LNCAG

I do think greys take a little longer to adjust to any changes. They're just so sensitive about every little thing! Glad you're seeing an improvement. But sorry it's caused you to distrust him a bit. I would be leery to reach out to Alfie also if I thought I might truly get bit -- that sort of confidence takes a while to rebuild -- patience is the key. And greys can sense if you're even slightly afraid of them. And some greys deny boundaries. Plus, greys can be liars. You can usually read the mood (and eyes) of many parrots -- but greys can lure you in all calm & friendly and then BAM -- bite time. Sad but true in some cases. Good luck -- hope things will continue to settle back in a comfortable routine for you both!

So, 12 years ago I had adopted a dumped kitten (named Zuri) and one of my biggest fears (since I worked full time) is that she would accidentally slip into the bird room and get injured sticking her little paw in their cages. I always checked before going to work to know where my new kitten was. But I guess I goofed one morning, probably in a rush. I came home at lunchtime to walk the dog and wanted to check on the kitten and could not find her anywhere. My worst fears confirmed -- she had slipped into the bird room before I left that morning! I found her lying on her back, all four legs in the air, in pure joy, in the middle of the bird room floor. All the parrots had come down to the bottom of their cages (huge tall cages) and my kitten was completely unharmed. And I KNOW she must have poked a paw in a cage -- she was like 10 weeks old and very curious. It was Snickers, my grey, who looked up at me and I swear if he could have rolled his eyes he would have. He gave me this "we got this" look; like 'we know it's just a kitten, we don't hurt little kittens, lady, sheeesh -- give us a little credit!" A lucky day and made me much more careful in the future to double check where the cats were before I left the house!!! And now Zuri is happily and healthily 12 -- with all 4 paws intact! lol

I always find it amusing, whether it's corn, grapes, sweet peas, apple, (even a raisin) etc. that my grey eats the insides and leaves the peels uneaten. Now something 'whole' (like a scraped carrot) he will eat in its entirely. But anything with any kind of peel gets opened, its inside scraped out and devoured, and the outside spat back out into his bowl. (Obviously with melon and such, I remove the rind myself before offering to him). And I'd never expect him to eat orange peel anyway. But c'mon -- peas? Corn? I wonder if the thinks certain veggies/fruit work the same way as seeds -- perhaps he thinks the peeling is like hull? No idea.

I like the idea of just swapping the rusty hooks out. Or, take some steel wool or sandpaper and get them clean -- just rinse well so parrot has no access to remnant steel wool strands or something -- leftover bits could be a crop irritant. As far as bugspray and cigarette smoke exposure... I get the impression your Mum isn't very on board with a parrot in the home.

Understood. And I don't think an all pellet diet would be healthy. I emphasize fresh foods. But I do like to leave mine a bowl with a few in it, in case he gets the munchies when I'm not home. I view pellets sort of like a cereal -- more of a snack food that's not too unhealthy. (Mine's cage had multiple food bowls, hence one kept specifically for pellets or twice-weekly seed treats).

Still a good plan, pin-hole drained may require taking them from her before she's ready -- hence I let mine naturally desiccate. I think they're sort of cool to keep. Since mine sat on her eggs for a few months -- some broke and really stank. The salvageable ones were basically the ones not broken and already nearly dried out. The egg shell is permeable, so they dry out within a matter of months.

I have been blessed with a CAG who will try most fresh veggies/fruits (esp if he see me eating them first). Have many here had difficulty with 'seed junkies" or "picky eaters?" Been there, done that. I truly feel your pain. My CAG came to me believing only seed and pellets were edible. That said, only certain 'coloured' pellets met his approval (still true -- the orange round 'basketballs' in Zupreem are deemed inedible -- who knows why??) He refuses all other brands of pellet brands and WILL NOT eat non-coloured pellets. (sigh) I am so thankful today to have a CAG who will eat most anything. Granted, I've had him 22 years and I don't pretend that was an easy road. His fave these days are his morning apple/grapes/melon, (whatever fruit I have on hand) etc.. (But apples ARE his favourite -- not red/yellow delicious or rome -- he likes the crisper, sweeter, less mealy types -- the "special" apples). Yeah, he's picky now re: apples. Don't ever offer a special apple to a CAG who gratefully accepts red delicious or romes -- they get SPOILED like us, desiring only the crispest sweetest apples available! His favourite supper is fresh veg (sometimes frozen, sometimes actually fresh, sometimes a mix) with some rice (and sometimes pasta -- whole wheat). I always keep a bowl of Zupreem pellets available for him to snack on, it's like an "all day" available snack. What does YOUR Grey eat and enjoy??? Thanks in advance -- I am always curious.

