Dexter and friends

[Ira]

Oct 13, 2023 22:00:58 GMT loz said:

Oct 13, 2023 21:46:36 GMT criswell said:

Thanks Ira I will do. We may well need your help. It's a big cage to try and catch a budgie in!

loz I more concerned about Dexter being the spanner in the works. I'm assuming he will be pleased to see some budgies but he may have other ideas.

All of Ira 's budgies have been really well behaved since they've been here. At some point I will have to start thinking of Aster and Rito as my budgies. Maybe when they move downstairs That still doesn't feel quite real.

When Boba & Smudge are pulling the tails of the boys or performing other acts of thuggery and mayhem, they are Ira's budgies again (briefly)

Quarantine is a strange time of budgie stewardship for me, it always feels weird. Once the new buds have joined the Flock, things seem much more natural. The exception to this was with Berek & Loric - they were their own little Flock and were always in their element, even during quarantine. 

The cheek of it!
"Before sunrise he's your son."
I'd have to wrestle them back off of you and you know it!
Their henny antics are so funny. They get those from Gwen, and a bit from Indie it seems.

[Loz]

Ira

Fightcha!

Gurgeh will not let any of his hens go and besides, he (and Chocobo) are the only creatures on Earth who can manage Boba

[Marianne Marlow]

Daisy is my tail puller, but Barney has started to do it too, even with the hens. Barney is so cheeky.

[criswell]

Dexter has met one of his new friends and they are getting on well. Astser came downstairs yesterday and Dexter didn't react how I thought he would.

Have a guess how he reacted (Ira is excluded from the competition as she already knows).

They've been flying about, singing and sharing some millet. I've had one sitting on each hand eating millet and they both sat with me on the sofa. I had Dexter on a perch and Aster did a couple of fly pasts so I offered him a millet bobble and he jumped on my hand and joined us.

Aster likes tapping his glass Gü pots with his beak. I had the water pot on top of the cage to make sure he knew where it was. Dexter went over to it and staring tapping the glass and Aster joined him. Then Dexter tried to have a bath in it even though it's much too small. He washed his face a little and was fluttering his wings like he was having a bath. Then he did a couple of belly flops in the water and got really soggy, with Aster sitting right there watching. Years ago I offered my boys a glass dish to bathe in but no one touched it. I've got it washed and ready to see if Dexter might like to use it another day. Knowing how contrary budgies can be he probably won't

We only have one small problem. After a little visit to Dexter's cage this morning he hasn't been into either cage and he is still at large! I don't think there is much chance of him going back into the small cage as he wasn't impressed with that yesterday. I might tempt him in if I put one of his usual platforms and food bowls just in side the door. He is currently sitting on a landing stage looking in through an open door so if I put his food just inside there he might go in. He's singing and looking at me with a very cheeky look on his face....

Yay - he's just gone into Dexter's cage He's currently checking out all of the food pots and has found his own one and is having his tea. Dexter is now eating from Asters seed pot.

[Loz]

Oct 22, 2023 17:27:25 GMT criswell said:

Dexter has met one of his new friends and they are getting on well. Astser came downstairs yesterday and Dexter didn't react how I thought he would.

Have a guess how he reacted (Ira is excluded from the competition as she already knows).

They've been flying about, singing and sharing some millet. I've had one sitting on each hand eating millet and they both sat with me on the sofa. I had Dexter on a perch and Aster did a couple of fly pasts so I offered him a millet bobble and he jumped on my hand and joined us.

Aster likes tapping his glass Gü pots with his beak. I had the water pot on top of the cage to make sure he knew where it was. Dexter went over to it and staring tapping the glass and Aster joined him. Then Dexter tried to have a bath in it even though it's much too small. He washed his face a little and was fluttering his wings like he was having a bath. Then he did a couple of belly flops in the water and got really soggy, with Aster sitting right there watching. Years ago I offered my boys a glass dish to bathe in but no one touched it. I've got it washed and ready to see if Dexter might like to use it another day. Knowing how contrary budgies can be he probably won't

We only have one small problem. After a little visit to Dexter's cage this morning he hasn't been into either cage and he is still at large! I don't think there is much chance of him going back into the small cage as he wasn't impressed with that yesterday. I might tempt him in if I put one of his usual platforms and food bowls just in side the door. He is currently sitting on a landing stage looking in through an open door so if I put his food just inside there he might go in. He's singing and looking at me with a very cheeky look on his face....

Yay - he's just gone into Dexter's cage He's currently checking out all of the food pots and has found his own one and is having his tea. Dexter is now eating from Asters seed pot.

I love this!

They are going to be such friends

[criswell]

I've just fed Dexter his tea so he's now eating his own food. Aster was very calm when I replaced the pots. They are now eating their own food.

I'm really happy with how it's going loz . They are well on the way to being friends. I'm really proud of both of them. Aster had to put up with me catching him, taking him away from his friends, putting him an unfamiliar cage, bringing him into an unfamiliar room with strange things like TV and he's coped with it all really well. And Dexter hadn't seen a budgie in over a year and half.

Aster has been very respectful of Dexter, probably because of the new environment but also because of he's very calm and sweet natured, and he let Dexter approach him at his own pace. I left David supervising them this morning as Dexter only wanted to interact with me. But without me there Dexterw went over to talk to him and Aster came out of the small cage and they started interacting with each other.

[ffiscool]

Sounds so good! BFFs

[Loz]

You had to be wondering how Dexter would react. I empathise!

Such a relief to have it go so well on the day and with such promise for the future!

[Ira]

Seems to be going well so far. It pleases me to see how confident Aster is with you.

[blueelephant]

Glad to hear it is going so well!

[criswell]

Thanks everyone.

Ira It pleases me too. I'm so impressed with him. He was the most confident of the 4 when they arrived. Maybe he hadn't realised how confident he could be. He's settled right in to the big cage and looks like he's always been there.

I don't think he'll be impressed with the swings though. Dexter loves the yellow plastic swings that came with the cage and I've never been able to persuade him to sleep on anything else. I've introduced many other swings over the years and he got stressed everytime I took his yellow swing away. Maybe if he sees the other boys sleeping on some of Karen's lovely swings he might want to sleep on one too. I think it'll cause too much commotion if I move the one from the small cage to the big cage tonight. I didn't move it earlier as I wasn't sure where Aster was going to sleep. So Aster will have to make do with yellow plastic for tonight. He'll probably be too relieved not to be sleeping on his own in the small cage to mind too much.

[criswell]

The boys got to bed really nicely. Aster didn't mind the plastic swing. And for the first time in a year and a half Dexter didn't call me back like he usually does and I felt so much happier leaving him knowing he wasn't alone

[Hezz]

Great news, criswell. Lovely to hear about the progression of Dexter’s and Aster’s friendship.

[Marianne Marlow]

It's so lovely to hear that Dexter and Aster are getting on so well.

So amusing that they both have "ter" at the end of their names. It;s like it was meant to be!

[criswell]

I hadn't thought about that Marianne Marlow. Maybe we need to add a 'ter' to Rito's name too.

I already said that Dexter's reaction surprised me when we brought Aster in. He want completely motionless. He sat completely still and silent in his cage, not even blinking for about 10 minutes. I got so worried about him. But then he started to chirp a little and then moved. After a few more minutes he went over to the side of his cage nearest Aster. Then he came out and sat on Aster's cage. He stayed out for about 5 minutes and went home for some food. Then he came out and sat with me and chattered away as if nothing had happened. I'd imagined lots of reactions but that wasn't one of them!