FINCHforum

Went to Petco today and they had two Spices. Yippee!! Last week when I was there they were all out, so I was happy to see these two.

I was even happier when I got home and looked at my receipt.

Those clerks at Petco really need to take more care when ringing things up. Once again they failed to charge me for a bird... even though the warrenty sheet I filled out said I had gotten two birds, the clerk only charged me for one!

Now I just hope they both make it through quarantine okay. I'll post a couple pix when they settle down.

Yay! I don't realy like Spicess as much a societys though. But my lil spice is a Fast one! It takes for ever to catch him is he gets out!

Funny you should mention that.

I have read that Spices are really fast and I was thinking about that while the Petco employees were attempting to catch these two. Anyway, they caught the first one with little trouble but had to get another guy to come catch the second one. He caught it fairly quickly but when he went to put it in the box it escaped. Of course, they had failed to fully shut the door to their little catch room at the back of the cages, so he flew out into the main part of the store. I watched all this from the front of the cages through the glass partition. When I saw the Spice escape I looked up and sure enough here comes the bird up and over the bird display. He was flying pretty slow and descending rapidly, so I stood still and watched to see where it landed. Fortunately, it chose to land on a display of aquaruim ornaments just a few feet from where I was standing. I quickly walked over and scooped the bird up just seconds after it landed.

When I went to the back of the bird display, the three Petco employees were asking each other where the bird went. I walked up to the girl holding the box and raised my hand showing them I had the bird. They were amazed and very relieved I had managed to catch it so easily.

When I got home I took my quarantine cage and the transport box into my bathroom. I wanted to look them over and clip their nails if needed. The first bird I brought out was fiesty, but stopped struggling long enough for me to exam him, clip a couple nails and place him in the cage. The second bird however had other ideas. As soon as I slipped my hand into the box the little sneak was out the other end and flying around the bathroom. I made a couple attempts to catch him before turning on the night light and switching off the overhead light. He then sat still so I could recapture him.

I don't think they were injured or overly stressed during all this, but they sure are being quiet now!

Here they are. Not the best posed photos, but the camera was making them nervous so I didn't push it.

I LOVE that one with the wite mixxed head!Mine loooks like the other one.

Yeah, I thought that one was a bit unusual too. Not sure if it will moult out the lighter feathers or not.

Love your new Spices Tammie.
And look at their thigh feathers. So nicely spotted.

But Tammie, don't you feel even just a tiny bit guilty about taking the free bird by their error? Maybe you should consider doing the "right thing" (what they would teach my daughter in nursery school) and going back to pay for him?

Beautiful birds, though - I've never seen the brown/white mixed head, either. Kinda nice!

Nope I don't Steve. It's not like I walked in their store and pocketed the bird. They should train their employees better. I used my debit card and never noticed what she charged me until I got home and went to put the receipt away. This store is a one hour drive away... so no, I'm not going back to pay for it.

Besides, if I hadn't caught the bird when I did, then it most likely wouldn't have gotten caught. Those three stooges had no clue where the bird had gone. It would have flown around that big store until it dropped dead from exhaustion.

I agree that they need to train their staff better or pay people that want to work there that know a lot about the species

I've never liked spice finches that much. What do you all see in them??

Speaking of price errors at Petsmart.
I almost bought a Shaft-tail for the price of Zebra.

When I asked 3 different assistants (since none of them knew the name of this particular finch) how much it was pointing to a shaft-tail because there was no price on their cage, they ALL said, "Oh, that's Zebra" .... $17.99

Unfortunately, one of the guys wanted to double check with yet another person, who found a hidden price label.

I know, I am not teaching anyone a good lesson here, but just wanted to show you how "well- trained" Petsmart's sales associates are in our area.
This would NEVER happen at our PetCo.
Not to mention that our PetCo is the cleanest pet store I have ever seen. It is a pleasure to shop there. I visit that place quite frequently at different times and their bird cages are always sooo clean.

Those are some great looking spices!

They will molt those light feathers on their heads tho, I've seen it in our Petstore, they get them when they are light brown from head to toe and then they start molting in the dark head and scaly chest.
I always stand in front of the Spice cage thinking.... should I...... no I shouldn't..... maybe one..... nooooo.......... The staff always laughts that I am so undecided.

Anna

Yeah, I read that the young Spices start out light brown all over then gradually get the scales.

These two I just got though already have the scales on their bodies, so will they still loose the tan on their heads. I kinda hope not.

Beautiful newbies Tammie!! I hope you enjoy them, it's nice they've got some spunk lol. I don't blame you for not saying anything about the free bird, Petsmart is a very poorly run corporation. They just bought out my favourite pet store chain Super Pet and I'm very angry, not only will the selection I'm used to be gone, so will the excellently trained staff.

I had one clutch of spices, and if I had to guess I'd say that yours are adults - it takes a long time to get the scallops, and yours have their complete sets. My money would be on the "spots" being a nutrition or genetic thing - it'll be interesting to see what happens when s/he molts!