Blair

Cute. Amadeus will snuggle like that with me, when he is good and ready, lol. Most of the time he whistles and talks to me trying to get my attention. I get up and go to his cage and try to get him to step up to me and come back to my SLUG chair across the room. I think the mistakes I made when I first got him have him responding too aggressively. Biting, not hard, is his way of playing. I don't mind the nips, as he is just talking to me with his beak, and he does not try to actually hurt me. When he nips me I say no, and he backs up and says no back to me. When he does this at my desk, it is usually because he wants more attention than I am giving to him. When he nips me on the neck in my chair, he just wants to snuggle, but the NO comes out, and he gets taken back to his cage.

wow. I just read thru this thread and kicked myself. Amadeus is perched on my belly just watching me type. I've had him for 15 months and it has been trial and error thru this time. I am a smoker, inside at my house and trailer. He used to try and nibble the cigarette before I lit it, but that behavior stopped a long time ago. An interesting behavior that he does before he comes to me from the cage, is he will sit on the cage opening and defecate before stepping up. I didn't teach him this, and when I first got him he would defecate on my shoulder or wherever all the time. If he stays on the back of my desk chair too long, he will let loose, always to the rear. If I get up from my chair he will turn around and watch me and sometimes let loose on the front. Doesn't bother me as I keep towels and wet ones handy for this.

I don't cover Amadeus. No need. I have to close the cage door when I have the girlfriend over or he will fly to the bedroom to be a pest. Otherwise I just leave the cage door open for him to do whatever. Interesting when I am in the trailer as he has to fly from the cage up to the bedroom in the front and make a hard left to the bed. He is quite adamant about being numero uno, lol. The tv is on all day for him, but I keep the cage door closed until I get home. When I go to bed the sun is usually still up, and I wake up around 3 or 4 in the morning and drink coffee until work time. Not sure if he sleeps all day, or watches tv. He loves to play on the floor with me and walk thru my arms rubbing himself. Any time I am parked at a trailer park, the neighbors say he talks and whistles at them. the blinds are always down at a trailer park so he can only hear people or animals around the trailer.

We'll see how it goes with the harness. He had no idea he could actually fly up until I went to PA back in February. Previous outdoor walks were around trailer parks on my shoulder walking around and talking to neighbors. If he got spooked by someone he would glide down and I would let him step back on my hand and then back to my shoulder. I'm assuming he led a caged life previous to me. He definitely loves long flights, as I had to grab him by the neck out of the bushes on his multi-field flight a few months ago. He put a dent in my "bird finger", lol, when I was being nice to him, and that brought the no BS neck grab from me. The predators in the area are what really concerned me.

To tell you the truth, I enjoy being in more urban areas for grocery shopping. I always seem to be in the remotest areas of the U.S. for work. I do miss Publix here in the south. When I work the west it is always dusty and hot. My girlfriend lives in Salt Lake City area, and she is the person who gave me the bird. Her son was the previous owner and he could not take care of him. Being given a parrot, cages, and accessories is just the initiation. She laughs at me now as she knows she did well in finding a home for him. She says he is a happy bird now. Only problem is I can't fly to see her now. She has to fly to me.

I've actually been thinking about buying the aviator harness for about 6 months. I was leary about it before as Amadeus was going from being a biter to a loving companion. He still has issues but the trust is coming out in him. I'll probably get bitten a few times trying to get him used to it. I just ordered it, should be here next wednesday. Hopefully I can get him trained with it before I head back to PA. He has an awesome yard to play in there.

I am gone from the trailer most working days for approximately 12 hours. I leave the tv on for him while I am gone. My trailer is parked in the Allegheny mountains right now. It is a rather ideal location as a private landowner lets me park behind his barn in a wooded, private area that he had utilities run to. I can leave the blinds up during the day there and he can watch the wildlife meander around. Deer, turkey, bears are in the area but I have yet to see one on the property although out on the pipeline right of way bears are everywhere.

I don't know how much of an adventure it is, as I hate to drive for long periods of time, but it is part of my work. I have limo-tinted windows in the truck, and when I stop for fuel, restroom breaks, I roll the window down next to the cage and I get a lot of lookyloos staring at him.

http://i1166.photobucket.com/albums/q615/bfootn/20140801_095223_zps9185b635.jpg?t=1406820395 Amadeus and his traveling cage.

with my traveling lifestyle, getting Amadeus into the traveling cage is still hard. I used to just towel him, and the squawking and biting thru the towel were traumatic for me and him. Now I just bring the cage in, set it down, and he knows he is going somewhere. I close up his main cage so he can't get back in and he just flies away from me when I reach my hand up to him. Once he is on the floor he steps up to my hand and I put him in the traveler. He is resigned to getting in after all the excitement of flying away from me. I don't know why he always trusts me from the floor and not from the cage. I sometimes drive for days at a time to cross the country with my trailer. I have 2 wooden branches bolted close to each other in the corner of the cage closest to me while I drive. I keep the rearview pointed at him so I can watch him. He has learned to keep one foot on the front of the cage and one on a branch for the bumpy parts of the ride. He gets annoyed when the sun goes down. He wishes to stop when it gets dark outside. http://i1166.photobucket.com/albums/q615/bfootn/20140801_095223_zps9185b635.jpg?t=1406820395 He is in his traveling cage in the pic. My trailer is up north with the main cage while I am home.

i didn't know what I was getting into when I received the bird. From what i have read, my lifestyle is not a desireable one for a grey. He has adapted fairly well. He is left alone all day when I am working, and I let him out to roam and stretch when I get home. He now dictates my schedule when I am off work as I can not fly to wherever I wish to go.

Good morning all. Just found this forum and hope to better understand my African Grey. Amadeus is approximately 10 years old, male, (had him DNA tested last January). 2 previous owners, and he was given to me a little over a years ago. I had to work thru some issues with him upon first getting him. He loves to bite, lol. He has gotten used to me and my traveling lifestyle. I travel the country in a fifth wheel trailer for work. I also visit my house in Nashville occassionally, lol. He has a big cage in the trailer, and I have a smaller cage he travels in that fits in the back seat of my truck. He's not happy when we travel, but he has gotten somewhat used to it. I really didn't know what to think of the regurgitating in my hand until I started researching it. I found that he has mated with me. I decided that I didn't wish to restrict him by clipping his wings, but after chasing him down after a rather long flight thru a couple of fields, I probably need a leash to let him stretch out. He loves to fly, but he is restricted to short bursts in the trailer, and longer bursts in my house, which result is a rather amusing bump into whatever stops him. He is a jealous bird when I have company over. He will fly over to me to get in between me and my company. The biting of me has stopped, or rather he just nibbles while he is affectionately playing with me. I think he was abused somewhat in his previous life. I did notice that in the beginning of ownership, I decided to wear some welding gloves to try and handle him. That was a mistake as he went crazy when he saw them. He knows what the gloves are for and he doesn't like them. I guess I just need to read thru the forum to learn what I can.