Inara

How exciting for you and Peppie to have found one another. He sounds like such a little sweetheart. You have landed in the best forum ever. In my own short time here, I've come to know that everyone here is very helpful and that the various threads are filled with an incredible wealth of information. Be sure to take a lot of time and go through them, you will learn a lot. We all really love to share photos and videos too, so don't be shy. Here is a great thread for you to read that will help you understand Peppie's body language: Parrot Body Language It's always a good idea to find an avian vet as soon as you can and to have your bird looked over. This establishes a relationship with a vet, it keeps you from ever having to search frantically for one in the case of an unforseen emergency and allows the vet to have a baseline on your bird as well. Did your bird come with any earlier papers from having been vetted and/or DNA sexed, etc? It's nice to know when your bird was last seen by a vet and given a clean bill of health. I think what you're asking, though, is should you take him in right away. If he's been shown to be healthy, there's probably no rush, and is a matter of opinion/preference. Personally, I took Inara in after giving her a few days to settle in to her new home. In prep for the vet trip, I put her in and out of her travel cage several times over those few days, so that she did not just associate it with going to the vet, and/or going to a new owner. You might want to consider doing something along those lines while you're waiting for an appointment. Would love to know more about your young guy. What's his name? How did you come to find him? And photos are always great, as Ray said!

Hi Ony, and welcome. It's great that your companion is chatting and learning. We'd all love to know more about him. The Introduction thread is a great place to land and to introduce yourself and your bird and to tell us the story of how the two of you came to be together. Many birds will talk up a storm while alone, and it is natural for them to practice talking off and on during the day also. Some are very shy about talking when a camera in view or when sitting upon their humans, etc. My Inara was like that and still talks a lot when in her cage. She does now talk a lot with me when she is on my arm, knee or shoulder, and when she is very near to me. I used to carry lots of tiny bits of treats in my pocket, and whenever she was on me or near me and would make *any* sound, I would give her a tiny bit of treat and tell her that was good. She began to learn that it was OK to make noise near me, and eventually this progressed to words, and now she's a chatterbox and will say things directly to me, to my husband and to the dog. When we have guests, they usually bring their dogs, so Inara goes back into her cage. She, like Joyvke's Django will join in the conversation and make herself heard from her cage while our guests are talking. It is natural for parrots to join in the noise level of the house, as they are very social. You might also notice your companion being more noisy during the early morning and late afternoon, which is what they do in nature. Those might be a couple times of day for you to plan some vocal interaction time. In any event, don't worry if your bird doesn't talk when you're around. Just keep talking to him, and being a good companion. They all just do things in their own way and their own time.

hahahaha!! This is such a great pic! Can't help but laugh out loud seeing this one. Fun, fun!

I think maybe I need to upgrade my face! Loved this piccie, Sterling. Greycie and Toby are just so gorgeous and you're not so bad yourself, bud. Our family has a cattle ranch -- I get the hat thing. Nice of your flock to allow you a little office space, I'll have to have HRH Inara send Greycie a note to tell her and Toby to up your rent. Ah, Ah, Ah, Ah Stayin' aliiiiiiiiiive

Gosh, I honestly don't know. I have always loved the raptors also. I adored my 'zon and my CAG (RIP). There are so many beautiful birds. I'd be happy sharing my life with a raven, really. So I guess it would depend upon *the* bird itself. Personality, intelligence, and just overall chemistry with it. Greys, however have been at the top of my list forever, and still are second only to pterodactyls.

Great vids, thanks for sharing them!

