hveusnthbrige

So I'm moving in sometime likely soon with my friend. I've got Mirek and the 2 tiels. She loves ferrets and wants to get one badly. She knows however that I have the birds first. To my knowledge ferrets kill birds without a second thought... is this true? Anyone have birds and ferrets in the same home?

Oh I'm not in school right now. I'm trying to make money for school which is in 3 weeks. I spend nearly all my time working. :pinch:

He's fine now. Eye problems all gone. He no longer is keeping it closed and only now I noticed it but he was sleeping quite a bit more with the eye problem. On an unrelated side note; I don't see it worthy of its own topic.. I am pretty sure he has started to produce noises and reactions to some noises. For example I always kiss him on the neck and make kissing noises and he will make several similar sounding sounds in succession. He also does it when he thinks he might get kissed. It sounds kinda like light, soft laughing. Also I greet him with "hello" often and find myself saying it upon returning to the room. My Mom and I both seem to notice a small reaction to saying hello out of the blue unexpectedly. Yesterday I got a very obvious result while watching tv. He was drifting off into a nap and the tv went quiet for a bit. Then suddenly the next scene in the show had someone say hello; he jumped awake instantly and made a big "Ooooohhhh-aaaaHHHhhh" noise. Maybe it was my surprise or maybe the daddy effect but it sure seemed like he was responding. The sound he made had the essentials of the word beyond any doubt. So there's no guessing that he is certainly attempting to communicate.

I can attempt to look through my collection of books for an official value. Yet all things considered, looking up the temperature range of the area they are native to: the rain forest in Africa, would make the most sense. As for myself, I go based on the status of the plumage an the respiration. If the feathers are fluffed out and he's all tucked in, its likely too cold. If he's got his feathers flat and all put away like he's scared, and usually accompanied by panting, he's too hot. Also, birds use their feet to cool off or keep warm much like a dog pants or a human sweats. Body tucked down on the feet is cold obviously and standing high with the toes spread is hot. On hot car ride I will bring a spray bottle and give them a light mist. I make sure to get under the wings and nearly soak the front of the wing where the heavy veins are. Furthermore spraying water on their feet cools them off most effectively.

Alright Lidia, sounds like a good idea there. My breeder sells baby feeding supplies and I need to go tomorrow to get the tiels little toes filed. I'm sure he could show me what to exactly do. I think the most powerful factor with allowing him to accept the meds easier is the fact that hes still so young and immature. I'm so close to not needing to have to towel the oral part. He just doesnt quite stay still enough while on his perch and the vet didnt give me much of the Aunt Jamima stuff to waste. I'm glad you guys are enjoying reading the details of what I'm doing. Likely it will help to better the know how of all, and if I'm doing something wrong someone would likely notice.

Ahh it's not a problem ever guys! I'm glad the people on the forum are interested in learning about these things. I knew I would have to deal with this type of problem someday... just not during the second month he was home! As for administering medication, toweling him for both the topical and oral meds is required. One might believe the eye drop to be more difficult but it really isn't. I just tightly hold him with his head exposed then get a drop started and wait for him to stop moving, then drop it. Most of the drop seems to just fall off. Then I realize I screwed up and did the right eye and flip him over to do the side that actually needs it on the left... done that twice now. :pinch: Vet said if I mess up though it's ok as there's a slight chance the infection could ride his toenail to the other eye, that type of situation is prevented this way. The oral med, I'm not familiar with syringe feeding and I dont want to aspirate him so I just dribble it in front of his tounge into his lower beak. He shakes his head and some flings out. After about 2-3 hours his poop clearly has the red dye in it so I know he swallowed it. My Mom now calls him the $3,400 parrot... He was the $3,200 parrot on Saturday, but Sundays vet bill got tacked on to the running total. Right now the $7,000ish dog is still winning.:lol: 14 years old to make it to 7 grand and 3 months to get halfway and 5 to 6 times the lifespan... we might just have a new race leader. My family has strange games.. I wonder how much money is secretly on my total... :blink: Oh I forgot, I was gonna add on a link to the UofG's Vet college practice: http://www.ovc.uoguelph.ca/ This is the actual vet practice I go to: http://www.petsandvets.ca/avianexotics.shtml My vets, Alison and Marco at this location are responsible for Mirek. They both informally teach at the OVC. Fantastic people!<br><br>Post edited by: hveusnthbrige, at: 2007/08/14 04:44

