Fig's Brother Kiwi

I got an email two days ago from the newly adopted mother of Fig's little brother Kiwi! Sarah found us on the Palmetto Parrotlets Testimonials page and sent me a message through TalkParrotlets.com. Kiwi is from the clutch after Fig's and shares his devilish good looks.

Here is a picture of their parents that I took when we were in Charleston to adpot Fig:

Here are some links to Talk Parrotlets threads from Kiwi's owner with pictures of him:

http://www.talkparrotlets.com/showthread.php?t=9903

http://www.talkparrotlets.com/showthread.php?t=9921

http://www.talkparrotlets.com/showthread.php?t=9882

Finished Birdie Gym & Hammock

Our bird-safe, food coloring-dyed rope and beads finally came, so John and I were able to put together the gym and hammock, which we decided to combine. We used scraps of poplar (which is also bird-safe) and a 1/4" dowel. The rope, beads, and findings came from eBay seller insidetheparrotcage105, and the swing, which looks like it was dyed the same way, came from abirdtoy.

Fig's first response was that the hammock was terrifying, but now that he's gotten used to its presence, it might actually be fun.

Bird Hammocks and Gyms

Since Fig spends about 99% of his out-of-the-cage time on our shoulders, we've decided that it's time to create other venues for him to be out of his cage.

I'm going to see if I can earn the merit badge for weaving a bird hammock.  I've seen pictures online and some for sale (for more $$ than I really want to spend), and I think that my sailor-skills might extend to net weaving.  So far, I've found some illustrated instructions online and located some birdie-safe rope.  Now let the fun begin!
If anyone is interested in making their own or wants to share their own experience, I would love to see it!
Here are some of the links I've found on the subject:
http://www.cheepparrottoysntips.com/knots.html
http://www.oocities.org/yataebo/hammock.htm

I'm also gathering materials for making a gym, on the idea of a wooden tray with several perches and attached toys.  I'm not sure if Fig will actually be interested when there are four perfectly good, unoccupied shoulders hanging around, but I'm excited about it!
I'll post pictures when I'm finished!

Fig's Diet

Fig's daily diet consists of a combination of these seed mixes:
Volkman Parrotlet
Sunshine's Safflower Gold Small Hookbills
Ecotrition for Parakeets

and

ZuPreem Fruit Flavor Pellets for Canaries
& for Parakeets

He also gets a birdie muffin and a thawed veggie mix cube (both recipes in previous posts) as well as a handful of sprouted seeds.

Birdie Binkie

When I saw this online I thought it was cute but really couldn't imagine that Fig would want to sleep in it, but he does.  We've even taken out his birdie buddy.  He likes to climb in through the back and stick his head out of the front, but it's almost impossible to get a picture of him doing it because as soon as he sees us coming, he opens his eyes and starts climbing for the door.  He thinks that we are much more interesting than anything going on in his cage.

I've only seen these from A Bird Toy, which is an eBay seller who handmakes them.  We got some of their other handmade toys as well and have been very happy with them.  http://stores.ebay.com/abirdtoy

Sprouting

I've been reading a lot about people sprouting their own seeds instead of buying sprouts, so we invested in an Easy Sprouter from The Sprout People (www.thesproutpeople.org).  The ten minute video on the site actually makes sprouting look harder than it is.  Our first batch of sprouts was a success, although in the future I will make less than the instructions say.  I think I could have fed a colony of parrotlets with this crop of sprouts.

Fig seems to like them.

New Baby Parrotlets

News from Palmetto Parrotlets:
Fig's parents hatched 6 new babies last month.

Anyone who is interested should contact Kit at palmettoparrotlet@gmail.com or go to their website at https://sites.google.com/site/palmettoparrotlets/home.

Fig and the Evil Toy

I found a photo of a toy like this online and decided to make one.  Fig's reaction to it has been fierce.  He has committed a tremendous amount of energy to its destruction.  He has actually been able to chew off pieces of straw.  It is definitely the most interesting toy in his cage at the moment.

