the kids have named the baby budgie....

[gussiegrips]

For reasons which have passed me by, we seem to be having to hand rear a baby budgie.

It is very small and wasn't responding well yesterday. It appears to have grey feathers, like it's dad.

I warned the kids that it was likely to die, and they were not, under any circumstances to give it a name not after the rabbit debacle.

Naturally, I overheard "well, he's grey. We should name him after something to do with grey".

uh oh

"Graeme"

Graeme the budgie. So named, because he's grey. Hope the fecker lives now. Cheered me up no end.

Graeme.

Ah you knew where I was going with that then. Most places dont have one. :(
Its good he want attention though. He will make an excellent pet bird. :) Mine is deeply attached to me. He has to come with me to the loo - he follows- as he hates being left. Stupid animal.

Found a vet - the university have an "exotics" clinic. So, that's on Thursday.

Graeme's ticking along, eating well, starting to nibble on stuff - but, he's 7 weeks and should be behaving like an adult budgie.

There's a bit of failure to thrive, really. ANd, he was sick this morning. And, he's really thirsty. So, I wonder whether he's got a wee infection?

This budgie is costing me a fortune. He'd better live and love me forever. And, develop a talent for ironing or hoovering or something else that I hate...

blardy bird.

Hope he's ok.

Gad you contacted the uni, I was just about to suggest that there will be someone somewhere and help you track them down - LOL!

How have I only just stumbled across this?

Hang in there Graeme the blue budgie!

You tell great stories gussie

I'm shamelessly marking my place for the next instalment of Graeme's adventures. Hope he is ok.

If you are in Edinburgh what about the dick vet ,
www.ed.ac.uk/schools-departments/vet/services/small-animals/vet-practices/dick-vet-small-animal-practice/find-us

gussie I got hoodwinked into having someone elses unwanted pets once. A rabbit and a ghekko. The rabbit was so bloody fluffy it was continuously getting matted because like yours reluctant to be handled unless I wrestled with it wearing a pair of old oven gloves for protection. I had it rehomed at the vets

The ghekko was fine it was the fact it was a lazy bastard and to feed it I had to remove the legs of live crickets so it could saunter casually up to them when it was hungry. Thats if thry didn't escape out of their little box and fuck off chirping into the depths of the house never to be seen again. The ghekko got rehomed to a lad down the street I believe ir is still lazy alive

Great name for budgie. Hope he makes it x

I hope Graeme perks up soon!

I have to speak up in defence of rabbits though, sounds like you had bad luck with yours but I have 2 who are lovely and very very cheeky. Rabbits are not cuddly children's pets though, they are much more complex than most people realise, and can be very expensive to run.

Rats are also super expensive, I have 15 and the cost in food and bedding is bad enough, never mind the vets bills. One has cost us around £600 in his 2 years so far keeping his teeth trimmed so he can eat. They are totally worth it though, the main problem is that 2-3 years is far too short a life for such lovely creatures.

Thanks, quote, that's where we're going.

He's sitting on my shoulder, preening my hair. And, pooping down my back.

Awww.

voodoo geckos are nocturnal too? The snake's fairly nocturnal, but, it's happy to be hauled out for a grapple at 3.30pm.

Mad, I expect you get asked this a lot - but, erm, 15 rats? On purpose? Or, did you land up with one, unexpectedly pregnant, rat? spawning all over the place, like Alien

Proud Mum Moment, when booking bird into clinic

"and, does the budgie have a name?"

"erm, yep, Graeme"

"Oh. That's unusual"

"....explanation...."

"ha ha ha, that's brilliant. Your kids should name all the pets"

My kids have a talent! At last!

15 on purpose. Well, not exactly on purpose - I'm no longer allowed to look at rehoming ads on gumtree or animal rescue pages. There's a couple we planned to get but most were being rehomed or were in a rescue. Or a couple who were in tiny tanks in the pets at home adoption centre because nobody had bought them and we felt sorry for them.

I would love a pregnant rat just so I could have the experience of all the crazy hyper rat babies, I'd never breed mine though, there's too many unwanted animals as it is.

Glad to hear Graeme is still with us :) I'm sure he'll get perkier and stronger.

I came across this thread this morning and it's taken me ALL this time to read all 4 pages of it - damn you, you distracting offspring with your annoying needs

I feel like I know Graeme - brilliant name.
Brilliant family with fabulous pet history

Took Graeme to the vet today. He's ok, just failing to thrive. Still got baby feathers, refusing to feed himself but is constantly hungry, and wants constant attention. I am fairly sure these are symptoms of having a Y-chromosome.

