Please be very careful, vasa not only resemble birds of prey they hunt in the wild and they can and will go after smaller birds. Someone had a vasa for only a couple of months that I was talking to and they had to re home him because he kept hunting there conure. My own vasa's I got when I had my painted conure and my vasa snatched her right out of the air! Didn't hurt the conure, and in my vasa's defense the conure was asking for it, but I was lucky in that my conure never bothered my vasa agian. Eve, (vasa) would only go after Crayon, (painted conure) if provoked, but that is not always the case. A Senegal should be able to hold his own, but please be cautious!
Kimba this is interesting. Everything I read about Vasas prior to bringing Vinnie home was along the lines of "they're puppy dogs and love and welcome everyone." I realize they have predatory instincts, so now I'm wondering where the line is drawn? I don't have any other birds, but it's not an impossibility for the *far away* future.
First off I love your avatar! When adding other birds with vasa's one just needs to make sure they are the same size or larger. Eve had an amazon playmate, (Roommates) and they were the best of friends! There was a bit of confusion at first. Vasa' for the most part think all birds should be their friends. and they like to wrestle while playing. So when the amazon put his foot up to say back off to Eve, Eve thought he meant lets play! It took a couple of weeks for Eve to learn the amazon body language and be able to communicate effectively with him, but after they were on the same page they played and ate together. It's just the small guys the like to hunt.
Wow Kimba thanks for sharing. I didn't really realize that about the hunting small birds. Like Molly everything I've read about them says they're very playful and get along well with other, people and animals alike. And others I've talked to with Vasa's all say they get along fine with the other birds they have...some of which are smaller species. So I guess it really is a good idea that we keep them apart until they get to really know one another, and even then always keep a close watch cause you never know.
It is odd that not many people know this about them. During my research one of the things I did was to research Madagascar itself, that's how I found out about the hunting, this was further proven to me my own vasa going after my conure as was as various stories about them from other people. It's shame thou....A lot of times I feel like it's the vasa owners that know more about vasa's than the vasa breeders who tend to feed and treat them like other parrots.
Vinnie's sister lives with me. I was the first to pick up a baby from the clutch at Featherlust Farm When I picked her out, the breeder said she was probably the oldest, hatched on the 19th. Her name is Anka, which means black falcon or black eagle in Quechua. I really enjoyed reading your & Kimba's stories, & will maybe add a few of my own when I'm on the clock at work tomorrow.. heheh.
So nice to meet you and Vinnie's sister Anka! Do I understand the clutch was originally three? You brought home the first, and I the second? There was one remaining after I brought him home, and s/he was going to California. Vinnie's papers say he hatched on the 20th. Was Anka particularly bitey at first? Vinnie used to chomp, and how! But seems to have grown out of that (so I hope!). Oh how fun it will be to compare notes with VinVin's sister!
There were 2 from Timothee's wild-caught pair, and at least one from her domestic pair. She told me she had to separate one of the babies because he was getting picked on (I wasn't clear if this was the single baby from the domestic pair, or a 4th baby), and also mentioned that the ones with wild-caught parents grew faster. I could tell the difference when I went in (around June 9 or 10), the single one was missing feathers in patches and was a bit smaller.
I DNA sexed Anka at my local vet when I got her bloodwork done. When I picked her up, the babies hadn't been sexed yet. I called FF to update and T. mentioned that the other 2 were both boys. Anka had a much more slender beak than they did - I wonder if that is because she's female?
Anka started out very gentle and still is, maybe she realizes I am a delicate flower! Haha. Glad to hear Vinnie isn't biting hard anymore. My big little girl is a hand full though, she's teaching me a lot about training and communication.
Here's a photo of me with them at FF. Unfortunately my digicam stopped working the day after, I forgot to turn it off and it was sitting in the sun (oops!). Anka is the squirmy one I'm petting - she isn't over that yet either! Maybe that's your boy on my other arm
I enlarged it and it sure looks like Vinnie's little smile, but it's hard to tell because his beak was already starting to "marbelize" when I brought him home. When I went to FF the other vasa took hold of my finger and would not let go, whereas Vinnie stepped right up. So if that's a calm vasa in your picture with Anka, it is likely Vinnie!
His papers also indicate that his parents were wild caught. Is Anka banded? Vinnie is not.
When I picked her out, the breeder said she was probably the oldest, hatched on the 19th. Her name is Anka, which means black falcon or black eagle in Quechua. I really enjoyed reading your & Kimba's stories, & will maybe add a few of my own when I'm on the clock at work tomorrow.. heheh.
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