Afterthought.... Incidentally, I saved my parrot's salvageable eggs (of the 75 [maybe more] or so she laid, maybe 18 survived unbroken or non-disgusting -- they basically dry out and become very lightweight over time), so I kept them for posterity. Granted, these were macaw eggs -- nearly the size of small chicken eggs. And, she acted like they hurt to pass. Luckily she never got egg-bound. Anyway, just a suggestion to save yours! I also have a tiny box somewhere with my cockatiel eggs protected by cotton balls in them also. Cockatiel eggs were tiny; but having raised zebra finches in the 80s, I can say that cockatiel eggs are a good size larger than finch eggs. (An accident caused all my finch eggs to break -- so they got tossed ) Anyway, decorate with eggs! We save their feathers, why not salvageable eggs too???

My macaw had a food throwing trick. The beauty is in its simplicity! Said parrot simply puts her foot in her pellet dish and stirs the food around and around with her foot (unaware her human can see with her with their peripheral vision and HEAR her); this ritual continues until dumb human finally makes eye contact. Then parrots grabs a handful of pellets in her foot and just tosses them in the air. Rinse and repeat as desired. Humans eventually learn when hearing that foot/dish stirring sound to NOT LOOK!

I spend enough time getting Snickers in his cage or carrier for the vet -- totally envious of you guys who manage a backpack!!! Too cute to see though! I so wish Snickers would welcome such outdoor adventures....

A Snickers (CAG) favourite. Setup: Nighttime/bedtime. You're are riding your Mum's hand to your cage and decide you aren't ready for bed. Simply put one foot on one human finger, swing downwards and just "go limp" and hang upside down by one foot. Your upside down body sways gently as she walks you to your cage. "Now let 'em try to put you back in your cage!!!" Bwu ha ha. "I'm upside down here! I can't possibly stand, I am too weak, I can't possibly step onto my perch while hanging upside down!!!" Adorably cute. And, if you're in a hurry, a huge drag. I have tried just laying him on his back on bottom of cage but lemme tell ya -- that foot NEVER lets go of your hand. The harder you try to dislodge the foot -- the tighter the hold becomes! A second hand used to forced an upright position is wasted, does absolutely nothing to force my CAG to stand up again!!! This 'limp body" can waste an additional 10 minutes each evening when his ingenious 'I'm too weak to stand upright/my body is completely limp" trick is played. Gotta love a grey -- they're just too smart!!!! AND, of course, Snickers earns an additional treat reward (mostly just so he'll let go) -- so a double win with this self-taught trick! C'mon guys -- what 'tricks' has your Grey learned by him/herself???

I've known my macaw to sit on eggs for several months -- to the point that some were going bad and 'had' to be removed. I do know removing the eggs just caused her to lay more -- and I didn't want her to deplete all her calcium by excessive egg laying. It has to be their choice to stop brooding; so removing the eggs early to "speed up" the brooding process can work against you -- they'll just lay more. Fake eggs are a good alternative if yours will accept them. Also, reducing hours of light a day reduces urge to lay more eggs. The old rule of 12 hours day and 12 hours of night helps (a little) to prevent over-broodiness. The tend to lay eggs and brood them when the days (light provided) times are longer than their night/dark times. I offered a calcium mineral block for mine, and just accepted that about once a year she would tear up paper for a nest and sit on eggs a few months. (I don't breed, so hers were infertile duds). Welcome to the forum!

Sometimes I also have a few choice names for Snickers I don't actually say out loud... for obvious reasons.

Snickers can do some amazing whistling (beginning part of Bridge Over River Kwai troop whistling) but alas, no singing. I can even remember my cockatiel "making up" his own whistle songs (he didn't really have an 'ear' for it, honestly). But he would whistle while standing on only one foot, with his other foot held dramatically up in the air like a hand, like "wait for it -- here comes the good part!" Um, no 'good part' ever came -- but at least he tried to be creative.

Okay, what IS a module? Just something that allows us to upload our videos? (going by context clues here). We already seem to have an upload ability, so this made me wonder if it was something slightly different.

I call mine 'love' a lot (as in "what do you need, my love?), and sometimes "Snick" (okay, Snick, why'd you do that?); but he also knows his name is Snickers and will often say his own name. I use his full name pretty often.

My macaw 'fed' me by age 2. Def not sexually mature -- but she did enjoy bringing something back up to 'share' -- um, no thanks. They seem to be born knowing this behaviour. When my grey brings back up food to feed me (30+ years old) it IS maturity, and courtship. But with such your young greys, I wouldn't worry. Scratching around at that age (or any) sounds fairly normal to me.

