| Paco and Gillespie |
[Mar. 8th, 2007|07:32 am] |
DNA test results are back. Paco is a boy ... and Gillespie is a girl! :)
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| Paco and Gillespie update! |
[Feb. 16th, 2007|10:37 am] |
I checked in with Paco and Gillespie's adoptive mom this morning. This is what she sent me:
The boys/girls are doing GREAT!!!!! Let me tell you...Paco is........AMAZING!! More amazing than I/we could imagine! He is sooooo engaging. He looks soooo intently when you talk to him. He snuggles in my hair and closes his eyes. He kisses me on the cheek. He talks some....well....mumbles at this point and whispers. He eats from my hand..anything...he is not picky about food AT ALL. He LOVES food!! I have emailed Gary to ask exactly what he does say or not. He calls to me when I am outside and walk by his window. He and Gillespie call to each other from there "wards." And my Grey tries to upstage them by talking nonstop!
Gillespie is doing well also. He now allows me to scratch his head.... He actually allows me to massage his head! HE'S SOOOO CUTE!!! He will come along just fine! He loves his apples and we are trying to find other things he will eat. I will be starting to mix stuff with the apples and see if he figures it out. (he is smart so I am sure he will but....we will try) Gillespie also ended up on Ron's shoulder the other day. I think it was sort of an accident...but he stayed there for some time before we encouraged him to go back to his cage. What a good birdie!!
How great is that?! :)
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| Paco and Gillespie |
[Feb. 7th, 2007|09:28 am] |
Paco has been adopted! He's off to live with Gillespie in a wonderful new home. I received this (abridged) email from their new mom:
[Adoptive dad] went and visited with Paco before taking him home and after nipping him stepped up onto his hand!! [Foster dad] gave [adoptive dad] lots of info on his needs and likes and dislikes along with his fave toys and his "sleeping bag ..." On the ride home Paco allowed [Adoptive Dad] to rub his feet through the cage bars and Paco was vocal for about 20 minutes then calmed and was very quiet. (I heard him as I couldn't wait to call and check in!)
When Paco arrived home [Adoptive Dad] put out his hand and Paco stepped up like a champ! [Dad] was able to pet him and hold him close and Paco seemed comforted by that. He made lots of sounds like conures do but quieted shortly after. I decided to interact alone and see what he would do. I presented him with my arm and what do ya know???? HE STEPPED UP! And I was able to pet him and hug him and I almost tried to kiss him but thought that should wait another day or two! ha! So I wanted to let you know that our little boy is finally home and I am sooo happy he waited all this time for us. I am soooo happy with my new babies that I am in tears. I could not have been blessed more!! I thank you for all you all have done to make this possible! We have found our "family"!!!!!
This makes me so very happy. While originally they had hoped to adopt one of our other SF conures along with Gillespie, there were some issues to do with Lombard's state of health (mentally and physically). The adoptive family was open to the idea of meeting and possibly adopting Paco instead, since he's already a lot more accustomed to humans and being in captivity, and as you can see, the meeting went well! Paco's been in foster care for so long, it really delights me to finally have him in a forever home :)
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| One post, a few updates |
[Feb. 5th, 2007|12:13 pm] |
Gillespie has been adopted! He went to his new home this weekend and is settling in. This is what his new mom had to say after getting him home: OK....Gillespie is now home and he did wonderfully!!! He rode well....[his foster mom] thinks he likes to ride. I think so too. We got home and he climbed out of the carrier by himself and into his cage all on his own. He is cautious of us of course but....he is being a good birdie. He is in bed now after the "First day home" pictures were taken. I wove him!!
And Paco may be adopted this week. *fingers crossed*
From Lombard and Ellis and Geneva's foster mom:
Lombard is still acting freaked out about being a caged bird, and is still spending most of his day trying to escape. It is going to be a long road for him/her. : (
Lombard and Ellis: Lombard has an elevated white blood cell count, and needs to be watched closely for the next few weeks. [Dr F] called, and wants to see Ellis and Lombard back in about 3 weeks for a recheck. She thinks that Ellis may lose the beak, but at least it isn't infected right now. She also asked me whether or not Lombard is "stressed out". She thinks that the WBC might also be related to stress.
Ellis is healthy as a horse, other than the beak. Even his broken leg is better. [Dr. F] just wants to track it as it heals to make sure it isn't getting infected (it looks AWFUL right now). If it never grows back, he will have to be handfed. :(
The tiny bit of good news is that Geneva is now totally tame, and loves being toweled for head scratches. She's definitely on her way to being a "pet".
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| Paco |
[Dec. 6th, 2006|09:32 am] |
There has been some interest in Paco lately, which makes me very happy. I so very want to see him in a loving forever home! He's such a great bird. One of the potential adoptors asked for an update from Paco's foster dad, and this is what he sent:
Paco is a very sweet bird. He can be nippy at times. He has mostly
learned step up, that is when you are going were he wants to go
step up means climb onto your hand. Otherwise it means perform
the three point attachment.