New Video of Fig

Playing in Wheat Grass

First Video of Fig

Fig is now on YouTube.  Our channel is TheAdventuresOfFig.

Muffins

 Fig is enjoying the muffins we made using Jiffy corn mix, wheat flour, poppy seeds, and bird pellets.  Apple juice was substituted for the milk.  I've read that you can leave in the egg shells, but we didn't in these.  There are lots of bird bread and muffin recipes online, and they are all pretty changeable. I would like to try adding different seeds and fruit and maybe using baby food instead of juice.

Favorite Things

We've joked a lot about buying expensive toys for kids who would rather play with the box they came in.  So far his favorite things to play with are our hair, clothing, and jewelry.  Here are a few things that we have found that he likes that are actually intended for birds.

Fig is crazy about these little bird tents.  We bought three on eBay so that we can keep a clean one at the highest perch in the cage.  I'm not sure if he uses them more for recreation or sleeping.

http://shop.ebay.com/580karen2010/m.html?_nkw=&_armrs=1&_from=&_ipg=&_trksid=p3686

In this photo he's on his way home from Kit's (6 weeks), playing with the clip that attaches it to the top of the cage.

Adding a lot of rope perches to his cage has made it much easier for him to navigate the entire space.  He has a few straight ones that we've attached from side to side, he has a boing that hangs next to his highest perch, and he has recently discovered the fascinating tassels that hang off of the circular perch.

8 weeks

Today Fig is 8 weeks old and completely weaned.  He has not asked for his formula for several days now but loves his millet and will sit in his bowl to eat his seed and pellet mixture.  He gets a variety of fruits and vegetables every day (recipe below), but he doesn't seem very interested yet.  He does like wheat grass, fresh dandelion greens, basil, and romaine lettuce, especially when I mist them with water.
He now has lots of rope perches in his cage, which he seems to appreciate since his climbing skills are much better than his flying skills.  He particularly likes his boing, but he's too impatient to walk up then entire length, so he skips from one coil to the next using his beak.  He would ride endlessly on our shoulders and seems to particularly like hiding under hair (maybe it reminds him of being under the feather duster).
I typically leave for work before Fig is awake, but John says when he takes him in the shower that he has been making some human-sounding noises.

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Fig's Frozen Veggie / Fruit Mix:
cucumber
mustard greens
corn
broccoli
carrots
peas
green beans

apple

banana
mango

quinoa, cooked
All ingredients are diced very small, mixed in equal proportions, frozen into serving-sized cubes using ice trays or mini-muffin tins, and thawed before serving in the refrigerator or using cool water.

There is also a great Daily Fresh Food Mix recipe in Sandee Molenda's The Parrotlet Handbook.

Meet Fig

On February 17th, in sunny Charleston, South Carolina, a tiny egg, one of five, was hatching.  Out of it came a blind, naked mouse with a beak.  At ten days old, Fig was taken from the nest and hand-fed by Kit Matthew, who breeds Palmetto Parrotlets (https://sites.google.com/site/palmettoparrotlets/).  Her birds are Green Rumped Parrotlets, the smallest of the parrotlets and one of the smallest species of parrot, at about four inches in length.  Kit's birds are extremely tame and well-adjusted because they have been handled constantly their entire lives and included in daily human activities such as taking a shower.

Although they are much smaller than most parrots, parrotlets still have big parrot personalities, are very trainable, and often learn to speak.  Green Rumped Parrotlets are bright apple green, and the males have some blue on their backs and wings.  These pictures are courtesy of Kit Matthew and show Fig at 2 1/2 weeks and 4 weeks old.  Even at 2 1/2 weeks, you can see the blue of his pin feathers that suggest he's a male.

Introduction

I decided that I wanted to begin a blog to document our parrotlet's life and to share pictures and stories with our friends, families, and people who are interested in parrotlets.  We are by no means experts; this blog is intended to be more of a story of a day in the life of Fig.  When we were researching parrotlets, we found that there was not a lot of information out there about living with a parrotlet, so we hope that this will provide some insight to the prospective parrotlet surrogate as well as amusement to to those close to us.  Enjoy!