LNCAG

Love parrot memes (well, I like all sorts of memes!)

I love toasted English muffins smothered in real butter (not for breakfast, more brunch/lunch-time)... but I gotta admit, my grey would be very disappointed in such an offering! My grey is not much into bread of any sort. He might try a small nibble of it if I'm eating it, but then turn his beak up at it. Lunches with the Ladies's meal would definitely appeal more to my grey. I'm not a morning person, so generally I just start my grey's day with some simple fresh fruit and offer a more varied dish of veg/rice later. I'm not much for chopping or dicing anything too involved first thing in the morning.

I've said this elsewhere, but mine will hang upside down off my hand/fingers at bedtime -- pretty hard to put an upside bird on a perch. He's all limp and thinks this is hilarious. I often have to just lay him on bottom of his cage until he lets go of my hand and realizes it IS bedtime. lol

Envy the wider cage for Corky. At the time, I had wanted the 36" wide cage, but they all had macaw wide bar spacing; and I couldn't risk my CAG getting his head stuck between the bars. But that was in 1997 -- glad they make a 36" cage now with tighter bar spacing.

I didn't know travel cages even existed for parrots -- I've always used a kitty carrier. I bought 2 Kings cage back in 1997 -- back when they came with stainless steel bowls. Ridiculous if they come with plastic bowls now. Anyway, I can certainly attest, having owned two, that they hold up well! Or at least the older style ones do. When freshly wiped down, mine still looks like new (but never for long--lol). Snickers is in his same Kings cage I bought for him in 1997. I love that the Kings cage top opens up for a play area. But they sure are heavy to move -- thankfully they come with wheels! I'm told I got one too tall for my CAG, but I think Snickers enjoys his vertical space (it's 6+ feet tall, and 27 inches wide, 24 inches deep).

My aloe plant looks just like yours does if a dozen angry macaws ravaged yours down to 7 remaining stalks, 3 of which have broken off ends. lol Jealous! Yours are gorgeous and huge! Mine is, um, at a difficult toddler stage still.

Yeah, my Chessi (tibetan spaniel -- RB 2012) she would gladly drink on the road while traveling. My cats were too upset by the trip to do anything but meow for 6 hours straight (but their carrier doors did have 'clip on dual-dishes' with some water and food -- untouched, of course). But to be honest, there was no way in hell I was going to open a parrot carrier's door while traveling to offer them water! I couldn't have reached them without having the back car door open -- and losing a flyaway parrot on the interstate was NOT happening on my watch! I honestly thought grapes were perfect solution -- it was food and was super juicy. I even cut Kodak's (cockatiel) grapes in half to assist him. Sami (macaw) was the only one to eat her grapes during the whole journey -- she was easy-going and took everything in stride.

@Timbersmom Alert describes it perfectly - since it's definitely an alarm that he's upset by something! I will try to start calling it an "Alert" also now -- it fits well!

I've been through a few aloe vera plants over the last 30 years; some will live a long time then die for no reason I can figure out. I bought a new one 6 months or so ago. Btw, if a piece breaks off -- freeze it -- it can used later for burns and being cold is so wonderful for a burn! Medical advice: I do know my avian vet used to make a special mixture spray for parrots that contained aloe vera as an ingredient (my macaw received a horrible wing clip in the 90s by an ignorant vet (never went back to him nor ever clipped my macaw's wings again -- apparently he cut through more than primaries -- cut some secondary wings feathers). Anyway, point was, my macaw didn't understand it was her wing feathers messed up -- she figured it was her back injured (it was red from where her folded wings were scratching/irritating her back). That's when a real avian vet gave me his special aloe+ mixture to spray on her back. It soothed her back and eventually her wings feathers all grew back and her back healed up beautifully -- fully feathered back -- no lasting damage, thankfully. I keep everything, if I can find the bottle from the vet, I will tell you what's in it (if it's on the label) I really only remember it had aloe as a component in it.

Now I have to watch and see if my Snickers is also removing sunflower seed paper skins! I actually only offer a tablespoon of seed a few times a week as a treat -- but mine does go for the sunflower seeds first! (And I didn't know sunflower seeds had an additional paper skin either!!!) Too funny!

A closed door between baby and parrot will help as you slowly begin to introduce them to each other with extreme supervision. Also, giving the parrot some special one-on-one time (not easy, as a new mother you're going to be happily exhausted already)! And, in making time for pets and children -- you absolutely are going to need to find some YOU-TIME too! I hope you have a helpful partner! Good luck. For me, my pets ARE my children. No doubt an easier road but not a choice, just how my life worked out.

