Frodo Loses His Budgie Friend

Last night a tragic accident took the life of my beautiful budgie, Skylar. She was the sweetest little hand-fed budgie who loved being cuddled.

It was love at first sight for both Skylar and me. She was sharing a cage with a cockatiel when I spotted her at the pet store. When she saw me, she came running over and offered her head up against the bars so that I could pet her. Needless to say, I was shocked.

Apparently, her breeder had removed her from her parents care to hand feed her. Skylar had been so tiny that the breeder had to use a toothpick in order to feed her. It certainly paid off because she was the sweetest little budgie who loved to be scritched and who wasn't the least bit fearful of her new owner.

Those of you with budgies know how unusual it is to have a budgie who is tame and sweet right from the store. Usually it takes some time and effort to tame and win the love of a budgie. I had to pay twice as much as one normally would for a budgie, but she was worth it.

A great mimic, Skylar nailed the ring tone of the phone and the beep of the answering machine as well as the beeping of the microwave. Another little imitation that she enjoyed was the sound of my sneezing. It even became a game with her. I would pretend to get ready to sneeze, and she would finish the sneeze. She had me in stitches with her antics.

Skylar was what I called my multiple personality bird. She could imitate the calls and noises from every one of my birds in their voices. One minute she was Chipper the cockatiel. The next minute she would be Ringo the cockatiel or Snowflake the cockatiel. She even imitated the way that Chipper would do his little knocking routine. Skylar learned to do it as well, and it quickly became a game with us just like it was with Chipper. Not even a few minutes later, Skylar was the second green-cheeked conure in the house when I was pretty darned sure that I only had one. She was extremely adorable, and her loss will be difficult to overcome.

My green-cheeked conure Frodo thought so too when I brought him home to live with us. After a period of quarantine from the rest of the flock as a precaution, Skylar immediately introduced herself to him, and they quickly became buds.

Since Frodo was as bold as her, they were kindred spirits who enjoyed spending time and getting into mischief together. They also adored each other and would chatter to each other, would sit side by side and offer their heads to one another for preening. Skylar even chatted in conure speak. They were adorable together.

Frodo would follow behind Skylar where ever she went and was pretty territorial about and protective of her. Together they would climb up my floor length drapes and perch on top of the ruffle to heckle me or to take a nap. Because he was so intent with her, you might even say that he was even a trifle obsessed with her. Because of this relationship, I knew that he would not understand why her cage was no longer sitting next to his and why she didn't answer him when he called to her.

Of course, all the birds had heard me crying and grieving over Skylar, but it wasn't until I took her little lifeless body to them, tearfully laying her down on the table on which two of the cages were housed that they could understand why I was upset. I thought it only fair that they could see her, and that Frodo especially would understand that she was gone and not being hidden away somewhere by me and resenting me for it.

It was hard to watch, but Frodo came over to her and made little soft inquiring noises to her as he walked around her. He even preened her little head for her. That just made me cry even more. Finally, Frodo gave her a good nip to wake her up, and I knew when he understood that she was gone. As he processed that, he allowed me to take her away. When I came back into the room, he climbed onto my arm and spent the rest of the evening with me.

The tiels had all watched this with interest but none of them were friends with Skylar even though she had tried her best, bless her little heart.

Frodo and Skylar were not a mating couple, in case anyone was wondering, but since I didn't want them to attempt cross-breeding, I did only allow them some supervised play time together.

I spent some extra time with Frodo today, because I saw how much he was looking over to where her cage had been and looking sad. We had a good day together despite grieving over our dear friend.

Yes, Conures Do Accept Bribes

Who knew that a simple green nut could wrangle a green-cheeked conure so completely?

Innocently eating a few pistachio nuts one day in front of my birds, it sparked an interest from my flock. At the time, the tiels had tried them before and liked them. Green-cheeked conure Frodo, however, was new to my home, so seeing me eating, he mooched one to try for himself and literally went nuts over them. If you have a conure that really likes a particular food and the happy little noises they can make as they relish the treat, you will understand the inference. He absolutely loved it!

I don't have pistachios in the house very often, because I think they are a bit spendy. Though they aren't very good for them and shouldn't be given to your pets on a regular basis, conures can be bribed with a pistachio nut. Perhaps not all conures feel the same, but my Frodo would trade his best friend for one.

When they first met, Frodo didn't like my dad at all. I think it was the baseball cap dad was wearing. If you want Frodo to scream, walk into a room wearing a baseball cap, and that little sucker will bring down the house, stirring up all the rest of the birds into a panic. The same thing happens when my brother walks into the bird room with his baseball cap on.

Disappointed that Frodo wasn't making a very good first impression on my parents when they came to visit, I asked my dad to remove his cap and gave Dad a pistachio nut. As soon as Frodo saw the nut in my dad's hand, he stopped screaming and began bobbing his head up and down and straining forward. If you own a green cheek, you know the behavior to which I am referring.

Dad gave Frodo the nut. Frodo took it right out of his hand, ate it and begged for more. No more screaming at my dad that day. It was really cute.

