Inara

L O V E D the video. Mr. Peck is really reclaiming his dignity and prowess as a bird. It is so heartwarming to see! Nice logo for your new venture, by the way. Am off to visit the site.

Echo is beautiful, and it's apparent how well loved and cared for s/he is. You're doing a wonderful job, in a difficult and less than ideal situation. If your bedside manner is anything at all like the care and interest that you are giving this little helpless companion, you are going to make a wonderful doctor. If you're not doing it yet, may I suggest keeping a journal with the occasional photo? It will be really great for you later to look back at physical/emotional and vocal development. It's also great to add a weekly weight into it as it can be easy to start forgetting as one goes along. So glad you are here!

One of Inara's first new words after coming to live with us just past age 2 was "coffee." She still says it when I turn on the espresso machine in the mornings, and she says it at about 2:30 - 3:00 in the afternoon, as that is the time I usually fix myself an afternoon cup. PS: I think "Rom" is adorable also!!!

You might call around to various vets and see if there is a vet tech/vet assistant whom you could hire to come to your home daily.

Any and/or all of the above. I put boiling water on a folded up paper towel, spritz it with vinegar and use that to wipe everything down. If there are dried stuck on bits I either set the paper towel on those for a few secmonds to soften, or I spray with a natual enzyme prodect called Natures Habitat. Then I rewipe everything down with another boiling water only paper towel. I do this every morning so it really only takes a few minutes. Once a week I wipe down every bar and nook and cranny and now that it is summer here, I tke the entire cage outside, hose it down and let the sunshine dry it and really bake it abt once a month.

Steve, many of us have had our trainingwheel birds and in hindsight are thankful they survived our learning periods Your Toulous is such a well loved and cared for guy, and it is great to think of the many years ahead of fun for you both.

Carol, what a scary weekend for you! I sincerely hope all gets sorted out and that you are now on a road to better health. You are so correct in saying that we often do not think about the tomorrows arriving faster than we've planned. Your post is a great reminder to us all to have an emergency plan for our birds in place in case of our own unexpected hospitalization. Hugs to you, you must have been very frightened!

My wild caught (and much traumatized) Amazon, Elliot never ever did step to my hand or my arm without stepping onto his stick (an old small tree twig) first. He had been so abused by humans that hands were just permanently off limits for him. He did, after much time together, happily move up the stick to my arm then my shoulder. But to retrieve him from his tree (or a high curtain rod upon which he loved to perch) his stick was the only way for nearly 20 years. I was just thrilled he wanted to have anything to do with any human after all he'd been through. In fact, because my first birds were way pre-internet days, I didn't know a thing about "step up" or other bird type commands. I hung out with falconers, was used to handling raptors all the way up to the size of gyr falcons, so just used instinct, love, calmness, patience and lots of positive reinforcement for relationship building. Lestat, my wild caught CAG eventually moved from the stick to my hand to loving just hanging out upon my shoulder. To me, it's (imho) no big deal whether or not a bird ever steps up or not. It's wonderful that Mr. Peck is comfortable with stepping to a stick -- it shows he doe want to hang out with you and wants to get closer. I'm a bettin' woman and I'm betting that he will indeed be scootching closer and closer and upon you in no time. Love reading about his progress --- he's got his little (trimmed) talons wrapped around your heart

When your boobages suddenly feel a bit loose on one side, and you realize that what you thought was your Grey rappelling from your shirt's shoulder was actually your Grey snipping your bra strap....

OY!!! On the other hand, loved watching Greycie's spa day!

Direct from Phoenix Landing Here.