If anyone knows the name 'University of Guelph', they know this is the absolute best veterinarian college in the world, hands down, no argument. So when their vets make a claim about my Mirek... I believe them to the fullest. My vet is very experienced with birds and in particular he knows much about Greys. What he is not familiar with is a Grey that doesn't bite. I can quote him, "That's the first Grey that hasn't tried to bite me!" Mirek not only did not bite him, he never even tried to bite the vets hands; this is what impressed him the most. A few times he held on to his skin for balance but he knew already what that difference was. I'm so lucky to live only a 2 minute drive from the UofG's small animal clinic. Truly a fantastic stroke of luck for any aviculturalist in the area. As for not washing out his eye lid for possible contaminants, we decided on that together. To do that he would need to be tightly toweled and gassed to sleep and would prove very stressful for him. He only scratched his face every 2 hours abouts, so we knew this infrequent itching suggested there was nothing stuck in there. Plus I'm not made of money and spending $180 to very likely solve it 99% as the vet said or $450 to absolutely solve it was my choice. Plus if there is something in there, the exam and medications I already paid for will not need to be re administered. Looking at him now tonight, he is back to normal keeping his eye open regularly with only 3 drops applied. The puss buildup on his lower eye lid is gone and the cornea no longer seems glassy. The swelling is still present but you can only tell by looking straight at his face and comparing it for a couple seconds to his healthy eye.

So the vet visit today went smoothly. The vet was terrified of Mirek biting him but was rather surprised by his behaviour. He said that was the most well behaved parrot he had ever dealt with, no biting, no screaming, no drastic panicking while being toweled and manipulated. He was asking me, what I did to make him act this way and remain calm while being handled! Also when he weighed Mirek and found him to be 451 grams, he immediately thought the bird was severely over weight as he's used to about 390-400 average in a Grey this size. To his amazement he found no fat and was rather impressed by how toned and muscular Mirek is. So I'm feeling rather flattered by all this praise from my vet lol. As for the eye, it does have a mild infection. Besides being one of the most common minor problems associated with birds he treats, he says it is caused by something like food getting on the eye, and allowing bacteria to localize before the bird has a chance to clean it off. In about 1% of these cases the debris will become lodged behind the eye lid and will need to be removed before the infection can be cured. For visual symptoms, his eye was slightly inflamed, continually being kept closed, the inner lid was bright, deep red and excessive scratching around that side of the face. The vet also stained his eye and then used ultraviolet light to check for scratches in the cornea but there was nothing wrong. For treatment in the affected eye I was given Ciloxan 0.3% which is an eye medication mostly for infants. 1 drop every 12 hours for a week. Second I need to give him 0.36 cc of Baytril antibiotic orally at the same time as the drop. The oral med is quite powerful smelling and is strongly flavoured of strawberries. It should be cleared up in 1 week and if isnt then likely theres a piece of junk under his eye lid which will have to be removed.

I'll try to take him in today. Depends if the avian vet can be there. He's content and making lots of noise as usual and right now its obviously nothing critical.. my other 2 have nothing wrong with them as neither is favouring their eyes so it's not an epidemic. He needs to go for a 1st check up anyway so might aswell give him the 2 for 1 deal. I did some researching through my books and on the net; its likely the treatment is adding something to the water. Plus a decent disinfection of his cage and stuff he touches often. On a regular basis I soak all their bowls in bleach solution every 2 weeks and scrub their grates at the same time. I'm confident all will be well in a few days. I can't help but love my flying money graveyard. He's dumb as a post right now being so young but just so entertaining to watch and spend time with as he matures. Now I just have to teach him to do my class work...

It's now apparent that Mirek has an infection in his left eye. He acts normally, eats normally, and there's no other symptoms. He's been keeping it closed for the last few days and this morning upon waking he has a small line of puss collecting. I thought initially he had fallen while playing and dinged his eye off a lower perch. Here comes another expensive vet visit... Anyone ever had to deal with this before? Eye drops I'm guessing.

Yes Dan, the pysch poster really does make him dizzy!... I think. I dunno.. He likes chewing the edge of it. And for the record its genuine, made from black velvet and black light reactive colours. It's even dated for original printing in 1975. Maybe when Mirek's half grown up he can invite over his girl buddies, I'll get him some Christmas lights and shag carpet. Ooo a lava lamp, and I'll show him how to use my dimmer switches and put on some mellow ambiance music. Then I'll kick him out and change the locks. Ha. Dblhelix, ya balsa is pretty soft. But he attacks the stuff like crazy. If you get the little thin sheets they break easy but the thick pieces seem to entertain him quite a bit. I've little experience with his chewing as I've only had him nearly a month now. Thus I grabbed a piece of bass wood, thats the smaller shorter piece in the picture. It's about the same hardness as mahogany or spruce. I have those colourful 2x4 slice toys too which he readily destroys but it takes him much longer.

That one was about $11 CD. I like the balsa wood because harder wood seems to make him loose interest faster since he isnt 'winning' the chew war. Balsa however gets ripped up pretty fast and keeps him entertained for quite awhile.

