Good morning, Grinchy!
Oh, Hi there.
I didn't see you there.
Today I want to talk to you guys about Grinchy because I know how much you guys love Grinchy
and Lord knows how much I love Grinchy.
I love that bird so much.
That is the quality content that you all signed up for is Grinchy
I mean and everybody else but like Ginchy's story is amazing. So let's talk a bit about Grinchy
ah
And there's a crate down here which holds a new baby skunk.
If you guys haven't already followed me over on Instagram and Twitter
then you won't know that we have a new baby skunk and he's gonna be in next week's video
so make sure to subscribe.
Let's go feed Grinchy.
First question is from Avery Jean and Avery Jean asks
Q: How many bags of worms do we go through in a week?
Well, that is a really great question. And the answer is we go through three boxes of 1000 worms every week.
So we go through 3000 worms a week.
But not for Grinchy muah ha ha.
Oh hello. Are you waiting for something?
Yeah, feeding this many animals this many worms is definitely not cheap.
Which is definitely a downside to when you have a lot of animals is literally everything you make
basically goes on the animals. Oh Grinchy, is that nice, you dropped it. Silly sausage.
Danny's joining us in the car today.
You could've told me so I wasn't like double chinning it.
So our next question comes from DestinyAutumn17 on YouTube.
Q: Have you found out if Grinchy is a male or a female?
The answer is no, it's still guesswork right now
I have my suspicions but we're gonna get him DNA sexed where we send off some of his feathers and
actually have them analyzed.
Hi
Sorry I just want to get into this video
You're so handsome, we didn't want to deprive everyone of you.
So that will be in an upcoming video, but the answer is no.
This question is from Victoria's pets and Victoria's pets asks
Q: Does Grinchy prefer men or women?
And the answer is that Grinchy is terrified of men.
So my theory is that maybe it was men that captured him.
I can't verify that but he's terrified of all men but loves women.
Inner Reptile Exotics asks
Q: Was it hard to get Grinch fully recovered?
To be honest, he's not fully recovered. He still plucks his tail feathers.
erm
And I would like to get his beak a bit more smooth on one side, but apart from that he's doing a lot better.
That's why I wouldn't recommend buying any wild birds because they're so sensitive and when they get an issue
it takes a long time to resolve
His plumage as well, he's not as fully feathered as I would like him to be.
You can't tell just from the surface, but he's definitely not as full feathered as a very very healthy red-billed hornbill
but he's about as healthy as I could hope for him to be at this point
and honestly I'm astounded that he's done so well. Amberlight says
Q: Did you name Grinchy after the Grinch?
Yes, actually I did and the reason why I did was because
You know how it's like the Grinch that stole Christmas?
For me, it was the Grinch that stole my heart at Christmas.
Sophie Fletcher says
Q: Are you going to make him an educational animal now that he's so healthy and seems comfortable on the lead?
Danny?
Yes, there's no freeloading at this household. He has to work.
Yeah absolutely, he'll be going on limited shows.
It's a slow process to get him there but he has to go for sure.
That said, if Grinchy for whatever reason doesn't enjoy the shows or if we think that he is very stressed,
that's it. He won't be doing any more shows.
For us, we never force the animals to go on educational shows.
If an animal doesn't like it, they retire, they stay with us. So he's not gonna be forced.
Dobby and Niffler on Twitter
Yes, Dobby and Niffler have a Twitter. It's not run by me. It's legit run by Dobby and Niffler.
Q: Does our dear brother enjoy anything other than his worms? #nowormsforgrinchy
Well, Dobby and Niffler. Yes Grinchy enjoys his dust baths. He enjoys being sung to.
He is loving his new ihome (not sponsored by the way).
ihome speaker so he can listen to music out in the aviary while I'm at home and I can control what he listens to.
And he just loves watching other animals whether or not they are birds. He loves just spectating.
He's definitely a spectator. The Dustiest Conure says
Q: What was the most important step in gaining his trust?
Time, patience, consistency, routine.
Those were the great things. He knew in the morning straightaway I was gonna say Good Morning.
Always say good morning to Grinchy, and then
he knew he was gonna get his worms, followed by this, followed by this, followed by like a light touch session
followed by this,
so he grew to become accustomed to that and once he was in the routine of all this happening and being calm
then I could change it up a bit and we could sort of expand our trust of each other
so just time, patience, consistency in routine. Zachary Gregana on Twitter says
Q: What happens if Grinchy eats the doves' food or what will happen if the doves eat Grinchy's low iron pellets?
Really good question. So, Grinchy can eat any of the doves' food.
Grinchy would be a seed eater in the wild as well. He'd eat seeds and bulbs and all sorts of things.