How friendly IS Alfie? Anyone (besides me) opening my Snicker's door (carrier/cage - anything) would receive some serious ripped-up hand damage for their effort. Maybe even lose a finger if they tried to force him out of his safe haven. But, if yours is friendly -- definitely a lock is a good idea!

Snickers (CAG): has a strong opinion about everything; Special skills: hanging upside down by one toe while he calls out "be careful"; Attitude: confidant - even if he's slightly scared or worried he puts on a brave front. Hobbies include destroying things with his beak, tossing unwanted foods from his dish, climbing anything, and asking "whatcha doing" a million times a day. He manages to accomplish all this while remaining very handsome!

One more, me and Kodak -- my very first parrot -- a cockatiel -- got him in 1996 and he is still alive and flying free (well, more of a ladies man cuddling with his new 'loves') at the sanctuary. Photo probably taken in 1996 or so, he was an adult when adopted from a (gasp) pet store. I can't believe I was ever this young, really. The computer in background really tells the age of this pix. lol

Incidentally, when I asked earlier if this forum had a FB page -- I meant a FB page to direct folks here. I have no interest in a grey FB page for posting. I like THIS forum. FB can draw out a bit of everything -- sometimes TOO much diversity there.

Great forum whether the 'edited' thing can be fixed or not @KevinD -- guess I am just a perfectionist and want to conceal my most stupid errors quickly! Just don't want anyone here to know I am a mere human or anything!

LOVE THIS!!!! Now my Snickers would freak the freak out if I took him out of his usual environment. I've moved twice in the 22 years I've had him, and he acted like each new house was a threatening demon! I can't even move furniture around or buy a new throw pillow without causing him great distress, seriously. (Multi-re-homed parrots like my CAG with (apparently) bad past experiences is just so heart breaking). So happy for Alfie!!! New adventures await!!! You are an amazing person, seriously -- best of luck and fun with this!

Glad your grey understands the difference in a little nip and a serious bite -- and that he lets go quickly! My injury sure caught me off-guard! So unexpected! Macaws (well, I got mine as a babe) but mine was a gentle giant. I cried out at bites once I felt she was old enough to understand. In the wild, a biter is going to be shunned and I wanted her, by age 2 or 3, to know it hurt. Crying out and ignoring her a few moments fixed it all -- she learned. She was capable of a serious bite and yet always controlled her pressure when nipping (usually playfully nipping, at that). Seriously -- a cockatiel bite hurt more than my macaw's. Snickers (my CAG) has bitten a few family members (my husband took the brunt of his hate) and Snickers not only bit with 100% of his strength, but he DID NOT LET GO! I felt horrible how much he truly hated my husband (who passed away 2010). My husband bore a few scars from encounters with Snickers. I've read the bite of a bulldog is 450 pounds of pressure and a macaw has 900 pounds of pressure in a bite. Wow (assuming this is accurate info). A macaw really could remove a finger, or damage a wrist to the point the hand is useless (know a true story of this happening to someone). So my macaw really was gentle -- never bit with her true strength. Just a gentle giant. Suspect also it's how they're raised. She sure made a LOT of friends at the sanctuary -- with the other macaws and with people. She is a fave there.

>>Difficult to tell either way but possibly just an accident - he was probably just going for the cardboard tube and your finger happened to get in the way.<< True! This is what I now suspect. I used to get lots of tiny impish bites from my macaw who was playful but did little harm with her nips. (I would often play 'beak wrestle' with her using a crook'd index finger -- she was a sweetie and very gentle). I've even had her hang off my finger by just her beak when I was walking to carry her somewhere (she chose to hang this way -- not me! -- lest it sound horrible when it was really cute). Such a big baby she was. And I got lots of bites from my Amazon -- sometimes I think she did it for fun, sometimes she would just be in a weird (sort of mean) nippy mood. Some bites hurt more than others. Even my cockatiel sometimes would nip me, it hurt but never caused much harm. Now they are all free at the sanctuary, I guess I have just forgotten what a real parrot bite is like! Crazy but true. I am just not used to ever being bit by Snickers! He's just not a biter (for me -- anyone else is fair game though). Even when Snickers tightens his beak grip on my fingers/hands when I am taking him somewhere he doesn't want to go (like to his cage or into his carrier for the vet) -- it's just pressure -- never even a pinch-bite. I over-reacted by posting. I was just so caught off guard by it. Today, we're both either pretending nothing happened last night or Snickers may seriously be unaware anything happened. lol