Nyassa's Journal

31-Mar-1999

Fourth day

Today Nyassa showered with me and got soaked. Flapping his wings, squealing like mad, and waggling that tongue like crazy. I thought he was scared at first, so I put him on my hand and started to get him further from the water. He leaned waaaaaay over and put his head into the action. I moved him closer, and he went nuts again. So, he went back on his perch, where he can move into the spash or out of it as he chooses.

Then came the hair dryer, which he also seems to find interesting. He'd preen a bit, then lean into the air, then preen a little more, then shake. I held the dryer about a foot away from him at first, and moved it back as he got dryer. His feathers look so pretty now!

He was still slightly damp when we went to the vet. He got looked over, talked to, and a kiss from the vet. We talked about food, mostly since he has lost about 35 grams of weight -- about 8% of his total weight -- since I got him. Not good!

I called the breeder, who was very helpful. I've learned more tonight that I thought I had right before. With a list of the shape and type of food the breeder fed him, I went shopping. Nyassa ate tonight, better than he's eaten since I bought him home, and hardly a thing went on the floor. It wasn't the TYPE of food as much as the SHAPE of it that kept him from eating things! It was also a misunderstanding of the info the breeder gave me for food ideas. I think it was that the breeder's "common sense" and my "clueless common sense" didn't mix well. Things that were well known to people who raise birds were assumed to be common knowledge, and for me they were not.

Hmm. I wonder if they'd appreciate me offering to drive out and take pictures of their cages, food mixtures, toys, etc. and putting them up on this page. I bet it would help at least their customers, and perhaps bird owners in general.

Nyassa also went on a little trip (with Xeno) to the office today, to meet all the people there. They were all amazed as his temperment -- calm, letting others hold and touch him, and the way he would fluff up when I'd scritch him just right, and how I'd rub that big black beak of his.

On the down side, he started biting me for the first time since I brought him home. One time was at the vet where he actually got a few layers of skin, and several painful but non-injury type bytes at work. I think he was just sleepy, though. He slept in the car on the way home (which was unusual in itself) and hasn't bitten me (other than one time when he thought I was a perch, but that doesn't count) since.

And now he is sleeping in his cage, with the cage uncovered, and the lights on. I'm going to be soon myself, so the lights will be out then. This is a Good Thing.

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