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Post by farseeker on Dec 22, 2005 9:36:39 GMT 10
Hi all, I was wondering if anyone could give me some advice on how to care for a baby rainbow lorikeet. He was found about a week ago walking down the road by a friend of ours, who was originally going to take him in but later changed his mind. Since then we've kept him and he's doing okay although we were concerned about him dying from stress the first couple of days. We're not quite sure how old he is - he is more developed than the lorikeet in these pictures: here and here but I haven't been able to find any information on their development that would give as an approximate age apart from that their beak changes from black as they get older (his is mostly orange now). He is also missing his tail and major wing feathers despite having all his other normal feathers, which makes me think he could be a runner. For the time being his parents come and feed him several times throughout the day (they've taken to living in the pine tree out the front of our house so they can keep an eye on him, it's so cute!) during which we let him out of the cage if it's possible so he can snuggle up with them. He also gets various other fruits (grapes and lychees being the main along with a little bit of apple) and flowers from the trees we see his parents and friends eating from (mainly grevilia). We make sure he has fresh water and a container for bathing, but we're worried that he may not be getting all the vitamins and such he needs, particularly as his parents are visiting him less frequently now. We've started him on a mix for now (Harmony Mix) but we're not sure if that's good for a sustained diet. Do you have any recommendations on a good mix, and any other food that we should be giving him? I'd also love it if anyone has any personal experience with runners they could share - he seems healthy but I'm still very worried about him. :x Thanks in advance for any help you can give. ^^ |
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Post by petiel on Dec 22, 2005 11:39:31 GMT 10
It sounds like the lorikeet has Beak and Feather disease, Some people do call these birds runners. Don't let this bird anywhere near your birds if you keep them.
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Post by AussieBirds on Dec 22, 2005 11:43:07 GMT 10
Hello farseeker and welcome to the forum. This is a situation very similar to one i found myself in not too long ago so i can speak from some experience on this. If the bird was going to die from stress it would have done so by now so I am pretty confidant you can discount that possibility.
It is very hard to establish the age of a bird unless you know the hatch date so the best i would say you could do is a guesstimate or have a DNA test carried out, however if his beak is mostly orange in colour now i would suggest it is around fledging age, but thats just a guess. The loss of feathers could also be from some misadventure when exiting the nest area or an encounter with a cat , it may not be a runner.
I am surprised that you say the parents come and feed it during the day as this would seem completely out of character for wild birds and is, in my opinion, a unique occurrence. From your description you are feeding him the correct solid food and perhaps you could add some flowering cuttings to the diet, grevillia or bottle brush would be appropriate as they contain nectar and are part of the staple diet of these birds.
By introducing a mix as an addition to the diet you are doing the correct thing but you need to give the bird BOTH wet and dry mix you could also add some soluble vitamins to the water just to give it a boost to the system.
On the whole it appears you are doing the correct thing with this bird and there is no reason why it should not survive even if it is a runner as you suspect, these birds survive in captivity quite well and make great pets. Good luck with the little one and you are to be commended for taking it in.
John
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Post by farseeker on Dec 22, 2005 11:45:38 GMT 10
Yeah, that's what I thought it would be (I've been searching for some information on it since I made the post ^^). We have no other birds - happened to have an old birdcage under the house that we cleaned up and are keeping him in, so that was lucky.
I've been trying to find a good brand of food for him because I think that the Harmony mix is meant more as a treat for wild birds than a sustained diet, and I don't want him to get sick because he's lacking some vitamins or anything. :x Do you have any suggestions, or perhaps a dry/wet mix recipe that we could make ourselves?
Thanks a lot for replying. ^^
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Post by farseeker on Dec 22, 2005 11:52:54 GMT 10
Thanks for the reply John. The reason I think he's a runner is because other than the fact that he's missing his flight and tail feathers he isn't raggedy or anything at all - he's just lacking those feathers completely. He looks adorable though, and his feathers are very smooth and glossy. >.< He's such a little cutie.
Even if he does grow those feathers back I think he'll be staying with us though - lately after his parents have fed him he waddles straight back into the cage instead of staying with them or trying to follow them like he did the first few days. It's sad because we hoped that if he did recover he would be able to be released back into the wild, but it doesn't seem that way at the moment.
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Post by AussieBirds on Dec 22, 2005 11:53:16 GMT 10
The Harmony mix is fine, in fact, thats what i use for my lorrie.
John
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Post by farseeker on Dec 22, 2005 12:00:59 GMT 10
Awesome, thanks a lot. That makes it a little easier anyway ^^
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Post by stillsqwarkin on Dec 23, 2005 8:29:07 GMT 10
Hey read this with great interest we keep a quite a few aussielorries and i must ask are you giving the bird SEED i cant quite figure this out from your post but if you are DO NOT FEED LORRIES SEED give them lorry mix
lorrikeets make wonderful pets and are very comical and lovvvve to play regards jenn
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Post by farseeker on Dec 23, 2005 10:37:54 GMT 10
No seed in the cage at all, just the mix, fruit and flowers. ^^ I heard that it damages their tongues and it doesn't fit in with what they seem to eat in the wild anyway, so I haven't given him any at all.
