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DarkHorse posted:My dad's cockatiel just likes nibbling on earrings and glasses, it can be a weirdly pleasant feeling. The only time it hurts is when the bird pinches some skin against the metal. My cockatiel Looloo (sadly long deceased), became briefly obsessed with my ears. As in, ignored them for 18 months then realised ears were amazing and then spent about a week nibbling my ears gently every day, all day. It was weirdly pleasant 
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Nov 2, 2012 20:01
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| # ¿ Apr 26, 2024 06:58 |
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We had to take Pookie's version of a happy hut from her; it was a 2.5 foot x 1 foot wooden box that sat on a dresser in the kitchen. She used to go inside and chew the walls apart and then pop out of the door occasioanlly to defend her 'nest' from intruders. The thing was, we noticed over a period of some months that she was definitely getting more hormone-crazy, bitey and aggressive, and the box was very clearly a focus of the crazy. Unfortunately taking the box away didn't really help, she then focused on the undershelf areas of the dresser as places to lurk, burrow and pounce out from. Sadly I had to do a pretty awful thing to deflect her - I put the scary brush up on the main shelf of the dresser. I think I have mentioned it before, but the scary brush is an old-fashioned sweeping brush with a red handle whuch Pookie hates. She hates it so much that if she is being extremely bold all I have to do is say to her that I am going to get the scary brush, she immediately stops whatever mischief she is up to and starts behaving like a little angel. Anyway, it's been a few months since she was evicted from the dresser but the scary brush is still in place as a deterrent. Fortunately she has mostly forgotten it is there so I'm hoping she'll just remember that it's not a fun place anymore and continue to play around the rest of the house happily without missing her dresser too much.
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Nov 6, 2012 00:28
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Oh I meant to say, Miss Lady came out today, She is an elderly budgie with a mirror obsession and a life-long gimpy wing, so she is kind of set in her ways generally. However. Today she decided was the day for vigorous activity. There was unprecedented wing flapping, so I stashed a piece of her favorite cheese on top of the cage, out of reach from the inside. She spent about 10 minutes trying to eat it from inside before venturing outside to munch cheese. She did drop it quite early but I picked it up and held it for her so she got to eat loads She is a strange and really sweet little person. Edit: she saw my powder compact today and thought it was quite scary until I showed her the insides and thus that there was only a goofy budgie inside so she realised it was sort of silly and not something to be frightened of at all. Pookah fucked around with this message at 01:45 on Nov 6, 2012 |
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Nov 6, 2012 01:42
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Frogmanv2 posted:I thought cheese was bad for birds? Have I been denying Squirt treats all this time? I think it is bad in large amounts but she eats little tiny beakfuls and is in any case so ridiculously pickly about the cheese she will eat that it becomes a moot point- she'll eat emmenthal, maasdam, jarlsberg if sliced thinly, but thinly cut pale cheddar is an insult, plain and simple.
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Nov 6, 2012 01:49
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Joe Don Baker posted:Yeah Hannah LOVES cheese. He gets a little square every so often. Do you know what is the worst cheese for an african grey? It is cheese that has been previously offered to another pet, like maybe a budgie. That is terrible cheese that should be rejected out of hand, or possibly thrown across the room. Greys are hilariously stroppy when it comes to cheese priority in this house.
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Nov 6, 2012 01:56
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Joe Don Baker posted:I don't have another pet to find out. Hannah does however, prefer food that comes right off my plate. I can make him a little dish with what we're having. He'll just toss everything but if I give him something off my plate, which is the same freakin thing I just gave him, he'll eat the hell out of it. Greys.txt Seriously, Pookie is exactly the same; stolen food is the best food.
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Nov 6, 2012 02:11
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marshmallard posted:Woohoo! Made my evening I know my Peep love is about .00001% of yours but I still get a massive boost out of seeing happy Peep, she's such sweetpea .
