Hello World!: 2006年8月

2006/8/8

Lo & behold, I think I may have found out what is causing KiKo to bite!

A few months back I felt that Little Sammy needed more attention from me.

Since he's not amenable to handling, I put the manzanita tree in front of the

open door of his cage & let him climb around a few hours a day. Thinking back,

at the same time is when KiKo started biting me. Lately, Sammy has been

hanging out around KiKo's cage, sometimes even going inside & eating her

food, or sitting on top of it while preening. KiKo has lost 16 grams since her

last vet visit, has bitten me several times, & has acted totally different than

her normal self. Today she pulled out about 30 of her down feathers, which

I found in the floor right under the door to her cage. This was AFTER she

bit me and, having my feelings hurt, I called Perry, then Dori, to complain.

One of them asked me what was going on right before she bit me. I gave

her the lowdown. It was the same as usual with no defining information.

Then she asked me what was going on before I got KiKo out of her cage,

which, of course, prompted me to tell her about Li'l Sammy hanging

around. Together we figured out what was going on. She's reacting to

having Li'l Sam invading her home! She's upset & since

she can't talk, she's trying to tell me the best way she can.

I had even thought about sending KiKo up to Chuck to work with her, but now I

think the problem is apparent. So, I switched Luther & KiKo's cages today.

Now Luther is next to Li'l Sam, but I won't make the same mistake twice. His

privileges will include climbing around on the tree, but not the others' cages.

With this in mind, I will be watching carefully to see if she finally settles down.