Bittersweet -- sad for you to lose your parrots in the first place (divorce is hard, dividing everything up). Also sad that in order to regain Odie, you have to lose a relative and trust others to honour her wishes. Sorry Odie picked out his chest feathers. But his eyes in some shots looked quite bright and alert: happy. Things usually work out somehow, so I'll remain hopeful for you both.

Piercing shriek and shrill both describe it -- it will hurt your ear if you're too close when he makes this loud squeak! It's a fairly short but quite loud squeak! But I can predict exactly when mine will do it; as mentioned --if I leave the room/leave the house, if I put him up, if someone he doesn't like enters the room, if some new object is noticed by him or placed too close to his cage, any change in my routine that affects him, etc.. So receiving his favourite dinners and treats would never elicit this shriek, nor being held by me -- this shriek is not a happy sound in my house. His happy sounds are whistling and talking, sometimes even murmuring softly (and soft beak grinding, obviously, before falling asleep). I have been viewing this loud squeak as him being upset or also a scared noise, but perhaps it just expresses his anger in general.

Only my grey makes this noise (lie: my Amazon learned it FROM my grey but rarely used it, thankfully). It sort of sounds like a trainer/sneaker squeak on a polished wood floor basketball ball court -- but seems much louder. I used to assume a previous owner to my grey must have been a basketball fan. But then I read or saw somewhere when someone else made a comment about their african grey making an awful squeaking sound. This squeak seems to be uttered only when my grey isn't happy. Is this common among greys -- just something they're born knowing? Annoying!!! And apparently meant deliberately to be annoying. I hear it at bedtime, go back in your cage time, something new and different is near my cage time, or you left the room for a minute and abandoned me time. While obviously a macaw scream is worse... this loud grey squeak actually annoys me more for some reason. At least a macaw (well mine anyway) only screamed joyfully to greet the morning sun and the evening sunset. Normal. Any one else have a grey who does this horrible squeak? AND, is it only done when your grey is upset over something???

I think Timber and Snickers must be related! lol

I moved 250 miles with all my parrots in their kitty carriers lined up in the back seat of my car (not to mention the cats in their carriers on car floor with a fish in tupperware wedged tightly between their carriers). My dog rode shotgun. Trip took nearly 6 hours (I followed the moving truck/lorry). For the parrots, I basically rolled up a hand towel and duct taped it (safely so no toes got stuck!) to bottom of each carrier so they could 'perch' on rolled towels until we got to my new home. Their cages were packed last on moving truck/lorry but still, it took a while to get the cages all set back up inside new home. I had given my parrots each some grapes in their carriers to eat for the journey, but only one ate hers. So I borrowed a large mug from a neighbor and poured them some water (brought from old city -- didn't want to upset their crops with strange new water yet) and each parrot drank and drank from that mug, they were so thirsty and I felt so guilty. I was trying to take turns, give each a couple swallows and then offer to next parrot (they were still in their carriers at this point) and Snickers figured out quickly to simply grab mug rim with his foot and hold tightly so that he could drink his fill. He had so little faith I was coming back to him for multiple turns at water drinking. I think between them, I had to tilt the mug a LOT -- they drank half a mug of water between them. Not recommending parrots go that many hours without access to water (and honestly, I had thought the grapes would provide enough sustenance and fluid enough for them to last the journey). I would NOT worry about water for a short hike!!!

@neoow I admit the story of your sister running from a flying parrot was funny to me! I guess now you have to buy her some frozen garlic toast for her birthday each year or something! lol Lukaya (YN Amazon) was my escape artist. She somehow learned to swing the little triangle that holds the cage's food doors closed and escape that way. At first I thought it was an error on my part closing the doors properly, but no -- she was too smart for me. I ended up having to add washers to make that triangle tight instead of loosely swaying, and then also put a thin flat magnet over it. She never could swing that triangle again and escape. I tried Sellotape at first, but that got old fast (having to constantly remove, replace tape... smh! Lukaya was lucky she has toes -- she'd be loose in the bird room, no respect for the other parrots, walking on their cages. She's lucky one didn't get territorial and nip her toe off. Snickers absolutely despised Lukaya. @Timbersmom Yeah, I agree on supervision!!! I would only the leave the room for a couple seconds if the cat was asleep and Snickers was truly occupied by something (food/toy). And I mean truly just a couple seconds. I honestly think it would be the cat who got the most injured if they ever met up face to face.

