Greytness

Now that Maalik is officially one year old, he is suddenly talking in complete sentences. Up until now he's been practicing sounds and saying some words. But this week he's begun stringing together words in sentences that are being said in context! A light bulb has been switched on!

Very cool! I wish Maalik liked taking showers, or being misted for that matter.

That pic turned out 'greyt'!

The breeder from whom I got Maalik is located in San Diego. He's the senior bird keeper at the San Diego Zoo, and he has a ton of avian experience. His website is Rainforest Aviaries. I believe he has a few babies ATM. He ships, too!

This month marks Maalik's 1 year hatch day. I'm amazed at all the changes I've seen in Maalik's development within such a short period of time. And I know, or at least I think I know, what I'll soon be going through with my strong willed guy. LOL! From a cuddly little baby to one who loves to torment my Amazon and my husband by flying onto his back and strongly beaking on his ear lobes! I love this guy with all my heart. He's sweet, engaging, intelligent, bratty at times, and SO very complex. Every day is such an adventure! LOVE him!

Maalik said one of my other bird's name: Nico. Only it came out as 'ooco' for the longest time.

Yep. Tis me. Thought this username was more befitting for this board.

I believe you saw a pic of him that I'd posted on another forum. He's 14 weeks old and ADORABLE!

Woo! Greycie looks like she's having so much fun!

Beautiful! But, OMG, that beak looks like a can opener!

Of all my fids, Maalik, my CAG, and Bogart, my Lesser Jardine's, need to be monitored the closest. We have a curtain hung which we pull across the doorway leading from the dining room to the living room so that they won't intermingle with our 4 German Shepherds. Then we installed a fence at the bottom to keep the dogs from entering our bird room. Works great! The one thing that Maalik does most often which worries me the most is that he loves to fly and land on top of the refrigerator door. I'm deathly afraid that one day one of my family members won't know he's there and accidently close the door onto his head.

I use sunflower seeds or pine nuts for training. They absolutely love them!

Greyt! Thank you!!!

Would you happen to recall the name of the traps? The cider vinegar bowls and cone traps haven't caught one fruit fly. These stupid flies are all over my 5 fids' fresh food within a short period of time.

We have a fruit fly infestation. I'm finding them inside my fids' veggies bowls, which is driving me nuts. How do I safely get rid of them?

We have plenty of perch spots, but he doesn't know to seek them out. He'll act like he's going to try to land somewhere, bails out at the last minute, and always seems to crash land into the window. I have cardboard across each window, but he always heads for the little areas that aren't covered up by it.

Every time my baby CAG takes off, he ends up crashing into something, and I'm concerned he's going to hurt himself. Should I be teaching him how to land, or is this something he'll simply figure out through trial & error?

Very cool! I'm in Escondido; got my baby from the senior bird keeper at the S.D. Zoo. Wish I'd saved some of the cut up pumpkin pieces for my 5 fids.

So cute! KimKim, we're neighbors!! Did you get your Babalu locally?

I use the food processor whenever I'm making large batches of veggies. Then I freeze them in ice cube trays for later use. The veggies I do this with are the ones that require a little cooking: carrots, beets, corn, etc. Otherwise I hand chop their fresh daily entrees.

Thank you for your reply. The breeder told me he was almost weaned, and that he was down to one feeding a day. He sent me home with a bag of formula mix to give him whenever he needed or wanted it. However, it became clear to me that he actually needed, and wanted, two feeds per day. We'd had the discussion of abundance feeding before I got him, but clearly he wasn't adhering to this particular philosophy for his weaning clutches. I've been giving him 40cc's per feed, so I guess that I'm not giving him enough then. I'll bump it up today. He's doing great eating a variety of fresh veggies, fruits, pellets, and seeds, although I'm trying to wean him off those dyed Zupreem fruity pellets he came home on and onto the Harrison's. So far he's still noshing on the Zupreem ones. I'm also trying to get him off the large bill seeds, as I've been told they're not good for him over time. I'm offering him nuts as treats, and have placed a few inside his foraging toy.

My baby still wants formula twice a day. He's 13 weeks now. Should I be reducing it to once a day if he still eagerly gobbles it up?

My baby made his first flight today. He's now 12 weeks old. I was at work, but my husband said he circled the room, and then made a hard landing against the cabinet. No warm ups; just flying out of the starting gate. Wow!

Glad you mentioned the tape, Timbersmom, because I hadn't thought to remove it. His breeder just called to check in on how things are going so far. I mentioned the scratching thing, and he said that they do it to try to get out; that it's not a foraging thing. But don't they do that in the wild to forage for food on the ground? Perhaps they do it for both reasons.

Today I was going through a series of repetitions using a toy, saying the same word sequences each time: take it; shake it; drop it; uh oh!; and take it. After the fifth time, my 11 week baby said 'uh oh' right when I would have said it during the sequence, and continued to say it each and every time thereafter. I can't believe it so soon!