You've received some great advice! How frustrating for you that Elwood does not seem to be responding to all of the appropriate remedies you've tried. My TAG makes this very irritating sound that I finally traced to our plates clattering together when I take them out of the dishwasher. Of all the sounds to pick up and amplify, that one was not one I would have liked. By considering your TAG's noise a tantrum, you're already raising your own blood pressure and irritation level. Elwood is simply making a noise, one that Elwood learned at some point in life and that she thinks sounds great. Check the noise level in your home when Elwood does the sound. It's natural for Greys, especially, to want to join in the party so if the humans in the room are having a lively conversation, laughing, talking animatedly, or the TV is going, Greys will often up the ante in the noise department. If your house is quiet, it's another story. Ignoring/rewarding works best when it is immediate. This is a case where clicker training may also be very helpful. There are very good books out there on the proper way to clicker train to extinguish unwanted behaviors in a positive manner. Keep us posted, and I agree a video would be great info. Hang in there we're all behind you!

Welcome to you and Bogart! Yes, for every expert opinion there are equal and opposite experts so take what works for you and your bird/family as there is indeed a wealth of information here. I've had the honor of having shared my life with two wild caught birds, and have a soft spot for anyone who accepts into their home, life and heart an older bird who may or may not have issues. Sounds like Bogie wants to be your bud, but slow it down a bit with him. What you do now will set the tempo for the rest of your relationship and Greys have loooooooooooooong memories. Please don't blow in his face. That is really not a good training technique and is unnecessary. Flooding him, by letting him attack your arm, albeit shielded in leather, is not really teaching him that biting is futile -- but rather Resistence Is Futile. What you want to work toward is mutual trust, not his submission. Many birds, really don't like bare skin to begin with. It can be a bit freaky for them, since they are feathered. So long sleeved shirt is a great idea, and just offer your arm near his open door. Refrain from putting your arm into his cage at this point, because he needs to be able to retreat. Biting comes from fear and frustration, not from aggression -- until we as humans teach aggression by training methods that are outdated and ineffective, or by our own fear responses, behaviors from us that trigger their fear responses, or from neglect/abuse, pain/illness. So glad to know that you are following up with a positive experience, now move toward making *every* interaction a positive one. You will be amazed at how Bogie will move along. He's made it clear he wants to be friends with you, let him call the shots. Remember, that a reach toward you with his beak is not always a motion that will end in a bite, it is often a motion of affection (open beak with light pressure). Yes, he may not have appeared to be freaked out by gloves or the leather sleeves, but those are often what were worn way back when when birds such as Bogie were captured and stuffed into sacks and boxes as they were torn out of the wild. Hence the going to town on your sleeved arm, perhaps, sounds a bit freaked out to me. Relax, give him boatloads of treats, if you offer your arm and he does come to it, rather than putting your arm back in his cage, just hold your arm close enough to his cage so that he can climb onto the cage itself easily, and move slowly. Don't stare at him, but rather tilt your head and look at him sideways here and there, and keep your body relaxed and movements slow. Offer him treats at about the extent of his beak reach, so that he does not have the ability to get in a good quick bite when reaching for the treat, either. I am so loving that you are going to have a great pal sooner than you think, and am excited that you are so willing and committed to learning about how to develop the best relationship possible with your new bud.

So sweet!! Congratulations, you are welcoming a very fascinating, brilliant, and sensitive creature into your life. It is great that you still have so much time to educate yourself about raising your new little one to become a companion that fills your home with love and laughter...ok and poop and fluff and debris and sounds that can amaze, delight, and at times even annoy Can't wait to hear about every step of the way!

This is good information about most of the time she flew and attacked your wife from her main cage. But in general, she seems to really like your wife. So we need to take a look at what is happening right befote the attacks. What can seem like random usually winds up having clues. Who else, if anyone, was also in the room? If someone else was in the room, where were they positioned? How far from or how close to the cage was your wife each time? What was the purpuse of her approaching or moving in the direction of the cage? Do you abundance feed your bird so that it always has access to plenty of food? Are there materials in its cage that are nestlike? Do the attacks happen in the morning, afternoon, evening? Look for clues and I bet we can all help suss this out.

