hveusnthbrige

Okay so moving on then.. >.> If the flames havnt scared everyone off from reading along.. So the next thing to look at I guess would be ignoring. Clearly its the best method to train with. But its very hard to ignore a beak clamping down on your finger. Even 1 millionth of a % of body language that suggests its working for the bird will tell it what it needs to know. "Biting wins!" Or that 140db scream is really hard not to flinch at. Similar to ignoring is distracting. In my opinion shaking a can of coins when the bird is screaming is useless. It comes back to telling the bird what you want and it understanding you. Before grabbing the can of coins one must ponder, what does the can of coins mean to you anyway? It's a can of change from buying coffee and donuts and now its being shaken... no birdie connection here! I'm mostly out of tricks here.. though I'm going to pull down some text books and refresh myself on more methods and I'll post them if I havn't mentioned them already.

My bird was perching on his own at 8 weeks old and beginning weaning at that point. He's now 10 weeks old and is fully weaned eating pellets several times a day. My thoughts on this would be to take your bird to a vet and have it checked for sickness and then with a vets note of good health take it to a knowledgeable breeder to have it weaned and trained. Mirek does sleep on a perch yet sometimes during the day he will get toweled and sleep covered up laying all flopped over under the towel. When I lift the towel to check if he's overheating and panting his eyes are closed and he seems content.

Yes when I got my 2nd bird, the 1st one instantly hated me. I had had him for about 3 months and we were getting quite attached what with his constant singing to me and gripping the side of the cage I was facing. It took another 2 months for him to come around back to liking me again. But the other bird he's quite nasty too, he's got a good grudge going on poor little April even to this day. Now I have the 2 tiels and my Grey. Just those 3 pets takes up massive amounts of my time. I still want a Macaw in a few years but sometimes when caring for these guys I wonder how I could ever manage with 4! I know some people with 8-9+ parrots.. They love birds but you can tell that if not for their love, there would be no birds at all.

I read a book that observed Greys eating dirt/clay and playing in the dirt in the wild. Also when visiting an aviary all their pen floors were plain old dirt and the bottom of the Grey's pen was all swept with a flat Grey foot. Lots of little talon marks everywhere in the ground too. Yet all the other birds just had poop on the bottom of their pens. I believe the Grey from the aviary was a wild caught, actually most all their birds were wild caught except the tiels and doves.

So Lidia, you use the military command to provide instruction to your bird. I agree this works perfectly as it makes the bird feel like #2 in the flock and you become the boss. It's just like my Macaw story. Yet it makes me stop and think about those "nasty" birds that feel they have the authority in most any situation. What do you do about them? Stewie the Macaw was not a nasty bird, he was just nasty to people who failed the lunge test. When I got my 1st tiel from the pet shop he was quite awful and belligerent. A stern voice caused him to assume attack position at the person issuing it with hissing and nipping the air. After taking him to the breeder where I got my Grey they suggested the laddering method which as I said before taught him in 2-3 episodes that being nasty results in exercise. He no longer hisses and he only does the attack position when defending his cage which is acceptable. He hasnt gotten the laddering for about 2 months now yet I still use the military voice to which he now somewhat responds.

Well people that enjoy watching things kill are usually pretty hostile. People that enjoy having conversations and just watching the Grey do its thing are usually not very hostile at all. Plus a lot of people on the Grey forum here also say its more a matter of personal preference. My friend loves Ferrets but I would never get one; and she hates birds. You just get what you like cause life is too short to do what other people say!:evil: I know though from my experience, when guests in my house come over, they love the birds. They want to hold them and play with them, which is good cause they will learn to play with strangers. Inviting guests to see your giant snake that could kill them but doesnt because "he's already eaten today" seems like the mutual understanding might be lost.

