One of my best buddies!

[sharpiel]

This is Caligula one of my rainbow lorikeets. One of many animals who have become a member of my household because they are amazing in every way.

If you've ever had a rainbow lorie as a companion you'll realise "Caligula" is a very appropriate name. They have the most tortuous bite -especially when they're being affectionate. VERY unpredictable!

Most of the members of my sanctuary here are named after classical historic figures or astronomers.

In this pic Calie and I are having lunch together!

I bet lots of you out there have best buddies too..?

[FlashDrive]

Did you get that from Subway .....:P

[sharpiel]

Yup! That's the 6" rainbow on rye!

[Stonius]

Here's my lil' buddy

[Ausrock]

We have Rainbows, Scaley's, Crimson Rosies, Kingies, Cockatoos, an Eastern Rosie who regularly attends to his injured mate we have in a large cage, not to mention crested pidgeons, the odd dove and occasional scrub/bush pidgeon that visit.

What has surprised us is how willing the crimsons are to sit on your hand while you're holding a seed bowl, closely followed by the King parrots which are extremely gentle.

:cool2:

[sharpiel]

He's beautiful Markus. What's his/her name?

[sharpiel]

Hi Chris. It's amazing to watch any animals long enough to begin recognizing their different personalities across species isn't it? You've mentioned the gentle king parrots. At the opposite end of the spectrum (pun...wait for it...) are the rainbow lorikeets who are feisty and never back down.

Have you seen the way the lories hop and dance for each other?

[Stonius]

Its Pippa. Shes a rescue dog. Lovely girl, but no good as a sheepdog.😊

[sharpiel]

Well dogs shouldn't have to work. And sheep should be free to run around without worrying about heading to the sheds for shearing...so seems to me Pippa is just perfect the way she is.

Good on you for taking a rescue dog. Did you know that on average in NSW alone more than 50,000 companion animals are abandoned and euthanised every year?! And that's just the stats from NSW. So every rescued animal is one less statistic. You're a great guy Markus. Thanks. You get :thumbsup::thumbsup: from me.

[Stonius]

I couldn't agree more :-) She's a much happier dog now for having a proper family. Amazing what a difference a good environment can make.

Cheers & thanks :-)

Markus

[sharpiel]

This is Flubber deGuts. Possibly the worlds luckiest fattest cat. She's rescued from death row.

[Ausrock]

LMAO at the Rainbows, absolute clowns and definitely feisty. Oh, and we have two "rescue" cats IN the house.

[sharpiel]

Cats shouldn't be allowed out of the yard. They kill so many animals. I had five till my boy Napoleon died last year. They all get out into the sun regularly because all animals (even astronomers) need sunlight for good health. But they are always supervised and live inside with us.

This is Chilli, a scaly LOriKeet. He wasn't wanted by his last family so now he lives here in his forever home with us in the Ark. He helped me write "LOrikeet" with his tongue on my iPad screen, hence the strange capitalisation. :P

[sharpiel]

Larrikans!

[AussieTrooper]

Good stuff :thumbsup:
The amount of delusional cat owners out there who think that their moggie never kills anything is just staggering.

I can thoroughly recommend rescue shelter animals as pets. They know full well the difference between their previous 'owner' and you, and become very affectionate, loyal pets.

Kinda makes me sad seeing people buy from pet stores. Every puppy someone buys, is a mother kept in a breeding cell at a puppy farm, and a lost dog that can't be rehomed and is euthanized.

[sharpiel]

It is well documented the cruelty of breeding farms for cats and dogs and birds and (insert any animal here).

[Kunama]

My granddaughter and her bodyguard, my 8yr old 'Lara'

[sharpiel]

Lovely vibrant decendants Matt. You've raised two beauties there!

[Larryp]

My cat, now 15 years old, came from RSPCA when she was about 10 months old. She has ALWAYS been an indoor cat, and has never been in a position to kill anything.:)
We had another cat prior to the current one, also from the RSPCA, and even though she was both an indoor and outdoor cat, she was no killer. I think she had been taken from her mother too early and had not learned to hunt. She was friends with all the local wildlife-even a goanna! They used to lie next to each other in the sun. The blue tongues living in the front garden used to sit next to her on the front lawn, and if we went near them, they would move closer to her for protection-I suppose they didn't have to worry about kookaburras while sitting next to a cat! She never even looked at birds, except cockatoos-she was afraid of them!

[AussieTrooper]

That is adorable.

[sharpiel]

It's funny you say that. All the cats inside here are TERRIFIED of the birds. Bitey beaks hurt! Not worth the risk when they're well fed! Risk -v- reward in action as ecologists would say.

[Nath2099]

I believe I've read that feeding wild birds is not recommended, especially parrots, as it is a major spreader of disease, especially if you just have a bowl that dozens of them congregate around that is left there permanently. I imagine it might be OK if the bowl is only left out for a few minutes while you have your morning coffee or whatever.

[leon]

Nice stories. :)

Leon :thumbsup:

[Larryp]

When I was growing up (a long, long time ago), we had a cat with very long, soft fur-part Persian. We also had a pet magpie at the time, and every breeding season, the magpie would chase after the cat to pull out her fur for nest building purposes-the poor cat was too scared to go outside.

[AstralTraveller]

A bit like this (http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-11-16/currawong-harasses-sleepy-koala/8030340)currawong with a koala.

[Larryp]

yep!:)

[netwolf]

Twice daily some days more Cokatoes other days more lorikeets , my wife started by feeding a few and now they sit and knock till they are fed rain hail or shine.