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Post by ozquaker on Dec 23, 2005 19:02:18 GMT 10
Hi farseeker,
The condition of the bird sounds exactly like a young rainbow a neigbour passed me some years ago. It was lacking flight and tail feathers. I read that it might have to do with mites, but there were no mites on him. In any case, I fed him a lorikeet mix as well as fruit & whatever grevillea flowers I could lay my hands on - this diet does make for very messy projectile poops though.
The bird you have is actually at the fledging age - I'm not entirely sure how old that is normally for a rainbow lorry, but generally around 5 to 6 weeks old. I'd say it had attempted its first flight (in response to its parents encouragement) and fell to the ground due to the lack of flight feathers.
The good thing is that those feathers will eventually grow with good care and proper food. I allowed the lorikeet I had free flight - he came and went as he pleased until one day he left for good. So don't worry that for now he just wants to head straight back in his cage ... s/he is still young.
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Post by stillsqwarkin on Dec 24, 2005 9:14:09 GMT 10
Glad to hear no seed
i am hr scallies at the moment they are true characters one likes to sleep on his back with his feet in the air
doesnt half give me a fright cheeky beggar
regards jenn
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Post by farseeker on Dec 26, 2005 19:48:00 GMT 10
Thanks for all the positive responses guys, you've been a great help. ^^ Squee is doing very well at the moment, he's very happy and slowly becoming more talkative towards us as well as his parents. I was wondering if anyone had any advice as far as cages go - the one we have him in is rather old and the bottom is slowly breaking so we want to get him a new home if possible but aren't sure on what size/make we should go for. Any suggestions? We're going to keep an eye out in the Courier Mail and the trading post so hopefully we'll find something that'll suit him (and our budget ^^  there. |
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tori
Addicted Member
Posts: 133
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Post by tori on Jan 10, 2006 10:16:48 GMT 10
Hi farseeker
try ebay thats were i got my quakers cage from. your looking at about $150 and if you look in item description it will tell you if its suited for a lorriket, hope this helps.
p.s. there are also little patio avairys and larger avairys to buy if you want to give squee more room
the address is just "ebay.com.au" and look in pet supplies
tori
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Post by Jacksprat on Jan 11, 2006 6:20:37 GMT 10
I agree you have a fledgling there. When we bought our rainbow he was still growing at 3mths old. He now has a 60cm x 60cm cage with rope perches as well as wood. He uses every bit of space inside and the play pen on top too. Bells and balls are the favourite toys, especially if they are on a hanging swing or something like that. Can I suggest you put a shower curtain around the back of the cage to protect your walls and floor-to catch the liquid projectiles that don't go straight down!!!!
If it wasn't for the hours of joy and entertainment you wouldn't keep one in the house.
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Post by farseeker on Jan 13, 2006 16:37:12 GMT 10
Hey, thanks for the extra info. I've checked out ebay and found this. What do you guys think? The good thing about it is the seller is in Brisbane so I could arrange to pick it up, as well as pay COD which I like. The stand is a bonus - right now he's on a table out the front, and we'd like to get the use of it back if possible. :3 |
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Post by AcaciaWattle on Jan 13, 2006 16:54:17 GMT 10
That's a nice little cage! I thonk it would be great for a rainbow  then you get your table....wish I could get mine back too  |
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Post by vankarhi on Jan 14, 2006 16:22:13 GMT 10
That looks like a good cage  I bought the cage my alexandrine in (was my galahs) from ebay for $79. New it would have been $200 from the warehouse. I also bought my other cage second hand (not off ebay) for $250. I have seen them new for almost $700, my eclectus is in that one. |
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Post by farseeker on Jan 16, 2006 9:18:51 GMT 10
Yeah Ebay has some great deals. I'm particularly happy that I'll be able to pick it up instead of waiting for it to arrive, and it's a definite improvement size-wise to the one he's currently in. Not that it's very small, but it's got a rounded top so you can't actually get much in there to keep him busy. He's finally realised what the water we put in the bottom of the cage is for, too. He has a ritual he does now every day after I've cleaned his cage and given him fresh food and water. First he splashes the bath water around the cage and uses it to soften the paper on the bottom, which he then tears up (we have to do several layers to accomodate for this, silly bird! And I'm really glad he only does it straight after we've replaced the paper  ). After he tired of that it's face first into the bath water! He splashes around and makes a great noise then climbs to the top of the cage, hangs off his rope and climbs up and down, chattering away all the while...then drops down to the bottom and does it all again! He spends quite a while doing this, it's really wonderful to watch. He makes me so happy. He's also decided he likes licking, especially me. >.< My clothes, hair, skin...you name it, he licks it. It's somewhat disconcerting to have him sitting quietly on my shoulder and then suddenly have a bird tongue in my ear.  |
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Post by vankarhi on Jan 16, 2006 11:58:38 GMT 10
That sounds so cute ;D
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Post by silvercloud on Jan 16, 2006 12:18:45 GMT 10
He sounds gorgeous, what a funny little boy.
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there.
then you get your table....wish I could get mine back too 
I bought the cage my alexandrine in (was my galahs) from ebay for $79. New it would have been $200 from the warehouse. I also bought my other cage second hand (not off ebay) for $250. I have seen them new for almost $700, my eclectus is in that one.
). After he tired of that it's face first into the bath water! He splashes around and makes a great noise then climbs to the top of the cage, hangs off his rope and climbs up and down, chattering away all the while...then drops down to the bottom and does it all again! He spends quite a while doing this, it's really wonderful to watch. 
