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Do you have any pets at home? What can you say about keeping pets when you have a baby at home? Is it advisable?

Ever'birdy meet Conner the Conure. He's approximately 11 weeks old. Turquoise conure. He was not well taken care of the first 7 weeks of his life and came to us as a wild brat of a bird. I have been working with him non-stop for 5 weeks and he's just about manageable now. This little guy came to us with a bit of a club footy. Two of his toes have been partially chewed off. He's still learning to use his left foot to hold food. He keeps trying with his damaged foot and can't hold anything. Getting better at it. He has the cutest personality. He's very spunky. Gets in fights with himself and rolls around, has rolled off my lap a couple of times and caught flight just before bouncing off the floor. He is a jibber-jabber. Never seen a conure that babbles as much as this one. I hope it turns into some talking down the road. We'll see. As mentioned, he was pretty wild when we got hold of him. Does not like human hands at all but getting better. He's still a baby so he's pretty malleable still, not set in his ways. I recently went home to visit my parents for a week and he came along so that my wife didn't have to care for him 24/7. This did wonders for gentling him down. He was with me non-stop and had to get used to me being his only company. He even went hiking in Pagosa Springs several times. Getting better in his harness too. He previously fought it non-stop. Now it's a just a little fight to get it on and off then he's fine with it. I accidentally left my pak-o-bird carrier at the house while we traveled. So I had to come up with something in the meantime. Found this little cheap rabbit carrier ($11 at petco ) that he absolutely loves. Not sure why he likes it so much because it's fairly enclosed. Must make him feel safe. He rolls around and plays in it a lot. 20190718_120018.mp4

All of mine will peel a sunflower seed that has already been removed from it's hull. They leave behind a thinner-than-paper husk that I never even knew was there.

I had my daughter at home as an infant when I had my first three parrots (CAG, Amazon and conure). I don't ever recall having an issue with anything except my daughter constantly getting me up at 1am for months. She barely lived through that haahaa!!!

GreycieMae does a similar ear-piercing shrill as I like to call it. It's bad enough that when she does it on my shoulder it pisses me the hell off and she gets tossed and banned. My ear rings for a while (on top of the tinnitus I already deal with) and I'm sure it contributes to some hearing loss. I generally will wear ear plugs anyway because they can all get pretty loud and I like to just let them without it damaging my hearing or driving me up the wall.

Alfie has a very loud very piercing squeak which goes straight through you. He is a master of waiting until you are right next to his cage (and he is at ear level) before making it. You can't help but flinch because it hurts your ear drums when he's that close! We try and ignore the behaviour and will only respond to him when he makes some other (nice) noise. We make sure we respond to the favourable noises and ignore the loud piercing squeak. It has lessened but he still catches us off guard every so often. No idea where he got it from either.

Aw he's adorable! And look at him rocking his harness!

I don't have or intend to have a baby so I have three pets- two cats and my african grey parrot Alfie. My sister had a dog before she had my nephew and so my nephew has grown up with the dog. Whilst it took some time for the dog to adjust to the sight, sound and smell of the new baby he did settle reasonably well and they are best buds these days. (My nephew is now 5). However I think the dog did get somewhat neglected when the baby was first born. My sister was quite ill throughout the pregnancy and afterwards and my brother in law had injured his knee and needed surgery/recovery so the dog didn't get walked very often for a while unless my parents or I stepped in to help. After that though things settled back down and the dog is well looked after and walked daily. If you're looking for a parrot as a pet (or already have one) then you need to understand that parrots will suffer greatly if neglected in favour of the child. I do see a lot of pets (not just parrots) being rehomed because of a new baby, which is sad. Any pet still needs all the care and attention they normally do, regardless of a new baby being born. And obviously babies require a lot of care and attention themselves- so if it were me I would be asking some really hard questions of myself as to whether I was prepared to dedicate the right amount of time to a baby plus my three pets. I wouldn't want to be in a position where I feel my only answer is to rehome a pet because I failed at caring for them as well as a baby.

Happy birthday to your cat!!

Nope. Peels are evil things attached to their food! All peels are unceremoniously tossed aside.

OMG!!!! He's absolutely adorable! Kudos to you for getting onboard with harness training him so early. Conures are nippy by nature, but not that difficult to read. My duskies are so full of personality, and I can just imagine what your little guy's vivacious personality is like. I think they all speak 'conure'. At least my duskies and pineapple do! Congrats on being owned by another birb!

Here's the carrier that he loves to stay in: 20190731_163307.mp4 20190803_144726.mp4

I moved 250 miles with all my parrots in their kitty carriers lined up in the back seat of my car (not to mention the cats in their carriers on car floor with a fish in tupperware wedged tightly between their carriers). My dog rode shotgun. Trip took nearly 6 hours (I followed the moving truck/lorry). For the parrots, I basically rolled up a hand towel and duct taped it (safely so no toes got stuck!) to bottom of each carrier so they could 'perch' on rolled towels until we got to my new home. Their cages were packed last on moving truck/lorry but still, it took a while to get the cages all set back up inside new home. I had given my parrots each some grapes in their carriers to eat for the journey, but only one ate hers. So I borrowed a large mug from a neighbor and poured them some water (brought from old city -- didn't want to upset their crops with strange new water yet) and each parrot drank and drank from that mug, they were so thirsty and I felt so guilty. I was trying to take turns, give each a couple swallows and then offer to next parrot (they were still in their carriers at this point) and Snickers figured out quickly to simply grab mug rim with his foot and hold tightly so that he could drink his fill. He had so little faith I was coming back to him for multiple turns at water drinking. I think between them, I had to tilt the mug a LOT -- they drank half a mug of water between them. Not recommending parrots go that many hours without access to water (and honestly, I had thought the grapes would provide enough sustenance and fluid enough for them to last the journey). I would NOT worry about water for a short hike!!!

When I was 19 (I'm 49 now) I bought my first parrot, an African Grey. There has always been something about the Greys that has drawn me (conures too). We named hrm (him/her) Odie and always called hrm Odie Podie. I only lived with Odie for a very short time, 4-5 years, as by 24, my then wife was filing divorce papers and I was given the boot. My ex-wife held onto my birds for a while, losing my conure outdoors I assume (I absolutely loved that bird) and then eventually giving Odie and Tigger (my Amazon) to my aunt that lives where I grew up in northern New Mexico. Thankfully I am still able to connect with Odie although I haven't done a good job of getting there regularly. The last time I saw Odie was in 2009, the last time I went to see my parents. That was the first time since 1994 that I had seen Odie. She recognized me after I started talking to her the way I used to. My Aunt could even tell that Odie knew who I was. This time around, it took Odie a little while longer to figure out who I was but she recognized me again. My aunt had her out in a garden cage (my aunt basically has a garden of eden in the desert) and we went over to see her. She wouldn't step up on my arm at first but eventually did but was cautious. I started talking to her like I used to and it wasn't long before she asked to climb up my arm onto my shoulder. I let her get on my shoulder and she turned her head and started rubbing my cheek exactly the same way GreycieMae does. It was heart-wrenching for me. I'm not one to cry but the rest of that day it's all I could think about and force myself to hold back the tears because I wasn't about to cry over a bird around my parents and brother. My aunt saw how Odie was acting with me again and took a moment to come over and tell me that she has given instruction when she passes that they (her husband and son) are to give Odie to me so she has a good place to live. That was very comforting. My aunt is 85 and getting frail so I'm assuming some day in the near future, I'll be headed back to New Mexico to gather up Odie and bring her home. She's in terrible shape to my eyes. I've showed these pics to my ex and she says she actually doesn't look too bad considering. My aunt said that when Tigger died back in '08/'09 that Odie started plucking and never stopped. So she's now a plucked bird but she'll always be beautiful to me. These first 5 pics of Odie on my aunt's arm and on my arm, you can see Odie is not too sure about this: Look at that face after she realizes who I am! I swear she has a smile going on that beak ❤️

Only my grey makes this noise (lie: my Amazon learned it FROM my grey but rarely used it, thankfully). It sort of sounds like a trainer/sneaker squeak on a polished wood floor basketball ball court -- but seems much louder. I used to assume a previous owner to my grey must have been a basketball fan. But then I read or saw somewhere when someone else made a comment about their african grey making an awful squeaking sound. This squeak seems to be uttered only when my grey isn't happy. Is this common among greys -- just something they're born knowing? Annoying!!! And apparently meant deliberately to be annoying. I hear it at bedtime, go back in your cage time, something new and different is near my cage time, or you left the room for a minute and abandoned me time. While obviously a macaw scream is worse... this loud grey squeak actually annoys me more for some reason. At least a macaw (well mine anyway) only screamed joyfully to greet the morning sun and the evening sunset. Normal. Any one else have a grey who does this horrible squeak? AND, is it only done when your grey is upset over something???

I am completely moved and amazed by their incredible long memories! I wish you could have Odie right now, but it sounds like it could be some time very in the very near future. Odie is beautiful, plucked and all!

When I go to the avian vet, I always take a bottle of water and a small bowl. I try to get Timber to drink before heading back, but it's always a no-go. After 6 hours he might though!

What a sad story of loss! I thought the same as LNCAG, except for the plucking Odie looks good. What a blessing that your aunt was available to take Odie, who knows where he would have ended up otherwise.

Our birds will show us what we're supposed to have known all along!

I've been through a few aloe vera plants over the last 30 years; some will live a long time then die for no reason I can figure out. I bought a new one 6 months or so ago. Btw, if a piece breaks off -- freeze it -- it can used later for burns and being cold is so wonderful for a burn! Medical advice: I do know my avian vet used to make a special mixture spray for parrots that contained aloe vera as an ingredient (my macaw received a horrible wing clip in the 90s by an ignorant vet (never went back to him nor ever clipped my macaw's wings again -- apparently he cut through more than primaries -- cut some secondary wings feathers). Anyway, point was, my macaw didn't understand it was her wing feathers messed up -- she figured it was her back injured (it was red from where her folded wings were scratching/irritating her back). That's when a real avian vet gave me his special aloe+ mixture to spray on her back. It soothed her back and eventually her wings feathers all grew back and her back healed up beautifully -- fully feathered back -- no lasting damage, thankfully. I keep everything, if I can find the bottle from the vet, I will tell you what's in it (if it's on the label) I really only remember it had aloe as a component in it.

Now I have to watch and see if my Snickers is also removing sunflower seed paper skins! I actually only offer a tablespoon of seed a few times a week as a treat -- but mine does go for the sunflower seeds first! (And I didn't know sunflower seeds had an additional paper skin either!!!) Too funny!

A closed door between baby and parrot will help as you slowly begin to introduce them to each other with extreme supervision. Also, giving the parrot some special one-on-one time (not easy, as a new mother you're going to be happily exhausted already)! And, in making time for pets and children -- you absolutely are going to need to find some YOU-TIME too! I hope you have a helpful partner! Good luck. For me, my pets ARE my children. No doubt an easier road but not a choice, just how my life worked out.

Bittersweet -- sad for you to lose your parrots in the first place (divorce is hard, dividing everything up). Also sad that in order to regain Odie, you have to lose a relative and trust others to honour her wishes. Sorry Odie picked out his chest feathers. But his eyes in some shots looked quite bright and alert: happy. Things usually work out somehow, so I'll remain hopeful for you both.

Piercing shriek and shrill both describe it -- it will hurt your ear if you're too close when he makes this loud squeak! It's a fairly short but quite loud squeak! But I can predict exactly when mine will do it; as mentioned --if I leave the room/leave the house, if I put him up, if someone he doesn't like enters the room, if some new object is noticed by him or placed too close to his cage, any change in my routine that affects him, etc.. So receiving his favourite dinners and treats would never elicit this shriek, nor being held by me -- this shriek is not a happy sound in my house. His happy sounds are whistling and talking, sometimes even murmuring softly (and soft beak grinding, obviously, before falling asleep). I have been viewing this loud squeak as him being upset or also a scared noise, but perhaps it just expresses his anger in general.

Well, it's been said that we should have a joke of the day thread.. Now at first I was reluctant to start this because with the crazy folks we have around here who knows what's gonna appear here.. GROUND RULES are needed and here they are.. NO "r" or "x" jokes.. Yeah, I know.. but this is a "g' rated forum and we can't have sexual material here.. and I will be policing this like crazy.. No one is saying you can't tell sexual jokes.. Just make sure you PM them to me.. OK... We had to start this over.. So post your jokes of the day here just like usual... Thanks everyone..

How much does it cost for a pirate to have his ears pierced? A buccaneer!

Well mine has seen better days but it's still (mostly) alive. I think I made a mistake and potted it in normal compost. I don't think they survive as well in compost? I'm guessing they need something a bit more gravel like- similar to a cactus. I'll have to do some reading and re-pot it before I accidentally kill it off.

Is it difficult to take care of an aloe vera plant? Is it sensitive or something?

I had fun reading all the jokes! Hahahahahahahahaha

I think Timber and Snickers must be related! lol

@neoow I admit the story of your sister running from a flying parrot was funny to me! I guess now you have to buy her some frozen garlic toast for her birthday each year or something! lol Lukaya (YN Amazon) was my escape artist. She somehow learned to swing the little triangle that holds the cage's food doors closed and escape that way. At first I thought it was an error on my part closing the doors properly, but no -- she was too smart for me. I ended up having to add washers to make that triangle tight instead of loosely swaying, and then also put a thin flat magnet over it. She never could swing that triangle again and escape. I tried Sellotape at first, but that got old fast (having to constantly remove, replace tape... smh! Lukaya was lucky she has toes -- she'd be loose in the bird room, no respect for the other parrots, walking on their cages. She's lucky one didn't get territorial and nip her toe off. Snickers absolutely despised Lukaya. @Timbersmom Yeah, I agree on supervision!!! I would only the leave the room for a couple seconds if the cat was asleep and Snickers was truly occupied by something (food/toy). And I mean truly just a couple seconds. I honestly think it would be the cat who got the most injured if they ever met up face to face.

I wouldn't worry too much about the food and water if the trips are relatively short. When I take Timber to the Avian vet (1.75 hours each way) he doesn't eat or drink anything. I asked the vet since I was a little concerned about it (it seems like he is eating or drinking often at home) and he said they usually wouldn't want food or water if in a different situation or environment and it was nothing to worry about.

I have two cats (was four until last year when the 18 and 19 year old cats crossed the divide). They are lazy and not very predatory. When I'm home, I let the cats and Timber be in the same area. The cats were curious when I brought Timber home, but lost interest after the "new" wore off. I did have scare one time when Wilson jumped up on Timber's playtop (he's nosy). I'm not sure who was more surprised, Timber or Wilson. That said, if I'm not able to watch them every minute, they are separated. It only takes seconds for a fatal accident to happen. I'd love to have a bengal! I can imagine that with their activity level and hunting instincts, they'd be much more likely to "chase and capture" even if they didn't have truly ill intent.