Also know as Yo-yo. Named for the Japanese city that hosted the international meeting to form the international environmental treaty known as the Kyoto treaty (may I mention the U.S. did not take part?) Anyway, to introduce him.....
After Cone died, I started looking for another tiel, because I could not imagine living without one of the happy little fellows. After a little over a month of looking, Yo-yo came up on Petfinder, around 8:00 in the morning at an SPCA about an hour away. Needless to say, we jumped in the car, and got there a little before nine, which is when the SPCA opened. Before I go on, let me say this story in no way should represent all SPCAs, and I will not mention where this one is. The one near us now, after we moved, is very good.
To continue, when we walked into the new, very large facility, they had Yo-yo in the cage he had come in, sitting in the middle of the room. As I found out reading his "papers" he had been left in an apartment for 5 days without food or water, until the SPCA was called in. They kept him in quarantine for 8 days, to give the person time to come claim him. After that time, they moved him into the main facility and listed him. As I stood there, watching him, I noticed that he had one perch in his cage, a swing made from a bent cloths hanger, and two toys, a hanging rawhide one and one with a bell. The paper in the bottom of his cage was newspaper, that looked very wet and mildewed, with plenty of poop. (Later, when I cleaned it, I found out there were moldy pieces of bread down there, too) I also thought he looked very skinny and sick, close to death, and very nervous. I assumed that was why he was singing, to try and make himself not look as sick as he was. When someone noticed we were looking at him, they did run over and throw some seed in a dish and put it in there. (so kind)
When they called us over to start the adoption, we had to sit through 2 hours of lecturing by a girl who could not remember what species of bird we were talking about, and was simply reading from a sheet. A sheet that said things like "feed only pellets" and "use only unbleached brown or white paper to line the cage." Not sure how they bypassed their own information not to even change his cage paper since he had come in. Anyway, we did adopt him.
After getting him home, we put him in quarantine, of course. He was about the weight of a budgie, with such dry skin and feathers, that his down feathers were literally in "dreadlocks," so he was constantly itchy. He did not ever even move around in the cage. I noticed that he was not eating, even the millet hung right in front of him, so there was not going to be any calm taming like there had been with other birds. I immediately got him out. I replaced the "swing" with a short perch, and soon realized he would step up on the swing, so I could easily get him out. I spent hours lying on the bed next to the cage (he was in a guest bedroom) with him next to me, offering him different types of seed, millet, any thing. He did start eating when he was out with me after a day.
We went on like this, my getting him out a couple times a day to eat, his getting used to having me around. I also started spraying him with Kaytee bath spray, to help his feathers. After about two weeks, he started singing for me to come back. I decided then, since he was gaining weight, that I really needed to change his cage (I already changed and cleaned the tray, of course) to something larger, and more importantly, cleaner. I also decided to try giving him a shower, which he LOVED! Once he was in his larger cage, with some more toys and much cleaner feathers, I kept taming him until quarantine was over. I also switched him over to healthy foods, including his new favorite treat, dried papaya. Then, as he had an ok from the vet, we put him up with the other birds. He almost immediately became friends with the budgies.
When I got him, he still had all of his "baby feathers," meaning he still had grey on is face, and a striped tail. (The tail, by the way, had been cut with scissors to be short, like a parrot's tail, no clue why.) Now, however, he is very healthy, with such bright feathers, and so tame he will let me rub him all over, and comes flying whenever I seem the least upset. He eats everything and anything I give him, and has become a destroy bird on a mission, any toy, must be tested and destroyed. Unfortunately, that includes woodwork....
To continue, when we walked into the new, very large facility, they had Yo-yo in the cage he had come in, sitting in the middle of the room. As I found out reading his "papers" he had been left in an apartment for 5 days without food or water, until the SPCA was called in. They kept him in quarantine for 8 days, to give the person time to come claim him. After that time, they moved him into the main facility and listed him. As I stood there, watching him, I noticed that he had one perch in his cage, a swing made from a bent cloths hanger, and two toys, a hanging rawhide one and one with a bell. The paper in the bottom of his cage was newspaper, that looked very wet and mildewed, with plenty of poop. (Later, when I cleaned it, I found out there were moldy pieces of bread down there, too) I also thought he looked very skinny and sick, close to death, and very nervous. I assumed that was why he was singing, to try and make himself not look as sick as he was. When someone noticed we were looking at him, they did run over and throw some seed in a dish and put it in there. (so kind)
When they called us over to start the adoption, we had to sit through 2 hours of lecturing by a girl who could not remember what species of bird we were talking about, and was simply reading from a sheet. A sheet that said things like "feed only pellets" and "use only unbleached brown or white paper to line the cage." Not sure how they bypassed their own information not to even change his cage paper since he had come in. Anyway, we did adopt him.
After getting him home, we put him in quarantine, of course. He was about the weight of a budgie, with such dry skin and feathers, that his down feathers were literally in "dreadlocks," so he was constantly itchy. He did not ever even move around in the cage. I noticed that he was not eating, even the millet hung right in front of him, so there was not going to be any calm taming like there had been with other birds. I immediately got him out. I replaced the "swing" with a short perch, and soon realized he would step up on the swing, so I could easily get him out. I spent hours lying on the bed next to the cage (he was in a guest bedroom) with him next to me, offering him different types of seed, millet, any thing. He did start eating when he was out with me after a day.
We went on like this, my getting him out a couple times a day to eat, his getting used to having me around. I also started spraying him with Kaytee bath spray, to help his feathers. After about two weeks, he started singing for me to come back. I decided then, since he was gaining weight, that I really needed to change his cage (I already changed and cleaned the tray, of course) to something larger, and more importantly, cleaner. I also decided to try giving him a shower, which he LOVED! Once he was in his larger cage, with some more toys and much cleaner feathers, I kept taming him until quarantine was over. I also switched him over to healthy foods, including his new favorite treat, dried papaya. Then, as he had an ok from the vet, we put him up with the other birds. He almost immediately became friends with the budgies.
When I got him, he still had all of his "baby feathers," meaning he still had grey on is face, and a striped tail. (The tail, by the way, had been cut with scissors to be short, like a parrot's tail, no clue why.) Now, however, he is very healthy, with such bright feathers, and so tame he will let me rub him all over, and comes flying whenever I seem the least upset. He eats everything and anything I give him, and has become a destroy bird on a mission, any toy, must be tested and destroyed. Unfortunately, that includes woodwork....
Yo-yo, shortly after I got him, still with some baby feathers even after one molt.
Yo-yo's "pleeeease pick me up"!
And his "Any particular reason WHY you are photographing
me when I want to sleep?"
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