Birdsnreps

[Lisa B]

sorry to seem dumb, but what is sweetpea? I've never seen one like that before.

[birdsnreps]

lol, your not dumb at all, no one every knows what she is...sweetpea is an african trumpeter hornbill. you wont see these very often at all, unless you really, really try to find them and you know softbill breeders :) shes a very unique pet i wouldnt recommend anyone getting one as a pet until they really learn about their care, especially their dietary needs. in some ways she is similar to a parrot, but in other ways, she is different. shes extremely intelligent, i swear i can really see her think, and i have learned to read her so i now can tell what she is thinking. shes very interesting to watch, the way she plays with her toys and the way she interacts and views our other birds

[PowerBBS]

LOL... when I saw that picture I asked her the same thing a few weeks ago. It is an "interesting" choice for a pet???? I referred to his/her picture when I first saw him/her as something out of the flinstones or dinosaur age.

Everytime I see her pic... I still do a double take.

[Lisa B]

Thanks for letting me know. I would love to see more pics if you have them!
What does she eat?

[birdsnreps]

LOL, she may not be able to learn to speak like parrots, and she may not be all bright and colorful, but shes really awesome, i just love her to pieces :) i was volunteering at the local zoo wtih their hornbills, thats how i fell in love with them, and learned to feed them, lol. they dont have trumpeters, but they have several other asian and african hornbills.

sweetpeas diet consists of mostly fruit, prob about 90% fruit, and about 5% softbill pellets, and about 5% "other". i cannot give her citrus fruits cause shes an iron storgage bird. her base diet is blueberries, grapes, papaya, banana, cooked sweet potatoe and soaked softbill pellets. i also cook carrots and yams for her, and ive been trying to get her to eat other fruits as well. so far i have found that she LOVES mango!! the other day i shared my mango with her, she ate about 1/4 of my mango!! she loves her carrots too, but they have to be cooked and soft. sweetpea cannot eat any seed, or anything hard for that matter. their systems are designed to eat soft foods, in the wild they eat mostly fruits. i tried giving her raspberries too, but she wasnt having none of them :( so far, ive also gotten her to eat apple, honeydew, soaked monkey biscuit, and little pieces of bread from one of my meals. she does try to get into the parrot food, but we have to make sure all the bowls wtih parrot food are put away where she cannot reach them, cause she loves to pick at everything, shes very curious.

[Lisa B]

lol...thanks for sharing! she sounds adorable!
and btw, Emma is not a talker, nor brightly colored. but that girl is my heart!

[birdsnreps]

ive got TONS and TONS of pics of sweetea...i suppose i can post some here.

this is her first night here. she was upset cause her plane arrived late :( and i was very upset cause when i first peeped into the carrier, it looked like she was all wet!! i was about to raise some hell!! but i checked and checked again, and it turned oUt she was NOT wet, good thing for those airline employees!!



here she is settling into her new cage, also her first night here.



i let her fly around the room, she loves it!!





and one thing i just LOVE about her is her furry butt and legs!! they are hilarious!! LOL



she loves to explore...





the other birds are wary of her...


here is a joke thanksgiving pic we made of her, LMAO







we have to make sure we have "sweetpea-safe" foods in the bowls.





here is a nice closeup of her face, you might be able to see her lovely long lashes :)





PIGGIE!!



rumaging through one of the toy bins



she found something she liked!!



one of the first times i got her to perch on my lap...



she can really swallow big chunks of food!!







funny, i caught the chunk of food in mid air, lol. when she eats, she will pick up a piece of food wtih the very tip of her beak, then she will toss it to the very back of her throat and swallow it. i really dont think they taste their food at all, at least it doesnt seem like they do. they cannot chew on their food like parrots can, and hornbills have tiny, skinny little tongues, so they cannot manipulate things the way parrots use their tongues and beaks.







getting into stuff again....you can see the angry tiels in the cage, LOL



she got a bath...she didnt like it at the time, but afterward, she sure did look happy, preening and flapping and fluffing out all her feathers!!





i hope thats enough pics for ya, LOL

[Lisa B]

wow...cant wait to show my husband! they are great...and she sure is a pretty thing! Thank you!

[birdsnreps]

here are some neat vids of her...you really have to watch her in person to appreciate her antics.









here you can hear her noises that she makes...(just ignore my voice, LOL, i was trying to get her to make some noise)

[PowerBBS]

I'm thinking I'm starting to "come around" and liking that little Sweetpea! Not that I expect you to be an encyclopedia... but what kind of BIO information can you provide on her?

Species country of origin?
Species native habitat?
Known characteristicss?
Lifespan?
Commonality of being pets? (as everyone says, "never seen one before")

Sorry about the 20 questions....