I understand completely. I was always blessed with parrots mostly happy to stay on their play stands or playing on top of their cages (top opens for a play-area); and cats who preferred to nap or groom for 20 hours a day. lol Generally my parrots stayed up high, and my cats never jumped up on their play areas. Just lucky I guess. If I walk across the room with my parrot on my arm, my cat seems oblivious. Bengals are so lovely and active! I envy you! Even today, when Snickers is on the sofa with me, my cat is just sleeping somewhere else. I wouldn't have them both with me on the sofa at the same time -- my grey is liable to nip the cat, even if my cat was just napping on back of sofa. Zuri is an only cat these days -- the last 'kitten' I've had in 12 years. I think she would enjoy another companion cat, but I'm not up to another cat yet since my last Rainbow Bridge cat. Glad yours have each other to entertain one another! This is the first time since the 80s I only have one cat. Since I also have 7 tarantulas, a ball python and a bearded dragon; my pets keep me quite busy providing them attention and maintenance. I'm so not in the market for another pet right now. Introducing a new cat into my household would be a lot of work! Snickers can fly, but it's not that common for him to -- he's more of a climber. Flying usually means something startled him (which is why I don't clip him -- if he feels he needs to take flight -- I want him to be able to do so and feel safe). That said, I do like to be present when he's loose just in case he gets some ideas....

Love the pictures, the outing, the adventure of it all -- just love it all! I think he looks very curious and happy!

My parrots grew up around cats (I already had cats when I first adopted my parrots; but they were older cats: Scooby 19, Mandey 17, Andy 16) and the parrots adjusted to them since the cats were there first. My parrots were originally all kept in the living room together with me and the cats. I had no bird room and things went fine even though the parrots were loose. But I was a housewife back then and home all day to keep my eyes and ears peeled for any trouble. But then I was widowed, I had to go back to work, and my original cats were long since Rainbow Bridge (I had 2 different grown cats that I had later added to my home over the many years). The parrots had already adjusted to having different cats around, didn't seem to care much. But I had to move to a smaller home and be gone all day working. The bird room, with its door, ensured all was well while I was out of the house so many hours per day. But the new kitten had no idea the damage a bite could do -- esp from the macaw. So thankful my parrots were cat-savvy and recognized the kitten was no threat to them, was just a baby.

I do think greys take a little longer to adjust to any changes. They're just so sensitive about every little thing! Glad you're seeing an improvement. But sorry it's caused you to distrust him a bit. I would be leery to reach out to Alfie also if I thought I might truly get bit -- that sort of confidence takes a while to rebuild -- patience is the key. And greys can sense if you're even slightly afraid of them. And some greys deny boundaries. Plus, greys can be liars. You can usually read the mood (and eyes) of many parrots -- but greys can lure you in all calm & friendly and then BAM -- bite time. Sad but true in some cases. Good luck -- hope things will continue to settle back in a comfortable routine for you both!

So, 12 years ago I had adopted a dumped kitten (named Zuri) and one of my biggest fears (since I worked full time) is that she would accidentally slip into the bird room and get injured sticking her little paw in their cages. I always checked before going to work to know where my new kitten was. But I guess I goofed one morning, probably in a rush. I came home at lunchtime to walk the dog and wanted to check on the kitten and could not find her anywhere. My worst fears confirmed -- she had slipped into the bird room before I left that morning! I found her lying on her back, all four legs in the air, in pure joy, in the middle of the bird room floor. All the parrots had come down to the bottom of their cages (huge tall cages) and my kitten was completely unharmed. And I KNOW she must have poked a paw in a cage -- she was like 10 weeks old and very curious. It was Snickers, my grey, who looked up at me and I swear if he could have rolled his eyes he would have. He gave me this "we got this" look; like 'we know it's just a kitten, we don't hurt little kittens, lady, sheeesh -- give us a little credit!" A lucky day and made me much more careful in the future to double check where the cats were before I left the house!!! And now Zuri is happily and healthily 12 -- with all 4 paws intact! lol

I always find it amusing, whether it's corn, grapes, sweet peas, apple, (even a raisin) etc. that my grey eats the insides and leaves the peels uneaten. Now something 'whole' (like a scraped carrot) he will eat in its entirely. But anything with any kind of peel gets opened, its inside scraped out and devoured, and the outside spat back out into his bowl. (Obviously with melon and such, I remove the rind myself before offering to him). And I'd never expect him to eat orange peel anyway. But c'mon -- peas? Corn? I wonder if the thinks certain veggies/fruit work the same way as seeds -- perhaps he thinks the peeling is like hull? No idea.

I like the idea of just swapping the rusty hooks out. Or, take some steel wool or sandpaper and get them clean -- just rinse well so parrot has no access to remnant steel wool strands or something -- leftover bits could be a crop irritant. As far as bugspray and cigarette smoke exposure... I get the impression your Mum isn't very on board with a parrot in the home.

Understood. And I don't think an all pellet diet would be healthy. I emphasize fresh foods. But I do like to leave mine a bowl with a few in it, in case he gets the munchies when I'm not home. I view pellets sort of like a cereal -- more of a snack food that's not too unhealthy. (Mine's cage had multiple food bowls, hence one kept specifically for pellets or twice-weekly seed treats).