Rodents Fish Fids Dog Story


Twinkle Toes

Twinkle Toes is my baby and I guess what you could call a soul bird. She is the first cockatiel we have ever had, and she joined our family on June 23, 2001. When we first got her I was a bit intimated by her beak, having felt it's bite through a pair of gloves the first day. Luckily during chat the next night the wonderful bird hosts at Bird Hobbyist suggested taking off the gloves and getting her used to my hands. Well as soon as I took off the gloves she was just as sweet as could be, and it didn't take long to form a strong bond with this beautiful bird.






A Little To The Left

One of Twinkle Toes' favorite pass times is getting neck scritches from me. According to Twinkle Toes no one gives scritches the way I do, and if anyone tries they will find lots of attitude, beak chomping down, and blood dripping from their hands. Boy am I glad she loves me, cause her beak is enough to give anyone nightmares. Everyone that has seen Twinkle Toes in person has always made comments on how mean she is, but no one knows her the way I do. They don't know just how sweet and devoted she can be.


Take My Picture

What a ham! Heaven forbid if I get out the camera and take pictures of the kids or other animals without taking one of Twinkle Toes. She loves to have her picture taken, and if you don't shoot her then she goes into a screaming fit. Oh yes this sweet little angel not only has a foot fetish, but she also has one for the camera. There were several times when I had taken pictures of the other birds or fish and forgot to get one of her, and she screamed and screamed, scaring me half to death cause I didn't know what was wrong. Well it didn't take long before I realized the mistake I had made. This is one of the reasons there are more pictures of Twinkle Toes than all the others.





Mom What's That

This had to be one of the funniest times we have had with Twinkle Toes. We had just got a car and race track for our hamster and we put her in the car so she could get some exercise. Well of course the whole idea of a rodent running around on the floor was something new to Twinkle Toes. She would just look down at the hamster running merrily around the track and then look up at me with this look on her face that said, "Mom, what the heck is that thing?". Poor Twinkle Toes, she didn't know whether to stare or run from the curb hugging, maniac, driving hamster.


Sex Revealed

When I first saw Twinkle Toes in the pet store I fell in love with her. I had been looking around for a cockatiel hoping to get a male, and the sales clerk assured me Twinkle Toes was indeed a boy. It wasn't until recently that I started to seriously question that, especially since Twinkle Toes acted more female than male. I knew that females were suppose to have bars going across the underside of the tail feathers, and since Twinkle Toes lacked those bars I thought for sure she had to be a boy. Well I posted this picture of her on a cockatiel message board and a pair of very sharp eyes caught what I had been missing all these months, bars. Thank goodness for those eyes, and for Twinkle Toes not being shy about lifting her skirt. Otherwise she would still be he.





I'm Sorry

Even though Twinkle Toes and I share a very strong bond and she is more sweet to me than anything, there are still those times when she is grumpy and if I don't give her the freedom or attention she wants I will get nipped. When I first got my digital camera I was having so much fun with it that I didn't pay Twinkle Toes the attention she wanted. After about 15 minutes she climbed down from her cage and snuck up on me while I was looking through the viewfinder and nipped me on the arm. Well I gave her the dirtiest look I could to let her know I didn't appreciate the bite, and she lowered her head on the sofa begging for scritches. I guess it was her way of saying I'm sorry.


A New Journey

I'm sad to say that on July 24, 2002 at 8:00am Twinkle Toes made one final flight to Rainbow Bridge. The suddenness and the horror of her departure will be etched in my mind forever, along with all the good times we have had.





My Baby

Twink you will always be my baby, and when you made your final flight you took my heart with you. Now all that's left are tears for the emptiness I feel without you. Fly high and free my sweet angel, I will always love you.


A Warning To Bird Lovers

With the results of Twinks necropsy report my worst fears were discovered, Twink took her final flight due to an inflamatory disease within her reproductive system. If you have a female bird or even suspect you have a female, and there is any change with them laying eggs or they lay too often, or if you have a female cockatiel and she doesn't lay eggs like you have read they normally do even without a male present, then please take them to a vet, you could be saving their lives. If I had known then what I know now, then Twink may still be with me.