Ah yes - I was a participant in that thread (in fact I named one - How’s Octamarine doing these days?).
Is it safe to use ammonia in the house if we have birds? I read somewhere that it was risky (not that we’d be using it right by the cage, but the kitchen isn’t far), bot a friend said she thought it was bird-safe.
Both Octa and Aqua are doing fabulous and will be 2 years old on the 28th!
Cool!
And of course I spelled my own god-budgie’s name wrong - it’s Octarine, not Octamarine (from Discworld).
Doing some more planning. Morty may not be coming to us after all, as our cleaning lady said he seemed to be getting sick and she wasn’t sure he’d live :(.
But she’s got a couple more new ones and we’ll be able to get one of those when they’ve grown enough.
Would this cage be large enough for a bird to have enough room to flit around when he’s in lockup?
There’s this one that seems to allow for a nesting box if needed - though we’re really hoping not to need that!! And it’s smaller (18x14 vs 26x14; both are 36" tall).
I strongly recommend getting a cage that has a top opening. It’s much easier to get them back in the cage if they’re a bit freaked of hands. They also can easily step in and out from the top, rather than having to climb down the side to get in the door. Also you can put things on the top for them to play with.
Found out we’re getting one early next year. Someone is hand-raising it right now.
It’s name will be Bird Ferguson. Funny name. 
If you have any links to the right sort, let me know - the ones I see at Amazon that have a flat top don’t have an obvious opening up there.
This one has a flat bit on the top, and if the “roof” shaped part opened that would seem to meet what you suggest, though it doesn’t appear to open.
Gatopescado: I don’t get it.
Toys: things with hanging bells seem like they’d be amusing but isn’t there a risk of the bird getting beak or a claw stuck in those??
Something like this would be good:
Top opening cages are just way more convenient. If something startles them, they can just quickly jump back down into their cage. And if you want them on your finger you can just offer it to them while they’re standing on top of the cage, rather than sticking your giant hand into their home. You can also clip treats onto the top flat part of the cage. It creates a whole other play area for them.
Thanks - that second one looks like one I’d seen at Amazon (from a different angle). The third one: it’s not obvious that the top opens. The first one also looks like the one I saw at Amazon, though it seems a bit small - 16x16x23 (of course, #2 at 18x18x27 isn’t that much bigger…).
I saw one at Amazon that proudly announced “Cage snaps off from bottom for easy cleaning!”, Er, no, that’s not my definition of easy!!!
Might this one do? We’d probably put the stand portion away as we have a table to use for the cage. One question asked about parakeets and one reply suggested the bars were too far apart, though.
I figure some flexible rope perches will enhance whatever we get, as well as some ladder-type things. Any recommended suppliers for millet sprays? I gather those are like pure crack for parakeets and we want Morty to think we bring good things to him.
What fresh food is good to have on hand? Greens? Fruits? Millet, I gather, should be more of a treat / reward / enticement to sit on hands, but are there birdseed mixes that should be the “keep around at all times” food?
Yeah that looks like a good one. You’ll definitely want a mesh seed catcher around the bottom. It’s just a fine mesh cloth with elastic that keeps seeds from going all over the floor. They’ll still end up on the floor, just less 
Damn, no wonder I have had so many pet failures. I’ve spent less time thinking about real pet logistics than you have on your hypothetical. Good job
When will we have pictures? ::bambi eyes:
Neither cage, nor bird, have yet arrived. Once that happens, I know the rules :D.
I don’t know if the original Morty made it - haven’t seen the cleaning lady since before Christmas - but there are one or two others who’ve recently hatched / fledged.
I visited a friend while we were out of town this past week. She has a parakeet; Used to have two, and they of course were interested in each other rather than those two huge flightless predators who fed them but for some reason never actually tried to eat them. So they were never hand-tamed, nor did they learn to speak.
One of the birds died a year or so back - and by then, the other must have been too old to learn, as he never seems to have picked up on the trick (nor was he hand-tame). But he really, really reacted to the sound of my voice - I think because it was the only new thing he’d heard in a long time!
I’ve ordered the cage - won’t be here for a week 
- as well as a couple of cage toys (some flexible perches and a ladder). I’ll look for a swing of some sort, I guess; might check the nearby pet supply stores for those. Do budgies like cuttlebones? (we had one for a canary when I was a kid).
It’s a variation of the name of a character on Saturday Night Live who wears an oversized hat because “it’s funny”.
Morty has arrived!
Evidently whatever ailed him, he got over. He’s small - just about 2 months old. He’s very pale yellow all over, a bit brighter on the top of his head. His nares are pale lavendar. We were told he’s male; that birds with this coloration don’t have the blue nares like other color birds do, but that you can tell by feeling some bones on the belly (closer together on males, apart on females).
She used a term for his color. Might have been avellino / javellino or I could be misremembering - but it apparently refers to pale yellow with reddish eyes.
I didn’t realize he was arriving today. The cleaning lady arrived, and I went into the kitchen to greet her, and saw her setting up a cage - but no bird! She said “He’s over there”… he was running around the floor near the table. I was terrified he’d run behind the fridge or something, but he was caught in time. He did a fair bit of perching on various fingers but was quivering the entire time.
I had to make an emergency dash to get some food (and toys of course!), as we didn’t know he was coming. I was worried he wasn’t eating (he had food that came along with him) but I just caught him snacking on the millet spray I bought while I was at PetSmart. He’s still pretty shy; I sat next to the cage next to where I’d placed the millet, and while he was eating some, he took one or two more nibbles and decided the Scary Person was daunting enough that he needed to disappear. Right now he’s standing in his bowl of food, eating. I put a tiny sliver of carrot in the cage; it’s been ignored so far.He hasn’t touched the toy (or the gnawable / edible perch) yet but seems to be looking at the toy at least.
I’ve tried to get him to hop onto my finger again, but he’s not interested and since he’s been through a lot today, I’m not going to push it.
His cage arrives tomorrow; getting that set up and making the transfer will be, um, fun! I figure once he’s had a day or two to settle into that, I’ll start trying to handle him.
I’m assuming I should not leave that millet in all that long, as he’ll pig out on it too much.
On Dweezil’s finger: Dropbox - File Deleted
Pigging out: Dropbox - File Deleted
He’s so cute! And Morty is a great name.
He’s so pretty! I haven’t seen one that color. The poor little guy must be wondering what the heck is going on??!! I hope he adapts very soon.
Yay - he’s so cute!
I’ve got a chair right next to the table his cage is on. It’s where I was sitting earlier when he was eating millet (and he vacated the perch after a minute). He’ll now stay on that perch when I sit there - and looks at me when I repeat “Morty’s a big boy!”. At one point, he was clicking his beak a bit when I did so - not sure if he was making his first attempts at responding verbally or not.
He’s made faint chirrups once or twice.
I think the poor guy is worn out - his eyes were closing as I talked to him.
The current cage has two perches. One is covered in sandpaper. I’ve heard mixed opinions as to whether they genuinely need a sandpapery perch - thoughts?
Oh, and the first of the bird toys I ordered arrived today, including some flexible rope perches. I ordered two medium, and one large - I thought it was the length. Nope (well, that too), it’s the diameter. That one will have to go back - it might fit a macaw or a pterodactyl, but NOT a parakeet.
Should we cover his cage at night? Cleaning lady says no, but she’s got a whole flock of them and that might be when they get together and gossip about their crazy human.
