Ipyana-

Ipyana has never liked bananas...He has been warming up to them lately... I just keep persisting. Then... I got out a banana and he lunged towards it before it was even peeled and said "MMMMM!" When I got it peeled, he took a huge chunk out of it like he has been waiting all day for this treat. I have always had the bananas sitting out on the counter, but recently, I have had them in the refridgerator. They get soooo cold, almost frozen. He really loves it this way! He definately looks forward to it. Since he hasnt been breaking anymore blood feathers, I have decided to SLOWLY introduce more perches and toys. When he was having the blood feather problem I had to really restrict the toys and perches in his cage, and play with them outside the cage instead. So I put in a cuttlebone perch and he loves it. It isnt his favorite but he will sometimes perch on it for a change of pace. But if there has been one thing that I have learned about Ipyana, is to go in slow motion concerning introducing toys, perches, etc. June has no problem with this what so ever. If I put a new toy in or something, he just stays away from it.. and then curiousity gets the best of him. Ipyana has his curious side to him also.... sometimes more so than June. Even though Ipyana is very tame and laid back.... he loves to get into things he isnt suppose to. Cords really get his attention, like the cord to my earpiece on my phone. I take the precations of making sure there isnt any around him. If he eyes one and you trie to remove it, he tries to bite. Ipyana hasnt learned his full potential in biting yet.   He nibbles. Which I dont understand why he does this.... June realized he could bite hard before now. Ipyana is a more scared bird though, so that may make all the difference.

June-

June has his good days and his bad ones, like anyone else... Today was a good one. He was playful and full of energy. When he whistles, it is sooo low toned, like hes afraid that someone will scorn him. He almost whispers his whistles.... but maybe I am just sooo used to Ipyana belting out a tune and overriding any other noises in the background. Then again, when June whistles, he does get scorned... by Ipyana. After June starts whistling, Ipyana will start screaming  until June stops, and gives up. I encourage him to keep whistling, and he is comming around to the idea of not being over shouted.

Ipyana-

Birds are carb freaks, its a well known fact. But once again, Ipyana goes against the grain and proves the standards wrong. lol. I got some blueberry  bagels for breakfast. June eats the piece that I give him soo fast that you wouldnt have known he had one. On the other hand, Ipyana sticks his tongue on it and says "MMMM!" to amuse me, without actually eating it. lol. He has picked up a few more things that are hilarious. Every morning at sunrise, he pound his beak on his food bowl til I wake. He knows that this is a very effective tactic to get me awake. Also, now when he says "Peek-a-Boo!" he hangs his head low and raises his foot up to his head. He sees me covering my eyes when I play this game with him and loves to copy me. He is now whistling "Jack & Jill", granted he has invented his own version of it. lol. When he is whistling he incorporates the sound of snaping your fingers into the song. LOL! It sounds like he is hiccuping while he is whistling, which is quite funny to listen to. Ipyana always lets me know when he thinks its time to refill his food bowl (add more seeds, not pellets) by pounding his beak on his bowl. lol. He has also got a bad habit of flipping his water bowl over, therefore dumping it all over the bottom of his cage. Unfortunately, he has recuited June into this game. He has not broken any new blood feathers.... I believe he is out of this stage of his life.

June-

I have noticed that June's water has been dissapearing unusually fast. I am not really sure of the reason for this strange occurance. I dont see him bathing in it and I dont see his drinking more than usual... I am wondering if it is evaporating fast... the temperature in my apartment is fairly higher than my old one... I'll have to give this some thought. June's relationship with Ipyana is still a strange one. lol. He will fly to Ipyana's cage but go nowhere near him. Ipyana is still fond of intimidating June.

