Tuk-Tuk is really an experiment in patience. This little critter is not afraid of anything.

I had always wanted a quaker parakeet for over 20 years. Some friends of ours breed these little birds. When ever we would go over to visit them, they would show these cute little green balls of fluff and feathers off. We were a little hesitant about mixing quakers and tiels. Well finally they wore us down and we decided that the quaker and the tiels didn't have to be together exactly. So the rest is history, well almost.

July 31 1998 we brought our newest family member home. He was about 3 weeks old. Cheryl named him Tuk-Tuk because that is what these things say when they are small. I hand fed him myself exclusively for 2 months. That was because he liked it and we were also feeding some baby tiels.

One would imagine that Tuk-Tuk and I would have been the best of buddies. Think again. Tuk-Tuk had adopted Cheryl as his one and only. I have yet to figure that out, other than I picked her also.

He does a good imitation of a Poulin chain saw when ever I come near his cage. He is sort of accepting when he is not in his cage.

The other day I was walking bare foot and I noticed Tuk was on the floor near where Cheryl was. I also noticed that my path would not put me close to Tuk, I would be at least 3 feet away from him. So he would not be in danger of me stepping on him. Did I say that quakers are fast also? Well as I continued walking I felt this unaccustomed sensation in my right foot. At first I had assumed that I had stepped on Tuk. Then the sensation manifested it self as pain in my little toe. Tuk had ran over, chomped on my little toe. Then ran back over to the safety of Cheryl. Did I say these little guys are fast? Did I say he was a brat?

Tuk has a problem of landing on his tail, so his tail feathers are not what they should be. The other day he busted a blood feather and we had to do some emergency first-aide on him. I imagined that I would wind up with sutures all over my hands because I would be holding Tuk while Cheryl pulled the bleeding feather. Well we had some difficulty, because the feather was bloody and slippery. Can you believe Tuk just layed in my hands accepting whatever fate we had in store for him. Did I say we love him? You better believe it. This little ball of fluff and meanness trusted me while Cheryl was pulling on the bad feather. He never even attempted to amputate a finger nail much less my hand.

He is SCREAMING for someone to open the door. So I gotta go. Did I say he was such a brat?