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Nov 7, 2012 01:41
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Pile of Kittens posted:Novolo sneezes for attention too, because I'll always look at her and primly say, "bless you!" Yeah, Pookie fake-sneezes all the time too, but I know for a fact that it is entirely for attention because if I get concerned and check up on her about it she runs off to a corner and giggles. This is why one of her permanent nicknames is "Dreadful" Or "Terrible Parrot". (I really do address her by both of the above when she is being really awful. She thinks they are funny.) Edit: She really is awful.
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Nov 17, 2012 20:54
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So today was a very difficuly one for poor old Pookie; she had to go to the vet's for a routine check-up. When we got the reminder in the post, I thought, "Wow, it must be well over a year since she had the last one, that's bad." So I asked the nurse when her last appointment was - it was 2006.  As you can all imagine, I felt like a terrible, neglectful person but it all turned out fine. We are very lucky in that our local vet is pretty much the bird and other exotics expert in the country. Even so, Pookie did not make the trip easy - she managed to partially trash the examination room by dodging the vet's towel to fly around and knock stuff over but she was eventually caught and examined and found to be in generally excellent health apart from a possible slight calcium deficiency. She'll be going back in 6 months for her bloods to be checked just to be on the safe side. She also got her nails clipped and 4 of them bled even though only the very very tip was cut  .It's all fine now though, I've got a calcium supplement for her water, bird muffin mix to bake up tomorrow with extra vitamin supplements added in. When she got home she had a cup of camomile tea, half a small jellybean and a loong nap to recover from it all - right now she's sittng all fluffed up beside me and grinding her beak
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Dec 10, 2012 16:07
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Battle Pigeon posted:Brb, trading in Ohtori for a Green Cheek or Black Capped conure Oh yes, she is getting much attention from everyone plus bites of their toast and sips of soup. We will both be having a nice lentil curry with rice for dinner too. We're also going to rearrange her perches in her day cage to make them all a lot wider so that her nail-tips actaully touch the surface and get worn down natually, but not for a few days to let her get over today's shocking events  .She actually gets on pretty well with most people, as long as they don't have red hair. She hates gingers and will sneak up on them and bite them if she can. My cousin has red hair and had to be really watchful to avoid getting pookie-nipped, but it all stopped when she (the cousin) put on a black wig. Sadly, Pookie will not wear wigs. Edit: I'll try to set-up and film a saucer-fight tomorrow once she's back to her usual feisty self. Or maybe a paperbag fight; they are her latest arch enemy, ever since I put one over her head as a joke so she got a wee bit cross and nipped me. Double-edit: She was very funny about the dogs she saw in the vet's office. Explanation: She really loves our Shih-tzu, Daisy and imitates her all the time - lots of barking and snuffling when she (Pookie) is on the floor. If you pick Daisy up and cuddle her, Pookie absolutely always does a huge approving tail-wag. She once bit my brother really hard years ago when he was playing rough-and-tumble games with Daisy, but has learned since that growly games are ok to play with Daisy sometimes. However, she absolutely does not approve of non-Daisy dogs. She fluffed up like an angry ball when some strange dogs looked at her and she drat well growled at a rude terrier who tried to sniff her. Pookah fucked around with this message at 23:25 on Dec 10, 2012 |
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Dec 10, 2012 16:38
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Would filing her nails next time perhaps be an option?
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Joe Don Baker posted:That's beautiful but I'd be creeped out having a replica of my African Grey hanging around like that. Mine would either freak out about the weird wooden parrot or eat it in about 10 minutes, thinking it is a new chewy friend. That said, they are beautifully made and amazingly coloured.
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Dec 14, 2012 23:24
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Battle Pigeon posted:Got home yesterday, and decided to surprise the birds by waiting in the main room around a corner so they wouldn't see or hear me until they flew in and looked around. Ohtori flew in, spotted me, did that whole body shake they do when pissed, then flew over to my knee. He sat there, fixated on me, acting aggressive (wings drooping, eyes pinned, feathers raised and spread) while making the same sounds he makes when happy. He only bit me a little bit, between begging for pets, all while staying in his aggressive pose. So Ohtori is both delighted to see you and very angry with you for going away. Parrots really are wonderful aren't they? Pookie has lately been introduced to roasted, unsalted, shell-on pistachios and she is craaaazy about them, as in, she starts leaning and wheeping when she hears the bag rustle. When she actaully gets one she makes her "This food is delicious" noise with one tucked into her lower beak. # The little baggage stole carrot peelings from me just now as I was making a thai curry - as with all parrots, stolen food is most definitely the best food.
