HeatherStrella

Hi Lisa. I have a 2 year old female CAG that I got about 2 years ago. We took her to the vet (avian vet) the day after we brought her home. We asked that her wings be clipped...which she did. But, we didn't know that the vet cut her wings too short which caused her wings to poke her side when she folded them in. She started chewing on the feathers of her wings..on the inside where we couldn't see. The next vet visit, the vet held out her wings and we could see the destruction she was causing...she was chewing the feathers and the vet said that was the beginning stages of feather plucking. We had no idea she was doing this. The vet said that she was probably bored and I needed to give her more chalenging toys. I was crushed to say the least. I thought I was doing everything right. Anyway, there were a few things about the vet that we didn't like so we decided to take her to another vet. The first thing we brought up was the feather destruction. She lifted her wings and was horrified to see the clip job done by the previous vet. Actually, she thought we had done it and kept lecturing us not to ever do it. We told her we hadn't but she knew the other vet and I think she had a hard time believing the other vet actually butchered her so badly. The new vet said that the clip job was so bad that Harrison was being hurt everytime she folded her wings in...she was chewing the feathers because of THAT vet's chop job...not because she was bored. The new vet told me to start giving her red palm oil...so I did. A few months later, we took her back to the new vet and her wings underneath looked A LOT better. Now, her wings are pretty much grown in all the way and it took 2 years. She does NOT chew or pluck or anything...she looks beautiful. I just thought I'd share my experience with feather plucking with you. Good luck with your little one and like Judy said, don't worry yourself needlessly if you don't see any issues. Heather

Harrison's vocabulary hasn't grown much in the last couple of months but she's been talking since 3 months of age. She says about 100+ words/phrases. Her big thing right now is when I'm on the phone, she says "Hello?"...jibber jabber..."alright bye bye" then makes a beep sound that the phone makes when you hang it up...I always say "alright bye bye" at the end of a conversation. She's also saying the following a lot lately: my voice "HONEY!!??" hubby's voice "what?!" "Hi baby girl, wanna come out? No? OK"...repeat. I say this to her when I go to get her out of her cage. Most of the time, she plays hard to get so after I say "no? ok" and start to walk away, she does the stammer thing with her feet and then will come out. lol "Go Poopie" (poopie is in a really high voice)...she says it right before she poops and sometimes after. "turkey"...I call her that when she's being a brat "whatcha doin buddy?" "I love you" "where's Heather?" "hi Valerie/Denis/Heather/Harrison" (not all four at once) "good morning" She also clucks like a chicken (don't know where that came from but she sounds just like one) and because of that, my husband taught her to do a rooster..."cocka-doodle-doooooo"... "wanna cracker?" "almond?" "walnut?" "good one, Harrison" my husband says this to her when we're playing ball and she flings it across the room "Sandy (our dog) chill!" "wanna go outside?" "wanna watch cartoons?" "wanna watch the birdies?" "Hi Birdies!" "c'mere" (come here) After several of the phrases, she'll a lot of times say "hmmm?" or "yeah" I think I'll try to teach her to say "I'm a big time star now!"...something like that...since she's in "BirdTalk". I'm sure there's more but I can't think of anymore. I have a list of everything she says but I'll just leave it at what she says most of the time...hope to hear what other birdies say.

judygram wrote: LOL...I think it's gone to my head more than hers .. I'm so proud of her. Judy, when you said that she'll get a bumper sticker, I thought you were joking but I just saw the little thing where it says I'll get one. Can't wait to get it but now I wonder if it already came and I thought it was junk mail. I've also been out of town for two days so hubby may have done something with it. hmmm?? I'll let you guys know...

Wow...I hadn't seen that thread. Thanks so much!! Admin, if you want to combine the two threads or whatever, I'm cool with that.

Hey!! I just saw this thread...I started a new one about Harrison being in the mag and spookyhurst gave me the link. I'm glad you guys saw her there...it was pretty cool opening the mag and seeing her there.

I was pleasantly surprised this afternoon when I opened "BirdTalk" and found one of the photos of Harrison that I had sent them. It's in the very back where the "Watch the Birdie" and "Photos of our Friends" sections are. I don't know where the quote came from that they used tho...I think I actually forgot to include a quote to go along with the photos I sent in. Oh well, I'm just happy they used her photo.

