I don't expect to get bitten by my tame 23-year-old cockatiel, but that's what happened yesterday morning. Tame cockies don't bite without provocation, and I wouldn't consider putting fresh water in his cage "provocation" since I've been doing it all his life.
Rocky's cage only has one door, so the procedure is, open the door and reach in to the back of the cage, hang the water dish on the cage bars, and then withdraw hand and close door. The little monster could have waited until I was on the return part of this exercise, but oh no, he chose to sit on his perch and nip the arm that was putting the water in there. If you've ever been nipped while holding a vessel full of water, you will perceive the result. The just-cleaned cage had to be dried and a fresh "floor" put in.
I have excused Rocky on the grounds that he's moulting and was probably in a bad mood. Besides, we're best friends really. But he wasn't the only biter that day.
We went to a place called Bowentown, and paddled in the sea. There are a couple of photos on my page, in my gallery, of the beach and me. We quite often visit this beach in summer. A couple of weeks back, it was full of sea lettuce. Yesterday there was still some sea lettuce, but most of it was draped around the bars of trailers that had been towed through it while removing boats from the water.
Sea lettuce didn't do anything, but sea lice did. I never saw any sea lice. I know from previous experience what they're like, little whilte things like crabs. They bite. And they did bite, and I never felt a thing. The marks they left made a bracelet half way around my ankle. Those marks, and Rocky's contribution, do not make pleasant viewing, but none of them are harmful and all will be history in a day or two.
I'm not giving up on Rocky, or Bowentown. Both are a great source of pleasure in their different ways.
Kiwibarb.
