Post by Ira on Feb 20, 2022 11:27:06 GMT
It is with a heavy heart that I have to report that Peri has departed for Rainbow Bridge.
Peri came into my life near the end of November 2019. I had moved out of my grandparents' house in October and wanted to get a friend for Munchy because he was now alone when I went to work, and the evidence suggested that he hadn't bothered to leave his cage much on those days, a testiment to him feeling lonely (as well as the contact calling, that my housemate would kindly come and check on him for). So, anyway, I began my search for somewhere to get a new budgie, as everywhere I knew previously had closed down. A friend kindly gave me a lift to a garden centre that I knew had a pet store, but alas no birds to be seen. I didn't know where else to look, and little did I know there was actually a family run store near me that sold birds that they bred themselves, but my friend had heard about a place from somewhere from his choir, so off we set to Petwise. And my goodness but the aviary was full! It was hard to keep an eye on any one bird, and they all scattered when the keeper went in to get one for me, so in the end I ended up indicating this little budgie who was perched a little away from the others, baby bars down to his cere, and declared "That one will do."
As I'd primarily been looking for company for Munchy, I hadn't really been fussed on what budgie I ended up with, beyond ideally wanting a young bird in the hopes of taming it, and preferably a male because I thought a hen might be a bit much for 8 year old Munchy, but within a couple of hours I had decided that the new baby was the cutest thing ever. He had the most adorable little chin spots, which I still refer to as his freckles. He was also a total maniac. He would flip himself around in the corner of the cage and try to do twist his head between his legs, only to fall, and then do it all over again. He would scrabble at the paper in the bottom of the cage and then end up slipping and rolling over. He'd also run around under the paper. I spent the month of his quarantine laughing at his antics, shaking my head in despair when he was outside the cage and was convinced that food could only possibly be on the floor and not in his cage, wondering if I'd ever get him to figure out what millet is, and wanting to break the radio if it played yet another Christmas song! 😃 By the end, he had just about figured out millet and I was able to bribe him to do a couple of step ups.
Naming Peri didn't take too long, but his full name ended up as quite a mouthful for such a tiny bird. One of my housemates wanted him to be called Rolo, because rolos are chocolate and caramel sweets, and so are munchies. I wasn't too fussed on that and spent a couple of hours just going through random ideas in my mind, until Peri, short for Periwinkle, stuck. And that was that. Or so I thought. Because another friend kept calling him Peri the Platypus. My other housemate said he should be Periwinkle de Rolo after Percival de Rolo from Critical Role. And then he went through a bought of escaping from the cage so I threatened to rename him Houdini, a name that had previously belonged to a fish in my grandparents' pond. And then with some joke about him being OH's child due to his daft antics, poor wee Peri ended up with the full title of Periwinkle Houdini von Platypus Morgan de Rolo the Third.
Quarantine was due to end on December 23rd, but I had plans to go to my grandparents' on the 24th and stay for Christmas, but I wanted to take both birds with me, which would be awkward with more than one cage. So quarantine was cut a little short to make time for introductions. Well, Munchy was having none of it. As recommended, I put the cages next to each other and Peri was instantly curious about Munchy, but Munchy acted like Peri didn't exist. So I tried letting them out together after a day, which resulted in Peri following a fleeing Munchy and Munchy diving back into his cage to escape. Peri out but Munchy in resulted in Peri climbing all over Munchy's cage and either being ignored or Munchy jumping as far away from the eager child as he could, and Munchy out but Peri in just meant Peri was ignored. So in the end I did what no one would ever in their right mind recommend and lured Munchy into Peri's cage and shut them in together. Lo and behold, within about 10 minutes of me loitering around keeping an eye on them they'd made introductions and although Munchy still found Peri annoying at first he was no longer as bothered by having the youngster around, and Peri was not as overenthusiastic.
Munchy considered Peri to be very much in the way of his time with Kevin, but in between those moments he would spend time fussing over Peri, feeding and preening him. Peri's attempts at returning a preen were usually met with rejection, however. The two became a food thieving duo on my days off, as Munchy would come to see if I had anything interesting on offer and Peri would follow. A couple of notable incidents were the time I had to wipe bean sauce footprints off of the table after they ran across my plate, and the time I was able to carry them both upstairs because they were busy shredding a rusk.
