My Animals

Taking a break from the blog posts about pregnancy (oh man oh man), here is an entry about my OTHER babies...  my non-human babies!

The Birds

Bijou 
Also called "The Princess," Bijou is an almost 13 year old cockatiel.  I got her in June of 2001.  She loves to have her head skritched, her favorite food is carrots and she (honest to god) likes the color pink.  She weighs about 90 grams, and has a crooked toe on her left foot.  She likes to go in the shower.  She is flighted but is terrible at landing.  Her favorite thing to do is burrow inside people's coats and hide under blankets.

Muma

Muma was originally named Spike, and was assumed to be a boy.  She laid 6 eggs, quickly debunking that assumption!  From baby talk came the nickname "Mumazhuzha" which shortened to Muma.  Her nicknames now are Mumadoo, Moomie, Muma-Ade and OozaWooza.  Muma is from Winnipeg, MB Canada, and turned 11 in January.  Her chirp is markedly different from any cockatiel I've ever had in the past.  It sounds more like "weep?" than "peEEeep!"  Muma loves to snuggle with people.  She was very timid when I first got her but I soon fixed that.  Her favorite food is popcorn.  Muma is very talented at flying.  She also gives great beakie kisses!

Lyrik

I honestly believe Lyrik has autism.  (If cats can have autism, why can't birds?)  Lyrik turned 6 last June.  She is my only left-footed bird.  She loves to press her beak into the space between your nose and upper lip.  She can get scared very easily and emit a terrifying shriek that often startles people.  She rarely bites hard.  Lyrik's favorite food is cheerios.  She absolutely hates nail polish.  You can always tell when Lyrik has flown into something because she is the most dandery of my birds and will leave a bird-print on whatever she has collided with.  She has an affinity for nose picking. I call her my little punk-rock bird because she has black nails.

Shmuel

My 12 year old Maximilian Pionus Parrot, Shmuel, is not really a people lover.  She loves Corky, but I'm not her favorite.  She can talk, and says "whatcha doin?", "I love you", "Hi Sam," wolf-whistles and makes a kissy sound.  She bites HARD when she wants to.  She can't fly very well, but that doesn't stop her from trying!  She likes to make nests out of anything cardboard she can find.  Her other favorite hobby is scaring the living shit out of the cockatiels by suddenly shrieking at the top of her lungs.

The Snake

Nosferatu

Nosferatu is a 4 year old Albino Nelson's Milksnake.  Normally their colors are black, red/orange and white.  Nosferatu eats frozen, dead mice.  He'll eat either white ones or black ones - he is not picky!  He eats once per week.  He is my easiest pet!  Quiet, tidy, obedient, never back-talks... he doesn't even hiss!  He likes being left alone, but will tolerate being held.  He took a liking to one of my bridesmaids this past fall.  He's very curious and likes to explore his habitat.  One time he escaped, and we found him curled up under the BluRay player!  What a good boy!

The Frenchies

Abigail

On February 24, we brought home our first French Bulldog puppy.  Abigail Shula Shaw is now a gorgeous 2 year old.  She loves to play fetch!  I call her the Golden Snitch at the dogpark, because she flies around like a bullet and the other big dogs can't catch her.  She's very patient, very loving and very smart.  She's pretty obedient for a Frenchie!  She loves to snuggle in the bed, give kisses and have her ears scratched.  She's definitely a daddy's girl.  She loves peanut butter, carrots, banana and blueberries.  Her favorite toy is a tennis ball.

Her birthday is December 21.

Jax

Born on March 21, 2013, Jax McGee just turned one!  Jax weighed only 4 pounds when he came to us.  Now he weighs a strapping 25 pounds!  Jax is feisty, loving, cuddly and stubborn.  He's his mama's boy!  He's incredibly sporty, with crazy long lean legs!  He can run forever and not tire out.  He almost never pants.  Jax's favorite thing to do is EAT.  He eats everything, regardless of it's edibility! He's not very good at sharing (fortunately Abigail is.)  Jax always looks very worried about everything.  At the dog park, Jax prefers to hang out by himself or with us.  He doesn't like to fetch.  His favorite toy is anything that he can chew on.