Harrison was fine all day...she has a night light in her room which I guess can be bad...cuz if there was something like a mouse in her room, she could see it. Oh well, I suppose I'll never really know why she does this every so often.

Harrison woke me up this morning at 4:50am. I heard her crash in her cage..she had fallen off her perch. I went in to make sure she was ok and she seemed fine. I went back to bed and 5 minutes later, I could hear her clammoring about in there. She normally doesn't do that sort of thing. It made me think she wanted me in there. So, I just got up and got her up...meaning I turned on her lights and TV...fed her...etc. Now she's fine. She ate a little and came into the bathroom while I got ready for work. She seemed normal. I have another theory if it's not a nightmare...directly outside her window is the A/C. Our dog has been barking and acting like she's trying to dig something out of it...like a rat or mouse. I'm thinking maybe a rat/mouse came in to her room this morning and scared her. Although, I don't see anywhere that a mouse could come in from outside. Or could it be a nightmare? She did this one other time and later we found out that many many miles away (same state but far away) there was an earthquake at the exact time she "freaked out"...but I haven't heard if there was another one.

Yay...happy hatchday to Klaus!!

Wow...cool...ok...thanks so much Ronda!!

Hey all...I'm terrible with photos outside and need some advice. I'm a sign language interpreter in the 5th grade and our class (I just have one deaf student in a class of 30 hearing students) is going on an overnight field trip to the ocean. I'd like to take pictures of the kids and probably a few group pictures by the ocean. I'm hoping it'll be overcast since that's good photo taking weather but if the sun is shining, do I take the photos with the sun behind me or behind the subject(s)? Any other tips would be appreciated. Thanks!!

This is 5 year old Xanadu...she's very tame and is just as sweet as can be. 8 month old Onyx...she's also very sweet Sorry for all the spots on the window... Pink...also about 8 months old..but not very sweet...she's pretty wild... That's it for now...ta ta

Leopard Geckos are a good starter gecko. I'm glad you liked my site...I've been through a lot of cameras since I got that site. Ha

Very nice...I like the second one...he looks so cute...it looks like he's looking up at you

:ohmy: :sick:

Thanks for the comments, guys...Ronda..look at my photo site...there's all kinds of geckos there...some I don't have anymore...the link is in my signature

Hey...I sold three of my geckos and bought this male Australian Sand Gecko. He's sooo cool!! He's about the size of my pinky and he's full grown.B) I'm kinda changing my taste of geckos and changing my "stock" for possible breeding next season.... Thanks for looking...

Hey...I think you said that we were supposed to get Karma for 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place winners?? I thought that's what you said but not sure and the thread is gone.

Thanks, Raposa. Practice, practice, practice!! Now that we have digital instead of film, take lots of pictures. Many times in a "photo session", I take up to 100 pics and pick out the best 5 or so. We don't have to worry about wasting film.

Woooo hooooo!! Congrats nevjoe and ScubaJ...congrats to Makena too...

My little darling turned 2 years old on 12~31~07...

That was so sad. I don't know how anyone could mistreat any animal...especially a bird after seeing what it does to itself when it's abused. Some people just suck!!:sick: :angry: :evil: Laws need to be harsher.

You have very pretty birds. Eclectus was my second pick...I heard they're similar to AGs...is that true? I hear they can talk like them but they're not quite as sensitive. True??

I didn't even think about the possibility of this, what I thought to be, animal abuser being a slimy little troll. I really hope he is. You don't deserve to have any animal, let alone a wonderful animal like an African Grey. If you do have one, please do what was suggested and turn him over to someone more mentally equipped to handle this delicate, precious little being. No animal deserves to be treated the way you say you're going to treat him. On this forum, Karma is just a number or in your case, a negative number. In real life, Karma can bite you in the a$$ and I believe it will. It may not happen right away, but it will happen.

Oh my goodness. I've never read something so heartbreaking. I fear for the bird in this case. I hope you take people's advice and don't take the attitude of "I'll show you who's boss"...punishment does NOT work with birds. Greys in particular are very sensitive and if you do anything to hurt him, he will never forgive you. I'm sorry to say, you saying that you're doing him a favor by taking him in sounds awful. If you don't want him, why did you take him in? It sounds like you want a different kind of animal. Although, I'm not sure any animal would ever live up to your expectations. Please don't hurt your grey...maybe you can find a person who would want him for who he is.