The Overnighter

Since Bezukhov’s flight to Rainbow Bridge last July, Dalai has continued to stay in the Silver Villa, favouring bedtime on his own, rather than having to share with Perry & Lennie.  Possibly a part of this is because he likes to retire to bed earlier than the others.  Bezukhov was always mindful of Dalai’s preferences, whereas Perry & Lennie are a bit more ‘animated’ at a time when Dalai is less appreciative!

Perry, Dalai & Lennie

Perry, Dalai & Lennie

Perry, Dalai & Lennie

So far, there has been one exceptional bedtime, that strangely occurred at the end of Day 45 of their recent medication.  I am still unsure whether that was a coincidence!

The evening of the 14th January, Dalai was already locked up but at around 20:30 he indicated he wanted to come out.  Sometimes he would like a last fly before bed.  But on this occasion, instead of going back into the Silver Villa, he went into Perry & Lennie’s cage!  The few weeks prior, he had been spending time in their cage during the daytime (usually in the morning) but this was the first time he went in at bedtime.

Needless to say, I left their doors open for awhile, in case Dalai changed his mind.   He did actually poke his head out the door a couple of times & looked at the open doors of the Silver Villa & seemed to contemplate returning, but twice turned around to go back into Perry & Lennie’s, so it was definitely a conscious decision.

Certainly he upset the apple-cart as he investigated which position he wanted to rest in, including upside down on the ceiling!  Meanwhile, Lennie was still trying to kiss him every two minutes, despite Dalai jabbing him away. Perry was just trying to find a peaceful spot & actually came out on the landing platform twice, seeking calm.

Dalai finally, very astutely, came to rest on the purple swing (he has the same in his cage, though he does not sleep on it), which is not used by either Perry or Lennie at bedtime.  This brought some calm.  I felt confident enough to lock them in & put their cover over.

I stayed up extra late but did not hear a peep out of them, but all the same I still thought it best to get up a bit earlier in the morning!  The next morning, all was well!

Despite Dalai’s overnight stay being relatively calm (after the initial surprise) he has not repeated it.  It is anyone’s guess as why he has not!  For now, he seems happy sleeping on his own in the Silver Villa.

Dalai’s overnight stay 14th/15th Jan ’19

 

 

Advertisements

Lennie’s Pleasurable Places

This post has been a long time coming & because of that, is quite long & video heavy.  Warning over!

From early on, Lennie began to wiggle & jiggle when & where he could.  He has come across as experimental but it is possible he has just not been fussed & made the most of whatever was available at the required time.  In the following videos you can get a flavour of his open-mindedness.

1st December 2016 – Raffia toy.

 

14th December 2016 – Perch, holding onto millet.

 

22nd December 2016 – White seed feeder.

Swing of illusion

Perry & Lennie’s first encounter with a teeter-totter-mirror-see-saw (ttmss) swing was during an exploratory visit to the Manor.  They did not have one in their quarantine cage so it proved to be a good source of entertainment.  They also discovered the hot pink one in the Silver Villa.

Because of the mirror & the perches on either side, photos can come out…. interesting!

In the Manor:

How many??

Perry & Lennie

Lennie & an upside down Perry

Perry & Lennie

In the Silver Villa:

Perry on the hot pink swing

Upside-down Perry on hot pink swing

Perry & Lennie on the hot pink swing

I like the way that when they fall off, they just immediately get back on again.  No drama, no fuss, no analysing… they just carry on where they left off. 🙂

 

 

Snoozing in the sunshine

Sometimes, even when it is cold, the room can be filled with sunshine.  On one particular day, Dalai was having a snooze in the sunshine, on Phinny’s hot pink ttmss swing.  Here are some photos in a slideshow:

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

I have included a photo of Bezukhov who was also sitting in the sunshine.  He looks like he is sleeping because his eyes are closed but he was actually having a grumble at the time.  The photo looks a bit weird because he was behind the swing with the mirror that just happened to be reflecting the cage bars, giving a strange illusionary effect.

 

Dalai’s dander

During their moult, feather dust & dander is more noticeable.  Sometimes, Bezukhov & Dalai sit on the perch preening & you can see it drift down & settle below them.  I have singled out Dalai in this post simply because the dander he leaves behind on the ttmss swing in the Manor is particularly noticeable because of the dark colour of the perch.

Dander on swing

Dander on swing

Dalai on swing

Bezukhov very rarely sits on that swing which is why I know the dander pictured is Dalai’s.  Bezukhov prefers the counterpart (hot pink) swing in the Villa.

 

Hot pink perch

A few months back, I posted that Phinny’s bedtime swing had been damaged beyond repair.  Initially, so Phineas had somewhere to sleep, I gave him the Toyboys’ ttmss swing as they only used theirs sporadically.

Parcel from the US of A

Phineas breaking in the hot pink perch

A manly Phineas on his hot pink swing

Phineas loves his swing

When the new replacement swing arrived, that was slightly different to the old one, I gave it a ‘test drive’ in the Manor.  Both Cagney & Bezukhov completely ignored it.  The next test was in Phinny’s cage.  One day, when he was out & about I replaced the Toyboys’ old swing (I hope you are keeping up with the swing versions!) with the new replacement swing.  However, that did not have as good a reception as I had hoped.  I found Phineas stopped dead in his tracks on the perch next to it (where he then jumps onto it), looking puzzled, confused & bewildered.  I put the old swing back.

