BMustee

Well, I would go with the Aspen if you don't want to mess with poopy towels...I always stay away from the paper based bedding and anything with a strong smell. If he is 6 weeks you can start putting weaning pellots and fruits 'n veggies in with him but he probably won't really eat to much of it. It good to start putting all the things you want him to eat early so that way he can play with it...and the play will lead to eating. I have found that using the towels makes it easier for food play. You can scatter food on the top of the towel and you won't need to worry about him eating any bedding. I didn't really start putting a lot of food in for Elmo till he was about 8-9 weeks...he didn't have any interest in it before that. If you want to wait till he is a couple weeks older go to the Aspin and then maybe switch to the towels when he shows an interest in food. What a touching story about your first grey. I can only imagine what he had to go through before you brought him home with you, and I'm sure the 18 years he was with you were the best captive years of his life. Seeing as though your from PA, you would have nothing to worry about when it comes to wild caught parrots (importation ban was put in place in 92) and it sounds like you were ment to have another one. Let me know if you have any more questions...I would be happy to help.B)

My grey never preens me, but there is one at my work that will not leave me alone! He sometimes seems to be trying to get his whole head in my ear...it's too funny!

You are soooo lucky! I would love to go on a cruise! Have fun and take lots of pictures! {Characters-00020067}

{Love-00020116} Happy V-day to everybody too! I never get anything today because my B-day is too close....so I'm with ya' Toni on the Bahhh Hum Bug!:laugh:

Such a pretty girl. She sure seems to love to lean towards the camera. :laugh:

If you haven't put the high perch in yet you need to...obviously she isn't happy. After you put in the perch and she is still protesting then you should keep the small cage for sleeping. I have heard of people having a day and night cage for their parrots.

The Meyers parrot at my work is $550...and is about a year old. Parrot prices can very depending on the region you live in. Florida has some good prices on birds because there are so many breeders, but the midwest is pretty expensive because there is only a handful of breeders.

I used Aspin when he was really young and towels as he got a little older. Every feeding is a good rule of thumb because like you said, they don't hold on to their food very long:laugh: . The store uses towels and we scrape the poop off before they go in the wash...that way they come out cleaner and you don't have bird poop at the bottom of the load. I normally don't use a towel if it looks like it's starting to fray, and I never really see any parrot babies rip into them...the only exception would be baby caiques...they get into EVERYTHING!:laugh: The stuffed toy is very important if they are alone. My Elmo has a little red bear the breeder gave him...he still plays with it too and he's almost a year old. Boy did he have fun with it when he was a baby though. It sounds like you are really giving 110% to your baby, and that is so good to see. I'm sure your baby will grow up big and strong.

I wanted to add that just because you have a pumice/cement perch does not mean that they never need their nails clipped...it just makes it less frequintly needed. I trim nails and wings at my pet store job every day and I got to tell you it's sad how many people bring their birds in with nails that are so over grown it’s appalling and their reason for not bringing them in is "His nails were never sharp till now." and the reason for them getting sharp is because the nails are so long they don't rub the perch anymore. I posted this in another thread, but what you should do is look at the toes when they are on a table, if the tips of the toes are raised off the table then the nails are too long. I have had Elmo sense he was 6 weeks and I have only had to have all his nails done once and he is now 11 months...I had to trim one nail a few months back because it was begining to grow abnormally and wanted to correct it before it was permanent.

Also, the bedding should be changed at the VERY least once a day...2 or three times would be better...no matter if it is a towel of bedding. Also, Pine is not recomended. Aspen is much better because there is not a smell to it. Pine normally has a strong smell which could cause damage to you babies air sacks.

The tail feahters don't molt out right away. My baby is almost 11 months, I have had him sense he was 6 weeks and he has still not molted out any of his baby feathers...including tail feathers. At a couple weeks they loose their first set of down feathers and those are replaced with new down feathers. At 6 weeks your baby is getting his adult feathers in that will not molt out till he is around 9 months to a year. Given that the feathers were pulled out and not molted they should grow back before a molt but I have never seen or heard of a baby as young as your having feathers removed so I could not tell you how soon they will return.

Yeah, parrots like to sleeps up high and will be on edge if they cannot. Put a perch as high as you can in the big cage, just be sure to leave enough head room for your grey.