Hermits-

The hermits are doing good. I don't believe that I mentioned that I got 2 more hermits (quite a long time ago actually). You'll have to forgive me if I have mentioned this before. I have no clue who is who anymore. Since I have 5 hermits now, they have switched shells like crazy. When I first got them, they were trading shells like every hour. I had everyone down, who had what shell... but when I came back, it was obvious that they had all traded again so I said forget it. LOL! Its alright though.. they are all alive and in good shape. There is a strange thing going on among my hermit crab community though.... I often hear screaching sounds comming from the hermit cage. I go over to the cage... none of them are in sight... all under the substrate... yet the sound stops when I approach the cage. How incredibly odd!! I wonder if they hear me comming.... lol. I also hear a different noise.... what is often called "chirping". Chirping is when they get angry and rub their bodies or their claw against their shell to let their fellow crab roomates know that they are not happy and not to mess with them. I understand this... but what I dont understand is when this happens, I go over to the crab cage to check on them, and everytime there is only one crab out of the substrate, standing alone. Who is he communicating to?? LOL I figure he is talking to himself or he is having a bad day. LOL

Both Birds-

Ipyanas wings are still growing out. He hasnt broken them yet thankfully! One fell out but it was ready so thats good. He has started a new habit. If he doesnt like what is in his food or water bowl, he flips it till nothing is it in anymore. June has picked this up from Ipyana. I tried to resolve the problem by moving the bowls higher. It took care of Ipyana pretty much, he hasnt figured out how to tip it, but it hasnt stopped June. lol.

Hermits-

The hermit crabs have come out of hiding. They were buried for a long time! Im not sure if they are bullying eachother or if they are playing. I will wake up and Pinch and Speedy are on top of Spikey. Speedy seems to like to kick Spikey with one of his legs. I was thinking to myself, "what exactly are we doing!!" After I turned on the light, they kind of backed off eachother. Speedy seems to be the leader of the pack. The alpha male so to say. He eats first, drinks first, the others follow him, and he is the biggest. lol. He doesnt have the biggest shell, but he is snug in the shell he has and hes big. He always gets to sleep in the coconut shell while Pinch and Spikey have no choice but to bury themselves in the substrate. Pinch (Aka: Peek) is the most aggressive of the bunch. You touch him, and he bolts out of his shell ready to pinch your skin off. Hes quick about it too. So I move him with something else, a stick or something. lol. Id rather not go through that dreadful experience again. lol

Ipyana-

A wonderful thing has happened! Ipyana is growing in his wing feathers and they haven't broken off! Yay! We have been very careful about this! But not all of the feathers have grown in. Im guessing that they are at different stages of growth. This will be the first time in his life that feathers have grown in in the wings and havent been plucked out of broken off. He likes to chew the shafts so much that it busts them and then they die and fall out. So this is a heaven sent blessing!

June-

June is being nicer and nicer to me all the time. Although he gets really frustrated with Ipyana. When Ipyana screams, June seems to take out his frustration out on his toys. Either that or he is trying to impress or intimitidate Ipyana with his screaming and attacking (his toy) abilities. It just makes Ipyana scream even more and its like a big cycle.

Hermit Crabs-

The Hermits have been in hiding for quite some time now, since my last blog entry. Every once in a while I will dig them up for a brief moment to make sure that they are still alive. They are alive and well. I never see them anymore. Well, every once in a blue moon Speedy will come out. And Speedy has gotten huge! His pincher is probably umm... double the size of when I got him! Its about the size of a nickel now! When he opens his giant pincher, the space inbetween is about an inch! He is a very timid Hermit but he still has those natural wild instincts and I dont want to mess with that! lol. They refuse to come out during the day (except Speedy), but I know they are up and about during the night while I am sleeping because when I wake up in the morning, their food is one big mess! I wonder when Speedy is going to switch shells? He is getting too big for his shell. I guess he just isnt satisfied with the shells that I have provided. Even Hermit Crabs can be picky! Peek has two favorite shells and switches between them frequently. I dont know what he is going to do when he goes to switch shells and another crab has taken up the favorite shell that Peek isnt in. It wouldnt surprise me if he scared the occupier out. With his personality, it really wouldnt surprise me! lol. I imagine that he would get on top of the shell, shake it vigourisly until the frightened occupier runs out franticly in the nude! Speedy then would get in the shell that he sees fit. They do do that ya know. If they are desperate enough.