It was then time to return to the internet for a proper replacement.  Previously, I had found it online but the cost for postage & packaging was expensive, hence buying the slightly different (& now I know, completely inadequate) one.  I thought I would bite the bullet & pay the P&P costs, but it was out of stock!  Cue another frenzied internet search!

So, I found another swing that looked pretty similar, in the US.  P&P was obviously high for the UK, but was not as high as the out of stock one.  I decided to get it!  Surprisingly, the swing arrived within a few days & with much hope, I opened the parcel….

Fantastic!  It is virtually the same swing!

Oh goodness me!  What a bright, garish, girly PINK!

Well, I knew they would not have a problem with the design & structure…. but the colour?  Even *I* had a problem with the colour!

I checked to see if the old perches could be interchanged with the new one, thereby reducing the amount of pink on the eye, but they were too fat to fit into the gaps.  The new perches would fit the old swing though, so to break Phineas into the new swing (& colour!) gently, I gave him one hot pink perch.  Would he sit on it?

Naturally, the change was made whilst he was out & about.  The first one to notice it was Cagney.  He bounced onto the open door platform, about to go in to eat Phinny’s seed, but looked up at the hot pink, stopped suddenly, then turned tail & flew back to the safety of the Manor!  This did not bode well.

Phineas it seems, is made of sterner stuff though.  He took the new hot pink in his stride, so much so that the very next day the whole of his bedtime swing turned hot pink.  You will see from the photos that he is happy with it.  It also has an extra feature of a little loop on the bottom so I was able to hang some beads in case he wanted to count them to help him sleep.

 

Swing failure

The other day I heard a loud clunk.  When I looked up, Phineas was on the floor of his cage looking a bit confused.

He had jumped on his ttmss swing & the perch section gave way.  Poor boy.  That was his bedtime swing & his all round chill out, best perching position.

I checked his swing to see if it could be repaired in any way, but the plastic hole that holds a side of the perch section had a gap in it.  I decided that a replacement was needed.  In the meantime, I gave him the toyboys ttmss swing.  They do not use their swing nearly as much as Phinny uses his so I thought they would not miss it too much.  Phineas had his bedtime swing back.  He was pleased & order in the universe had been restored.

(Click on photos to enlarge)

–

You can see from the photos above that the replacement swing is very colourful.  A perch on the toyboys’ swing had a hairline crack in it so I merged it with Phinny’s swing.

After an internet search I found the same swing but the cost of postage was extortionate.  I decided to go for a slightly different swing.  When it arrived, I put it in the toyboys’ manor.  As yet it has not been touched….

 

Top: new swing
Bottom: broken swing

–

–

–

 

 

Just swingin’

Sometimes, when the toyboys are otherwise engaged, Phineas will tear himself away from monitoring them (mostly Cagney) & have a swing on the swinging perch.  He usually chooses the lower rung to do this.  He may even have a chat with the handsome dude in the mirror.

–

–

–

–

 

Bedtime gymnastics

Come bedtime, I find that Cagney & Bezukhov settle down quite quickly.  When the final big cover goes over, there is usually a last bit of faffing but otherwise they appear keen to get to sleep.

Phineas tends to take a bit longer to wind down & whilst the toyboys are already snoozing in the manor, Phineas uses the time, in his own cage, to chew on various toys.  After a while, he puffs up & also settles down.

Mostly, he sleeps overnight on the left hand side of the ttmss swing.  If he is not already on it, when his big cover goes on, he makes his way over.

A few nights ago when I peeked in under the cover, things seemed different & I had to squint to make out that Phineas was sitting on the right hand side of the ttmss swing rather than the left.  Odd, but entirely acceptable.  I thought nothing of it.

Last night it seems he wanted to shake things up a bit more.  He mounted his ttmss swing as per usual, but whilst it was swinging, he was ducking under the mirror in the middle to reach the perch on the right hand side.  This seemed a long winded way to get there, being as he could just slip around the side.  Anyway, after a bit of faffing, he managed to get to the right hand side perch.  Unfortunately he was facing outwards & not towards the mirror so he had to maneuver himself around.  I thought he would settle there but no, it seems not.  He stretched across to the normal swing, sat on there for a second, then jumped onto the rope perch on the side.  What now?  Back to the ttmss swing!

Yes, he went back over to the ttmss swing & again, whilst it was swinging, made his way under the mirror section to the right hand side.  (By this time, I had pulled up a chair so I could comfortably watch instead of bending down to peek under the cover).  Will he settle on the right hand side of the ttmss swing as he did the other night?  No.  He decided he wanted to get to the left hand side but instead of going under or around the side, decided to go over.  How he did it, I really do not know, but did it he did!  He managed to get up & squeeze himself through the gap between the ttmss swing & the top of the cage.

Once on the left hand side, he then ducked underneath to get to the right hand side again, transferred himself over to the normal swing, then the rope perch, then back across the cage to the ttmss swing!  At the last peek, he settled, as usual, on the left hand side of the ttmss swing.

It is times like that when I fully understand why Cagney & Bezukhov do not want Phinny to sleep overnight with them. 😀

–

–

 

 

Perch positioning

It is important to carefully consider positioning of perches & swings in the cage.  I have made a mistake with positioning of a perch in Phinny’s cage.  Most mornings, I am presented with the following:

Poopy perch

Phinny usually sleeps overnight on the ttmss swing.  As it is just him sitting on it, it dips down quite a bit on one side & it is that angle that often results in a poopy perch below.  Sometimes the ttmss swing shifts along the bars a fraction & that means the poops miss the perch & land on the cage floor, where they are meant to be.

Some more tweaking is necessary for an optimum poop-free perch position.

–

–