One memory that always makes me giggle is the first time my grandparents met Peri, during his quarantine. My granddad automatically said "Hello Munchy" to the cage I was carrying before he took a closer look and realised that it was a different budgie, to which he remarked "Oh, a yellow-face blue" and that was that. Then my Nan arrived and looked in the window for Munchy, so I held up Peri, and she smiled, then realised it wasn't Munchy, and her face dropped to a look of horror. "Is he [Munchy] dead!?" Oh Nan. They both enjoyed his antics and his interactions with Munchy when the two visited together.
My little water baby, if I left out a water dish Peri might be in and out of it 7 times or so in a day. He loved the water.
Peri was only with my for 3-4 months before he and Munchy left for a new home with a kindly animal-loving lady, who later commented to me that they were two of the most spoilt budgies she had ever seen when she sorted through all their stuff. He hit his hormonal phase and attempted to get frisky with Munchy, much to Munchy's displeasure. The pair were separated and Peri was introduced to a hen, but he was too young to have any idea about girls. When they both ended up in the aviary, Munchy wanted to hang out with Peri but Peri was far more gregarious than his companion and had soon made other friends that Munchy was reluctant to spend time with. Peri soon became besties with a little white hen called Jet, and they were so madly in love that when Munchy came home to live with me again Peri stayed behind where he was happy and settled.
Peri spent most of his remaining time with Jet, apart from a couple of weeks when he was poorly and needed some tlc, until she sadly passed away during the autumn of last year. Peri was devasted and ended up having to be coaxed out of his grief by sharing a cage with a very needy half-exhibition hen known as Lady M, who was so demanding of Peri’s attention that the poor boy had no choice but to comply with her demands. Eventually, though, she decided that she’d had enough of him when he failed to give her a fertile clutch despite several attempts. At this point, because he had never gotten up to mischief with Jet, I joked that he either prefered boys or was firing blanks. So Peri ended up sharing space with some of the younger budgies and alternated between flirting with one of the boys and one of the girls, until he left us on the 12th.
Fly high, my little water bird. You may have only been with me for a short time but you left your mark on all of our hearts, and you were so very much loved. I hope that you’ve reunited with Jet over rainbow bridge.
Peri came into my life near the end of November 2019. I had moved out of my grandparents' house in October and wanted to get a friend for Munchy because he was now alone when I went to work, and the evidence suggested that he hadn't bothered to leave his cage much on those days, a testiment to him feeling lonely (as well as the contact calling, that my housemate would kindly come and check on him for). So, anyway, I began my search for somewhere to get a new budgie, as everywhere I knew previously had closed down. A friend kindly gave me a lift to a garden centre that I knew had a pet store, but alas no birds to be seen. I didn't know where else to look, and little did I know there was actually a family run store near me that sold birds that they bred themselves, but my friend had heard about a place from somewhere from his choir, so off we set to Petwise. And my goodness but the aviary was full! It was hard to keep an eye on any one bird, and they all scattered when the keeper went in to get one for me, so in the end I ended up indicating this little budgie who was perched a little away from the others, baby bars down to his cere, and declared "That one will do."
As I'd primarily been looking for company for Munchy, I hadn't really been fussed on what budgie I ended up with, beyond ideally wanting a young bird in the hopes of taming it, and preferably a male because I thought a hen might be a bit much for 8 year old Munchy, but within a couple of hours I had decided that the new baby was the cutest thing ever. He had the most adorable little chin spots, which I still refer to as his freckles. He was also a total maniac. He would flip himself around in the corner of the cage and try to do twist his head between his legs, only to fall, and then do it all over again. He would scrabble at the paper in the bottom of the cage and then end up slipping and rolling over. He'd also run around under the paper. I spent the month of his quarantine laughing at his antics, shaking my head in despair when he was outside the cage and was convinced that food could only possibly be on the floor and not in his cage, wondering if I'd ever get him to figure out what millet is, and wanting to break the radio if it played yet another Christmas song! 😃 By the end, he had just about figured out millet and I was able to bribe him to do a couple of step ups.
