The Petri Phenomenon

Petri is our parakeet. We got the name from the pterodactyl in The Land Before Time.

I always thought that Petri was a boy until recently. Shortly after Zachary was born Petri starting going crazy - sitting in the food dish, ringing the bell all the time, running around on the bottom of the cage. Then one day when I looked in the cage I found an egg! I wasn't sure whether to leave it in or take it out until I found another egg cracked at the bottom of the cage.

Apparently parakeets may start to lay eggs if something happens to trigger their maternal instincts. I guess having a newborn baby around wasn't making her jealous for me, but jealous for her own! However, with no male partner that won't happen. Since then she has laid 2 eggs every month. Well this month she has laid 5 eggs!! Sadly, I didn't take one of them out fast enough before she ate it, so my collection only shows 4 of them.

And she is looking like she might lay another one! Where in the world does she store this many eggs? Poor Petri - all that work and no little ones to love.We are beginning to realize that we'll have to give Petri up if we leave the country. A teacher that one of my friends works with has a male parakeet in his classroom named Petey that might be a good option. I'm having trouble letting go, but it's a lot easier knowing that I'll never have to part with Zachary. Oh dear, I can already feel the college separation tears coming on!