Ray, I love this thread. I still tear up when I think of my Elliot. He was such an awful biting screeching (and then killed a bird) mess that the pet store GAVE him to me (long story, I'll post sometime) after a guy that bought him brought him back and dumped him off in his cage one early morning before the pet store opened. This was in the 70's, pre-internet also. I had haunted the pet store in our little town for years but could never afford the prices. I was a teenaged mom, alone. Imagine my delight when they gave him to me, for FREE!! Again too long of a story to post here, don't want to hijack your thread but the long and short of it is that I named him Elliot (after Elliot Gould in M*A*S*H) and loved him until the day he died. He was terrified of people, gloves, and cages so would lash out at all and make this Karackarack!!!!!!!!!!! sound looking wild and crazy. He had plucked himself. I didn't see a "bronco" untamable wild caught crazy bird. I saw a terrified, mishandled bird. Elliot was my first great teacher. I threw out the cage, drilled a circular hole in an old coffee table, parked a huge branch in it from my back yard, and he climbed right up. He quietly perched there day after day, and I would leave him little offerings on some of the branches, near food and water cups that I had attached to the branches. He never would step onto my hand even after all the years we shared together, but he would happily climb onto a stick that I would extend for him and from there he would scoot up my arm and to my shoulder. He became so gentle and such a lover that he would preen my eyebrows and eyelashes with the most delicate touch I've ever felt from creature or human. We grew (obviously) to trust each other immensely. He was my first great love and reading about your beautiful Cricket and then untimely passing just broke my heart no end.

Woo hoo!!! How exciting!!

Those sound perfect! HRH was not keen on the regular sized cones, and I honestly didn't even think about the baby cones. /smacksforehead. I'm going to give those a try. Now that she loves her little foraging carousel, I'm thinking that putting one standing upright in one of its boxes might do the trick. She's much more adventurous about food and toys than when she first arrived.

You've been given some very good advice. For just a moment, put yourself into the body of your Grey. By nature they are prey animals not predators. As such, they are highly attuned to their environments and those other creatures in it. By nature, they will be fearful of animals (you and your wife) looming over them as they are most vulnerable when they are not in high place. Cage dominance is a myth, and cage aggression is usually because a human is not reading their bird, and is simply reaching (in the bird's mind) into their cage without warning and in a manner that to the bird is unpredictable. Imagine how you would react if a creature many tens of times bigger than you reached into your house, and brought you out of it anytime they felt like it. You would eventually find yourself defending not your house, but *yourself.* This is what then translates to humans as "cage aggression." It's not the cage that they are being aggressive about, it's the humans that have taught them that the only way to avoid being forced to step up or taken out of their cage, is to bite. So stop, relax, and change perspectives. It's apparent that you love your companion and want them to have the very best life possible. Find something higher that you can set the sleep cage upon -- so (as Dave007 said) it is at least at eye level. This way you and/or your wife are not triggering an instinctive fear/defense response by 1) looming over from above (something predators do) and 2) are not casting a shadow from above (again what raptors and other birds do before striking or stooping on their prey). This will go a along way. Talk softly and move slowly (but not creepily slow) when approaching the cage, and when offering to have your bird step up from it's cage, don't put your hands right up to the bird --- instead, offer your hand near the open door, ask/invite your bird to step up, and if it chooses not to, respect that and give it several seconds to change its mind. There are many days when Inara does not care to leave her cage. These are usually days that later rain or snow or somehow have a weather shift. It's natural for her to want to be safe and quiet on those days, and she has become a good weather predictor. We think that we are doing our companions a favor by taking them from their cages/homes but that is not always the case. Like us, they have days when the just want to be left alone. Since you're talking about a sleep cage, certainly it is smaller than the main cage, so I understand why you would want to move your bird from it. Perhaps try rather than moving your bird, moving the sleep cage in the morning instead near to its home cage, and opening both doors which would allow your bird to choose for itself to come out. Also, I'm a big advocate for reshaping the biting behavior, but offering a perch/stick instead of a hand. My wild caught (and highly abused Amazon) never ever did step up to my hand, but would happily move from a stick to my arm to my shoulder. My ego was not wrapped up in having him step to my hand. I was delighted he wanted to have anything at all to do with me or any other human after all he had been through. Have your wife, offer a stick for your bird to step up to. This will allow your wife to feel more relaxed, and your bird also. Always keep in mind that the majority if not all bites come from fear and/or frustration. They do not come from anger, spite, maliciousness. They happen because we are either forcing ourselves upon our birds, we are mistakenly doing something that we might think is good for our bird but they to not want at all (like taking them from their cage/home when they don't feel like going), or we are triggering their fear instinct and they are acting from their perspective in self defense. Think: YOU are giants, the bird sees you that way. So move and act accordingly. I've shared over 20 years of my life with birds who have bitten the crap out of other people and one who killed another bird, and I've not been bitten once. Ever. Now that is not saying that some day it won't happen to me. I'm not a magical "bird wizard" or "bird whisperer" but I do attribute this to being able to really read subtle changes and signals, to not expecting my birds to be anything other than birds, and to always always respecting them and allowing them to take the lead in our interactions, not the other way around. We humans train our birds to bite us out of our own naivete, our ignorance, moving too fast, disrespecting their attempts to communicate "back off" to us, our best intentions that might not be what *they* feel is best, and on the despicable end of the spectrum our neglect and abuse (and you are *not* not that end of the spectrum nor is anyone on this forum). So just keep "fear" and "frustration" in mind. Start from square one, rebuild trust, try having your wife use a perch/stick to move your bird, set the sleep cage up higher if you truly can't do without it, move the sleep cage in the mornings rather than the bird, relax, and know that sometimes our best intentions and what we think as humans is kindness, may not be how the bird sees it. Cheering for you, your wife and your companion, as I imagine your own frustration is running high.