Back seat...erm...*shoulder* driving. HRH Inara has taken things into her own talons and yesterday trained me how to drive her about the house. Yesterday, she was playing on her little play perch, turned to me, lifted a foot high, and said, "Step up." I obliged by holding out my hand, wherein she stepped up, then said, "up up" which means to go to my shoulder. She made her way to my shoulder, then said just, "up," and looked at me intently, then said it again insistently. So I stood up. Inara then said, "ready to go!" and leaned forward in the direction of the kitchen. So I walked to the kitchen and stopped. At this point, she looked over toward the counter area and said, "Coffee." then made this distinctive sound that she makes when she wants a drink of water from the faucet or a drink of juice. I walked with her over to the coffee area, she made the drink sound, so I turned on the filtered tap and she took a drink. She then faced the pantry, and said, "Get the cookie." Naturally her wish was my command. We stopped at the pantry, got out a little birdie cookie and Inara exclaimed, "Oh boy!"; she used her prerogative as Empress of the House, and when offered took a little bite, found it a bit too early in the day and promptly flung it to the floor. Then she turned around on my shoulder facing backward and said, "go." We proceeded back to her little play perch in the living room and I set her back upon it. Apparently HRH decided that this was a great new game, and immediately held one foot up high and said, "Step up." I again obliged, she went through the sequence of "up up" and "go," and this time leaned forward in the direction of the bedroom. We walked into the bedroom where Dezi was snoozing, Inara looked around for a bit, then executed the about turn upon my shoulder and again said, "go," whereupon we returned to her perch in the living room. Immediately she lifted her little foot, said, "Step up," moved up to my shoulder, said, "up," I stood up and before she could order me "once around the park," (I was in the middle of a project) I promptly walked her over to her home, politely dropped her off with the suggestion that she enjoy a little beauty roost, which she did with an indignant fluff of the feathers and a disgruntled sounding, "quack." All kidding aside, (as everyone here already knows), when we listen, watch, and learn to read our companions as they are listening, watching, and learning to read us, the bi-directional exchanges make for such rich moments. We just finished a repeat comeback tour of the house again this morning, and HRH is now taking a little snooze. Cookies and coffee for all. Quack. HRH's Humble Servant

Sweetgrey, this evening as I was preparing dinner, it struck me while Inara was on my shoulder "helping," that one way you can work in more fresh food is to have your Grey participate in your own meal preparation. This was a major part of Inara's being receptive to changing from her former diet to much healthier fare overall. She really enjoys nibbling on the fresh veggies, nuts and seeds, that I'm washing and making into salad, she likes bites of fresh cooked brown rice and/or tabouleh. This evening she insisted on claiming a small red pepper as her own and happily munched and supervised. Greys are social eaters and they learn what to eat (in nature) from their parents and flock mates. If you are happily eating and munching away and your Grey sees you doing this as you're preparing food, it can be a lot of fun and good bonding time for you both. It may be easier in my home because we eat primarily vegetarian to begin with. Often, we can get wrapped up in the various formulas for how to get the best X into a diet, and we can overlook the simple day to day interactions that benefit your companion in many ways. I bet you can figure out lots of ways to increase the fresh aspect, as well as increase foraging activity, and up close and personal interaction while still having a balance that works for your own personal life, bird, and schedule.

Katana! How sweeet is Miss Gilbert??!! It could be fun some time in the future to set up a video play date via Skype

Inara loves nutriberries and I give her a variety in her dry dish so that they are available to her all day along with and a handful of a high quality dry mix that has precooked legumes in it as well as nuts and dried fruits and some extruded pellets (she will leave those pellets behind every time). She gets plenty of fresh fruits and veggies, sprouted bread, and a mash that I make from sweet potatoes, broccoli, carrots, red pepper flakes, and fennel seeds. I cook the mash, freeze it in cubes, and she gets it warmed once a day. She also loves in the morning an organic flax seed or ancient grain waffle with a bit of red palm oil and purreed organic tropical fruit on it. First thing in the morning she loves about an 1/8 teaspoon of cranberry juice diluted with filtered water. At the suggestion of her Avian Vet, I also toss into her dry dish some Roudybush maintenance small crumbles (which often still comprise the most part of what has gone uneaten, although the squirrels love her leftovers!). Inara is a 2.5 year old TAG and so the smaller bits of things seem to be more appealing to her, and she will sell her soul for pieces of shredded organic carrots and freshly made salad. When she came to us, she had been raised on a "southern comfort food" human diet, so it was no small task to get her switch over to healthier things, but with planning and a measured, consistent offering of new things, her entire diet changed in a short amount of time. Nutriberries really helped her make that transition, and so I'm happy to have them as her base staple. My Avian Vet also sells a frozen pre-cooked mix of legumes, seeds, nuts, veggies. You might see if someone near you sells the same. I think the key, so that you don't have to spend so much time daily, is to have a small food chopper like (as seen on TV ) a Magic Bullet, etc. Mine can make a fresh chop of yummy stuff in well under 3 minutes; and for the legumes, etc. just precook once a week and freeze. There are some good pre-mixed ones available on line. Inara definitely has her favorites and can fling an "untouchable" far and wide if it is not up to her culinary standards, so I'm in agreement with Timbersmom, you do whatcha gotta do :)

