HeatherStrella

OH!!! And the three baby CAGs went back to the breeder for care until they're ready to be weaned...I hope this breeder is good...

Well, it seems my phone call this morning prompted another visit...lol. The only reason I called this morning was to find out what happened with the visit on Monday...but, maybe they misunderstood and went back out there. The officer who called me said that he went this morning and the only thing he found was dirty water...they hadn't had a chance to give them fresh water before he got there. He must have gone before I went cuz I didn't see that. He said the water was really bad...I change Harrison's water 1-2x a day and it's never been "dirty"...they must have been off work yesterday and no one came in to work with the birds. He said that the officer who went on Monday morning had them clean up. (YAY)...he asked me to keep in touch with them and if I find anything else wrong to please call them and they'll "encourage" them to keep good care of the birds. Thanks for "listening" and thanks for the good karma P.S. I wonder what it would take for them to take the birds away from them. It must take more than dirtiness...I'll be keeping an eye on them, though.

Update... I called the animals services department this morning and the dispatcher said that the officer went out there on Monday and said the store was "cleared for services"...whatever that means. I asked the dispatcher to have the officer call me. I went out to the pet store this morning and found that they had cleaned all the cages. They were sparkling clean. The CAG that is in such bad shape has more toys in the cage too. I don't know if they did it between the last time I was there and when the officer was there or if they did it because the officer was there. The guy that I talked to when I was there the first time was there today and my friend was talking to him about one of the birds and he wouldn't even look at me. I think he knows I'm the one who called the animal services to come out...I'll keep going out there every few days to see if they're keeping the cages clean. I wish the store was closer to where I live, I could go out there more often...oh well, hopefully the officer who made the "welfare check" visit scared them into keeping things clean...

I'm just curious, do you have your baby at home...and if so, is it a difficult job feeding him? I've been "craving" having a baby CAG but I don't really have a clue how much care is involved with the feeding and such.

I guess I'm in the middle...35

I just called the SPCA anyway because I didn't have the phone number written down. I kept a log of everyone I called this morning. I called it and they're only open Tuesday through Saturday...now I remember that I read that on the internet this morning...that's why I called the other people. I will call them tomorrow... Maybe there is hope for these lil guys...I hope it doesn't matter about the county.... P.S. Sorry for all the posts...I'm kinda scattered right now...my brain is fried thinking about the poor birds and how helpless I feel.

SPCA IS Prevention of Cruelty of Animals....I didn't realize that until I just googled it...now what...I just want to SCREAM

As far as agencies go, first, I called Animal Control for my county but this place isn't in Sacramento county so they had me call Yolo County Animal Services. It's actually the Sherrif for West Sacramento. This pet store is about 45 minutes from where I live. SPCA doesn't deal with them because it's not the right county and they don't have their own SPCA. I will look into the Prevention of Cruelty of Animals. Here's a stupid question...should I wait until the sherrif has been there before I go back? My thinking is this. I WANT them to get caught with the dirty cages...but then again...I want them to clean the cages as soon as possible. I just don't know what to do. I think it would be better in the long run for the animals if they were caught with the things the way they were when I took the pictures. But, the thought of those poor birds living in those conditions is so sad...I even thought about going there myself and cleaning their cages. What good would that do, though? It would help them for a few days...then their cages would be dirty again. I wonder if a bird rescue group would do anything...

Well, I never heard from the officer. It's after hours now so the office is closed. When I called this morning, the dispacher said that there were 10 calls ahead of me and to be patient. I guess I'll wait until tomorrow afternoon and call again. What do I do if they don't do anything? I was thinking about going back to see if they cleaned up at all. Maybe the officer will scare them even if they're not in violation of any laws...even though I can't imagine it's legal to keep animals in those conditions.

I'm waiting for the call from the officer who makes the welfare check on this store. It's terrible the way some people treat animals. http://imageevent.com/heatheranddenis/wildwestfeedlivestockandpet

Hi Beccy...thanks for asking. It has sunk in pretty much. When talking about her, I still say "him" but I catch myself. We have a female dog as well, so when I say "good girl" the dog thinks we're talking to her and she gets confused. So, I call Harrison "my little lady"...or "princess"...stuff like that. I also call her "Little Miss Harrison"...or just "Miss Harrison"..She hasn't said any of the new words, though. In fact she's talking less...but I think it's because of my schedule change. I'm off for the summer. When I was working, I'd take her with me into the bathroom when I was getting ready early in the morning...that's when she'd talk the most. She really likes it in there with me when I'm getting ready...I still bring her with me but it's not early in the morning. Also, she'd get really excited when I'd come home from work and would start talking like crazy...I'm home all the time now so I guess I'm not giving her the chance to miss me. Ha.

Thank you, Frank. I love your accent, by the way . I do kiss on Harrison the way you did except she's standing on my hand. I take my other hand and put it over her back...bring her to my face and kiss her all over her wings. She will screech a bit and bite a bit but, like you, doesn't draw blood. I used to kiss her on the beak but the vet said it was bad for her so...no more making out for us . Thanks for the video....I have a brand new video camera that I can't figure out how to get on the internet. It shoots beautiful movies...I will post some videos of us if/when I figure it out. THANK YOU!!!