Paco is currently in an older California Cage that is 30"x30" by 48" high.
The interior space is probably closer to 36" high. He's very comfortable
in that cage, but he does use the top half of the space the most. The
only adaption that he really needs is a Happy Hut or similar to sleep in.
He tends to fall off a perch at night. Paco;s wings are clipped, otherwise
he is a strong flyer. He's become very attached to people or maybe it's
just the food, but I'd be worried about him taking off if he got startled
and a window or door was ajar.
Paco really likes taking things apart, but toys (and food) have to set up so
he dosn't have to hold anything in his feet. That's about it as far as
special needs.</i>
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| Paco |
[Aug. 9th, 2006|07:10 am] |
I received this email about Paco from his foster dad after requesting his input on how noisy an adult cherryhead can be. I thought I'd share:
Paco is noisy in the morning until he is fed. He's pretty adapted to that routine. If I cover his cage, he won't make a sound until 7:30 or so, otherwise he lets me know it's breakfast time at first light. He gets a bit noisy again in the afternoon around 4-5PM, but not for too long. This may be a conditioned response, as [housemate] usually gives him a couple nutriberries to occupy him.
If his cage is in the back room (with 2 other parrots), he'll often call out when he hears people walking past. When his cage is in the main room, where he sees who's coming and going, he is pretty quiet.
I've been working on Paco to establish an alternate contact call with partial success. When he says hello, I'll answer
back, and otherwise ignore the flock calls. At this point, he will mix a few hellos into the flock calls. Again, this is primarily in the morning when he is assembling the flock.
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| Paco |
[Jul. 25th, 2006|09:16 pm] |
Paco has been with his foster dad about two years now ... and is almost totally recovered. When I met Paco last month it took a while for me to realize he’s still suffering from the disease at all – he was sitting on a perch holding on with one foot while eating food held in the other foot! Later he was happy to come out and be cuddled by his foster dad while I gave him scritches. Not so much the wild bird he was when this email was written. He’s ready for a forever-home when someone comes along who can see the magic in this little guy. What follows comes from an April 2005 email that Paco’s foster dad sent as an update to the Mickaboo board:
Paco was found in a cardboard box at a Home Depot in
SF. He was pretty much on his back with his feet up in the
air. The person who found him, took him into his vet, All-Pets
in SF. All Pets was able to keep Paco for about a month and
then called Mickaboo. If Mickaboo hadn't had a space for him, he
would have been euthanised.
When I picked him up, he still had neurological symptoms, he couldn't
fly, had a bit of head tilt, and was very unsteady on his feet. It
was believed that he had paramyxovirus, but he tested negative in June.
That test wasn't definitive, and birds will recover from virus with
sufficient care. It is also possible that he got rat poison.
Paco spent the first few months here in a small cage in the isolation
ward, but once his quarantine period was over, he moved into
a little bit larger cage in the house with the other birds.
He has the temperament of a wild bird. He's always alert, is easily
spooked, very wary of new things, and always looking for an opportunity
to escape. He's adjusted to people, in that he will step up on my wrist
(hands are just a bit too scary yet), he'll let me give him a head scratch
if I move slowly. He looks forward to the morning routine, where I
bring all the birds into the kitchen to fix breakfast. He starts
the day with some typical conure squawking. Always at the same time.
This never lasts more than about 20 minutes, less if I get up and
give him a nutriberry. The rest of the day he is pretty quiet.
It's now a year later and he is much improved, he can generally fly
where he wants to but isn't always graceful, particularly with landing.
He still has a bit of trouble with his feet. He can't quite
walk in a straight line without falling over, and when he is startled
he tends to fall. He isn't quiet able to groom himself, or handle things
with his feet yet, but he tries. I've noticed that he doesn't seem
to have enough strength in his feet to sit up all the time. He sits
back like a baby bird and supports himself with his tail. His poor
tail feathers are looking very ragged.
He spends most of the day perched in the corner of his cage looking
out the window. I have the sense that he knows that he's not quite up
to surviving outside, but would still prefer it to being in the cage.
He's an older bird, at least the vet said his x-rays showed some
sign of arthritis in the joints.
He's recently moved into a larger cage. I'm still adding in perches
and climbing ropes, but at least he has an environment that will
encourage him to use his feet. He loves shredding things. I'm still
experimenting with toys to find ones that are both interesting to
him, and not to difficult.
My impression at this point is that Paco will probably always
need some cage accomadation for the neuroogical symptoms. With
a bit more work, I think he will be very friendly with people.
Recently he has be soliciting attention and voluntarily comer over
to people to see what they are doing. He will bit hard if you
move suddenly and startle him. I think also, that escape is always
going to be a concern. I've also become increasing suspcious
that Paco is a she.
I forgot to mention food. Paco converted to eating pellets right off, he now eats
about half pellets and half parrot mash (grains, fruits, veggies, etc).
He seems more than happy to eat anything that's good for him, and
ecstatic about the things that aren't (chinese take out, pizza, doritos,
unattended butter cubes, etc).
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