The doves I was very worried that they were going to try and eat his low iron pellet
which is why I introduced the doves to the aviary first and got them used to their feeding station
in the hopes that when I put Grinchy's food in they would just not pay any attention
and that seems to have worked. They maybe pecked at his low iron pellets once and just thought
do not like the texture of this because it's quite mushy which is not a good texture for doves
they just leave it so they don't have any confusion over their foods.
Elijah on Twitter says: Worms for Grinchy?
#nowormsforgrinchy
L is proud of Louie on Twitter says
Q: What is the best thing about handling him?
For me, it's almost an ego thing, in that I know that I've managed to gain this bird's trust.
And it's an ego thing but it's also a rewarding thing as well. I know when he's on my hand I earned that.
I really really earned that and I will never abuse that and I'm just really proud of him.
Eli Workman on Twitter says
Q: Why does he look like an old man?
Why DOES he look like an old man?
Douglas Thurman on Twitter says
Q: What do Grinchy kisses feel like?
Just feel like that. That's all.
That's what it would feel like.
That's what Grinchy kisses feel like.
Grinchy kisses are love. Grinchy kisses are life.
Oh, this is a really good question as well.
Q: What is so special about Grinchy's species? Like how do they behave or what's something they do unusual in the wild but part of their lives?
That's by Mark Newell on Youtube
I'm gonna take this one
Just go for it
You know what I'm gonna say, don't you? So, you guys know that I love my bonus weasels.
Well, so do Grinchys in the wild because red-billed hornbills actually will work together with mongooses.
Yes, mongooses! And they will actually hunt together for the same kind of animals
and the red-billed hornbills will sometimes in the wild not start hunting until mongooses are out and also hunting.
They will literally hang out together
Red-bill hornbills. Mongooses. Always together. Squad goals.
I'm gonna go into the deeper
questions. Get down deep with me guys.
Deeper...
Maddy Gil, this is a hard one Maddy. Why would you do this to me?
Q: Do you ever feel guilty that you have him as a pet?
I know you saved him and didn't take him out of the wild yourself.
No. Not at all.
You don't feel guilty?
No, I don't feel guilty at all. I think erm
I tend to think of it a little more positively and I think he would have been in a lot
worse of a situation if he wasn't with us.
So I think we were the best case scenario for him and for us.
I agree with that but I still feel guilty because I naturally feel guilty about everything.
Ever. Like I have this Catholic guilt.
I'm British polite and was raised Catholic.
So, that's like a triple whammy for me of just feeling guilty about everything.
So I do feel guilty.
But I do know that the reason we've had him is the reason he's alive today. I have no doubt.
And I'm not trying to be like Good for us, we did a great thing.
I just know that he probably wouldn't be alive. Most likely wouldn't be alive if we hadn't put months and
thousands of dollars into him. So in that respect no
I, from a creator point of view also do feel guilty because I feel like some people might watch me and think
Oh I'm gonna get a Grinchy of my own. Don't do it. Just don't do it.
You have no idea —
Birds in general are always a huge decision. Do not take any bird lightly.
It is basically like having a small child that will never grow up and always demands your attention.
Yeah, so don't take that lightly and just remember
zoologist and zookeeper of how many years?
Too many.
Yeah, both of us.
And he was still a challenge.
Okay, so this question comes in from Alexis Afton and it's
Q: What's the best course of action to take when you see an animal in need at a pet store?
What's the best course of action...
There's no single course of action. It's really not black and white.
Yeah, it's usually pretty complicated.
I mean if it's a situation where you're seeing an animal that a pet shop regularly carries
you're gonna have to try to find a way to break that cycle.
If it's a one-off, where it's a fluke thing that they're getting and then, you know
And you feel that animal needs to be rescued and that's a possible candidate
but you really have to take it by an individual by individual basis and
you also have to have the the means and the abilities to rescue these animals
sometimes, I mean, if you're not ready to pay for a huge vet bill on a relatively cheap or inexpensive animal,
that's usually one of the fastest involved in rescuing needs
So these are all different factors you have to take into account and there's no simple black or white answer for them.
If you see an animal which is in a terrible condition in distress the best thing you can do first of all
before purchasing the animal, is talk to the store.
Sometimes stores are so busy that they just don't see, you know.
They, these store workers sometimes go in everyday. It's all the same to them.
They just kind of glaze over things and
sometimes they just need that fresh pair of eyes to say 'Hey, you really need to do the waters here'
or 'Excuse me, I don't think this animal's in a good condition'
You can try doing that. A lot of pet stores are very reasonable.
But I don't think it's a good solution to just buy every animal that you see as needing help.