Perhaps taking down the perch on the top of her cage for a few weeks would be helpful to get her to become used to her cage as her "home." As others have suggested, put yummy food and plenty of water into her cage and give her treats when she is in there. Since she doesn't know how to get into her cage from the perch on top, having the perch up there defeats the purpose of her cage. Once she is able to climb in and out and up and around and really is comfortable with that, then you can replace the upper perch.

Welcome! What a gorgeous CAG you have. Am really looking forward to hearing more about you both.

How fun! So great that Joey is bathing himself and having fun with you at the same time. I keep an extra water dish in Inara's home because she likes to bathe in it. She stuffs herself into it despite my having offered larger dishes for her to use. I will have to take a note from you and Joey and try putting a large dish on the floor for her while she's out roaming around.

Loved this! So did Inara. She usually only laughs when someone else is laughing, or when she's "closet talking." She was on her play perch near my laptop and she started laughing while this was on, which made Joe and I laugh, which made her keep laughing. You started our day off with a bang!

What a sweetie! I loved watching him do his "yoga" stretch. He appears to be quite a happy little guy!

One would think not, I agree. I do believe also that animals can exhibit OCD, and when an avian vet rules out any physical explanation then the answer that is left would lead one to believe that it is something psyocholical/behavioral in nature. One of the scholarly articles I ran across stated that this was rare but had been seen in smaller parrots and 'tiels who were eating an extruded pellet diet, but banewymer is also feeding other things. It's definitely a question for the experienced breeders who may have seen this (someone shine the Dave007 Light! ), and the avian vets. For now, the system that banewmyer and the vet have worked out seems to be working and let's hope the behavior ceases over time, as interesting/rare as it is. Very fascinating topic.

Very odd behavior indeed. Have you tried switching to a different brand of water, to see if he does the same with it? It may be that the dissolved solids in the Deer Park water are particularly tasty to your guy, or there may be enough trace amount of sodium or other types of mineral salts in the spring water that could be affecting his system and putting him into a thirst feedback loop. Also is it sparkling water or flat? Sparkling may make it fun for him, but may not be a good idea. There is a similar condition that can occur in humans, and is a type of compulsion. I looked up polydipsia in birds and found the following link. It is from Wikipedia, and since it is not from a scientific journal or an avian vet article it's accuracy can't be verified and you should not take it as fact. It may, however, give you a bit of information to open another dialogue with your avian vet. There are some journal/scholar articles out there that you could look for that also might be helpful. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polydipsia_in_birds As others have said, Dave007 will likely have some good advice for you. I have come to believe in my short time here that he has forgotten more about birds than most people will ever learn.

It is a really tough row to hoe, but you can help Storm eventually extinguish it by consistently ignoring it. Every time you respond in any way, it's like giving Storm a little paycheck to keep "working." A new sound is always a delight and one that gets practiced over and over and over especially when it gets any attention. So ignore, ignore, ignore. Don't look at Storm, don't make any noise, and don't respond; wait for Storm to make a sound that you *do* like, and then make a big deal over that sound. Eventually, this too shall pass (mostly).

Muse, my heart just breaks for you and Megan. The sudden loss of Mar is such a sad, sad, shock. While it may be hard for you to check in here for awhile, please know that you are not alone while you face your grief and sadness. We can't remove the heartache you are suffering, although we all would do anything to ease it a bit. There are never any good answers that can soothe during such sad times, but when you are ready please allow us to surround with our love and support as you find your way back.