Hermit Crabs-

I got some hermit crabs. At first I got two and that was cool. But when I got home to set up the tank, one was dead. They gave it to me already dead. So I took it back and exchanged it for another one. Then it came to find out that the one that I had originally (the one that didnt die) was sick when they gave him to me. Most of his legs fell off and he died. So I got two more, thus the ones I have now. Speedy, Spikey, and Peek. Originally I wasnt going to name them but it kind of just happened. Their names are based on either their personality or what they look like. Speedy- when he comes out of his shell, he runs, never goes slowly. Spikey (the original one)- has a spikey shell. Peek- is really shy and peeks out of his shell, but wont come out much. Ironically, last night, Peek pinched me. He wouldnt let go. He held on for like five minutes and kept grinding into the skin of my pointer finger. I tried holding him under warm water for a second but it didnt work. Finally, he let go. I admit, it hurt like hell and I almost forced him off, but that would have ripped his pincher off his body and probably kill him. I didnt want to hurt him, let alone kill him so I just rode it out.

Speedy (below)

Spikey (below)

Currently, there are no pictures of Peek. Like I said, he rarely comes out of his shell and the one time he did, he pinched me.

June and Ipyana-

June and Ipyana act kind of weird around the crabs. I don't get them close b/c I am not sure if the crabs can give salmonella to the birds. I am really carefull about that. But June and Ipyana just look at me and then down at the crabs.

My Grandmas Cat "Mojo"-

Both-

I got a bird feeder to put outside. Lots of different kinds of birds come to it. They eat alot fast! Way back when June was young, he loved to sit in the window of our old house and sing so much that our neighbor would always say hey. Over the years, he has gotten scared of this. Recently, I put him next to the window and he was scared, so I gently spoke comforting words to him. His whole demenor changed. He now looks at all the birds and whistles (instead of screaming and flying off). He wont sit and be content unless and am sweet talking him. lol  Ipyana was a bit calmer than June the first few times. Now Ipyana seems as though he couldn't care less about the birds outside. A strange thing has been happening though. A couple of doves come by everyday and cant stop staring at Ipyana and vice versa. When Ipyana stretches his neck out, he looks like a dove. Maybe the think they are the same.....lol.... i dunno. Maybe the doves are intrigued or boggled by a bird cuddling with a human. The other birds that stop by pay no attention to June and Ipyana.

The other night, I was peacefully resting and at bout 3am I was abruptly awakened by June and Ipyana (in seperate cages) both tring to take off in their cage (night flights?). I jumped up and turn the lights on. Then I got out june for a few minutes because he is number one in the hiearchy. He was fine, a bit spooked, but ok. I then proceeded to get Ipyana out. Ipyana was a bit more jumpy and shaken up. I suddenly notice that he had broken yet another blood feather . I quickly got out the nessesary items to stop the bleeding. This blood feather bled a bit more than usuall. The blood had ran down the shaft of the feather and there was about a pea size blot of blood on the wall. I am assuming that when he flapped his wings, the blood got on the wall. I had to comfort Ipyana more than I had to with June. He was eventually ok and calmed down to go back to sleep. I am also assuming that it started with June because if Ipyana got spooked first, June doesnt really pay much attention, but it is completely opposite the other way around. I am not sure what spooked them.

Ipyana-

I have been having troubles with Ipyana going to bed again. This continues to be a issue with him. Every night, he decides that he would rather run around in his cage, eat, play with toys, whistle, or talk rather than going to sleep. It is extremely common that when I turn out the lights and say goodnight to the boys, as soon as I lay down I hear a soft "Peek-a-Boo!". He repeats it over and over. He also likes to blow kisses,  say "OOOOOOO!" or repeat a very quick and short wolf whistle. Although this is cute and amusing, its not when he wont go to sleep. He wants to come out and play. It seems as though he constantly wants to be out and play. lol. While June requires his own time to himself in parts of the day. If I cover Ipyana, he thinks hes in trouble and tries to get out of it by whistling loudly and sweetly. If I have the lights completely off, he will go to bed better but then he gets night flights (and having really bad balance by nature doesnt help), But if I have the night light on, he wont go to bed. I am not sure what I am going to do.

