Bingo

So our rescue parrot named Bingo has picked my husband as his favorite person. Luckily I am still permitted to handle him without too much trouble. Oddly enough he talks the most to me and says new phrases every couple mornings. Yesterday he didn’t want me to pick him up and leaned over to give me a warning bit (it didn’t break the skin and I just ignored it and got him to step up). He then said clearly “OUCH BINGO”. I had to stop myself from laughing. Then this morning when I went to get him out of the cage to take a shower with me he stepped up and said very loudly “THAT GIRL”. This time I couldn’t help myself – I laughed.

We went to the vet on Saturday and got some fairly bad news. From the quick lab results it looks like he has at least 1 bacterial infection. They gave him a shot of antibiotics and we are administering a different kind of anti-biotic twice daily by mouth (and boy is that FUN). The vet’s office is supposed to call later today with the full results from his blood panel, etc. and he will be going back for a check-up regardless in about 10 days. He looked like he had been shot in the chest since the red splotches from the blood being drawn and the injected antibiotic were so visible without feathers. I cried when I got home on Saturday and I’m still feeling mixed emotions that I can’t really express.

The paper idea is something I am planning to pursue this week. He does seem to enjoy tearing paper, although his beak is very dull so it can be difficult for him. He does seem to eye the cage liner a lot even when it is a completely new sheet...

How can you tell if your CAG is getting enough sleep? I get up early to shower before work and Bingo is already up every time – excited to join me in the shower I guess. And since we go to bed fairly late he gets maybe 7-8 hours of sleep during the night. I assume he naps during the day since he doesn't appear sleepy at night. I did see him once close his eyes after dinner and take a short nap. Do they get grumpy and nippy with lack of sleep in your experience or do they just appear sleepy at times?

I think I just worry too much! Although when my husband expressed his concern then I was like OMG my worry was justified maybe he is DYING!! :rolleyes: I'll just try to remain calm around Bingo and keep telling him everything is ok in a calm tone. I know he has been enjoying our showers each morning since he sits with one foot on the shower curtain and one curled up while he chats with me.

I heard that you need to clean humidifiers with vinegar every week and putting GSE drops in it helps prevent bad bacteria from growing. Any other suggestions are welcome though.

Update: Bingo is still settling in. He did try pushing his boundaries last night by putting pressure on my finger with his beak when I asked him to step up. I was firm and got him to step up - he had a surprised look (amazing how expressive those Grey faces are!) and didn't try to nip at me again. I was expecting that behavior but was genuinely surprised that he felt comfortable enough to try and push his boundaries already. Now this morning he did something I've never seen a parrot do before and I am puzzled. So puzzled I was late for work trying to figure it out Bingo started going onto his cage grate and walking around and doing what I assume to be an alarm/distress call. He also kept tilting his head and staring at the cage paper (liner). I tried replacing the paper but he didn't stop the odd behavior. I did turn on a humidifier last night near his cage but I turned it off in the morning thinking it might be distressing him. Other than that nothing changed in his environment. I did watch to make sure he could climb up (his cage is his original cage and has some loosish bars that can make climbing certain areas difficult). He ate some food and drink some water and then went back to walking on the cage grate. My poor dog was hiding in our office because the alarm call is so high pitched it hurt his ears. So aside from cleaning the grate carefully every night and changing the paper daily as well I'm not sure what to do. Any ideas?

Thank you for the warm welcome! I am considering the sock buddy depending on what the vet finds this Saturday. I also ordered a humidifier and some other items to help in the meantime. We live in Arizona and it gets super dry indoors. I look forward to hearing more about everyone's Greys

I warned my husband (who is an inexperienced with birds) about the honeymoon period and fully expect Bingo to test his boundaries in about 2 weeks. A couple of bites won’t be bad since I know that at his heart he is a very sweet fellow. It is so hard being patient though when my personality is so impatient lol.

I have been taking some photos and videos of Bingo that I plan to download tonight when I get the chance. And yes when he makes the ‘cute’ sounds we respond immediately with positive feedback and we just ignore the ones we don’t like. I have a feeling that as a Grey he is smart enough outwit us though… I really can't wait until he really comes out of his shell. I know it could be months so I must be patient but I can sense a strong personality that he will eventually (hopefully) be comfortable with displaying.

I've been lurking on this forum for a bit since I wasn't sure what kind of parrot my husband and I would end up adopting. My husband and I fell in love with a sweet 27 year old CAG named Bingo at our local parrot rescue over the weekend and took him home. He suffered from a great deal of neglect and ended up a severe plucker. He does not appear to have suffered physical abuse at least. The rescue told us that the previous owners were too scared to take him out of his cage because he was a 'biter'. They were so ill educated it makes me want to cry - it turns out the motion where the parrot touches your finger with his beak to establish that the perch is 'solid' was considered biting to them!! So their response was to lock him in the cage for years. In the past I had a male Eclectus parrot so it is interesting to compare them. I loved my Eclectus, don't get me wrong, but WOW is the Grey so much smarter! In literally ONE DAY he figured out my husband's name and started to call him BY NAME when he leaves the room. I figure in the past he had an owner with the same name but to associate it so fast is amazing. He also figured out how to mimic the bluetooth connection sound (that high pitched ping) perfectly in one day. I actually went to turn off the speaker only to find it was already off. Not my favorite sound but oh well. Funny enough I had warned my husband that Bingo would chose that sound in the future since we cannot turn it off. I just didn't expect him to learn it so soon! He is pretty quiet, but I think that is due to being ignored for so long. We are working to build up his self confidence. I keep waiting for the 'big bite' because so far he has been an exceptionally sweet parrot even after suffering from neglect. He steps up with no hesitation and only does warning pressure if we try to do something he dislikes (such as touching his head currently). We are learning the boundaries he is comfortable with. And I've read that Grey's can be picky about their food and hesitant to try new things so I was astonished that he will literally try anything we give him. He had some Bok Choy, slice of strawberry and a small piece of apple yesterday. He was grinding his beak and appeared to relish eating all of it. I will be posting in other sections of the forum regarding the plucking to see if anyone has additional suggestions. I also made a vet appointment for later this week to make sure it isn't a physical problem. Whew that was a long post but I'm just so excited to have a birdie in the house again!