Cosmos_Friend

Dave, I posted about it being Cosmo's birthday and have a little story about how it all came to be for us, and some pictures as well. Thanks for the info. about this "special place". ~Rick

Hi everyone. Today my male CAG is 6 years old. His name is Cosmo and as my user name suggests, he's my friend,.. my best friend. One day back in late 2007, I went to a local pet shop to buy some supplies for my fresh water fish and immediately spotted two Congo Greys standing on top of a cage on the front counter. I thought this odd because this pet shop dealt primarily with fish. Having been a "parrot person" for a lot of years, I asked the owner, "hey, Bob, how much for the Greys?" He gave me a price for each, I bought my supplies and went back home to my apartment of which I had recently moved to. When I got home, I got on my PC and started research on Grey's and their needs. (a lot of which over the years I found to be bogus) However it gave me a good start to successfully start in taking care of these wonderful birds. The next day I went back to this shop and expressed interest in purchasing one. I mentioned before, I have been a "parrot person" for some time, ever since I've been 10 years old and have owned many different parrots over the years. As a matter of fact, a few months earlier, I had to give away my Amazon and Cockatoo because the apartment complex I moved to (and still live in) didn't allow pets, this wasn't going to stop me though, in owning a Grey. They were two Congo Grey's, a male and a female both from same nest who hatched just 13 weeks earlier and were given to the owner of the pet shop by a friend of his who bred Greys for him to sell. I first handled the female and she seemed a bit nervous, the male however, still on top of the cage was very inquisitive. He kept staring at me, his head tilted and periodically bobbing up and down. I knew this to be a good sign from him, as parrots also choose you too. I set the female back on the cage and offered my hand to the male who was all to eager to perch himself on. He stared at me and I smiled at him. He then lowered both wings exposing his back and allowed me to gently stroke it. "I'll take him" I said to Bob the shop owner. I don't want to tell every detail of this fantastic journey of Cosmo and I living and learning from each other over the years because I'd be here all night at the keyboard. However I will say that Cosmo runs the apartment! What I mean is he'll tell me when it's time for sleep. At 7 O'clock every night, he'll exclaim, "Riiick" (he'll often draw my name out) "it's time for sleep!" "OK, it's time for sleep" then ring one of his bells in his cage. He'll do this with increasing intensity until I cover his cage, turn off his feather-brite light, turn on his moon light, turn off all the lights in the living room, lower the T.V. until I can even barely hear it. And dare I make a sound, he'll ring the bell and yell from his cage, "Jesus Christ, it's time for sleep" (I hope I didn't offend any one with that ) You see, Cosmo has a pretty full vocabulary, if you know what I mean. He reminds me to fill the humidifier, to check the mail, ect. His favorite T.V. shows are the Andy Griffith Show and the cartoon Huckleberry Hound. He loves to tease my 13 year old cat I had adopted 3 years back, Sylvester, every time he uses the litter box, "Sylvester went poop in the poop box, whewwww!" He is a character! Well, that's enough about Cosmo for now and we both wish all the Grey's in this forum a very happy birthday and many more to come!

Thanks, all! and Cosmo thanks you too. I got him a "Ferris Wheel Swing" for his B-day gift. I ordered it from "Doctors Foster and Smith". It's a foraging toy that's a swing with a wheel that you can wedge treats in between rungs whereas your parrot spins around and pulls the treats out. He was so excited, he bobbed his head for quite a while!

Oh, by the way, today is Cosmos' birthday, He hatched at 2:10 PM July 11th 2007. I got him some 13 weeks later. Happy birthday Cosmo, it's been 6 wonderful years!

I certainly didn't mean to try to sell any product nor give advice to those who are more experienced than me. I did do some research on the African Grey Spray and all it contains is purified water, aloe vera and Omega3. I've been using it for a few years however I am open to any of the suggestions that I read in the forum that was setup already on this topic. I forgot to mention that I also feed Cosmo fresh vegetables and fruits daily such as broccoli, Brussels sprouts, kale, bean sprouts. He loves fresh apples, pears and papaya as well. I'm not one to jump at any "shiny object" I see however I pretty much go by what his likes and dislikes are (in most cases). I just want to mention this because I wouldn't want anyone to think that I'm some guy, who a few years ago purchased an African Grey because I saw one on "Worlds Smartest Animals" or "The Tonight Show" and thought it would be cool to have one., no. I've owned different species of parrots since I was 10 years old and now I'm pushing 50. It's good to have a venue such as this to ask questions and double-check solutions with you who are out there and know the African Grey with more years of experience with them than me. Thanks for being there!

