I guess that it is safe to say that we are animal lovers. Ha. As a child I was always dragging home stray dogs or cats. Even the occasional pig, goat or rabbit. A few birds made their way through the line up and of course everyone has to have a turtle, some fish, a lizard that I caught on a fishing trip, a horny toad and let's not forget the hamster named Tucker that got out of his cage and made our wide open five bedroom farm house his palace. That thing lived for months outside of his cage avoiding the mouse traps, eating whatever he was eating and drinking the condensation from the refrigerator. I caught him one day behind our wood burning stove and was SO happy (I was a senior in high school at this time) that he really was still alive. My dad had allegedly seen him. I thought he was just trying to be funny. I put him back in his cage, new water, food etc. Two days later...dead. I could not make that up. Once there were two golden Retriever puppies that were dumped at the high school. I bribed the art teacher to let me keep them in her classroom until the end of the day so I could take them home. Thanks Mrs. J! My sister and I had an old iron claw foot bathtub FULL of tadpoles one summer. I'm certain that the gigantic toads on my parents farm are some of those guys. I know that there were plenty more that I am forgetting. Zach was the same way. We just like animals. Especially rescuing them. No matter their disability or needs, we love them.
That being said, we are NOT the "we think that our animals are our other children" people. They are pets. Period. Animals, not people. I do not need to elaborate on this. Many people don't even know that we have animals unless we just got it and it is a topic of conversation or they come across a picture. We aren't those crazy animal hoarder type people. Gross.
Ok, so my mom text me tonight shortly after I sent her this picture...
Her reply was, "You have got to be the craziest person I know. You're going to have to build an ark to come home!" It's so true! If we don't stop now that is.
After getting Zach a Cockatoo for Christmas, I joined a parrot discussion group. I know, official bird nerd. Count me right in the ranks with the Zachs. I need all the help I can get in an effort to win that guy over!
Now, Mr. Crankypants Cockatoo is not a fan of me. It's no secret. He bites me every chance he gets. We have a love hate relationship. We both love Zach and hate each other. :) Ok, I don't hate him but I am perfectly fine with our boundaries. He did make me want a bird that liked me though!
Anyway, one of the ladies in the group works for a big name pet store here in town that kind of sales birds. What I mean by kind of is, they should not sell parrots. Stick to the finches and parakeets. The types that don't need a lot of one on one handling and companionship from people (when in captivity). She mentioned a little Conure that was at one of her stores and he had been there in his tiny cage with very minimal contact for almost 2 years!! I was heartbroken! How awful. I got the details on him and was already planning where to set up his cage before I had even seen him. Or had a cage!
I read a little on Conures, got even more excited, emailed the lady, set up an appointment to meet the little guy and THEN asked the price. If any of you know anything about parrots, you know that they are NOT cheap. I hate to talk about the cost of things here but I'll just say it. We were looking at a four hundred dollar parrot.
We got an amazing deal on the Cockatoo. A bird and cage that normally costs a couple thousand dollars, practically FREE. True. I knew that there was no way I would be making a four hundred dollar bird rescue! Well, not if I wanted to stay married. I didn't even mention the cost factor to her or to Zach. I wanted to meet him. I knew that I wouldn't pay that kind of money for a bird that I was just feeling sorry for, when I wouldn't even pay that kind of money for a bird that Zach had wanted since he was Zachary's age. But I wanted to meet him...just in case.
This morning she sent me another message letting me know that since she was familiar with me from the group and knew that our home would be an amazing place for this little guy that she would discount him by eighty percent! I couldn't believe it! You guys know I love a good discount!
We met him, we loved him, he loved us and that is the rest of the story! I scored a cute second hand cage that was full of toys and perches with and stand for him from a parrot farm here in town for only twenty bucks! Deal of the century. Zach calls him my birthday gift. That is fine by me. He's the greatest and he barks! The dogs even think he is cool!
This little green guy makes two parrots, two dogs, one bearded dragon, 5 fish (we downsized!), one snail, two kids and one husband! The house is officially full! I guess that growing up on fifty plus acres that the "being able to adopt or rescue whatever I want" mindset just stuck. For Zach too! No more pets in this house though. We'll have to wait until we move. Next on the list...SHEEP! And acreage. I love our mini-zoo.
No comments:
Post a Comment