June-

June is starting to stand up for himself to Ipyana (Never thought that would happen!). He hesitates about standing his ground but he does.... If Ipyana doesn't intimidate him by trying to bite him. When it comes to his territory he gets grouchy when Ipyana is in it.... and that includes me. lol  They interlocked beaks when trying to fight over me today. It kind of freaks me out. I'm afraid one will really hurt the other, but I've heard it isn't common in cockatiels. June always aggressively squawks at Ipyana from afar but if Ipyana challenges it, June runs..... except today he didn't. I'm sure June is just testing the waters, but Ipyana is letting him get away with it sometimes. June has made a BIG improvement in accepting Ipyana. At first he wouldn't even be in the same room with him, and now, their cages are side by side and June even gets on Ipyana's cage. Hopefully they will be able to get along decently in the future. But I know they wont be the best of friends, especially when Ipyana reaches sexual maturity and thinks I'm his mate (like June does). We will see how it goes. I just moved so I know they will be a bit grouchy from the stress of that.

Ipyana-

I hate to have to report that Ipyana is still either breaking blood feathers or chewing on them too hard and breaking them. I suspect he is chewing on them until they break and then the damaged feather either falls out or he plucks it out. I am suspecting this because when I find the broken blood feather on the bottom of the cage, its all chewed up till the shaft is mangled.  It also looks as though he is plucking feathers before they are fully grown. I have never witnessed him plucking out his feathers or chewing on them till they break but the evidence is there. I am around them alot so I cant understand why I have missed these tragedies in action. I am glad to say that it doesn't happen as often as it was happening, but it doesn't make it anymore disheartening when it does happen. Poor thing, I had to take out most of his toys out of his cage because he loves to try and sit on them and he ends up falling off and crashing down to the bottom (He doesn't learn from this, but part of it is that genetically he has really bad balance). So he plays with them outside the cage. Lately he has been extremely jumpy. He will be sitting on me and I'll move my hand to do something and he jumps. I can see how this could be normal for a jumpy shy bird, but he has been doing it alot more lately at even the slightest movement. When I read a magazine (Bird Talk), I have to turn the pages very very slowly or he tries to take off from inside his cage. As you can imagine, it can be very concerning to care for him. But, I wouldn't give him up for the world  

Ipyana-

Well, the vet finally sent me a copy of the numbers from the blood test, so now I can post them (By the way, some of it does look like mumbo jumbo because I am not a vet.)

CBC--

Hematocrit 61 High

Specimen Hemolyzed.

Blood Parasites-Negative.

WBC Estimate 5.0 (4.0 To 10.)

Smudge Cells Present

Het/Poly 36 Low (45 To 80)

Absolute Neutrophils 1800

Lymphocytes 62% (18 To 50)

Absolute Lymphocytes  3100

Monocytes 1%

Eosinophils 0 (0 To 2)

Basophils 1% (0 To 2)

Absolute Basophils 50

Azurophilic Monocytes O No Parameter Listed

Absolute Azurphilic Monocytes 0

Mophology- Slight Polychromasia.

Mp43583 And Mp1978733 Combined To Hav Antavianc 1:50:49p0

Antech Diagnostics

Avian Comprehensive Avian Chemistries.

Accession No: Mp43583 And Mp1978733 Combined To Have Enough Blood

Test Requested          Results          Reference Range Units

Comprehensive Chemestries:

Glucose                     274               180-350 MG/DL

Total Protein              2.4 Low         3.0-5.5 G/DL

Albumin                     .8 Low           1.2-3.2 G/DL

AST (sgot)                 2 Low            20-350 U/L

Cholesterol                270               50-350 MG/DL

Calcium                     7.4 Low         7.6-12 MG/DL

Phosphorus                3266 High      3.0-5.5 MG/DL

Sodium                      146               140-160 MEQ/L

Potassium                  4.0                3.0-4.5 MEQ/L

Chloride                     110               90-110 MEQ/L

Globulin                     N/A               2.0-4.0 G/DL

CPK                          3266 / 2346   50-400 U/L

Uric Acid                    N/A               2-10 MG/DL

Ipyana and June-

Well, Ipyana is obviously getting very territorial. I had both June and Ipyana out playing. I started cuddling Junie and Ipyana charged at him with an open beak. I picked him up midcharge and told him lovingly but firmly "no". Then Ipyana started taking his aggression out on me. I again told him "no", put him back in his cage and resumed playing with June. It seemed as though he was dumbfounded by this, shocked infact. He didn't even try to scream like he usually does when I am playing with June without him. But later on,he started up screaming for my attention, but I didn't give into this behavior. Then, suddenly I heard, "Peek-a-Boo!" I was proud of him for getting my attention positively so I put June away and got Ipyana out to play.

