Hi!!!! I don't know if you've been asked this before but how did you get mercutio? Tell him I say he's very handsome:3
Hello!! :D Ty for asking, let me give you-
✨️ Mercutio's Tragic Backstory ✨️
Mercutio was rescued as an injured baby by me and my bestie/Brainstorm Buddy @anonspiceart (they're largely responsible for the og pigeon heist) XD
We were in the city in August 2023, and came across the saddest little greasy-ball-of-drier-lint in the shape of a pigeon u ever did see.
Behold a 3 day post-rescue photo of him: 😔
Full, probably long, rescue story below 👇
The bby we saw was dragging one wing and seemingly couldn't eat properly, so we decided to try catching it. 🖐
Most birds that are dragging one wing can still fly (I call it the "Sickly Victorian Child Act" to get more sympathy food XD ) and often look really afronted when you try to help them.
Not so with Mercutio...
When Anon scooped him up, he barely even struggled; instead, he going limp and seeming to accept his fate because he was so weak.
A kindly old man saw us grab the pigeon and suggested Anon hold the birb inside their jacket. Then we caught the bus home, while pretending Anon had a broken arm and *that's* why they were keeping it tucked up 🤣
Just for context-
-both Anon and I have kept birds since we were kids. I am also a rescuer of native birds for work. In almost all Australian rescues, Non-natives are euthanised on the spot, so taking him elsewhere wasn't an option. Even getting vet care for a new rescue is nearly impossible! (Anon can attest to this for NZ 💀)
So we did birdy triage and found:
- no signs of canker (yippee!)
- the wing had been injured (and had scabbed over) but was not broken (double yippee!)
- more scabbed injuries on his head and breast
- bby was extremely underweight and couldn't eat alone yet (only 210g iirc 😔 )
- he was still peeping, not cooing, so was too young to be alone but there hadn't been any parents around
- very swollen feet and lumps on any exposed skin*
*We thought this might have been some kind of pox, so Anon came up with the name Mercutio after the guy from Romeo and Juliet:
"A pox o' both your houses!"
The "Scunge" part of his name was my contribution because, well
He scungy! (First photo of him ever lol)
We used bird-safe antibiotic ointment on the injuries and added oral antibiotics to the water. Also immediately lice sprayed the poor bby who was Very Itchy.
Anon had to handfeed for the first day or so, just to get some food into the emaciated little guy. Then we used YouTube videos of pigeons eating, stuck in a bowl of seed:
Which worked! He started eating unassisted after a couple of days of this.
Tiring work 💤
After a few weeks of recovery and feeding up lil guy as best I could, I found a vet who claimed to be versed birds.
It didn't start great because they had him listed as a Rat, not a Sky Rat /affectionate
But most importantly, Mercutio was granted a clean bill of "not super healthy yet, but will improve with TLC". And the "pox" turned out to just be Papillomavirus- harmless skin warts!
So maybe we should have named him Oliver instead...
Thanks anyone who read this far!! Hope u enjoyed learning about the story behind my sonby c:
skimmed the mercutio tag bc i'm auditioning for the part but i just had to comment on your FLOOF BIRB. give them little head smoochies for me.
Oh that's so cool! Good luck with your audition!
Here's a tall and shiny Mercutio to help you on your line-learning journey uvu
(p.s. I hope it wasn't too annoying finding pigeon photos when you were looking for the Shakespeare character, feel free to block the tag 'mercutio scunge' if so >v< )