I know this has been talked about a lot before in other forums, however... I've found a method of feeding, cleaning and keeping comfortable, my CAG that has worked for several years. I just thought I'd share with you what I've found and have stuck with for quite a while now that works for my Congo Grey (Cosmo). I can Imagine that there's people out there who've read some of the writings to these forums and all thought very informative, some of these may be frustrating to those who's Congo Grey just doesn't comply to how everyone else is caring for their parrot. Cosmo, is almost 6 years old now and we've been best of friends since he was 13 weeks old. First off, I could never get him to eat Harrison's food no matter how I've tried and I've tried everything in the book. He will Just NOT eat pellet food. I eventually came to find a seed food blend that is a great alternative. It's ABBA 1300. It's a seed, whole food, nut, herb....combo blend that I buy on line on a parrot supply web site. Let us not forget, parrots by nature eat seeds. As a matter for fact, a Congo Grey's natural (in the wild) diet is seeds, nuts, bark of almost any tree and a occasional snail. However, we as lovers and owners of the beloved birds have found that they can live much longer and healthier lives in our care with special attention to their needs. I supplement Cosmo's diet 3 days a week with a small amount per serving of "Avian Plus" multi-vitamin, multi-mineral supplement that also has a full array of amino acids as well as kelp (iodine) which is an important nutrient to a Grey's diet (as well as other parrots) for healthy thyroid and feather health. (Note: Do not give this supplement or any other to your Grey if they're eating Harrison's food!) and of course not really having to say, fresh filtered water every day. Next, I want to mention bathing. Some people will claim that you need to spray your parrot down every day. My opinion (and or course it's open to conjecture) is that your parrot will be wet every day. :confused: I would think that eventually, they'll get a chill and get sick. I spray my Grey down well once a week with "African Grey Spray" made by a company named Mango. It contains purified water, aloe vera, omega3 and omega6 oils in a "non-residual blend", there's no fragrance added. Of course last but not least, there's the attention and love that they need and will give back to you ten-fold. A safe comfortable, clean cage environment to live and sleep in with plenty of toys to keep them occupied, as well as plenty of outside-the-cage time with your attention.

"Joe misses Spock..." It always hurts when we lose a loved one. I shed a tear reading your post about Spock.

Yeah, the pad lock has seemed to curb his escaping from his cage, although he can get out through the doors of his food stations. I guess It was a phase he went through at the time.

Kevin, You've joined the best African Grey Site on the web. There's a lot of experience here and everyone is very eager to help us all with any question, or even share stories and pictures of our Grey feathered friends. I just joined grey forums last week and I'm glad I did. I've had parrots of many species since I was 10 years old, I'm almost 50 now. Just about 6 years ago, I purchased a male Congo Grey, he was 13 weeks old at the time. I can't begin to tell you in this one reply, how he became (right from the start) the most special friend in my life. I consider him my room mate with feathers and a beak! I've read somewhere that "African Grey's are natures little secret". Yes they are.

That was a sad story username: Tari wrote. I noticed this thread was started some years ago. There's some non-stick pots and pans out there now that does not use Teflon. "Orgeenic" is one pan that uses ceramic as a non-stick surface and is relatively in expensive. There's also "Stone-Ware" that's even better than the Orgreenic pans at keeping food from sticking, but rather expensive. I use Orgreenic, both companies state that their pots and pans do not use nor emit PTFE or any other harmful fumes.

This escape artist routine was a problem for a while. He would get out of cage all kinds of ways. I'd come home and find him sitting on the back of a kitchen chair, on the curtain rod in the living room...one time, I came home and Cosmo was on the floor next to the fish tank cabinet and Sylvester, my cat was on top of the cabinet. Cosmo was saying, "Hey...Hey...". I opted to put a pad lock on his door, he hasn't got out since (that I know of). I'm disabled, so I spend a lot of time with him, and he has ample out-of-the-cage time, so I guess he doesn't like it when I go out.