Green Cheek, Georgie, Loves His Music

This was too cute not to share: 

Splish, Splash: Taking a Bath

Of all my birds, my green cheek Frodo loves nothing better than taking a bath. I left a bowl of water in his cage one day when I was home and that little bugger bathed five times! It was great! After he bathes these days, Frodo likes to run up my arm to my shoulder and then shake off the excess water onto me. Cheeky bugger!

The fact that they do enjoy baths so much just reinforces to me how important bathing is for the health and well-being of these little guys. I found a cute video of a green cheek named Poppy who is enjoying a bath that I thought I'd share.

Poor Me, I Have to Scratch My Own Head

Green cheeks, as well as grey-cheeked parakeets, are quite capable of scratching their own heads and necks with their foot if need be. They like to throw guilt upon their owners by giving themselves a head rub as if to say, "Look at me. I am so pitiful that I have to rub my own head. Poor me."

If I had a camcorder, I'd share Frodo in action, but there is a perfectly great video already available online. Check out little Petri who is just looking for sympathy:

Bringing Home Frodo

A routine visit to a local pet store in 2002 ended up being an eventful day. Fed up with customers who didn't properly take care of their birds after getting them from her store, the owner and I spoke about educating folks on the care of birds. When I admired her four newly weaned green-cheeked conures, she gave one of them to me, saying that she knew he would be well cared for with me as his owner than if she had just sold him to someone she didn't know. So, I went home that day with a new friend, one who was small and had funny-looking feet. Decided to call him Frodo. Can't imagine why.

Keeping an extra cage in the house for emergency rescues, I quickly made him right at home as soon as we walked in the front door. He was quiet for the first few days and kind of took in his new surroundings but did not seem fearful. Making sure he was eating and drinking regularly, I left him to his own devices, away from the other birds, and didn't try to handle him for a few days.

Every day I would go to his cage, greeting him sweetly, and would open his door, giving him his freedom should he desire to venture out, though didn't try to interact with him otherwise. On the second day, he did come out of his cage, and though fully flighted, he stayed on top of it and didn't try to fly around. He too was trying to get a feel for the place and to get adjusted. He was content to stay where he was and just watch me and the other birds interact. He even went back into his cage all by himself when I turned the lights down in the room a bit.

On the fourth day, I was sitting on the couch, watching television, and all of a sudden, Frodo flew over to me and landed on my shoulder and snuggled into my neck, rubbing his head up toward my chin, begging to have his head rubbed. I was flabbergasted! Apparently, he'd thought he'd had enough adjustment.

I was his best bud. He liked to snuggle with me whenever he could and begged for treats when I was eating. I quickly learned that he loved apples and carrots. He also liked fresh broccoli, corn, peas, and most fruits you could imagine. I was eating a Ritz cracker one night and saw Frodo on top of his cage, leaning forward and bobbing his head up and down, reminding me of my grey-cheeked parakeet, Kiwi, who used to do the same thing when she wanted something. In the case of Kiwi though, she would also make a beeping noise as she bobbed and strained forward. Frodo, however, just did the bob and strain maneuver. Those of you who own a green-cheek will recognize the behavior of which I speak.

Working diligently with Frodo, we established the step up and step down from both my finger and a stick perch that I keep around for rescuing my high-strung cockatiels who freak out over the budgie giving the warning cry at regular intervals. The budgie loves to do this to freak them out, and the cockatiels fall for it every time.

Frodo is also semi-potty trained. He will back up and seek an edge to poop from instead of just going where he is standing. If he hasn't gone in a while, I can hold him over a trash can and say "go potty" or "come on, go potty," and he will go. You might have to say it a few times, but he will do it if he does have the urge.

When he first became a member of my flock, he loved playing the 'tickle tickle' game. I would reach around and gently nudge him onto his back and then tickle his belly with my fingers. He just loved it and would grab onto my fingers and nibble on them.

Another game we played then was 'peek-a-boo.' Since Frodo, like my former grey-cheek, is a snuggler, he likes to snuggle under the throw with me in the evenings if I watch television or read. He crawls under the throw, starts grinding his beak, and is fast asleep. I got in the habit of peeking under the throw and saying, "peek-a-boo" to him, and then would lower the throw again and would do that at regular intervals for a bit when we had our evening times.

Imagine my surprise when I walked out of the room one night, out of his view, and heard this little, "Peek-a-boo" coming from the other room. I walked back into the room, and of course, he clammed right up. The next thing he learned to say was, "Baby." Now he changes that up with, "Hey, baby" which has become his call for me as I come in the door fresh from work. He also says "hello" and mumbles a lot of other things, but I haven't quite figured them out yet. I'm repeating "good boy" a lot these days so hopefully he'll pick that up, especially when it is reinforced with head scritches.

I very gently plucked a few of his chest feathers and sent them off to a lab for a DNA test that first week to verify that he was a he, and he was. Green-cheeks are not sexually dimorphic (i.e. can't tell the males from the females), so I felt I needed to find out.

That's all about the Frodster for tonight. I hope you enjoy your green cheek as much as I do mine. I bid you good night and hope you don't complain as much as Frodo does about having to go to bed these days. Such noisy vocalizations at bed time. If you don't believe me, check out this video that an owner shared on YouTube. The individual who posted it didn't allow the code to be embedded elsewhere, so visit this link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=js1gSj-0Brg