Wow I cannot believe Poppy has been with us nearly a month!! How the time flies!!
Poppy is such a little darling, and is so gentle……. Well until she tries to pull my fingers nails off the tips of my fingers!! It’s a good job I don’t have Acrylic nails!! I’ve had much worse though 
She was very unsure of her perches for the first few days and wouldn’t step on them at all, but she soon overcame that. I think she had wooden dowel perches previously so wasn’t used to the different textured perches I had placed round her cage.
When Poppy first arrived I made the decision to put her straight onto pellets, and started off by mixing two different types of pellets together to try and establish her preference. I started off by mixing ZuPreem Natural with Harrison’s High Potency Fine. I didn’t manage to weigh her for the first few days, as I didn’t want to upset her after moving home, but knew I needed to weigh her quickly because of changing her diet. She preferred the Harrison’s, so just for some variety I also added some fruity Animalzone pellets, which she enjoys munching on.
Poppy arrived on a Saturday tea time, and I managed to weigh her the following Wednesday, she wasn’t too impressed as she doesn’t like being handled and had to be towelled, but once on the scales she was fine.
I was very surprised that Poppy weighed in at a whopping 396g because to look at her, I’d have never of guessed she was that heavy, I expected her to weigh between 300g and 350g!! She has been weighed every week and yesterday she weighed in at 392g, considering there’s a 10 percent weight drop allowance which I set her starting weight at 400g, I’m over the moon that she’s dropped very little weight.
There have been a few changes this weekend, I had to move one of Poppy perches from the lower half of the cage up to Poppy’s feeding bowls, considering this is a perch that she has been on and slept on, she has not taken this change well, and wont step on it to eat or drink at the moment, but I’m sure she’ll come round.
I also made the decision to put some Christmas decorations up, because for the past two years we have had none because of the birds, which has not been fair on my children.
I thought through what I was going to have and where, I erected the tree where it would be positioned so Poppy could see it step by step, although she was a little shaky and weary, she was happily whistling away whilst watching what I was doing. There are no lights on the tree, as it is white, with teal coloured tinsel, so shouldn’t freak her out too much, in total there are two set of lights, one on each of my big walls and two lighted ornaments, so compared to previous years, it’s quite minimal. She hasn’t eaten much yesterday and today, but I’m hoping this is just a case of her getting used to the new position of the perches and and getting used to the decorations.
Next week will also be a trauma for Poppy because she’s booked into the vets for a Psittacosis, PBFD, and a once over, which will upset her even more.
Prior to this weekend, and the upcoming vet appointment, Poppy has settled in brilliantly, and is an absolute joy to have in our family.
Hopefully Poppy’s tests results will come back clear, and then she can be introduced to the other birds, she is very similar to my Amazon, so I’m hoping they will get on.
