Our Budgie...

I'm sorry but I can't for the life of me bring myself to put a photo with this story...you will just have to use your imagination! Tom and I have been concerned about our budgie, Caboose for the past couple of weeks. Caboose's beak around the nostrils has changed from a nice pale smooth beak to kind of rough looking and reddy brown. Also caboose has been frantically rubbing his bottom on the side of the cage...to the point where I feared he was going to start loosing feathers! Oh my, what does he have...mites...worms....both? So like the dutiful parent I am, we went for a trip to an avian vet. Now avian vets are very few and far between, so I had to brave peek hour traffic to trek all the way to Springvale...it took 1hr and 10 mins! Anyway I was 20mins late and therefore had to wait another 20mins for the kind vet to be ready. So now for the shocking diagnosis...Firstly HE is a SHE, and this is why the beak is changing colour. It's a bit rough due to some slight dehydration. I apparently have to get Caboose to eat a more varied diet. Now parents out there if you think it is hard getting your kids to eat things like broccoli, baby spinach and sprouts, you should try and get a friggin budgie to eat it! Also female budgies are more "bitey" than males and as the Vet was inspecting our lovely little girl, there was a cry of "OOH you little bitch". Now to tackle the the bottom problem...Oh my god...dear lord...please no, were just a couple of phrases that escaped my mouth as the Vet explained. Caboose is reaching maturity and it is common for a budgie to find pleasure by rubbing themselves against....things. Yes, our budgie makes me blush. So all in all it took a total of 2 hrs and 30 mins and $50 to find out that our Caboose is a sexually deviant female who should eat more vegies. Oh good lord...may I never have to explain this to my Grandma!

Melbourne Cup

For Melbourne Cup we had an impromptu lunch at our house. I had the attitude, "it's my party and I dress as I want to". So if that meant that I wore my $450 hat with my jeans and terri toweling slippers, then so be it. I found it interesting that one of the fashion of the fields winner should wear a bird cage on her head to keep her stuffed bird from flying away. I think that a live bird on a real hat is much more creative.

Just A Budgie?

I think it is pathetic when people obsess about their pets. Does it have the right bedding, lifestyle, trinkets and matching jacket? People can go a little crazy and treat their pets like humans and in some weird and bizarre cases, better than humans...

Meet Caboose, he is our budgie and I'm afraid we have gone over the top. He looks over the computer watching Tom work, treats my bike like an adventure park, sits on my shoulder and nibbles my hair and when he goes "missing" he will be found behind the TV unit playing with all the cables.

As you can see we are just a tad concerned that Caboose is kept clean, healthy, safe and well entertained. Weekly Tom finds fresh gum leaves, twigs and sticks. Caboose can sit for hours playing on the top of his cage which is equipped with bells, balls, branches and even a seed dish. As his wings are clipped at the moment we have of course provided him with easy walking access to the door of his cage! Now I have to run...I am off to the pet store...I have heard that they sell a fabulous "budgie playpen"