one side, bobs it, peeps, spreads out his now very-feathery wings and looks cute.

"Won't live till morning" my ... backside!

*cheers for Nan and Spike*

I like how the beak is wide open. Whether he's pleading for a feed, or just giving you his opinion, how "typical-kid" is that?!

Good for you and your little feathered-dinosaur, Nan.

Go Spike! Go Spike! Go Spike! Go Spike! Go Spike! Go....

Last edited by richie on 30 Aug 2008, 2:18 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Ok now you've done it, I'm sitting here trying to figure out how many sides a human has. Four? I don't think so. Right forward front, back forward frontish, this is getting complicated. Maybe I'll just stick to four.

Took me a while to figure out why birds would have the markings in their mouths for the feeding, just call me slow. That's ok, it's just one of my sides.

lurking and cheering on the SPIKE!

and the NAN and her snappy band of retainers!

Merle

Lurking.

Yes peoples, that time of the week again....
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=18qcXm9XhGA[/youtube]
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7dCMvZ4lBKI[/youtube]
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xIx2X8MSZF4[/youtube]
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LFBijDU8PpE[/youtube]
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8YV5Mdn11Q8[/youtube]

Wow, weird. Two of our adult finches are missing. As in vanished from their little aviary on our balcony. Looks like one of four things happened: 1) they've learned to apparate (unlikely); 2) the kid accidently let them out when she was doing a nest-check the other day and doesn't realize it (entirely possible); 3) a masked bandit (raccoon) is at work (also entirely possible); or 4) a finch bandit scaled the wall, climbed over our extremely rickety balcony privacy fence (which should have collapsed if they did as I designed it only for privacy and not to bear any weight) and had snagged those two finches for ransom without anyone noticing him. (No ransom note, though.)

My thoughts are that it's either the kid or the raccoon. The kid swears she was careful, but sometimes she is kind of in a fog - we came home one day this week and found the balcony slider door open about 3 inches - not enough for the cats to get out but certainly enough to be letting the a/c out all day while we were at work (arrrgh). She'd been out there feeding the birds right before we left for work that morning.

That leaves the masked bandit. Which doesn't make a lot of sense - why would he take two little zebras when he could have gotten a nice, plump dove? Unless he was after eggs and the zebras were a more manageable size? Hmmm, no feathers, no blood at the scene....

Sure looks like the work of a kid in a brain-fog to me. But, just in case, I have unbent paperclips and twisted them around the wires on all the hatches on the cage, so unless the perp has opposable thumbs and enough power to untwist paperclips, he ain't getting in there again. If it's a raccoon, using clothes pins won't work - they're too smart for that.

Looks like "he" got Spike's elderly mom, and the male from the other nest. On the good side, it looks like the two male society finches have started sitting on the babies that are out there and are feeding and caring for them (! !!). They usually won't do that unless there's a female society who's laid eggs in the cage. Lucky for the fuzzy bros (the zebra babies) that there's two males willing to care for 'em. Wish I'd have known their inclinations when Spike was abandoned. I'd have put him in a small cage with the two and let them raise him.

PS Spike's feathers are unfurling from the little tubes that they were in when they grew. He's decidedly fluffy this morning. And went four hours straight without a feeding last night.

thanks for the update NAN! I am always on Spike Watch, and always check for updates!

and congratulations on 4 hours with out his raucaus little song to get you up and at 'em!

Merle