Post by Ichigotchi on Nov 30, 2017 12:47:43 GMT
It had been a year since the passing of our 13 year old, Cubbie, who'd flown into my sister's classroom and had never been claimed. He was my sister's bird at first, but she later transferred him to my care as she had other commitments. Losing him had been very sad, and I'd decided not to buy a new bird as I didn't want to feel that sadness again, but a year later, the longing for a birdy friend arose, and in August 2010, I decided to buy my first very-own budgie.
Suffering from a particularly bad bout of Kid Icarus fangirlism at the time, I'd already decided I was going to buy a male and call him Pitto, and we were going to be best birdy friends!
So off I went to the local pet shop (the same one my uncle bought our first budgies from waaaay back in 1990) and saw a cute little blue and yellow birdy and knew: that was my Pitto!
Poor Pitto got off to a bad start. I later found out that the lady who was on duty at the time was afraid of birds, and when I went to pay, she actually put the box Pitto was in upright, and then tied, yes TIED, a plastic bag over it. No wonder the poor bird was always so easily scared, she'd traumatised him for life. She'd almost killed my bird!
When I got home, I tried opening the box into the cage, but he didn't want to come out! So I left the box on the cage floor, and left him to it.
It took 45 minutes for the first glimpse!
He was such a cute little well-behaved thing back then!
Poor Pitto was lonely though. He didn't speak, was scared of the dark, and spent most of the day perched in the same place, not moving. I had to abandon my plans for Pitto being my best birdy friend and would relegate myself to second place and buy him a friend on Saturday.
So back to the petshop, and his siblings were still there. I'd originally planned on buying the purple budgie, but somehow the white one with the stumpy tail got my attention. To be honest, I think it was the stumpy tail that did it. That and the brown cere One boy and one girl. Sorted!
No hiding in a box for 45 minutes for Biscuit, no sir! Biscuit jumped straight in and declared herself Queen of the Cage. Pitto's response was to flap around in an absolute panic. Well, not all siblings get on! Maybe he thought he'd seen the last of her!
Once the pecking order had been established, they got on fine. They'd frequently groom and feed each other. However, during Biscuit's adolescence, she often tried to mate with her brother! Once she reached adulthood she was fine though.
Biscuit was one tough cookie, and would often remind Pitto who was boss.
Still, they loved each other!
I mean, look at these cute little budgies! They love each other so much, they even squash together on the swing! So cute, right? Nope, actually that's Biscuit seeing Pitto on the swing and deciding, I want some of that, too! And forcing Pitto to move over.
"Sometimes, I wish I was an only child."
Despite his nervousness and Biscuit's bossiness, Pitto was definitely the braver and cheekier of the two. He would be the first to try out a new food, new toy or new perch, while Biscuit would be flapping away in fright. He was also naughty and learned that while I was praying, I couldn't do anything else, so he would deliberately fly onto the curtains (which he knew I hated) when I started, and as soon as I was finished, would fly off back to the cage! He really was so super naughty!
Pitto's favourite things were thyme (never mind Biscuit's bossiness -- when thyme was involved, Pitto took no prisoners), finding loose thread on my clothes, and winding me up!
Of course, six years later I realised that Biscuit was actually a boy and not a girl! Easy mistake to make?
I lost Pitto on 18th November 2017. It's still hard to believe he's gone sometimes. He was my first very own budgie and I'll always remember him. Miss you, little one x