My drawer has become very popular these days. Ever since it made its appearance on YouTube in March of 2008 I've received a lot of questions and comments.
Marcia used to keep kitchen towels in it. When I decided this was my drawer she found a new place for the towels. Then came the toys. In the cabinet below she used to store boxes with Christmas dishes. I started chewing the boxes, so those dishes found a new place too.
A drawer in the kitchen might not be for every parrot. Some parrots would destroy a wooden drawer. For some reason I've never chewed hard wood. I prefer the softer woods and soft plastic. A lot of you ask the "poop" question. Well, I have never pooped on the drawer or in the drawer. I am always given "poop" breaks and taken off the drawer and put on my perch to take "care of business".
I would spend all day on the drawer if my humans would let me. But they don't. I am only allowed when they let me. The rest of the time I'm either in my cage or on a perch somewhere in the nest. I really enjoy talking on the drawer too. Visit my YouTube movies and take a look!
Many of you have asked, how do you keep the drawer open without it closing and squishing me! The answer is: Unigrass 6600 Drawer Slides. You can find them on the internet, hardware stores, even eBay! They are inexpensive too. They are installed on all the drawers in my nest.
Slide mounted on Drawer
Slide mounted in cabinet
Here is a video showing how the slide works.
If you and your human decide that a kitchen drawer might be fun, please remember that safety and supervision must be kept in mind at all times. Please be aware of electrical cords and remove them from the area. Kitchens are not the safest places for parrots, so please be careful!
Humans might call me a Pack Rat! I beg your pardon!!! A hoarder? I don’t think so! Me? Stealing? A Thief! Never!!!! But officer, it was a misunderstanding, I was just BORROWING IT!!!
Marcia uses a dish drainer in addition to the dishwasher. Items we use everyday get put in the dish drainer. Other things go into the dishwasher. One item that Jeff uses everyday is his coffee mug. He fills it up every morning as he gets ready to leave the house for work. He puts on the special lid so that it doesn’t slop and spill everywhere. (I understand this is an act performed by many people in their need to satisfy their caffeine addition.) In the evening, he or Marcia washes the mug and lid and places it in the dish drainer to be used the next morning. I’m quite smitten with the lid too! I like to take it out of the dish drainer and throw it on the floor, just like the rest of my toys.
This particular day, I had other plans. I never intended to enter a life of crime, but the coffee lid treasure was just too hard to resist! There it was in all of its radiant black plastic loveliness!!!!
Watch the video and pay attention to my quick thinking and stealth action!
Fast forward, the next morning. Jeff gets ready for work, time to fill his mug… no lid? Where’s the lid? “Marcia, have you seen my lid?” he asks. “No, it should be in the drainer” she replies. Just so happens there is another similar type container in the cupboard (not his favorite) and he reluctantly fills it up and off to work he goes. I secretly hoped that loosing the lid would keep him home with me, alas that idea did not work. Several days go by, searching for the lid continues. Jeff concludes it was the best coffee mug lid he had ever had and will just have to go and buy a replacement.
Then, one day Marcia decides it was time to clean my toy drawer. (A chore she does about every other week.) This is the drawer in the kitchen, next to my cabinet where I go to shred my toys. A nice dark place and perfect for hiding things. Guess what she found!!! OH! MY! The coffee mug lid!!! HOW DID IT GET IN THERE??? She gave me three guesses and the first two didn’t count!
Mystery solved! I had enjoyed quite a few chews in seclusion and the rubber gasket necessary to keep the liquid contents from spilling had been totally shredded. Those humans! They really should take better care of their prized possessions, otherwise they become MINE!!! Lesson Learned AGAIN!
This is my all time, new, favorite activity in the whole world! I LOVE TO PLAY IN THE KITCHEN DRAWERS! I will beg every day after lunch to go to the drawer! I get very noisy when I beg! Lots of bird sounds and I also say "I Love You!" ... Sweet-talking Marcia works every time!
Here is a picture of me begging!
When Marcia finally gets tired of me acting this way, she clears off the kitchen counter and empties a drawer next to the drawer where she keeps the kitchen towels. (She puts toys in the empty drawer for me to play with. You'll see what happens later!) I'm soooooo happy when I sit on the kitchen towel drawer! Then when she goes into another room, I crawl down and open the cabinet below. There's not much in the cabinet except boxes of dishes that she only uses at Christmas time.
Here I am, about to go into the cabinet! THIS IS SO FUN! When I'm in the dark cabinet, I pretend that it is a hollow in an old tree! A perfect place to build a nest if I lived in the wilds of Africa! I climb in and close the door behind me! Then I climb up and onto the side of the closed drawer that has a bunch of toys just for me. I perch myself on the edge of the drawer and have the best time shedding paper and all my toys! Then when Marcia comes back into the room, I crawl out of the cabinet via the towel drawer. In this picture, she opened up the other drawer to take a picture of what I had done! I'm so proud of my accomplishment!
I'm I building a nest? I dunno, but it sure is fun!
Watch this movie of me and my kitchen cabinet exploration:
I hope you enjoyed my drawer adventure as much as I do! See ya next time!
I'm I building a nest? I dunno, but it sure is fun!