Every late afternoon or early evening, Inara and I rock out. I dance crazily (and sing along -- forgive my lack of talent there!) and Inara rocks out also on her play perch. Danmcq suggested a while back that I try to grab it on tape. I finally did this afternoon. Although I'm doing most of the talking, you can catch Inara giving off her fluff up happy whistle and toward the end, you can hear her saying "rock" and "rock and roll" several times as she's into it with Bob Seeger. And naturally, "cookie" which always goes with rock and roll! Camera is wild because I'm dancing with her as is our custom. If you look closely you can still see the red scratch mark on her beak from the "toy of death incident." Her beak has been growing out with no issues, and it's just going to have to work it's way down until it's finally gone. She's also molting, so this great to flip off itchy dander and loosen up nearly ready to drop feathers. We love our rock and roll time! And it really helps Inara burn off some energy before roost time. Now that she's not being camera shy, she's yelling "rock!! wow!!! walk!!!" in the background as the video is playing and she can hear herself and me. Crazy funny!

Last week our daughter came home for an overnight visit. This is only the 2nd time she has been around Inara. Once Inara decided that our daughter was just fine to be around she was very relaxed. In the morning, when we were having coffee, Inara could see our daughter sitting in a chair and struck up the following conversation: Inara: Hello. Daughter: Hi there. Inara: Hey, want a cookie? (using the questioning inflection) Daughter: hahaha Inara: How about a cookie? (again using the questioning inflection) Daughter: OK Inara: Go get the cookie. Daughter and I just cracked up, and daughter looked at me and said, "She obviously spotted a potential new source!" Interesting, is that we only say "Hey" to Inara when we're walking in the door, i.e., "Hey Inara, we're back." Or she may hear me say, "Hey Joe, can you come here and xyz?" Also, the "how about" is something that we don't say to her but she apparently has overheard us saying to one another like, "How about sandwiches for supper?" or "How about if we rendezvous at 7 for a video?" The other day Inara and I had a wonderful nap together. I was seated on the floor propped up with my back against the couch, and Inara was perched happily on my crossed arms. We'd finished sharing an almond butter sandwich and having a nice chat. She was all fluffed up and snoozy, totally relaxed and yawned a couple of times, and I dozed off. After a brief nap on my part, I awoke and could see that she was very sleepy as it was around her bedtime. I took her home to her cage, and placed her on her favorite roosting perch. She sat there for a moment and asked, "Where did the cookie go?" It made me wonder if perhaps she had been dreaming about a cookie. She has asked in the past, "Where did Dezi go?" and "Where did Joe go." Surprising us both times, as this is certainly something that she picked up through ambient learning by listening to our conversations. But the cookie question was interesting to say the least. (Bird) cookies are one of her favorite things. She will say, "Want a cookie." "Go get the cookie." But always as a statement/order. So to use it appropriately in asking our daughter if she wanted one, and asking also where the cookie went illustrates that Inara is learning the difference between questions and declarative/imperative statements. Other times, she just uses "cookie" as shorthand for being hungry. She will also combine Hello and What are you doing into "What-oh" which has become her shorthand way of flock calling.

Hi Miranda, Has your new Grey arrived yet? How are things going? Hope you are settling in well together.

So great to hear of the progress with Alfie. What a lovely cage, and it is so great that he is allowing you to begin to make physical contact with him. Your patience will definitely go a long way, and is already paying off. Will be looking forward to more updates and eventual photos.

HRH Inara also will do some exploratory beak taps, especially if it is translucent or clear. It seems to fascinate her, perhaps like a "force field" would fascinate us if we ran into one. She also prefers to play with acrylic things over wooden things. It is as if she prefers the smoothness and the clicking/tapping noises.

What a wild adventure, and glad it has ended well with a clean bill of health for Echo! He sounds like a forgiving soul and no doubt felt as much relief at being back home as you did.