# New friend in the house



## mimsy (Jun 8, 2014)

Our neighbor brought us a little starling that he found on his porch just before the 4th of july. He thought it might belong to the group who live in our roof. Well, all those had all ready fledged and left, so this little guy we couldn't figure out where he came from. He wasn't doing so well, holding his head up, not for food, but to breath, had poo butt and was so skinny you could feel all the little bones in him.

we found an amazing site on line thank goodness that gave us in depth instructions on how to care for him. A forum of super great starling owners and rehabbers. So lots of food, antibiotics and care later we have little Zeki looking healthy. Could not of done that without those great folks.









He's imprinted on us, so he can't be released. (not supposed to anyways cause invasive.) Luckily with a lot of research, it seems these guys don't have any laws about keeping them as pets. (not the same in all states as an fyi)

Zeki is now flying strongly. Follows us pretty much everywhere in the house. He is already starting to try to mimic us. I had no idea they could talk till we started learning about these guys.

I'm hoping our Conure, Foofanny and him can tolerate each other. Both cages are in the living room. Foo stays mostly all her cage, and is only closed up at night. So far Zeki stays with one of the humans or hangs on a globe style perch I have hanging on the ceiling or he will go back in his cage.

Zeki is eating on his own now, but still wants hand feedings and will come to us mouth open insisting someone put something in there! So cute. My understanding is some hand feeding may go on for a month or so.


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## mimsy (Jun 8, 2014)

More pics of Zeke.


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## TuxedoGilma (Apr 25, 2015)

Cute! Your dog is adorable too!


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## mimsy (Jun 8, 2014)

Little update on Zeki. He's about 14 weeks now. Still has baby feathers on his head.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M7b1jS3TWO8


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## Kelsbels (Aug 12, 2015)

It's amazing that Starlings can micmic speech too. It sound more bird-like of course. Very cool.


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## DustyRat (Jul 9, 2012)

Totally awesome.


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## kksrats (Jul 25, 2014)

mimsy said:


> Little update on Zeki. He's about 14 weeks now. Still has baby feathers on his head.
> 
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M7b1jS3TWO8


I love this video! I think it's awesome that you turned your monitor into a bird perch lol. How does he get along with your conure?


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## mimsy (Jun 8, 2014)

LOL He's a little vain, but a cutey. 

he gets a long with the conure well. He goes between the humans, the dog and hanging out on the play gyms with the Foo, the conure. He's super social and likes to keep an eye out on everyone. Of course anyone doing anything interesting is the one he is going to stay with. Which means the person being the loudest or doing anything with water. If washing dishes he's trying to bath in the dish your cleaning. (and yes he has a bath, but thats not as cool as the dish your cleaning) Vacuuming is super cool and he'll ride your shoulder for that. if you are trying to do a project he will be happy to help and probably steal anything small enough to fly away with.


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## kksrats (Jul 25, 2014)

He seems so cool! I've always been opposed to birds because of the noise, but hearing about him and watching videos of starlings singing is making me want to change my mind lol


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## mimsy (Jun 8, 2014)

Birds are amazing pets. They are also a TON of work. All parrots require fresh foods, some more than others. They look at you as their flock and bond hard, that requires a lot of time spent with them. They are messy and require sweeping or mopping pretty much every day. (thought to be fair rats need a bit of this too)

Loudness-all birds can make a lot of noise. However different species really are different. Take conures-Sun conures are notoriously very loud and are not usually recommended in apartments. yet green cheeks are usually pretty quiet. Foo mumbles a lot but rarely screams-except when you leave a room and she flock calls-all of em do this and you need to call back and all is good again.

Starlings-from having Zeki-I'd say he talks almost constantly. However it's not really annoying to me. It's mimicry and singing and the singing is pretty to me and I like the talking as well.

People very sensitive to noise, might be annoyed with any bird though.

Then having the rats-it basically works out that birds are the center of attention during daylight hours and as soon as it gets dark I put them to bed and then it's the rats time. Which makes the rats get more time with us during the winter months than summer due to daylight. Not everyone keeps them on strict daylight hours. However greencheeks are known for being extremely cranky if they don't get a good nights sleep. Foo definately fits that-if she doesn't sleep the whole dark schedule she is like dealing with a cranky two year old that has wings and a pair of pliers.


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## mimsy (Jun 8, 2014)

New video of Zeki with some new words, still talking about himself of course. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l_x_pkImKtk&feature=youtu.be


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