According to HRH Inara's first people, she began saying a few words at about 8-ish months old. When she came to us at about 26 months, she knew a few words. Now she's a complete chatterbox. My first CAG Lestat, purportedly did not talk ever, just screamed and screeched. When he came to live with me post 10 years old, after a couple of months he started talking. It was as if he had stored up a lifetime of listening. I agree, they will talk if and when they wish to. With Inara, anytime she made even the slightest vocalizations, I'd give her a little treat to let her know that vocalizing around us was a good thing. This seemed to help her get over her shyness about talking directly to us.

Loved the update on Escher!! What a sweetpea and how wonderful that you're sailing through the "twos" HRH Inara will be 3 in a couple of weeks, and she was a gem going through the 2s. She, too, is a complete sweetheart although not quite a snuggler. She's more of a percher -- likes to just hang out on my upper arm (rappels off my shoulder).

HRH Inara likes to dip anything dry and/or hard into her water dish for her own brand of soup. Fiesta nutriberries with hot peppers are one of her favorite ingredients. She does not do it with her tropical fruit ones -- they are soft and moist. She likes to soften things up. I usually pre-crack her almond in the shell for her, and when one slipped by quality control, I noticed it later soaking away in her water dish softening. up. Natch, water get changed around here several times a day.

It should be fine. It will be softer and more liquidy at room temperature and more solid when cold. It technically doesn't even need refrigeration, and keeps for a year or so unrefrigerated. I keep mine in the fridge to extend the shelf life.

Thank you, Steve, for your kind words and for the input on the font color. It appeared darker grey on my monitor and I had no idea it was close to "invisible ink." I've changed it to basic black for ease of reading.

Great idea! I use a vinyl office chair pad under Inara's cage, and also another one in the living room over the carpet in front of the sofa where she likes to sit on one of her perches while I read. Also works like a charm. I like that the boot trays are smaller, and could move around easier -- great for under portable perches or play areas. Thanks for sharing your "fix."