Yeah, I'm not sure how long it will take ether. As for the poop being on feathers... At the store I think the birds try to poop on each other...I mean, they nail each other so often that it really seems they have made a game of it. What we do is get a warm cloth and put it on the poop and just let it set on them for a few moments. If your bird won't let you do this then just stroke over the poop. Most of the time all of it will not come off, we just get the worst of it off and let the birds take care of the rest. The older Amazon parrots seem to get nailed the most by the macaws and they do not like getting their backs touched so we just get what we can off and by the next day they have gotten the rest. I know baby birds aren’t able to peen themselves yet but if it won’t come off with gentle rubbing the best thing to do is leave it...having a little poo on the tips of their feathers is better than pulling feathers out.

Wow! :woohoo: Thats great! For her to let you pet her and then she groomed you back was a big step! I bet in no time the two of you will be best of friends!

P.S. - That pic is adorable!

My grey has done some things kinda like what is in the picture. Elmo has one of those half bowls with the two balls that spin around in it. Well, a number of times he has played with it and then laid his body across it. One time after playing and sitting on it he regurgitated for it. Elmo is only 10 1/2 months old and I believe he was only 8 months when he "gurged" for his toy so there is no way it's sexual. I would say make sure she doesn't go into full courtship displays, but if it never progresses past what she is doing now then I wouldn't be too worried about it.

Oh that is horrible news...I'm so sorry. It doesn't take long at all to get attached to those little guys, I loved Elmo just as much at 10 days as I do now. Are you having a necropsy done to find out what was wrong with him? I wouldn't blame yourself too much, if I was you I would go to whoever it was that sold him to you and tell them what happened because it sounds like they sold you a doomed baby.<br><br>Post edited by: BMustee, at: 2008/02/11 14:15

6 months is still a baby. Parrots will bond with a human at any age, some just take a little longer to bond with. When it comes to hand feeding and bonding it doesn't matter...the only thing that is different there is that when you get a baby when they are very young they don't need those few days to ajust to the new home, they are happy as long as there is food. There were a number of birds at my pet store that people gave to us because they couldn't care for them anymore and all of them are older birds. One was named Sunshine, a 4 year old B&G...I loved her sooo much and would have loved to have taken her home. She would "gurg" for me at least 4 times a day, so she must have loved me too. We clicked right off the bat, but there are a few that I must have grown on. Pattie is a 35 year-old Buffons and she LOVES me, but she didn't like me at first. Now I carry her all over the store with me and she loves to scare people when they walk by me. I could go on and on about the older birds and the love they give you, but the one thing I would like to say it their love is different. When you bond with a baby it seems like they love you as a parent...when an older bird loves you, your like the best friend they have been looking for all their life and that is one of the best feelings. When the day comes that I can take on another parrot I will probably get an older bird.

http://www.plannedparrothood.com/plants.html This is the list I go by...it's the best I have found yet.

If I ever get a pair of Society finches I'll get same sex. They are supposed to be just a prolific as the Zebras and I'm not going through that again...I had finches coming out the ying-yang and wholesale of them is only like 5 bucks a bird.

I loved those things when I was a kid. It was better getting the "magic" peanuts than what was shipped! The dry ice that came in the box with the steaks were always a cool science thing too.

Yeah, I would take him in. If he is panting or gaping his beak he could have air sack mites.

So you have a 9 week old baby. Start putting in all the foods you want him to eat now for him to play with and then just pay attention to him. He will start eating more and more on his own and will let you know when he is ready to drop a feeding...normally by not being as interested or won't be as "into it" as usual. When you know he is eating well on his own drop the afternoon feeding...you still have a few weeks before that though. The morning feeding is the same thing. When he starts getting more into the real food you can drop it. The night feeding is the last to drop and is really more of an imotional thing than nutritional...so keep it around as long as he wants. I would also like to clear up the usage of the crop as an indication as to when to feed. Baby birds will not fill the crop, and many of them will look empty when they really are not. There will be a small amount of food at the bottom that can be felt when rubbed (lightly). Birds have basicly 2 stomachs, the crop is the storage stomach and will empty slowly as the second stomach empties. That is why baby birds will still cry for food when they have a full crop, because the food has not worked it's way into the "second" stomach...this leads to baby birds getting over fed when someone does not know what the crops "limits" are and the baby can end up with stretched crop that can come with a plethera of problems. Feedings should be done by schedule and feel, not by looks.<br><br>Post edited by: BMustee, at: 2008/02/07 04:40

{Feel-good-0002006E} That is too funny. Like you, I have a "backup" system. Elmo learned the Alarm clock tone so now when I hit the snooze the "alarm" keeps going off!:laugh:

The candidates give all the money to the homeless but then there was a bunch of Hobos running for office I wish nobody decides who to vote for because Chuck Norris endorces them. (Have you all seen those ads, hilarious!) {Feel-good-0002006E}