Just look at it.... sitting there with that sinister, toothy grin and its alarming orange color. Brrrrr! I HATE these things.
Mom smiled at me when she came in earlier, saying she had a Halloween treat for me. I know the word "treat." It means yummy, good things to eat. And then she presented me with an orange thing that looked just like THIS one. Why in the name of all that is fun and feathery would she think I would LIKE this scary thing?
And to make matters worse, I can see that she DID put all kinds of yummy, good things to eat inside the one she gave me. But there's no WAY I'm going to get close enough to that orange thing to get them. It might eat me!
Well, that's for me to worry about, I guess. In the meantime, there is another, more important reason for this entry. It has to do with this special day humans call "Halloween." Specifically, Halloween Decorations and Halloween Treats.
Dangers of Halloween Decorations
Mom showed me pictures online of all kinds of scary things (you call these spooky things"decorations"?) placed all around people's houses, inside and outside. It makes me worry about any birds that might be living in those homes. We birds want people to think we're pretty tough, but we get scared easily by a lot of stuff that humans aren't afraid of. Please be aware that while we act fearless around a lot of things bigger than us (like you humans, Mr. Xyla-Gator, or even the cat), sometimes we see your decorations A LOT differently than you do, and it can frighten us terribly. Even things like a stuffed teddy bear. (Mom had one of those once. It kept looking at me with those menacing eyes. I just KNEW it was going to reach out and grab me with those big furry paws. Mom realized pretty quick that I thought it was scary, so she put it somewhere else, and I haven't seen it again.)
Windows & Mirrors - While I'm at it, be aware that windows (both open AND closed) and mirrors can pose a danger to us. When we're panicking, we just fly toward what looks like an escape route. An open window means we could fly right through it and end up disoriented and lost. A closed window and a mirror can both pose the danger of us thinking that they are an unobstructed way out. And if we're flying too fast (which we're likely to do if we're scared), we could smack right into it and break our necks.
Open Containers of Liquid - A bubbling cauldron or a glass of fake blood might seem cool to you humans, but there are two potential dangers: Drowning and Poisoning. We like to perch on things and we're curious about a lot of stuff. And we like to play. These can all add up to at the very least, a bird wet with something other than water. At worst, it can end up with us drowning because we can't get out of a container that is too deep, or getting deathly sick because the color or texture or smell appealed to us and we decided to try to drink some of it.
Candles & Electric Decorations - Feathers and flames do NOT go together, unless you're a phoenix. Since the vast majority of birds are not phoenixes, it bears repeating: Feathers and flames do NOT go together. Please do not let us out of our cages at all if you have any kind of open flame lit, be it a candle, a cigarette (and don't smoke around us, either! That's bad for a whole other reason!) or even the burner on your stove. If you have decorations that plug in, please do not let us near the cords. If we don't fear it thinking it's a snake (I had a cockatiel roommate once who was terrified of electric cord snakes), then we're likely to think the cord is a big piece of string to play with and chomp on, which can hurt or kill us. I know you humans like fried foods, but fried parrot should NEVER be on the menu.
Dangers of Halloween Treats
Sugary Treats - These CAN be okay.... sometimes. Sparingly, and on rare occasions. But for the most part, find healthier treats for us birds to eat.
Full Disclosure: Mom knows I love jelly beans. I even have my own jar of them. She picks out all the flavors she knows I can't have (chocolate, coffee, mocha and cappuccino, in particular, and black licorice, but that's because she just doesn't like that flavor herself), but the rest she keeps in a big jar. When she thinks I've been really good, she'll open up the jar and let me pick one. The best part is sorting through all the colors and choosing the one I feel like having at that moment. True, the food coloring and the sugar aren't really that great for me, but ONE jelly bean, every once in a great while isn't going to hurt. (Besides, I only gnaw off the candy coating and drop the jelly part to the bottom of the cage. I hate being sticky.) I like Skittles, too, but I'm not crazy about yogurt covered raisins. Mostly, I'm a fresh fruit kind of girl. (Welllll, okay. I love pumpkin pie, too. Pie's a fruit, right? And oh, whipped cream!!!!!)
Chocolate - NEVER!!!! Chocolate is deadly to us birds. Caffeine (which is in chocolate) is also deadly to us birds. Never give chocolate to us (not even white chocolate... just in case). Never give any foods that have TOUCHED chocolate to us. (If you can see brown at all, there's chocolate, and we can't have it.)
Holy walnuts! That was a long blog entry. I guess I'll go back to figuring out how to get my treats out of that creepy orange thing now. (And then I think I may poop on Mom's shirt to punish her.)
Until next time, PTH fans! Here's wishing you a Happy and Bird-Safe Halloween!
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