I know that a lot of you watching are amazing animal lovers. I know you're all super empathetic.
I understand that, I do, and it's so hard when you see an animal that you know you can give more to
but just remember every time you purchase an animal that's not really a rescue
in some ways it is but it's a purchase. And that's all that a lot of pet stores will care about
is that you made a purchase and when they go through that Itinerary at the end of the month
and see what made the money, they're just gonna go buy more of that.
So in general, I'm not in the practice, we are not in the practice of rescuing animals by purchasing them
but in certain circumstances, we will. It's different for everyone. So, go with your gut and remember,
you can always, always report a store to your local authority because every pet store has to have a license,
a stringent set of criteria they have to meet to have a license
So, it's someone's job to make sure that these stores are performing well.
Find out who that person is, talk to them.
But first of all talk to the store. A lot of store workers, they're not monsters. They do love the animals.
They just sometimes don't see. So, if you can strike a bargain where everyone's happy, that's great.
You can take the animal home, give it your love
and the pet store doesn't have to worry about another dying animal
but just remember it's not always black and white so, go with your gut and I
really thank every single one of you who's ever tried to help an animal in any way shape or form
like that's a wonderful thing. This is the last question guys. It's one that I have avoided for a long time.
But we're going to talk about it. If — this is by, by the way, this is by Rihanna Dunman
Q: If you could return him back to the wild, would you?
One, two, three...
No, we wouldn't do it.
Long answer?
No.
Like no, it's not an option, it's just not an option.
There's so many reasons why we couldn't and I'm sure that alone could probably be a video but primarily it's...
Okay. Maybe it'll help if people understand how these birds come to market. Let's do that.
So, Grinchy was doing his Grinchy thing with his Grinchy fam
and he was probably netted, I'm gonna assume, because that's a really common way or an inexpensive way for
people collectors to get these birds and what they'll do is they set up these mist nets which are
really kind of invisible nets. Really big.
Yeah, really big across an opening in the canopy and as the birds fly through those that get ensnared in mid-flight
and they're captured. Now these are collectors that are usually villagers, very poor income low people
who go out and kind of do their job of capturing animals. Then they will bring him back to a dealer,
an animal dealer, who will then sell them to an exporter. The exporter then sells them to somebody,
let's say here in the United States, and then Grinchy would have made his way from the forests
being captured to the exporting station. From there, they come into the United States.
They're quarantined for a while and then they get distributed to the dealers in the United States.
So at this point Grinchy has probably been looking at about a month or two in captivity and a lot of trauma
He's been caught in a net, transported in a sack, kept in a small cage with a lot of other chattering birds
and then constantly moved around to new boxes and cages. If he's lucky, he's getting fed and watered
in between there somewhere, right? Then ultimately he makes it here to the United States.
After leaving the export station, it'll go to a dealer and the dealer will usually sell it to a pet shop.
At that point, he's gotten here. There's no way to retrace those steps to get him exactly where he came from.
And Grinchy could have come from anywhere because these people are not based in one particular area.
A lot of times these collectors will travel very far distances to get the animals that they require
and then bring them back to the exporting station. So we would never even know where Grinchy came from.
You would never get approval to export Grinchy back into Africa and release him
If we did, it's not as simple as saying well he's a West African species, so let's go to the Ivory Coast and
find a nice place to release him because what would happen is first —
That's not farting. By the way, that's our chairs rubbing against each other.
He could die in transit. About 90% of birds when they're wild caught will die in transit
so Grinchy's already a lucky one. He already survived a huge trauma and to put him through that again
would likely kill him. Then we'd have to find someone with a facility to do a soft release
and what that would mean is to put him in someone's outdoor aviary somewhere along the Ivory Coast
Get him used to actually hunting again, get him used to natural bacteria again because
he now has completely different bacteria here in New Jersey that he's used to and it could kill him and
all the other animals around that he came into contact with if we released him back into the wild because
he could bring in some contamination from either transport or here in Jersey that
all the other animals in the Ivory Coast are not familiar with.
He has survived a lot of disease and parasites to get here
Which means that he could be what's called an asymptomatic carrier.
Which means he could have the diseases, but just not be affected by them and that is an ecological time bomb.
That is why we are seeing things like Chytrid fungus and frogs and it's all being
brought into the environment by pets that were once released.
Chytrid is actually really, erm, interesting you brought that — but it's Chytridiomycosis, by the way
We should do another video about that at some point cause it would be good to show people how to spot Chytrid.
But that's the long and short of why we will not be, even if we could, why we wouldn't send Grinchy to the wild.
Thank you guys all so much for watching I will see you in another video soon. Bye!
Shout out to Danny for sweating his body off.
Could you put your clothes back on please?