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Jan 7, 2013 18:17
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Joe Don Baker posted:Pistachios drive Hannah nuts Did he make a big giant mess with about .002 grams of stuff and then run away and snigger when you got cross and told him to stop making messes? If you want to see the ultimate in msking the biggest mess out of the smallest amount of stuff, then popcorn is your go-to substance. Pookie can spread 1 piece of popcorn over about 12 square feet of room. Edit: I am a sucker for punishment, I just bought her a big bag of walnuts in their shells. She loves them .Double edit: I just remembered I was showing Pookie african grey videos on youtube last night to help her reconnect with her people or something, but she was pretty bored about the whole thing until somebody's dog started barking in the background of one video and she just started barking like crazy. So it seems like she'd rather bond with her doggy buds than with those weird birdy things. Pookah fucked around with this message at 21:17 on Jan 7, 2013 |
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Jan 7, 2013 21:10
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Joe Don Baker posted:Oh I know about popcorn. It's crazy. I'm pretty sure he doesn't even eat it. He just breaks it apart and dumps it everywhere. Yep, I think popcorn actually reaches a 100% parrot-perfect proportion of mess to nutrition; its opposite number is fudge. Pookie gets some fudge every Christmas; she unwraps her own parcel and everything. Last year it got a bit awkward as she decided every present under the tree was full of fudge so she naturally tried to unwrap them all. I pull off small pieces for her to eat every few days and she holds the tiny pellet in her fist and shaves off tiny fragments. Nothing above the scale of a molecule is ever dropped.
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Jan 7, 2013 21:35
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Kenshin posted:Wait, fudge? What? Yes, I know it's unwholesome but she only gets a wee little few bits every christmas and she loves it so much that it'd be a crime to deprive her of the fudgy goodness. Also watching her unwrap her own parcel every christmas morning is so funny that I really cannot stop giving her a bit each year. (She tears open a small hole on the parcel and sticks her tongue in to find the fudge, if it's not within tongue-reach, she tears a bit more and tries again. So all her unwrapping is basically switching between tearing and licking.)
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Jan 7, 2013 22:33
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Sorry, I can confirm that it is this kind of fudge - no chocolate
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Jan 8, 2013 13:52
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Pookie's very into her weird litle noises; if you eat something she really likes, she make human-style chewing noises at you until you give her some. She also burps a lot, squeaks like the kichen door every time you open it, does a perfect "download finished" ringing sound, snuffles like the dog if she's on the floor, twitters like the budgie if I'm paying the little bird too much attention, beeps like the microwave, and her latest is totally unidentifiable - she's taken to saying "WEHHHH!" very loudly to get attention. She's
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Jan 13, 2013 15:41
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Pookie is so silly. It's 10:10 at night here and she has decided to go to war with a paper bag instead of drowsing quietly before bed. Leave the bag along bird; It is not an evil bag (like the one I meanly used to trap you that one time a year ago). Seriously. She is still very pissed off with all paper bags after an unfortunate incident where I thought she thought being snagged in a bag was funny but she didn't and I got bitten and now she tries to massacre all brown paper bags pretty much on sight.
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Jan 18, 2013 23:13
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Joe Don Baker posted:Hannah is afraid of ANYTHING white because for a long time we'd use a white towel to wrap him for wing & nail trimmings. Pookie's biggest fear is The Scary Brush. It's one like this:  but with a red handle. IF she's being really naughty all I have to say is "Stop that or I'll get the Scary Brush!" and she'll stop immediately.
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Jan 19, 2013 12:29
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bassguitarhero posted:
Juat wanted to add my condolences on your loss I had a little 'tiel (Looloo) who was just two years old when she died, this was nearly 13 years ago and I still get a little bit weepy when I remember her. I'd like to think they are all being dopey and sweet together in a great big leafy tree in cockatiel heaven.