Thanks for the replies. Do you suggest I give her a food treat when she allows me to touch her? Or??? Are there any techniques you think I should try? I have the video by Barbara Heidenreich where she shows how to teach behaviors using food as a reinforcement...but teaching to be touched is a little different...she doesn't show how to teach that.

I went to a pet store a week or two ago and saw a baby CAG. I don't know how old it was...his eyes were *just* showing a tiny bit of grey if you looked closely. From far away, his eyes looked completely black. Anyway, this little cutie was out on some branches and allowed me to pet him anywhere I wanted. He didn't know how to step up yet...but didn't even flinch when I went to pet him. I pretty much pet him on every part of his body exept his vent area. He nibbled my fingers and did a little begging behavior... I'm wondering if it's too late to teach Harrison to accept that kind of touch. Harrison is 18 months old and seems set in her ways already. I know it's my fault for not training her correctly...I'm at the point right now where I'm constantly saynig "I wish I knew then what I know now"....Harrison will allow me to pet her head sometimes but she'll try to bite (not hard) me sometimes too. She'll allow me to put her under my chin...kinda like my neck/chin is resting on her back. She lets me touch her feet a little. Are there any secrets to training to allow touch? Part of the reason I want her to allow me to touch her is in case of emergency...(but I'd also like to cuddle her) I'd like to be able to look at her wings too...to see how they're coming along after our first vet butchered her...she won't let me pull them out to see. Is this just who she is? There's a picture of CD with Caesar where CD is lying down and Caesar is on his back...I wish I could do that with Harrison. Is it too late???

What age do they start the mating behaviors? I thought I read 6 years of age but not sure....is it the same for both females and males??

I'm glad to hear this!!!!

So, does this mean the mating dance I thought she was doing isn't a mating dance? She kinda hangs her wings down, makes little grunting noises and coughs up her food on my hand. I stop her from doing it once I see her starting...I redirect her or put her in her cage...is that the right thing to do???

Yes, you're right...it's hard to think of her as a girly girl...not a stud muffin...lol. But I did teach her (when I thought she was a he, of course)...to say "Tell me about it, Stud"...my favorite line in "Grease"...it sounds much better coming from a female!! LOL{Characters-00020061}

celery, that's pretty cool!! I clicked the link and read it...pretty interesting. The only problem...I'm a HUGE Olivia Newton-John fan and if I named her after Debby Harry, I'd have some 'splainin' to do...lol. It is a cute idea though...I'll give it some thought. <br><br>Post edited by: HeatherStrella, at: 2007/06/27 02:00

A friend of mine suggested the name Allison...but I know someone with that name and I don't really care for her...I think I'll keep her name the same...thanks for all the replies...I'm coming down from the shock of it. I almost feel like I should treat her differently somehow...I don't know HOW differently...just different. I don't know. Maybe I should shut up until it all sinks in. I should've prepared myself better for this possibility... Anyway, thanks!!!

We just got the DNA results from the vet and our 18 months old CAG is a FEMALE!!! I can't believe it!!! What do I do? Should I rename her? HER?? Oh my, this is gonna be a hard transition for me. Everything we've taught her "Harrison's a pretty boy"...I know it doesn't really matter in the whole scheme of things, but...oh my goodness... You know, when we first went to go pick a grey out, I wanted a girl but Harrison picked us...the breeder was sure she was a he...I thought I would name Harrison "Sophie" anyway but couldn't do it thinking he was a he...should I go ahead and rename her? HER????!!!! This is really gonna be hard. Has anyone else had this happen? Weird thing is, she's picked me as her person and I'm female...I thought they always picked the opposite sex. NO?? Well, obviously it's not always the case. Anybody wanna share their experiences with me???

Monique, I mostly just use them to take pictures...lol. Xanadu, the biggest one is the only tame one in the bunch...but she's also the oldest. I feed them silkworms and meal worms. We used crickets when we first got Xanadu but I couldn't stand them...when one would get loose, I'd run into the other room. I HATE CRICKETS!!! Silkworms are the most nutritious food you can feed them...I dust the worms with calcium powder...like shake-n-bake...Leopard Geckos are a great starter gecko...get an adult if you are planning to get one...one that's tame...then later get babies...it's fun to watch the babies change..you never really know what you're going to get when you buy babies.

Leopard Geckos Xanadu~4 years old Rumor~about 1 year old Spirit~about 7 months old Carmel~about 5 months old Curly (because his tail curls at the tip)~4 months old Fancy~3 months old Smooth Knob Tailed Gecko Disco~1 year old Pictus Geckos Newton~2 years old Winter~1 year old Miniature Schnauzer Sandy~3 years old We keep her trimmed, we don't like the long beard and eyebrows that schnauzers are supposed to have. I don't think Sandy likes it either

oops...it seems xxbeccyxx and I were posting at the same time...sorry if I posted the same stuff as her.

First of all, the pet store was wrong, if you teach your grey to whistle, he will still learn to talk!! Once your grey is more used to you, he'll probably talk more in front of you...my grey was talking at 3 months of age...he talks more when it's just me or no one in the room with him. He also talks a lot when there's a lot of noise happening...like the vacuum or hair dryer. He will not talk if we have company over and he's in the same room as the company...and he won't talk at the vet's office or if we take him on an outing. Your grey is still young...he'll be talking in no time...just be patient...trust me, it will happen