Ipyana-

I cant believe it! Ipyana now says Peek-a-Boo! Since cockatiels are kind of mumbly when they talk, he mumbles it. But it is sooo cute! If I cover my eyes, then uncover them, he says Peek-a-Boo before I can say it! I think he is also catching onto "Pop goes the weasel" I also got the results to the blood test back! The CPK went down a little bit, from 3000 something to 2200 something. So that is good, it means there is less muscle damage! The protien is also still a little low. The calcium is still a little low. Its obvious why the calcium is still low. This type of calcium bonds to the protien and if the protien isnt there then it cant bond. The vet said that he is either loosing the protien in his kidneys or the liver isnt producing enough (but unlikely), or through the gut in his stools. Giving him more protien enriched foods won't help unfortunatley. But the good news is that everything else was pretty much normal! yay!

Ipyana-

Ipyana is going back to the vet on wednesday (tomorrow) to get more blood taken. B/c the last time the vet did it, the blood clotted in the needle and they couldnt get anymore. Since a cockatiel (or any bird for that matter) cant lose much blood without it being fatal, its important to be careful. Im really hating to put him back through that b/c its very traumatic. But I guess you do what is nessesary. They are going to have to put him under anesthesia again. The anesthesia wont even fully knock him out, it just makes him not care what is going on. Kind of like at the dentist! lol. I am hoping that the results are not more bad news! Thats the last thing we need!  He also has lost two more not fully grown feathers. I am concerned that he is plucking them out. Coincidently or not, they are pretty much at the same stage of the feather cycle when they are ripped out. They also have blood on them when they come out. Please pray for him.

Me-

(Im on the right)

June-

June is back to his sweet old self, giving kisses, serenading me, and blessing me with his positive presence. This is the Junie we all fell in love with. Soo charming!

Ipyana-

Poor Ipyana. We got the blood test results back. He's low on somethings and high on somethings. The white blood cells are a little up and down. The part we are a bit worried about is his protein levels are low. It could possibly be a sign of kidney disease or liver disease. My poor little baby! The CPK is suppose to be between 50-400 and its in the 3,000's! The calcium was low. The phosphorus was low. I can't remember it all but we didn't get all the blood tests done b/c the blood clotted in the needle before the vet could get it in the tube. So unfortunately we have to go back and get MORE blood drawn. I hate to have to do that b/c its sooo traumatic on the bird (and me! lol.)! When they take blood from a bird that is so little like that they have to put them under anesthesia. When they do that, the bird can't regulate its own body temperature, therefore when the bird comes out of it, they shake like a leaf. Ipyana doesn't handle stress very well so that isn't a good thing. Everyone pray for him please! He's the sweetest little thing on the earth! On a positive note, Ipyana has finally started being willing to go to bed at night. I found out what the problem was. Whenever he’s screaming or something, I cover him (apartments don’t work well with birds). And at night, I would cover them also. He obviously thought he was in trouble so he'd whistle, eat, and run around crazily. lol. We have now solved that problem. Ipyana also insists on shaking hands with you before he steps up on your finger. lol. He's a silly little booger. lol

June-

June loves me but he really loves me when Ipyana is not around. LOL! Ipyana jumped on June's cage the other day and June was really mad at me for it.

Ipyana-

Ipyana had yet another accident (when will it ever end?). His blood feathers are already comming in again. I have been spraying his body with "George's Aloe Vera Spray" to reduce body itching and picking/plucking. I have noticed that his foot had a lesion because he has been picking at it too much. So I especially sprayed his foot. He freaked out (as I have said before, he hates that spray!) and broke another blood feather. The poor thing is doing better now. I also learned how to clip his nails by myself, without taking him to the vet (saved me money that way!)