Oh wait, i said that all wrong... /sigh I need a nap. /cry

Treat her like a member of the family.. she is afterall!:ohmy: Eat dinner together as a "flock", although she eats her food.. Watch TV together. Play games. Go for car rides, although they hate windshield wipers! lol. Just do your normal things together as a family and the Grey will include all that participate in it's flock. And grats on bringing her home, I'm in the same boat as you.

lol Monique. There there. There there. My tiels run the tips of their beaks along my desk. The Grey.. oh man I can only imagine, and as an added bonus I built the desk myself.. so when he wrecks it, I'll be "thrilled".:huh:

Ok so I tried like you guys all agreed on. I cuddled him lots today and talked to him. We read some instruction on how to build a model ship. Well I read them, he chewed the edges of the paper. He seems to complain about coming out of the cage but when he gets settled into that towel its bliss. Right now actually he's been sleeping under a pile of towels for 2 hours. When I lift the towel flap off his head he looks at me an makes a very content slow squeal noise. I think tomorrow were going to attempt some youngling home made food. Maybe some warmed up mashed banana. Cause thats all my mind can come up with right now lol. And waking up at 7am.. uuhh!:pinch:

Ya Judy, I try my best to avoid using those pans. But if the birds are in my room like usual it works. I hope I never find out if it's not working. I never cook with the birds on the same level as the kitchen no matter then pans I'm using. One mistake will result in carving a grave stone. Knowing your stuff doesn't mean much to a dead bird tho.. It's easier just to throw some butter in the pan.. And it tastes better anyway! But it makes your heart stop.. But not for 40 years!! Spend that time with birdie:laugh: I'll carve my own grave stone, chances are they'd spell my name wrong anyway.

Judy, I hear it's almost worth paying THEM to prevent you from making the mistake of seeing that movie.

Teflon, PTFE, short for Poly-Tetra-Flouro-Ethelyene. PTFE is not dangerous when at room temperature. Yet when heated it chemically rearranges itself into the form of a gas molecule called PFIB (Per-Fluoro-Isobutylene). This was used as a nerve gas agent in the 2nd world war. When it is inhaled into the lungs of a bird, their body reacts by quickly releasing liquid, likely blood and/or mucus and in a matter of minutes the bird suffocates due to its own bodies self defense mechanism. This is only the lungs.. it is a nerve gas afterall, who knows what damage it does to the brain or other tissues and organs. Good cause your eggs won't stick to the pan. Bad cause well, makes birds die due to their intensely sensitive respiratory systems. I use Teflon pans in my house, but I also have a commercial grade overhead exhaust fan that can move 400cfm. I keep the fan on for as long as it takes before I can touch the pan with a bare hand.

CeasarsDad wrote: Oh my sweet god CD, you're a genius. "Snake Flame War" It's like the perfect name for an action movie! And Jean Claude Van Dam could play the snake. I dunno who would be the Grey though..

Have a great time dblhelix! I agree, hope you bring back some pictures!

Yes dblhelix, perhaps it was wrong for me to assume that point had been taken already. Hence why the topic is named with the "!?". Although Lidia, I do sincerely believe that the analogies used to compare and better understand the Greys using human children works. No it isn't perfect of course, but it is close. It's the age old line, "The intelligence of a Grey compares to that of a 4 year old.", an Amazon or a Macaw a 2 year old. In fact Lidia, I'm quite interested to hear how you 'discipline' your Grey. Your Grey must push you to the edge and cause a bad reaction on your part at least sometimes! I'm willing to bet with your opinions you've discovered a method that is both invasive aswell as effective. Please share and we can discuss:) And thankyou for stating that your posts are not ad homen. Methods and practices *are* meant to be tried afterall.

lol.. Exorcist voice. Why does that sound so perfect a description of it.. lol That just cracks me up hahaha.:laugh: Grats on the talking!:cheer:<br><br>Post edited by: hveusnthbrige, at: 2007/07/11 02:46