When you work at a hobby shop you encounter large pieces of balsa wood that nobody seems to buy. A smart hobby shop worker then waits patiently for the boss to leave and then, claims that giant block in the name of his wooden objects that are otherwise perfectly fine the way they are now.. not chewed. Needless to say Mirek took no time in second guessing this ridiculously excellent over sized chewing festival and got to work on it in seconds. I give him 2 weeks for this mammoth to disappear. My wager is... get another one when hes done. But no chunk of balsa wood no matter how big can win him over for a green bean. He was eating zucchini and cherry tomatoes yesterday quite happily. He also now eats banana willingly and as always still deeply enjoys raspberries and blueberries.

Here's some random picture of Mirek! This is his main cage. Don't want the Tiels getting jealous and they have certainly not lost the spotlight.. My favourite bird is prolly Pinkie, the darker cockatiel. He's just the right amount of affection and independence. This is where the crew goes when I take a shower in the morning. They all get a drenching shower at least once a week. Other times is just getting the humidity from sitting on the shower rail. Usually while up there they all take a nap in the sauna steam bath. Seems like they all deeply enjoy it. After a humid shower event they always have such soft feathers and seem to preen differently. Most noticeably Pinkie preens quite violently most of the time. After or during a steam shower he preens far more calmly and slowly... unless he's being attacked by April for a head preening. :lol:

That's fabulous you've got her home. I like the name too.:cheer:

He knows I'm the boss and thats my shoulder, not his. You mess around up there and you get tossed onto the bed. heh, He's a smart bird.

What's the average timing most of your Greys have begun their first molt? My tiels started at 3 months old and the other at 5 months old. Mirek is 3 months now but totally different from a Cockatiel so I'm curious when to expect it. The odd bit of baby down still falls out from time to time but no signs of new pins or molted feathers on the floor yet. No real importance at all, just wondering.

Two of them now! Oh my thats a handful. Sometimes my one nearly reaches the extent of my patience. Right now at 11pm he decided to wake up and start chewing paper in the dark lol. One thing I never tire of is getting home from work or waking up in the morning to a thrilled buddy who is happy to see me. Now you too can feel it... maybe times two..:cheer:

Thats fun to hear he's coming home for visits. Fully flighted too! Brave people you are. :ohmy: If Mirek was not clipped my.. um everything would be chewed and destroyed! They sure are full of energy at this age arent they. Little acrobats climbing everywhere and making crazy noises all the time. I also don't have a clue where all that food goes.. or wait, the cage bottom, in one form or another.. lol:lol:

Glad you guys are enjoying it! Yes Dan, he is full of energy. Such a massive amount of energy it's almost hard to believe. He wakes up in the morning and he intends to spend it all before nap time around lunch. The flipping games we play can be a bit painful sometimes as he occasionally looses his grip and panics for a new hold using his beak and my skin. It's all in good fun though! Also sometimes a playtime may have been a bit too much for him, so I always make sure to spend quality cuddle time with him after each. Lately I've found the best time to try the harness is in the morning. The afternoon brings on a tired and miserable Mirek! Dan, I think Dayo will have a tremendous time with your family Dan. You have really put in so much effort to learn and to socialize with him.

Ok so here's the long overdue pictures. First I have one of him wearing his harness which seems to only become a worse proposition everyday. He fights to get it off quite hard and flops around on the ground wildly doing his best to destroy it. And lots of angry flapping... Next we have tonights mirror episode... :ohmy: He does NOT like his reflection! My guess of which I think I'm right is this other bird in the mirror is threatening his territory and he's trying rather violently to scare the other bird away. He just howls at his reflection almost as loud as I can yell. I know cause I was trying to get him to step up and to even hear myself say step up I had to pretty much scream. This bird can howl and growl with the best of them.. lol We'll be spending some time in front of the mirror in the near future to get over this. This is where he is now as I type this. His favourite spot is to sit on my speaker while I sit at the computer. He loves this spot so much he will launch himself off his center perch in his cage and fly across the room and climb his way there. Or he will sit on that evil attention stealing keyboard... and stare at me. Another note on the flying; he flies extremely well. He flies willingly be it close or far and it's obvious he doesnt try very hard to maintain level flight. Sometimes while I'm holding him he will pounce off my hand and jump to my shoulder by wrapping his wings around my head and clawing my face to get his way to my shoulder. That usually results in me tossing him off my back onto the bed... which then he jumps off the bed and flies back to my shoulder. I swear this bird has no fear, he will do anything to get where he wants. If I'm not letting him get to that favoured place, he gets angry.:huh: So we usually burn off that steam by playing hard. Flip him around, hang from a foot, step ups, more flipping around... laying on his back in my hand, towel games, more hanging upside down and flipping. He can go for about 20 minutes before he starts to huff and puff. When he's finally tuckered out I'll let him sit on my shoulder as a reward for his effort. This is the ONLY time he will be on my shoulder as any other time he will get bored fast and bite something like my ear. And, any other time he did nothing to deserve shoulder time. These are the upstairs cage pictures. Overall, the personality of this bird is emerging so quickly. It seems incorrect to use the word "personality" to describe it but he really is just like a person. You get to know the subtle body language and what to expect shortly after seeing it. Really, even with the bad things he does and the getting bitten from playing hard... Greys are fabulous pets. Actually I don't even consider him a pet like I do with my Tiels, lately the last week I've found myself thinking of him as an equal. He's only 3 months old, but he's worth every cent and we have tremendous fun together. Grey's rock, wouldn't trade em for anything.

