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He’s living like a king now. I got him an awesome cage of CL and more toys, plus some good food with nuts and fruit from Petsmart. There’s a lady coming to look at him today, but her bird had a white crest and this one has yellow. I sure hope someone claims him. He is friendly and sweet. I know the owner must miss him. 🙁 I never knew small birds lived so long. I knew parrots were long-lived but cockateils are kinda small. Just figured they lived about 6 or 7.
Wasnt her bird. 🙁 I dont know what to do with him… I dont just want to give him to anyone, but I kinda dont want the responsibility. :scratch: My son has been taking care of him and its keeping his mind off my deployment, but dang… 25 years??? 😆 The other night, he woke everyone up… we found him crouched down on the bottom of his cage with his wings spread out. Anyone have any idea what that was about? If birds have nightmares, I would say thats what it was, but I truly have no clue.
skigod377 wrote:Wasnt her bird. 🙁 I dont know what to do with him… I dont just want to give him to anyone, but I kinda dont want the responsibility. :scratch: My son has been taking care of him and its keeping his mind off my deployment, but dang… 25 years??? 😆 The other night, he woke everyone up… we found him crouched down on the bottom of his cage with his wings spread out. Anyone have any idea what that was about? If birds have nightmares, I would say thats what it was, but I truly have no clue.
Those are night frights. And yes, there is a way to solve this!!! Don’t give up on him yet! 😀
Night frights are common among captive bred birds or so I have heard. My mother has 3 birds who suffer from them out of her insanely copious amounts of birds! Leave a night light on, and don’t cover the cage. Always watch for blood spots around the cage and if you see them, check the bird over, he may not like it, but you need to make sure any bleeding has stopped! And, yes, I have babysat for mom on occasion and had to deal with just this thing. 🙂Cockatiels are especially prone to night frights. Can any of your other pets get into the room the bird is in? Parrots have very poor night vision, worse than we do. If all he can see or hear is a shadow moving around, his instincts are telling him a predator is near and he will try to fly! In the dark, being unable to see and in his panic he will forget he is in a cage and will bounce and thrash around, trying to fly away. They can hurt themselves doing this so always check him over carefully if he does it. He’s scared witless so give him a few minutes with the lights on to let him adjust.
If feathers get caught in the cage when this happens- especially wing or tail feathers- the bird’s body will ‘loose’ them and the feathers will shed. Think of it like a gecko; if a predator grabs its tail, it lets the tail go and escapes. At night when the bird is in a panic because it thinks a predator is after it, and its feathers get stuck (grabbed by the unknown) it looses them. So if this ever happens and you find a bunch of feathers, just make sure he’s not bleeding or hurt and it’ll be okay. It’ll be uncomfortable for him but he’ll be okay.
An unknown noise or movement can prompt this. You don’t need to leave a light on- just make sure he can sleep in an area where no other pets are moving around. Leaving a light on can seriously disrupt a bird’s cycle and if it’s a female may prompt egg-laying. They need a good 10-12 hours of sound (dark) sleep a night.
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My art: featherdust.comskigod377 wrote:They live that long??? I was thinking they were more like rats. 😮
Yeah they do. Feeding them just seeds rather than some form of pelleted food, my mom uses something that looks like mini Trix cereal as far as dished in the cage food goes, will help them live longer in most cases. They do get ailments like we do. Also, as a real stickler my mom changes their water everyday! Clean water carries less chance for your bird to get sick.
For a healthy good weighted Tiel like the one you have now, I would figure his owners fed him pretty much anything he wanted. Sid is the 25 yr old my mom has, and he loves pizza! He poops his beak like he is smacking his lips when anyone walks into the house with a pizza box. Spaghetti is another favorite of her birds, along with brown rice, frozen mixed veggies warmed just enough to knock the ice off and warm them slightly, ravioli, millet spray (not too much of this though, too much is bad!) And she has a wonderful whole grain mixture she makes. The best part about people food, is that they will eat ANYTHING you are eating at the table for supper, lunch or breakfast. But, if you chose to make rice or a whole grain food mix type thing…First cook your rice, and get you out some ice cube trays. You’re gonna add the rice, grains, whatever to the tray, and since you are doing this for one bird, you don’t have to do tons, just one or two trays, but remember each day is a cube. (Something perhaps your son may have a fun time using as a break from worrying about mom, but with a helper ofcourse!)And mist them with a small amount of water, or a half teaspoon a cube will do it (its just to hold the cubes shape and for reheating purposes). Pop them in the freezer and when they are frozen well, take them from the tray and put them into a freezer bag. Get the bag of frozen mixed veggies the first time, as he may like some and not other, which you can fine tune later to his preference, but most like all the different veggies. Each day, take a cube, and a good sized tablespoon of the veggies, and put them on a plate without lead in it. You can microwave them, but I don’t know how long yours takes to get stuff hot. You don’t want the food HOT, or even as warm as we would like it to eat, just lukewarm is plenty. Don’t want to cook those vitamins out!
Ok, this is gonna sound gross, but my mom’s birds love eggs too. :shout: CANNABILISM!!!! :puke: I know, but it’s a good source of protein.
If he is really lovable and a good eater, you may want to see what he will do if you put him on the table for supper one night. IF you need a good laugh and don’t mind sharing your plates that is. 😉 They can be real comedians. 😀 And looking at this guy, I’d have to say some one should be missing this bird and that he probably will eat with you. If you would like I can ask my mom if any of her friends on the birdie forums are from out your way and missing their pied baby. The white splotching is known as “Pieing”.Jennifer wrote:Cockatiels are especially prone to night frights. Can any of your other pets get into the room the bird is in? Parrots have very poor night vision, worse than we do. If all he can see or hear is a shadow moving around, his instincts are telling him a predator is near and he will try to fly! In the dark, being unable to see and in his panic he will forget he is in a cage and will bounce and thrash around, trying to fly away. They can hurt themselves doing this so always check him over carefully if he does it. He’s scared witless so give him a few minutes with the lights on to let him adjust.