It was a funny scene. It was almost if he was saying, "Aaa-Haaa, I don't have to wait until you let me out".

Yeah, they like to get their beak into everything.

Here's another one, One day about two years ago, I was sitting in my kitchen having a cup of coffee when I heard from the living room a load crash. I ran into the room to find Cosmo on top of his cage door (which was opened backwards) holding a large bolt in one of his claws. He unscrewed the nut and bolt that holds the door on it's hinge, opening it backwards. I stood there looking at him, he was looking at me waving the bolt in his claw. When I tried to screw the nut and bolt back on the doors hinge, I found that it was impossible to get any wrench (or even my fingers) between two bars where the hinge was located. The cage had to be put together when it arrived some years ago, but the door was factory installed on the front part of the cage. I had to call the manufacturer and explain what happened (the lady on the phone took silent for a second) and they sent me this special wrench to reach the bolt when in place, and tighten the nut, however I put a little Lock-Tite on the threads first. How in the "...." did Cosmo do that! (I said to myself). I've attached a picture of his cage.

Thanks all for sharing. Just like dw310's Grey, Cosmo knows when I'm not my usual self. He'll say "Rick, are you OK?" then he'll say "Come here, Up, Up, Up". I'll walk over to where he's perched, he'll lift up one of his claws for me to reach out my finger, he'll hold it and say "It's OK". He also reminds me to check the mail, and to check the humidifier, "Rick, check the mail... "Rick, check the humidifier". He'll say good by to me when I leave the apartment, at 7:30 every night he'll say, "Time for sleep" where I have to cover his cage and keep real quite or else he'll express frustration. Same thing with his afternoon nap, "Time to take a nap". One day, I brought home a foraging toy called Tiki Take-out. It was a hard plastic hut where you would put a treat into the hut and cage it in with wooden dowels through a hidden door on the bottom of the toy, securing it with a swivel lock using a dime as a key. I set this up out his site (not trying to test him or anything). I hung it in his cage where he began to feel out the dowels with his beak. He then started to look around the top, sides, then the bottom of the hut. When looked at the bottom, he quickly opened the lock and the treat and dowels fell to the bottom of his cage, he scurried down to eat the nut I put in there. I was flabbergasted! This took all of about 2 minutes for him to figure out! Cosmo cognitively realized that I had to put that treat in the hut somehow. Just as my signature states, I think he's smarted than I am.

Again, thank you for the warm welcome and responses and I'll be looking forward to conversations with you on the other forums.

I'll try to post some pictures using one of the methods in "how to post pictures" Here's a funny story, one day I came home with a new toy for Cosmo. After introducing him to the toy, I proceeded to attach it in his cage. He has a rather large cage; 40" deep by 30" wide and 6-1/2 feet tall at the dome. I dropped it twice while trying to fit the hooks on the bars of the cage. when the toy dropped out my hand the second time, Cosmo exclaimed, "Oh for God's sake". He always makes me laugh!

Hi, and thanks for the warm welcome. Cosmo is a real character! He rules the apartment, he tells me when it's time to go to sleep, "Rick, time for sleep". He tells me when it's time for his nap and I have to be very quite during these times or he'll get mad. He has an extensive vocabulary, enjoys his out-of the cage time as well as his time in his cage home. When I picked him up from the breeder, he took to me right away. We've been best buddies ever since. I also have a cat I rescued form being put to sleep, the cat was 9 1/2 years old at the time now going on 13. He had been declawed by a previous owner and Cosmo and Sylvester get along great. I'd attach some pictures, however all my photos are on my hard drive. The insert image button prompts for a web address. It also seems that I have to upload pictures to a home directory. I'll look further into it, however I could use some tips.

Hi, and thanks for the warm welcome.

My name is Rick, and I'm new to grey forums. I have a male Congo since he was 13 weeks old, who will be 6 years old this July 15th. I'm looking forward to future discussions with you about our gray feathered friends.