Ya I'm sorry I've not been around lately, work has picked up and I tend to spend my free time with you know who. I'll try to give a quick filler of whats been going on lately with him: He's doing well. It's very obvious a personality is emerging quickly. His independent play is going well. He has chosen a surrogate toy to hate which is great. He flies very well and hes got a full juvenile clip. He can easily maintain level flight and will not hesitate to fly where ever he thinks he wants to go. His favourite food without compare is raspberries. Hands down he smells raspberries and he goes crazy. At first he would nibble them apart bit by bit. Now he just hoofs it down without even chewing. Blueberries he has a bad habit of biting all the way onto his beak then shaking his head violently getting juice spray everywhere. He has bonded to me as #1 and my Mom as a very close #2 and my Dad a distant 3rd. Overall he is very kind and obedient. Everyone enjoys his company and he seems to enjoy ours. Toni, he has 2 cages. The main cage he sleeps in and occupies while no one is home is 32x21x37 or something like that. His upstairs cage is 18" cube and he doesnt really go inside that one, just sits on the playtop usually. I'll try and post some more pictures this week.

I'm glad you're enjoying it Dan. Yes the changing environment has to keep going until sexual maturity for full effect. 4 to 6 years of this before I can sit down lol. That's awesome too about the sexing results. I still have to get that done but I'm in no real rush. Every experienced aviculturalist that sees him immediately says a boy based on the shape of his head. -Boys have square-ish larger heads and girls have smaller and rounder heads. But almost always its impossible to tell because the head feathers need to be fully flattened which of course only happens when deathly frightened. Mirek however literally has corners on his noggin so its a dead giveaway. Dan, Greys and dogs cause laughter.. shocking laughter if anything. If you have never heard Dayo growl your in for a treat. I think it's hilarious when he growls. My Mom heard him growl today and she laughed so hard she was crying. I bought a 2nd cage today for upstairs. A Small playtop Kaytee/Super Pet EZ-Care cage(http://www.kaytee.com/products/search/cage/?pid=00220). I love these cages, cheap, easy to use, strong, good looking. I'll get a picture of it the next time he's on it. It's far too small(18"x18"x18") for him to have as a permanent cage but its mostly for the playtop since the play stand I wanted was like $150 and this cage was $200. A no-brainer. Also a good boarding cage. The 2nd cage should help to prevent territorialism aswell as include him in family events like watching tv, eating, whatever else since his big cage is in my bedroom in the basement.

Ya Dan, all too often you hear about phobic Greys at parrot clubs. Desperate owners that don't know what they did wrong in that the bird is now afraid of everything, clothes, machines, sounds, other environments, new toys.. anything outside of the typical. Plus my routine is ridiculous and is only consistent when looking at it from a weekly basis. When he's less clumsy and is a bit older with a more mature immune system I will start taking him to things like the breeder's shop and parrot meetings. I may even leave him for a day at the breeders boarding room from time to time.

Yes Tricky, but I lay down his sleeping cage sheet whenever he's there. Same goes for the floor with a second bed sheet. I think it's especially good because it makes the room look different all the time. Change is important at this age. We're also working on laying on his back in my hand and being toweled upside down. He still doesn't enjoy it much and I get bit pretty good sometimes when he tries to hold on using his beak and a mouthful of skin.. He must get used to these things though so grooming and vet visits go smoothly and panic free. Also today, I was cleaning my room and brought the duster thing in and Mirek caught one glimpse of that and went crazy. Full attack stance, feathers on end over his whole body; it was difficult not to laugh.. beak open and growling so loud the neighbors made have heard. So I did like I do with my other birds, I took the thing he was afraid of and tossed it in his cage. He attack growled at it, flapped his wings at it, climbed all over the cage and stared at it wide eyed for 3 hours sitting there on the grate. Finally he gave up and went down and gave it a sniff and a feel... and then decided it was nothing and took a nap beside it. lol. Even now close to midnight, its still in the same place on the bottom of his cage and he's 6" from it fast asleep. Thank god he wasn't afraid of the vaccum.. that won't fit in the cage..:lol: