CTGull

OK. I'm done here. Please delete this topic and remove me from this forum.

I'll try to find it tonight.

The fireworks are tomorrow night. But there were some loud neighborhood ones on Wednesday and it didn't seem to bother the birds. The dogs hate it!!! We'll see what that in combination with flashing lights does. I'll make sure she's covered first, but that only blocks visibility, not light. She'll probably be fine. Haven't been able to get her to step up the last 2 mornings. A few steps back. Wait and see. I think my wife had gotten something from the vet to put in her water or food to calm her down for her destructive feather problem. I'll have to find it. Still no pulled feathers but she chews any wing feathers that come in.

No real update. Nothing has changed. Everything outside her cage is going to kill her. The only time she will step up is at sunrise. Our town fireworks are this coming Saturday. It is about 1/4 mile from our house and very visible from the livingroom. AND VERY LOUD!!!! The other 2 birds have heard/seen it, they will be fine. Piper will probably spend the whole time on the bottom of the cage in convulsions!!! So I figured I'd lower a play stand, get her used to it, and bring her downstairs and put her on it before the fireworks start. Well, that's not going to happen. She's terrified of the thing!!!! A couple of mornings ago I took her out and she gripped my finger tight enough to stop the blood flow. Sh jumped off as I got closer to the stand. I picked her up and got her onto it. I took her off and put her on again. I put her back in her cage and she's refused to step up since. End of story.

I just realized we rescued her 5 weeks ago yesterday.

I don't have time for details. (4) birds: a "love" bird (poorly chosen name), male Alexandrine (bought as a baby), naked male Eclectus (rescue), and our newly rescued female CAG. (2) dogs (rescues): 4 year old 85 lb male pit bull (dumb as a box of rocks!), and a 4 year old chihuahua/rat terrier mix (runs the house). (2) cats (rescues). The female is a demanding beotch, you can do anything to the male. Reptiles: (2) ball pythons, (4) boas, (1) hog nose snake, (1) sand boa. Most are lost cost paid rescues. (1) bearded dragon (that defies Father Time). (1) female cuban rock iguana. Very rare. Chillest iguana ever. Had (4) cubans at one time. (1) crested gecko, missing it's tail. It is what it is. Who knows what else... We've had many more snakes. Rescued 9 once. Had 4 or 5 tegus. And many other critters over the years. We've cut back as the kids got older.

She does ring a bell on a toy once in a while. And grabs one toy to bang it against her water bowl. That's about it. I added squares of cardboard to one toy. She was initially afraid of it, now she ignores it. Everything I've given her was to chew on, instead of herself. She has popped a few main wing and tail feathers, which are chewed on the ends. I've never seen a feather (other than down) on the floor of the cage. That's a good thing. She's got a long way to go! I'm hoping the breeding behavior ends soon, and she still likes me afterward. If I had a voice activated recorder I could document her vocabulary, which seems to grow every day. Not just random words, whole sentences!

I should mention the new toys that she was originally afraid of are in her cage and she's OK with them. She doesn't touch any of her toys though. :?( She continues to very randomly step up. 90% of the time she forcibly pushes my finger up to her head for scratches. Sometimes she lightly bites my fingers to redirect me. If she takes it too far I close the door and walk away. Mostly, she steps up to get closer to me for he mating dance. Mostly in the morning. Although she must have some interest in coming out of her cage. But she's usually very scared when I take her out, looking for things to eat her. I can see it in her eyes and feel it in her grip. I'll sometimes slowly walk her around the room. Hopefully she'll get it soon. I can't take her to the bird meeting in September if she's this scared of everything outside her cage. She must have never been taken out. I can tell by the things she's been saying lately that her former owners where not happy with her. She's been telling her story. I've been tempted to text the guy, but that would probably just piss him off. He "wanted it gone". If I could only get her to understand "good bird step up", which is what I say when I take one of the other birds out and show her that they like to step up. She obviously has her own priorities!!

Wow, has she really opened up vocally!!! All kinds of stuff coming out of her mouth the last few days!! Including stuff she had to have picked up before we got her. "stop. Stop. STOP!!!" And, all of the sudden it's quite up there. Hmmm.... I better check.

Well, unfortunately our 16 year old daughter has been in the hospital for the past 2 weeks. Severe depression. We brought her home today. Every day is go to work, go to the hospital, go to bed. With a little bird time between. Last weekend we were working on giving her room a makeover. Prime & paint have been done. I did the prime on Saturday, her friends did the painting on Sunday. And one of her friends has been working on a mural. This weekend will be a new vinyl plank floor. Since everything but the bed came out of the room, it meant much of it went into the living room, where the birds are. Things going by greatly scared the CAG. She fell off her perch at least 2 times. For the past 3 nites she's been freaked out by covering her cage. Tonight was the first time she had no problem with the cover, probably because I did it. Every morning when I take off the cover I give them food and water, and give the CAG scratches. The past 3 mornings she did step up willingly at least once. Yesterday she was climbing the edge of the doorway opening and I was amazed she stepped onto my finger! By mostly she wants scratches and wants to do her wing drooping, wimpering, attempting regurging. I don't giver her exclusive long time attention, I move from bird to bird so they don't get too jealous. These are 3 medium size birds that could do some serious damage to me if they wanted. Fortunately all 3 of them like me very much. Maybe pictures tomorrow, but no promise. Our 18 year old son graduates from High School on Friday. thursday after work I have to get him some fancy clothes to wear, a one time use. He lives in shorts and t-shirts. Busy, busy!!!!

I think the fast lane days are over. She's settling into the Grey lane. Even though she's stepping up a bit better, she's still visibly afraid when I take her out of the cage. So I stay right next to it and let her look around.

After a week of no/slow progress, she has been willingly stepping up more. 4 times this morning. Of course, she's doing it to get closer to me for her mating display. I've been doing less neck scratching and more talking to her. She doesn't get scratched at all if she's on my finger. I keep her near the cage and move very slowly. She transfers easily to the other finger, something our other birds won't do (left hand is evil!!). She's still afraid of the ceiling and most inanimate objects, but not afraid of the dogs & cats that could actually kill her. Now that she's getting easier to pick up, I need to make a setup to weigh her. I'd swear she feels heavier. She's small for her breed but a little overweight for her size, due to her previous diet of seed and nuts. No signs of plucking. Hopefully she'll continue to get easier to handle and more comfortable over the next few months. Maybe we'll be able to take her to the Parrot meeting in September, 3 months away.

When does mating season end?? Or will this continue until the days get shorter? I put a sheet over her at sundown (about 9pm), and take it off when I'm about to leave for work (about 5:30am). I know that's not enough sleep time, but I make sure she gets clean food and water before I leave for work.

I think just about everything she does is for "mating" with me. She'll dance around (lifting feet and wings) to get my attention, then she grabs my finger (and not let go!), and attempt to regurgitate for my hand. I usually pull away, but it isn't always easy. Shes got a good grip! Yesterday had positives and negatives. I was in and out all weekend. I'd give the birds a couple minutes attention here and there. I noticed she wasn't as vocal and didn't eat as much as she has been. I normally give her half a bowl in the morning and it's gone by late afternoon, and I'll give her a little bit more. Yesterday she ate a bit more than half. And I noticed a dozen down feathers of the bottom of the cage. And she's been a little more aggressive with her mating (nibbling on my finger). On the other hand, she stepped up 4 times, 2 willingly stepping off the front of the cage onto my finger. The first 2 times I kept her right in the front of the cage. She keeps looking up at the ceiling. I think she's afraid of the popcorn ceiling. The 3rd time I very slowly walked her to the front window. Later I very slowly took her to our bedroom. Each time she was only out for 2 or 3 minutes. I might as well add today to this. I got home to find all her food gone. That's a good thing. And she's being very animated and vocal. Raising feet and wings, showing off.

Haven't thought about the hair lately. I'd kind of like to keep what I have left. She stepped up yesterday, probably by accident. Starting yesterday evening, possibly part of her mating dance, is to raise a foot at me. Either foot. She will actually grab my finger. But has no interest in stepping up. I tried pushing on her chest once and she held the bar very firmly. Typically if I put my finger near her feet (and a foot isn't extended to me) she will push my finger away very firmly with her head. No bite, not even an attempt. While she still lowers her head for scratches almost anytime I extend a finger toward her, when I scratch her head after a couple of seconds she turns her head a nibbles on my finger. I've been not scratching her as much, to not encourage her mating dance. I still show her the other birds stepping up. And talk to her. She's copied more than a few sounds around the house. This afternoon I heard her mimicking the smaller dogs bark. She's also howled with the other dog. We think she's said our middle son's name a few times. and other stuff. Very entertaining.