You?ve read about pet cats, dogs and rodents. In this week?s ?Friends of the Animals?, we have Spy, a little birdy belonging to Lye Fong Keng from the Wildlife Section, telling us more about life as a pet bird.?(We hear it involves throwing bottle-caps and landing on people?s heads!)
Hi guys, my name is Spy and I?m a peach-faced lovebird,?Agapornis roseicollis, a non-CITES species (owner?s occupational hazard!). My owner has previously kept a hamster, cherry shrimps and fishies like guppies, fighting?fishies, angel?fishies?and parrot fishies but never a parrot, so she decided to keep a small parrot?for a change.
My wild ancestors lived in Africa but I was born to a parrot breeder in Singapore. At 2 months old after I was weaned, my owner brought me home.?The?day was 10 December 2011.
I was to be named Kiwi, for being green and golden (orange) color. But I like to snoop around the house and check out on what the human folks do, so I have been named Spy instead (although lately, my owner has been calling me naughty naughty more).
I am a small birdie with a big personality (and an attitude). I am curious, intelligent, friendly and playful. I need lots of birdie toys (new ones please!) to keep me busy every day. My daily diet consists of a mix of seeds, millets and pellets, fresh clean water supplemented with multi-vitamins and baby carrots. I also like to eat bananas and berries and occasionally, I would steal bread from my owner?s breakfast! Sometimes, I can be a little fussy and not accept any new type of food.
To keep my feathers in good condition, I would bathe in the bath dish once a week. If I am in a bad mood and refuse to bathe, my owner would mist me instead. After my bath, I would perch on the couch and ruffle my feathers to shake off the excess water (oh, I do this on my owner?s shoulders too!). This would be followed by a little sunning to dry my feathers. Meanwhile, the mess in my cage would be cleaned up and it would be nice and comfortable for my afternoon nap!
Every day, I look forward to seeing my owner come home as I will be out of the cage to catch my evening flights. This exercise helps to strengthen my wings and I can land on my owner?s head like a helicopter (naughty naughty?!)! It is mighty tough to catch me but my owner always has a way to trick me back into the cage. She thinks I am?a screaming monster whenever I make loud shrieking calls to get attention. Now, my owner is teaching me to whistle softly so that I am more disciplined with my manners! Though I am not a talking parrot like my cousins, I can squawk and vocalise strange sounds like squeaking, clicking and giggling!
I enjoy learning new tricks and playing with my toys such as the swing, bell, chewing wooden blocks, watching ?the other birdie? in the mirror, shredding paper and nipping drinking straws. Now I also have a collection of colourful recycled bottle-caps with which I would flip around or throw and roll on the floor. I would bob my head up and down in excitement when the bottle-caps hit some ?targets?! It is equally entertaining to see my owner picking them up one by one! I enjoy watching Youtube clips of my own species on the iPad. Sometimes, I also explore my owner?s iPhone and don?t tell anyone I chewed on the casing so hard that it has cracked!
My dream is to be featured on Animal?Planet some day so that more people can learn about my species and my cousin parrots. I wish that all the folks out there who keep pets would be responsible and shower us with Tender Loving Care!
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