If feathers get caught in the cage when this happens- especially wing or tail feathers- the bird’s body will ‘loose’ them and the feathers will shed. Think of it like a gecko; if a predator grabs its tail, it lets the tail go and escapes. At night when the bird is in a panic because it thinks a predator is after it, and its feathers get stuck (grabbed by the unknown) it looses them. So if this ever happens and you find a bunch of feathers, just make sure he’s not bleeding or hurt and it’ll be okay. It’ll be uncomfortable for him but he’ll be okay.
An unknown noise or movement can prompt this. You don’t need to leave a light on- just make sure he can sleep in an area where no other pets are moving around. Leaving a light on can seriously disrupt a bird’s cycle and if it’s a female may prompt egg-laying. They need a good 10-12 hours of sound (dark) sleep a night.
All I know is my mother was advised by a bird vet that she should leave a small nightlight (Nothing seriously bright mind you!) on in the room, and it ended. Turn the light off, and he freaked out. Otherwise, most birds can even sleep in the daylight. 🙂 No other animals are in the room besides the 3 who have night frights.The lady who came and looked at the bird said hers ate eggs too. She gave me some millet spray while she was here and I gave him a small peice. He likes it.
He sleeps with the cage covered and there were no animals around when he freaked out. We kept the cats outside and the dogs were in a bedroom. This is kind of funny, but Moocah has taken to guarding him since we got him. When Xena or the cats goes near, Moocah growls. The bird is a character, thats for sure. I have never been around them, but this one is funny. He hisses sometimes, fluffs his feathers like he is trying to tell me something… whistles. I feel like I can tell when he is annoyed… its funny. I will see what else he likes to eat, but so far, he has stuck to the seed. I will continue to keep him covered at night if for no other reason than it will keep the cats away from him. Im gonna go play with him now. No one else has called to claim him though I am still getting calls asking if I will sell him. I just dont consider him mine to sell yet… How long should I hold him for the original owners?? I was thinking a month maybe.
Jen or WSC would you describe him as pearl or Pied or something else? I took more pics.
Jen, I tried to get a pic of the underside of his tail but the flash washed it out. I am not sure how to get a wing spread; I dont want to hurt him. I will try because I’d like to call him something and I dont want to call him a girly name if its a he and visa versa. 🙂
Thanks for all your help everyone. 🙂
To me he looks like he has a dash of Luino in him as well as a dash of pearl, but mostly I would, well I dunno with him. Lutinos are the yellowy to yellowy white, pearled are well, spotted, and pied are grey and white “blotched”.
Man, I learn so much from this forum. I had no idea birds have night frights like people do!
He sounds like a neat little character. I hope his owner either claims him soon, or that he finds a good new home, whether with you, Ski, or not…Lutino
Pied
Pearled
It all ends up coming to one thing in the end…A cockatiel. They can be moody, and the hissing and feather fluffing may be a warning sign of anger or upset.
Here is a quick reference photo of some of the tail feathers of the different sexes. Females usually will bear the barring while males do not. 😉
Ooh that Lutino is pretty. I like that color. I think he is pearle. His markings are really clean… he has some yellow shading on the white both on his wings and the head. His tail feathers dont look like any of those, I dont think. They are mostly white. I just wanted to know gender so I could name him. Justin can just call him Shadow Ops then. I guess thats a gender neutral name… since its not really a name at all.
Yeah… He looks at me and whistles for me, comes to the door of the cage, then he fluffs his feathers and acts like he is going to bite as he tries to climb on my hands and get on my shoulder… kinda like I am just here for his amusement and transportation. “come here and get me… then you may look, but dont touch, sweetheart.”
Ops sounds like a great name! Or you could go for Oops… 😀
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http://www.sarahjestin.com/feedbacklists.htmOh it’s a pied- pearl! That means it’s a lady. Males loose their pearling when they hit maturity. You have a she! There’s no lutino in that bird. 🙂
Just a note of caution about people food… a lot of our food has sugar, fat, or salt in it, which is NOT good for birds. Also stay away from anything with lactose (cheese pizza.. ) because birds lack the digestive elements that mammals do that allows them to process lactose. Fat and salt in particular are harmful for birds and cockatiels can be prone to fatty liver disease. Also never feed anything with chocolate, caffiene, and never ever feed avocado! Avocado is toxic to most parrots. They have an allergic reaction and can die within hours, it’s scary.
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My art: featherdust.comWindstoneCollector wrote:All I know is my mother was advised by a bird vet that she should leave a small nightlight (Nothing seriously bright mind you!) on in the room, and it ended. Turn the light off, and he freaked out. Otherwise, most birds can even sleep in the daylight. 🙂 No other animals are in the room besides the 3 who have night frights.
Right! A night light is a bit different than a normal light, haha 😀
They can sleep in the daylight, and do regularly. The harmful thing about them not getting 10-12 hours of dark (or, with a nightlight is okay) is that the photoperiod is what turns their hormones on or off— NOT the amount of sleep they get. 🙂 They could sleep for 24 hours but if only 5 of those hours are in darkness they can lead to problems.Volunteer mod- I'm here to help! Email me for the best response: nambroth at gmail.com
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