Not a tortoise, not even close...

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We are now the proud owners of a baby budgie called Banjo! ;D The tortoise idea fell by the wayside when OH realised the cost involved (huge!), but as we both had budgies as kids, we thought we'd offer the alternative. I bought the biggest cage I could accomodate, 'cause I hate to see birds all cooped up , and will commence taming him very soon

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Erm, does anyone know which trees are safe to use for budgie perches? The interweb is being contradictory

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Does nobody love budgies?

[Rosefriend]

Sorry RM - well if I am to be perfectly honest I have an absolute horror of budgies etc.

When I was small Grandpa and Grandma has a couple of budgies - blue if I remember rightly and Grandpa decided to cut their claws one day .....mmmh well - he did and cut them too short on the first budgie and that was that - dead within seconds. The second budgie didn't suffer the same fate - he died of a lonely heart without any feathers about a month later.

Needless to say my grandparents realised that they weren't cut out to be budgie owners and never had them again.

My step-daughters had a Cockatiel called Putchee and that damn bird hated my guts. I have never knowingly hurt any animal or bird but I was very close to wringing it's neck I am afraid. The girls loved to say hello to it each morning with a kiss and let it out of the cage - lovely, great, - the damn bird loved dive bombing me and pooing in every direction on the breakfast table much to my step-daughters delight.

Then came the bad step-mother and forbid the bird to be out until after breakfast. I thought that I had cracked it ......not on your life....

As soon as my OH and the kids had gone off to work/school the fun started. The girls had let him out after breakfast as arranged but he didn't want to go back did he, and when they get flustered they not only loose feathers but poo everywhere - they love doing it....... I can still see the delight on that birds face. He used to thoroughly enjoy hanging onto the lampshade or the edge of a picture and letting rip........

Well as soon as my OH and the girls were back he was a good as gold ..........he had a beady eye though and it was always fixed on me .....gave me the heebiejeebies after a while....

So RM I wish you all the luck in the world with your budgie and I do hope that you all have lots of fun with him/her........but I would never have a bird in this house again I am afraid....it is more than my nerves could stand.

RF

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RF - Sorry, but you paint such a picture, I was in hysterics reading your post! Sounds like he was out to get you! ;D

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Roll up, roll up, match of the month - Rumbunctious RF vs. Crowing Cockatiel ... sorry Rosefriend, but as RM says it's an hilarious picture ;D Had a budgie when I was a kid, but .... I don't know ... you can't really cuddle it or take it for walks .... but, having said that, have fun with your newest household member, RM ;D ... cheers ...

[Rosefriend]

That sounds something like it CC.

Putchee joined our family after flying through a window and deciding to stay - looking back I bet he plagued the life out of a lot of people this way.....especially as no-one has even heard of the bird and certainly no-one even owned up to having lost one.

When the eldest went off to Nursing college I asked her if she would like to take Putchee with her, - no such luck ....they didn't allow pets. When the youngest spread her wings she was asked as well....I was ready to crawl on my hands and knees to get rid of that bird. She was at least honest and said the equivalent of "not bloody likely".

Putchee, like a lot of her breed, could talk ....an added attraction one would think.....hah....this bird came saying one thing in a screeching voice and that was "lovely putchee" and all the time that bird was pooing all over the place it kept saying "lovely putchee"........

However after the girls has left home I decided enough was enough and finally begged the person who had had him when we were on holidays to take him for good. He did however have a rather splendid repertoire after all the years ......to "lovely putchee" was added "bu@@er off, drop dead putchee and shutup putchee" to name but a few.

A couple of years after we had thankfully got rid of the delightful creature, our friend rang up to say that he had accidentally left the cage door open and Putchee had unfortunately flown away.........yep - I bet he is still plaguing the life out of another family.

RF

[Weeterrier]

Believe it or not, when we had a canary and we had to take him to the vet, the poor man was like you RF, he hated the things with a vengeance. Unfortunately, when I took the wee thing out of it's cage (the vet wouldn't touch it) it managed to wriggle from my hands. The vet was hysterical, a big strapping six foot man, screaming like a big girl. I felt awful.
Poor you RF, the bird must have been well looked after by you anyway, else it wouldn't have lived so long.

And RM. Yes, tortoises can be expensive to buy and look after. Turtles should be expensive to buy too, to stop them being bought on impulse by people who don't know how expensive they can be to house properly, and how crucial their living requirements are.

Good luck with Banjo ;D

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Thanks Wee ;D I think we made the right decision. I'd hate to take on any animal and have it suffer because of my ineptitude Banjo is lovely, and he's hugely entertaining. I'm hoping he'll be a talker! ;D