Sweet Pea

It was with great sadness that we said goodbye to our dear little Sweet Pea today. She lived longer than any of us could have imagined. We will miss her greatly but we know that she is in a better place now. Rest in Peace, Sweet Pea.

(Editor's Note: I was planning on spotlighting Sweet Pea for the next Critter Diaries, however, in light of recent events, I'll just share a bit of her life here.)

Sweet Pea, a dusky-headed conure, was at least 25 when she came to us and her history claimed her to have lived in about as many homes. She was the feistiest little ball of feathers in the store! A short while after coming to live with us, Sweet Pea moved in with Beakman, a slender-billed conure. The two became a team to be reckoned with, attacking the feet of anyone who dared walk through. We considered them our "gremlins" - little green terrors getting into all sorts of trouble and taking on anyone who was larger than them (which happened to be everyone!)

Weekly Critter Diaries - Olive

Hi again everyone!

Time for the first of our weekly Critter Diaries entries where we profile one of the rescue abused animals who live at our shop! We thought long and hard about who should be the first and it only makes sense to start at the beginning.

Olive came to our shop as Oliver, a screaming, cursing, biting bird, dropped off at a very different time. Back then we housed rescue abused snakes and other reptiles and called ourselves Ashleigh's Garden and Rainforest. We had never seen such a sight as this large feathered blue and yellow creature with the big beak, but an animal in need is just that and we did our best to care for her.

We came to find out that Olive, (actually a girl), had been given a great deal of alcohol by previous owners and has suffered some degree of brain damage. Essentially Olive is like an autistic child, getting overstimulated easily, but quite calm and happy with one on one time.

We don't know how old Olive is, but she is a Blue and Gold Macaw, a bird which is known to live over 60 years. She is likely in her teens right now, but we don't know how Olive's alcohol abuse will affect her lifespan.

Olive loves pine nuts, monkey toys, playing "Scary Bird", singing and dancing, and laughing her maniacal laughs!