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Jan 24, 2013 17:32
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Lenswork posted:
I love all of your pictures but this one is amazing... I just can't stop laughing at it. Pookah fucked around with this message at 15:26 on Jan 25, 2013 |
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Jan 25, 2013 15:11
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Joe Don Baker posted:
That's it, it's so incredibly familiar. That is the look of an african grey who is feeling tough and is estimating whether or not they can pounce on your hand from their current hiding place or whether they should wait a little bit longer. With an added dose of just feeling crazy and nesty.
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Jan 25, 2013 19:57
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In this one he looks like he's winding back for a reeeeeally big bite. 
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Jan 30, 2013 18:30
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Battle Pigeon posted:Steve is hulking out right now because I dared put him back in his cage so he'd eat for the first time today. There's a plastic toy hanging near his cage door, and he's grabbing it and biting it and loudly bashing it around with his wings out in righteous fury. That sounds hilarious; Hulkatiel RAAAAAGE:D
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Feb 5, 2013 15:44
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Apologies in advance for lovely mspaint job but I couldn't resist...
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Feb 5, 2013 16:16
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Battle Pigeon posted:I was inspired to doodle this. Not even apologising. Awe-inspiring stuff. Truly the mighty Hulkatiel bestrides the, um, countertop probably? Like a colossus.
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Feb 5, 2013 17:46
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Feeling all full of Pookie love right now. She is such a sweet pea. She normally gets a little detached around 8 o'clock and just makes contact calls (kisses/footie peeps) from the far end of the room until bedtime, but today I mimed head tickles at her from 15 feet away and she knew what I meant and so trundled down the dining-room table to me until she got close enough to get a great many head snuggles and kisses. She also flew to me every time I left the room to do stuff because dammit, she hates to miss anything happening. Seriously, the girl is crazy nosy about stuff happening. Parrots are awesome, wonderful, hilarious and sweet as all feck. Love my Poo
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Feb 15, 2013 00:09
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He's so confused and so manly. Confumanly. Edit: Dem cheeks are so foofy
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Feb 15, 2013 00:58
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Battle Pigeon posted:I love your... Pookie too and want to roll her saucers and give her tea. She sounds so sweet. AAAAAAHH! I love him!
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Feb 17, 2013 12:39
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Joe Don Baker posted:Oh man that little Grey is so cute. Good luck getting mine to stay on his back like that. I was just about to say the same thing
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Feb 25, 2013 13:59
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Battle Pigeon posted:
 Hello Steve.
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Mar 1, 2013 18:37
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Amaya posted:
Yes those wubbly little potatoes are welcome at the weird bird party. Ohtori's tantrums are inexplicable to me as the bird-sort-of-mummy of a grey; does he just... tumble over and start complaining? Pookie would never do that, she's too secretive, she only plays Peep with me if there is no-one else in the room. Pookah fucked around with this message at 00:06 on Mar 2, 2013 |
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Mar 2, 2013 00:01
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Eejit posted:Thank you guys, he is a Good Bird. I do feel a little bad having recently learned that Umbrellas are considered vulnerable on the red list, but I was in 4th grade when we got him so it's not like I could have known or said anything. And now I have a great bird, so I can't complain! Also, I love these pictures recently. I was not quite aware how cute conures are and Pookah's grey is just, I dunno, maniacal-looking. It's awesome. He's gorgeous and I agree, preening a big feather is just, I don't know, blissful somehow - I think it appeals to our monkeybrain grooming instincts. And yes, Pookie always looks sort of sinister in photos; she's a lot goofier looking in motion. Her birthday is coming up soon so I just this minute bought her just under $100's worth of toys from http://www.mysafebirdstore.com/ based on the recommendations from this thread, I hope they get here in time for her big day 
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Mar 3, 2013 12:51
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Joe Don Baker posted:So Hannah and I had an actual conversation today. He's learned to say (in my voice), "Come Here!" This also confirms he knows what it means. That's awesome!, Pookie hasn't quite gotten to conversational levels of speech but she does know what quite a lot of things mean, as in I can ask her "What does Daisy (the dog) say?" and she'll bark, but I can also say "Call Daisy for me", and she'll do a dog-calling whistle. Actually , she did something very silly last night. As I've previously mentioned, she will always try to destroy paper bags, ever since I annoyed her by putting her in one last year. I got a nice sturdy clothes shop-type bag yesterday which I tied it to the top of her cage by one of the handles so she could kill it without knocking it to the floor every 2 minutes. She spent the next 10 minutes happily pouncing on it like it was a snake, so I went off to the other side of kitchen to get the dinner going. All at once there was a loud sliding, rustling sound accompanied by an outraged "WAAAAAAK", and when I rushed over there was a lovely pink paper bag hanging down the side of the cage with the sound of furious struggling going on inside. That's right, she pounced so enthusiastically that she got right inside and slid the whole thing off the cage. Silly Pookie .