Naming Peri didn't take too long, but his full name ended up as quite a mouthful for such a tiny bird. One of my housemates wanted him to be called Rolo, because rolos are chocolate and caramel sweets, and so are munchies. I wasn't too fussed on that and spent a couple of hours just going through random ideas in my mind, until Peri, short for Periwinkle, stuck. And that was that. Or so I thought. Because another friend kept calling him Peri the Platypus. My other housemate said he should be Periwinkle de Rolo after Percival de Rolo from Critical Role. And then he went through a bought of escaping from the cage so I threatened to rename him Houdini, a name that had previously belonged to a fish in my grandparents' pond. And then with some joke about him being OH's child due to his daft antics, poor wee Peri ended up with the full title of Periwinkle Houdini von Platypus Morgan de Rolo the Third.
Quarantine was due to end on December 23rd, but I had plans to go to my grandparents' on the 24th and stay for Christmas, but I wanted to take both birds with me, which would be awkward with more than one cage. So quarantine was cut a little short to make time for introductions. Well, Munchy was having none of it. As recommended, I put the cages next to each other and Peri was instantly curious about Munchy, but Munchy acted like Peri didn't exist. So I tried letting them out together after a day, which resulted in Peri following a fleeing Munchy and Munchy diving back into his cage to escape. Peri out but Munchy in resulted in Peri climbing all over Munchy's cage and either being ignored or Munchy jumping as far away from the eager child as he could, and Munchy out but Peri in just meant Peri was ignored. So in the end I did what no one would ever in their right mind recommend and lured Munchy into Peri's cage and shut them in together. Lo and behold, within about 10 minutes of me loitering around keeping an eye on them they'd made introductions and although Munchy still found Peri annoying at first he was no longer as bothered by having the youngster around, and Peri was not as overenthusiastic.
Munchy considered Peri to be very much in the way of his time with Kevin, but in between those moments he would spend time fussing over Peri, feeding and preening him. Peri's attempts at returning a preen were usually met with rejection, however. The two became a food thieving duo on my days off, as Munchy would come to see if I had anything interesting on offer and Peri would follow. A couple of notable incidents were the time I had to wipe bean sauce footprints off of the table after they ran across my plate, and the time I was able to carry them both upstairs because they were busy shredding a rusk.
One memory that always makes me giggle is the first time my grandparents met Peri, during his quarantine. My granddad automatically said "Hello Munchy" to the cage I was carrying before he took a closer look and realised that it was a different budgie, to which he remarked "Oh, a yellow-face blue" and that was that. Then my Nan arrived and looked in the window for Munchy, so I held up Peri, and she smiled, then realised it wasn't Munchy, and her face dropped to a look of horror. "Is he [Munchy] dead!?"
Oh Nan. They both enjoyed his antics and his interactions with Munchy when the two visited together. My little water baby, if I left out a water dish Peri might be in and out of it 7 times or so in a day. He loved the water.
Peri was only with my for 3-4 months before he and Munchy left for a new home with a kindly animal-loving lady, who later commented to me that they were two of the most spoilt budgies she had ever seen when she sorted through all their stuff. He hit his hormonal phase and attempted to get frisky with Munchy, much to Munchy's displeasure. The pair were separated and Peri was introduced to a hen, but he was too young to have any idea about girls. When they both ended up in the aviary, Munchy wanted to hang out with Peri but Peri was far more gregarious than his companion and had soon made other friends that Munchy was reluctant to spend time with. Peri soon became besties with a little white hen called Jet, and they were so madly in love that when Munchy came home to live with me again Peri stayed behind where he was happy and settled.
Peri spent most of his remaining time with Jet, apart from a couple of weeks when he was poorly and needed some tlc, until she sadly passed away during the autumn of last year. Peri was devasted and ended up having to be coaxed out of his grief by sharing a cage with a very needy half-exhibition hen known as Lady M, who was so demanding of Peri’s attention that the poor boy had no choice but to comply with her demands. Eventually, though, she decided that she’d had enough of him when he failed to give her a fertile clutch despite several attempts. At this point, because he had never gotten up to mischief with Jet, I joked that he either prefered boys or was firing blanks. So Peri ended up sharing space with some of the younger budgies and alternated between flirting with one of the boys and one of the girls, until he left us on the 12th.
Fly high, my little water bird. You may have only been with me for a short time but you left your mark on all of our hearts, and you were so very much loved. I hope that you’ve reunited with Jet over rainbow bridge.
