Path: utzoo!utgpu!attcan!uunet!wucs1!wucfua!dinorah!mary
From: mary@dinorah.wustl.edu (Mary Leibach)
Newsgroups: rec.birds
Subject: It's all your fault! (was Re: Hookbills)
Keywords: You've done it now!   Baby Cockatiel  Cute
Message-ID: <599@dinorah.wustl.edu>
Date: 3 Nov 88 19:24:42 GMT
Distribution: na
Organization: Washington University (St. Louis)
Lines: 77

I think the header speaks for itself.  I had been reading rec.birds hoping
to find some info on how to catch a stray parakeet that came to our bird
feeder.  Alas, it no longer comes around.  But in the meanwhile, I caught
all your articles about the wonders of a cockatiel.  When I was going to a
lot of petshops here in St. Louis looking for keet info, I looked at the
cockatiels at one.  And fell in love.  Unfortunately, the shop was well 
known by me as a place that sold diseased animals.  I had gotten some
fish there once, and two-thirds of them died within a month.  So I was
extremely hesitant about spending $100 on a bird there.  I really wasn't 
intending to get a cockatiel anyway.  The next day I talked it over with
my mother (the two of us share her house and the expenses.)  She said to
go ahead and get one, if we rescued the parakeet, it(p) would be her bird.
Well, I decided to try the petshop that had been closed on a previous trip,
it had an animal hospital attached, and looked clean.  There I met an
adorable, hand-fed, twelve-week-old pied cockatiel.  When they let me hold her,
she proceeded to climb up my arm, and onto my back to play in my long hair. 
Could I say no?  Two seconds after I got her home, she made herself at
home.  The two seconds consisted of convincing her that she was supposed
to go in the cage rather than climbing up it!  No problems getting her
to eat, she hasn't stopped since I got seed in her seed cup.  We decided to
call her Cally (the telepath in Blake's 7).  I have never
seen such an intelligent bird in all my life.  In one week, she would step
on my finger, step (begrudgingly) on a stick, let me pet her on her head and
back, scratch her neck, kiss her head, come out of her cage and onto my hand
when I opened the door, and woof-whistle.  We are still working on going
back in the cage and talking.  She is a grand champion seed thrower (Olympic
caliber at least), an expert in unhooking her ladder and swing from the cage,
absolutely superb at removing bells from her swing (without damaging either
the bells or the circle of wire that holds them on), mistress of the martial
arts (what else do you call unhooking her ladder that is bigger than she is, 
carrying it around on her perch, and throwing it to the cage floor? ), and
professional demolitions expert.  Her current project is to reduce her 
very sturdy, wooden ladder to a fine pile of sawdust.  To fuel all of this
activity, she eats and eats and eats!  I got her a pringle's size can full
of seeds, and in a week and a half she has eaten half of it!  That does not
count treats!  Between demolition work, seed husks and rejects from her seed
cup (a seed guard keeps the stuff in her cage, but I won't bet on it lasting
long), and her bird-dirties, I have to change her paper every day.

I am very happy with baby Cally, and glad I got her.  Thanks to the net for
all of your articles, please keep them up.  I do have the odd question or
two though:

	1. How do you get the seed husks out of her cup?  Currently I dump
the contents onto a sheet of paper, take it outside, and grab big handfuls,
sprinkle them back on the paper blowing like mad to get rid of some of the
husks.  This is time-consuming, and dependant on the weather.  I have to
do this nearly everyday due to the large quantities she eats.  Is there a 
better, faster way of doing this?

	2. What all can I train Cally to do?  She is so intelligent, at
least as smart as our dog.  She can pick up on sounds relating to events
quickly.  It took her only a few days to figure out that the garage door
closing when I am away means I just got home.  She also is mechanically
smart, she can unhook things, and even can raise her cage door a little
and then drop it for dramatic effect.  The only problem is that she
has a mind of her own.  She has her own ideas on what she wants to do 
and pretty much ignores my ideas on the subject.  When I want to do stick
training she wants to be petted.  When I want to pet her, she wants to
figure out how the light switch works and why wallpaper is unclimbable.
Forget treats.  She would rather sit on the edge of the can and eat her
fill than do a trick and be rewarded.  Millet sprays don't work either,
she just sits there and does them in.  She's really attached to me,
and very tame, but she has no room for any concept of authority or
cooperation.  In other words, she is a bratty, spoiled-rotten baby bird
and I love her very much.

3. How do you get a cockatiel and a dog to be friends?

Any help will be appreciated.  I love Cally and I want to do the absolute
best I can by her.

	-Mary
	 and Cally(Cockatiel) 
	 and Muffy(dog)
         and Persephone(Paradise fish)
	 and misc. finny friends.