There's a shortage of avian vets, it seems. You have to book into the university's exotic clinic. That's about 25 miles from where I live.

Anyhoo, after a lot of poking and prodding by the (really excellent) vet we were given a diagnosis.

Graeme is a runt.

Happily, there is treatment. So, I came home with the world's smallest syringes and an assortment of concoctions to feed him in 0.01ml doses. He has to have these things once, twice, or three times a day for either two, alternate, or seven days. Erm, ok.

Oh, and, I left the vets with 65 fewer pounds.

It had better bloody live, I want at LEAST 10 years of skateboarding and talking out of Graeme. I expect my money's worth.

Sixty-five quid. Sheesh. And, I had my eye on a steam cleaner to clean up all his poop too.

go on Graeme!

love the y-chromosome comment

OHMAIGAWSHDISASTER!

He's been much better today, hurrah for the teenytiny medication....until....

Was cleaning out the cage, he was sitting on top of the nestbox, watching. Launched himself off it, missed whatever he was going for, landed on the floor.

I think he's broken his leg.

Sat with him for ages, he has sore leg tucked up tight and dozed off - naturally, I visualised flail chest, internal bleeding and awfulness. But, he's perked up and seems ok in himself.

Got him cosied up in a heated box. Vet's going to cost me a fortune. Again.

Stupid bird. I luffs him. Possibly definitely more than I love DH.

No. More. Pets.

Aw, your Graeme stories are just lovely

The bird owes you big time - you tell him I said that!!

Hope the poor leg is ok.
Do birds actually break legs?? I thought they just bounce...

Absolutely loving this thread

Never had a budgie but my Nans became a family legend when he necked her Christmas sherry, climbed up the curtains pissed before falling off & nearly drowning in the washing up

Spacefrog - now, THAT's what I call a budgie!

Poor wee thing. He's keeping the left leg tucked up really tight and his foot's not gripping anything. He can move it, but really doesn't want to.

I can't feel a break - but, I'm reluctant to poke too hard as (1) I'm not a vet and (2) it doesn't take much force to deal with a roast chicken carcass and I'd feel fairly bad if I pulled his leg right off...

I have a mental image of some sort of strap-on-pirate-leg gadget to let him perch. Here's a top tip - Don't Under Any Circumstances google "strap on budgie" if looking for a leg splint.

Graeme the kamikaze budgie only broke a toe in his tumble.

So, we can conclude that the runt is also a Big Jessie seeing as how he does this weirdly dramatic flap/hop business to get about, but, mostly just squawks for someone to lift him to his desired spot.

He's utterly spoiled. Kids carry him around all the time, and he's developed a really good act of waving his leg about like "oh, my sore foot" in order to get attention.

Finished the antibiotics, still on the other concoctions - have to say, apart from the gammy leg, he does look better. More sleek and less like a chick. Though, still scraggy. It's part of his appeal, mind.

We were out all day yesterday, and he needs feeding/painkillers. So, I channelled my inner Paris Hilton and took him in my handbag. In a nestbox, I'm not a complete idiot. It's a giant bag, a proper MumBag with plenty of space for a budgie. I will concede that explaining why my bag was cheeping to the other football parents, the woman in Clarks shoe shop, and the hairdressers was not something I had anticipated when we embarked on this foolish exercise.

Next step is weaning him. He's somewhat reluctant. But, I can't keep up feeding him 4 times a day forever. He's going to have to accept that broccoli is food...something I'm hoping will rub off on the kids "well, you know, Graeme doesn't moan about broccoli".

I'll get my money's worth out of this stupid bird if it fecking kills him.

Go, Graeme, go

He looks adorable on your photos, gussie - well done for your perseverance. You should have a medal for Services to Budgiehood .

He'll have your kids eating raw broccoli in no time.

If that works, I may need to borrow him...

I love your budgie stories Glad to hear his leg is healing.

You realise the footie mums, Clarks lady and the hairdresser will forever think of you as the Weird Bird Lady right?

But this ^^ is why I don't do pets. My children will be allowed a pet rock that they can pretend is a tortoise like Nana has. And they will have to feed it themselves!

Awww bless him. I need a graeme in my life.

I think I luffs him a bit too.