I never saw a pure yellow
parakeet so this beautiful baby was special in his own right. When
I first saw Christopher I thought of a canary my mother had years ago.
His coloring is a beautiful yellow with a small white patch on either side
of his face. I was going to name this darling parakeet Lemon Drop
but decided on Christopher.
By no means could any bird or other
pet take the place of Jonathan, but Christopher held a spot of his own
building new memories. He is much more active than Jonathan
but doesn't have much desire to be held.
He learned the "up" command quickly,
but would rather fly away than sit there after he climbed up. This
technique made getting him out of his cage very interesting. :-)
His first and only desire was getting
to the play area with Benji. At first Benji didn't want any part
of Christopher. He would chase Christopher off everything
on the play set, especially things
Jonathan enjoyed the most. :( I was beginning to think
this was not a good idea for Benjamin or Christopher.
Christopher was just as stubborn and
feisty as Benji and he showed no fear when Benji decided Christopher should
be anywhere except on the play set! Preferably the floor.
As usual I kept a very close eye on their little power matches.
Within a few days they were chumming up to one another, reminding me of
Benjamin and Jonathan playing on the steps of the playset.
With two such active parrots I wanted
to add a larger playset. One that would be on the floor with
plenty of branches to climb on. I drew up a design stating
the exact size and layout. On Saturday Jerry was going to hit
Lowe's to check out availability of parts and of course the price.
:-)
Before he got to Lowe's he stopped
by a pet store in town. I would never think of buying any animal
from this store, but they did have a nice selection of toys, playsets and
cages.
Jerry called to tell me of a cage that
would be perfect for the playset. A cage? I knew this had to
do with his time in building the play set. *smile* I
listened as he rambled on about how great it would be for both Benjamin
and Christopher.
My main concern was yet another cage
to clean. But Jerry cleans the cages so I guess he felt this would
not be a problem.
He was correct about the cage it worked
out great for the small parrots. I added branches on the outside
and hung toys from them. I didn't put any toys in the
cage, but it did have 2 branches and a swing that came with it.
There are three openings counting the
swing out door. The door is kept closed and locked, but they
can go in and out through the other 2 small openings.
They both found this to be the best
thing since sliced apples! They can run and play yet
have their own privacy. In the evenings they perch together on
one of the swings, waiting to go to bed. This is now their habit
no matter how much they may fight during the day, they are perched as close
as they can get on the swing at night.
As Christopher ages he becomes more
interested in kisses at bedtime and a scratch or two before going into
his cage.
Over the past few months I've been
lucky enough to have had two beautiful parakeets who are not biters.
Again, I feel this is because we got them young and offered plenty
of love, including scratches and kisses, even though they didn't care for
them at the beginning.
Christopher's favorite things
are playing and eating, with eating being number one!
He enjoys all his fruits and veggies without bulking at any.
If Benji tries to with hold something Christopher likes, he will pester
Benji until he gives it up. Because its usually something Benji doesn't
even like. They are like children if they think the other wants something
they have!! Parakeets are very lovable and fun to watch. They are a good
choice for first time bird owners.
The bird show was coming
to town. Great!! We could use extra toys and maybe even another
playset. I could hardly wait to send Jerry with our camcorder so
he could show me just what they had to offer.
Click on Next
to read about the Bird Show and its outcome. :-)
