[QTQP4me]

i figured i would make one big post instead of many smaller ones. hope this is ok.

1st question/issue: ok so louie has been eating, no kidding, for probably the last 20 minutes. he took a break to hang out on top of his cage, for a minute or less. now he is eating again. so far he has been eating almost all pellet, but i have offered fruits and cereal, scrambled eggs - not a lot of interest yet. i know that human babies will have voracious appetites when hitting a growth spurt, but do birds?

2nd question/issue: when i cleaned out the bottom of his cage tonite, i saw a lot of white splotches on the paper, but not a whole lot of white with green feces. maybe the green part is on the grate? the poops on the perch table on the porch have more of the "normal" look to them. he seems to be his normal active self, saw him drink a bit. i thought maybe he was cold because he was puffy and had his head burrowed (but was awake) so we came into the house (we are in a "cold" snap) and he perked up.

3rd question: he makes a sound that can best be described as pacman eating dots - almost a wokka wokka sound. he does this in response to when i cluck my tongue. i don't think it is beak grinding, because he is quite obviously making the noise by moving his tongue on his upper beak. can anyone decipher that?

4th question: sometimes when we talk to him, he moves his beak in such a way as to seem like he is trying to mimic us, if in actions alone. is this the first step to "talking"?

sorry for the long post, and so many questions. the voracious appetite tonite and splotchy poops are my main concern. hopefully there are simple answers for everything.

thanks!
kris

[Casey's Mom]

I don't think it's bad that he is eating a lot. Casey will sit and eat for a while sometimes when she is hungry. Sometimes it seems like she is eating forever! She usually eats pellets for a good 1/2 hour to 45 minutes before bedtime. Do you measure his pellets? Casey gets one tablespoon a day and she almost finishs the whole thing, leaves some of the Zupreem bananas. I think it's easier to tell how much they are eating if it is measured out. I don't know if they're growth spurts but I know for sure that Casey has days where she eats more than others, for example some days she finishes the entire tablespoon and I have to give her more and other days she doesn't finish it.

As for the poop if it is mostly the white, liquidy urate part and barely any of the solid part, it means he's not eating enough. There is also more liquid to it after a bath, after they eat a lot of fresh fruits and veggies, or even in the morning since they haven't eaten all night.

Could the sound he's making that sounds like pacman be an imitation of your tongue clicking? I know Casey tries her hardest to copy by tongue clicking and it always comes out funny!

Hopefully I've helped a little bit, others should be around with some more ideas.

[tikileahsmom]

The eating thing can be normal, especially if he was outside and cold. Since birds need energy to keep warm, maybe he needed more food to get warm. Mine eat alot all the time so it's normal for them to be little piggies.

The little sounds he's making sound pretty cute. I wouldn't worry about them. Quakers make the most interesting snorts and grunts and what not. Mine pick up on everthing and when they're in the mood will repeat things that i say or sounds the other birds make

My quaker Kade does that thing with his mouth where he opens and closes it really fast as if he's talking and no words are comming out. Like he's trying to break in on a song and catch up with the lyrics, but can't quite do it. He does this alot when I"m singing to him

Weighing him often is a good idea too. I have a scale in my bird room and although not all of them are hand tamed, if I'm able to catch one I put him on the scale. The ones that are hand tamed get weighed about once a week and the others, well whenever I can. lol
tikileahsmom