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Mar 8, 2013 16:16
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Yep, she's now angry and paranoid. And yeah, she loves to tear up cardboard - any time I have one of the long cardboard tubes you get in kitchen paper I pierce holes about halfway along it and suspend something like a peanut in its shell or a small sweet, on a thread through the holes. Then I show Pookie that there is something mysterious and probably delicious hidden in the tube. It takes her about 20 minutes of sustained tearing to get at the treat so it's exercise ending in a tasty reward!
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Mar 8, 2013 18:06
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Battle Pigeon posted:Ohtori's DNA sexing test certificate says he was sexed via a feather sample. He turned out to be male, obviously-as did his four other siblings. We got our parcel yesterday! It was full of awesome things for Pookie (and a little bonus gift of sweets for me )She got:  Space Circles by Creative Foraging.  Buffet Ball Foraging Ball by Creative Foraging.  Planet Pleasures Nature Cluster Small.  Push and Pull Foraging Toy by Creative Foraging  Reinforcement Foraging Wheel by Creative Foraging. Plus some free chinese finger traps for her to destroy, which she's doing right now. So far she's played with the buffet ball, and tried to break the space circles thingy to get at the pistachios inside. She's never had foraging toys before so I'm going to hold off on giving her the more complex ones 'til she's worked out how this simple one she has is supposed to work. I'm really really pleased with what we got - most of this stuff I've never even seen for sale in this country and anything you can get is easily 2-3 times more expensive than buying online.
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Mar 12, 2013 13:47
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Battle Pigeon posted:Ohtori has that push and pull toy! Where did you get them from again? From: http://www.mysafebirdstore.com. And boo on missing bits in your stuff All of Pookie's stuff looks to be fine, the only thing to discover now if is she has the brains to work out how to get stuff out of them...
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Mar 12, 2013 14:37
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It worked out as around $55 for the stuff itself and $45 for the shipping via the postal service as it was a pretty big (3lb) box; so shipping did nearly double the cost. Buuut that coverted to around 75 euro in total and I'd expect to be paying 20 euro+ for the bigger items and 10-15 for the smaller if I had bought them in a shop here, assuming I could even get them. Also they give you 10% off your first order if you use the code "FIRST" which is a nice little bonus.
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Mar 12, 2013 17:31
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Pookah posted:
I showed Pookie that there were tasty snacks in this thing today by tipping it on end so that she could grab two of the pistachios inside, then I showed her a small jellybean and hid it inside too, but refused to help her with the toy any more, so that she'd, you know, grow her brain and be more intelligent about solving problems. She blew angry kisses at me for a couple of minutes before progressing to very angry food-chewing noises. Then she tried to brute-force her way in to the jelly bean. It didn't work so she beat up all her other toys and is now sulking. She is a big old spoiled baby and I love her. (She will learn to work these toys by herself though).
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Mar 12, 2013 20:53
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| # ¿ Apr 26, 2024 06:58 |
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Battle Pigeon posted:Pookie, this internet stranger thinks you are adorable. Pookie says "<lip-fart noise>". I think that's probably a positive reaction? And poor old Ohtori, I hope his toe is better
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Mar 13, 2013 15:11
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