Lidia, I'm not joking or teasing. If you decide not to discipline your pet thats up to you. But a 4 year old child without guidance might aswell be the offspring of the devil. Both my dogs are extremely obedient and they didn't become that way all by random chance. Guests in our home consistently comment on how amazing our pets are and how they wished their animals were similar. I always tell them, animals do not educate themselves to the behaviours we prefer. They must be taught and you must teach them to enjoy these behaviours. I see a need to punish poor behaviour. It's how I was raised and looking back now and comparing how some other people act at my age or younger; I'm glad my parents did what they did. Yet birds are different from people in that they do not understand punishment like I mentioned in my first post on this topic. So I arrive at the purpose of this entire topic: 1, to share peoples methods on how they punish or discipline and 2, to attempt to educate on-lookers that practice the poor methods into trying less invasive methods. Nowhere would the purpose ever be cruelty nor is it implied. But I guess as they say, that it's all in the eye of the beholder..

Welcome the both of you. Although I imagine Bert doesn't do much of the typing.. well, actually my keyboard gets a lot of little feet all over it hehe. There's really nothing more excellent than a person who aims to learn, well maybe owning a certain birdie might be better.

Hmm, whats next on the list of 'birdy spankings'... Ahh yes, putting a screaming bird in a dark room/closet. This in my opinion is horribly useless. The problem I see with it is confusion on the part of the bird. The dark room or closet to us represents a simple time out area. To the bird it might be on par with a dungeon, at least thats what comes to mind for me. Dungeons don't teach anything except torture. It can't escape, no amount of screaming results in rescue and it can't see. A prey animal that can't see will instinctively panic. Panic is the most powerful barrier to training. Therefore the bird will not learn. On the other hand.. a prison does generally successfully teach a person a lesson; or at the bare minimum to spend more time and thought on how not to get caught haha.. Wait a minute, how come that last sentence makes sooooo much sense to me when thinking about my birds... hmmmm:whistle: A timeout cage, like a prison is not dark, it has water to drink and it is also familiar.. at least to disobedient birds:lol: . It causes bordem and from my teachings the three most effective, core training tools are amusement, effort and bordem. Amusement causes reward, effort causes frustration and well, bordem speaks for itself. Like a child standing in the corner or being grounded for a week.

Oh my, today Mirek woke up and I think this time it finally hit him.. It's all gone and not coming back. He still eats and drinks just fine but he no longer comes out of the cage on his own. I just take him out to weigh him and then put him back. He's doing a lot of crying for his clutchmates and I get the feeling he doesn't want me near him as much as he wants his hand feeding person. Otherwise he is doing very well. He preens often, lots and lots of wing flapping, climbs often.. and I'm used to each bird consuming about 10 grams of food per day, or tossing it on the cage bottom.. lol. I still have to figure out what he eats in grams but right now I know simply by "Half a bowl" :ohmy: .

I think snakes are fascinating. But in my preferences, I prefer what a bird has to offer as a companion. So that's why I got a Grey. It seems as if you having 13 snakes were getting bored with them if you sold them all. Perhaps another challenge as far as pets are concerned has your interest. It all boils down to what you want from your little buddy. I value things like obvious intelligence, emotions and the shear look of the animal. Not saying snakes don't fulfill these categories but in my mind, a bird is better suited. One good thing about a snake though is that it won't ever repeat dirty words in front of guests to your home!:whistle:

Oh I forgot to mention the night light and a partial cover for the cage. The cover is usually best if its the colour of his feathers.. so, grey. Watch out for the chewing of an extension cord for that night light too. I take the night light away during the day so theres no chance of chewing. My last 2 birds had the night light for 2 weeks and then I took it away without any troubles and they've never had it since.

Another thing I do with my tiels is to separate them if 1 is being bad. While they fight and nip over who eats when, or who sleeps where, or who plays with what toy, if they arent together the world might as well be coming to an end. So if they start doing something like screaming or fighting... one gets taken out of the room. That makes them scream more, but when put back together they get really quiet and thankful for the companions' return.

Congratulations on bringing home a Grey! The only thing I would suggest to do is read lots of Grey specific books, especially concerning behaviour.