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Don`t sell Alfie short when it comes to change. Two years ago I lost my wife of 47 years and Corky went through her grief with us. She has adjusted to life the same as she would have to in the wild. When you share life with a grey they become more like you and vise a versa.

My housemate is moving out this month and I'm not sure how Alfie is going to take it. My housemate has been living here since I first bought the house nearly 7 years ago. He previously lived with us whilst I was renting for about a year as well, but had very little to do with Alfie during that time. Over the 7 years Alfie and my housemate have bonded. It took a long time but Alfie shows a lot of interest in him and will let him give him scritches through his cage and out of it. I think Alfie actually prefers my housemate over me at the moment. So I'm worried that he's going to take the move pretty hard. Similarly, I think the cats will find it hard too. They don't spend a massive amount of time together but Alfie does show a lot of interest in my housemate when he's in the room. It's not that we'll never see him again - he'll probably visit when the lockdown rules start being relaxed (whenever that may be) but obviously that's different to being here all the time. I always knew this day would come round eventually. It's going to take a while for us all to adjust. I only spent a year or so living on my own previously. I've always had housemates or was living with family prior to that. So it's going to be a bit weird to not have him around any more. Might take us all a little while to adjust!

I was just curious about folks not thinking before they get a Grey. Kinda like the puppy in the window. I'm going to phrase this in general terms, as it has nothing to do with any registered member here, but who knows who reads here. This is the first time I have run into this. Folks get a grey, and when the novelty wears off, all kinds of excuses are made to offload said puppy/grey. Has anyone run into a person that saw they owned a grey and just thought it was the coolest thing in the world, and was warned its a till death do we part kind of thing, and a relationship that takes years to cultivate, and said relationship may change often and you don't bail at the first sign of trouble. Excuses could be "after two years we found out everyone in the family is allergic to said puppy/grey" The excuse is kinda lame as you would have known this BEFORE two years. I'm kinda feeling some guilt for showing Sukei to them in the first place as they went overboard and got two greys. If this was a close friend, would you have any thoughts for said person? They already knew Sukei and I have our ups and downs, but the commitment is always there, and we work through issues, no matter what. I tried love is not always a feeling, but rather a constant commitment to a relationship, sometimes the feeling is there, sometimes it is not, but you work through it and the feelings return for both you and your grey(s) They are almost more human then we are. I dunno, I hope this makes sense. I re read it twice, and it barley makes sense to me, maybe you folks are more in touch with your inner self LOL

I'm sure Alfie will be confused and upset for awhile, but he will adapt. They are creatures of habit if nothing else!

Long story short !! If you do it enough they will do it too

There is no time like Grey time. I have had Corky for almost 20 years now and there is nothing hat she dose that will surprise me. She is ever changing in her actions and when you least expect it comes up with something new. There are times they want it their way and there is nothing you can do to change that. It`s their way of showing their independence. A grey is like a child. You just love them for who they are. When they say the time is right, well you know the rest.

You just posted the exact situation I have minus one Grey. LOL

Huey got me on the lip last night. Ripped it good. To me he's so cute I can't resist him but he knows he can sucker me in and get me. My wife can cuddle him, kiss him, roll him over, snuggles...I get nothing but sucker moves. I'm lucky though, my GreycieMae is so pliable, she's my little sweetling. I can do anything with her.

It's a great feeling when you finally have some kind of breakthrough like that. Alfie has started flying to me again recently after mostly ignoring me for weeks and weeks. He's still not accepting head scritches from me when he's in his cage. But I'll take whatever I can get.

Haha that's brilliant. Alfie has learned to cough, sneeze, 'blow his nose' and sniff.

I think this is true of any animal- how many hamsters, gerbils, rabbits, guinea pigs, fish, cats, dogs, parrots, reptiles etc etc are bought on a whim and then abandoned because they're too much work? Some will buy them for children and then wonder why the child loses interest or stops cleaning up after the pet. Others will see a pet in a film, a book, in a pet store or at a friend/relatives house and think that they want one themselves, without doing research or putting the effort in to learn about their care. My first job was in a pet store and I sold animals to people knowing that the child would probably lose interest or the adult hadn't done enough research. We had leaflets we handed out which was a basic care guide but all too often people would buy the smallest cage, stuff the leaflet in their pocket and think they knew better. Or maybe even went in with the attitude "it's just a hamster" or "it's just a budgie" as opposed to "this is a living breathing animal that deserves the best care and attention". I've seen posts where people will allow their small animal or bird to suffer and die of illness because they see it as a throw away or starter pet. They have the attitude that 'a new one will cost me £10 whereas the vet will be expensive'. I will be the first to admit that for a time I was failing to provide enough attention for Alfie. I got him when I was 17 years old. I fell in love with parrots whilst working at that same pet store. I did loads of research and reading and spent all my savings on Alfie. I thought I knew best and I thought I could provide a good environment for him for the rest of his life. I thought I had life all mapped out as you do when you're 17. But life is tougher than that and it's guaranteed to change. I started a career in IT and worked my arse off, which meant I was putting longer hours in the more I progressed. I was trying to study for a degree at the same time. I lived with housemates who didn't like Alfie and the layout of the house didn't work either. I spent less and less time with Alfie to the point I considered rehoming him. But I couldn't do it to him. He didn't ask for any of this. So I figured I would try and re-prioritize everything. My housemates moved out and I shuffled things around. The house still didn't work so when I moved into my own house I made sure the layout worked and he was the centre of attention. I have spent years working on and rebuilding our relationship and trust and I don't always get it right- but I'm trying as hard as I can to provide him with the life he deserves. And I'm glad I made that choice because I don't think I could have forgiven myself if I had rehomed him.

I always down-play the fun of having a bird. They are a ton of constant work if you take care of them properly and most people are too lazy to keep it up for years on end. I always wonder how I'm going to keep it up if I make it into my elderly years but my Dad is 80 and still takes care of cattle and horses and works outside daily. If he can do it, so can I.

Sukei coughs and does the "Im sick" routine, but never has gone after a pill bottle. LOL, and from the looks of it he wants in that bottle very badly. LOL, too funny.