n2fisher

Can't resist posting one more photo ...

Evidently you can only put one image per reply .. here's another photo -- you can see how much fun he's having by the amount the water is moving and running off him. The ONLY water in this picture is in the 13x9 baking dish .... those two streams of water on the right are where he just pulled his wing out of the water, and it's running off the wing! <br><br>Post edited by: n2fisher, at: 2008/07/26 16:30

WOW! WHAT a BLAST!!! For years I've tried to get Gandalf to take a bath. He's refused repeatedly .. will not go near water. I've done the usual -- spray him with a misting bottle, splashed water on his feet, taken him into the shower with me, built a PVC stand he can be on in the shower while I splash him periodically, etc. The only thing he allowed water to touch his body is in his water bowl -- periodically (2-3 times a month) when he felt the need to take a bath he goes to the corner of his cage where his water dish is and make a complete mess -- get into the dish, splash the water around, etc. It's gotten to where I had to refill the water dish three times during his baths, which of course all wound up on the cage bottom / floor / walls / etc. Yesterday I had the idea of .. DUH .. try to get him into a bath when HE wanted to. So, he started his routine of going to his water bowl and giving himself a bath. I tried to get him out of his cage; he refused to step up. I finally took the bowl out of the cage and he stepped up. I took him into the kitchen, and with him on one hand threw things around the kitchen to try to get a bath set up. HE LOVED IT!!! He had an absolute BLAST. He got his entire under side in -- dunked his tail feathers and lowered his legs, then put his beak in and pushed forward til he hit the corner, getting his breast completely soaked. I took the mister and got his backside, and he expressed pleasure instead of somewhat acceptance of something he didn't like. He bathed himself for at least 20 minutes, and was completely soaked when he was done. I took him outside and let him flap his wings to dry off. So the key for me was .. wait for when HE was ready to do it, and provide an appropriate place rather than what he was able to do. Now .. to see if he will take to it next time when I provide it, rather than making me interrupt his next bath (if I'm in the room when he starts it..) How often should I try to bath him? Debating trying again today (this happened yesterday) just to see if he'll do it. I'll try to attach a pic of him taking a bath -- haven't done that previously, we shall see if it works. Post edited by: n2fisher, at: 2008/07/26 15:53<br><br>Post edited by: n2fisher, at: 2008/07/26 15:54

Others have said very good things; I adopted my 3yr old a year and some ago. It took a good deal of time for him to really warm up to me -- months before I was really comfortable with him. I spent a good deal of time talking to him outside the cage as others have suggested. I've never been bitten (he's had my finger in his beak many times, but he just tastes me with his tongue), but I took my time doing step-up. For the longest time he would step up when HE wanted to; now he does it on command. I'm convinced that it was my fear of him that caused him to be uncomfortable; I've now completely lost my fear, and he'll let me do anything to him now. I agree you need to learn how to hold your hand -- don't give him the opportunity to bite a single finger. Approach with the back of your hand if he's not comfortable -- he is pretty easy to read what he's feeling.

Others have said that they use baby wipes or some such to clean up. I recently noticed "Poop-off" Anywhere Wipes at my local pet store. http://www.busybeaks.com/62001-5_poop_off.htm I purchased the wipes, and they seem like magic to me. It cleans dried poop from the cage easily, no more scraping for me. I've also used it for cleaning carpets and other items; it seems to get rid of all trace of any stains when used quickly or later after it's dried. I'm not advertising it; the link I provided is only one place that I've found it on the web, but I just wondered if others had found this and/or if it's better than baby wipes. I haven't tried baby wipes, the poop-off wipes seems to just disintegrate the traces, I can't imagine baby wipes working as well.

I think I read somewhere that they will injure their internal organs if you get them to poop too much; am I mis-remembering or is this a possibility? Gandalf has been doing something pretty amazing without any training on my part; he's a 3-year old owned by my brother-in-law prior to me, so perhaps this is something he taught him. I have a perch with newspaper under it that I made out of PVC pipe; I can move this around the house, and I have it near the chair that I'm sitting in normally. Gandalf will get uppity shortly before he poops .. giving his upset noise or pushing at my hands with his beak when I'm petting him. I put him on his perch and usually he will poop. I will of course praise him then bring him back to my lap and give him lots of love before resuming my normal holding him in my lap while doing something else. Not it may be somewhat because of my reaction previously when he's pooped on me, or as I said perhaps previous training, but he seems to naturally know that he has a place to poop. He's has only one accident in the past 2 weeks where he went on my lap. So my initial concern .. I've taken to putting him on his perch when i think that 20 minutes have gone past, and tell him to go poop; he will usually do that, and I'm just concerned that I might be triggering it too often ... ?<br><br>Post edited by: n2fisher, at: 2007/10/24 19:21

Thanks for the quick replies! I love this forum! Another question -- he goes through the motions of yawning. This isn't mimicing a sound, but it sure looks real, and I reply to it by yawning myself, so perhaps he's mimicing my motions as well?

Odd question -- my grey, Gandalf, makes a burping noise in all the other noises he makes .. as well as sneezing, clucking, and words. I presume that the burping and sneezing are mimicing us and the previous owner, and not actual noises that he makes; i.e. he's not sneaking beer or soda on the side somewhere.

Sounds great! The only issue is -- I can take quite cold temps without a coat. My son used to go to high school mid-winter without a coat on. So, translate it to "If most people need a coat to go outside". I took him out to pick up the mail today .. he loved it. Neighbors loved seeing him, and of course the postman loved it as well. Only issue was there was a TON of mail, and it was difficult getting it back to the house. I finally had Gandalf stand on top of the mail -- I was afraid he would shred it, but I got in OK. Norm

Thanks for the replies!!! Yes, that's what I noticed as well, but I just wasn't sure. It looks like he shreads and drops but doesn't injest. Thanks for the quick confirmations. This appears to be a great site!

My AG loves taking about 1/2 sheet of paper towel, dip the end in water, and use it to either suck up water or clean his beak or .. I'm not quite sure what. This is in addition to simply tearing up newspapers or whatever he can get his hands on. I took him upstairs for a while a few weeks ago, and happened to leave a book (paperback) within his reach. He LOVED tearing it up. I'm a bit concerned about the ink on it, whether it will be bad for him or anything, so I've only let him play with it a few minutes a day. Curious if anyone else has a bird that likes tearing up books? Is it a good thing to let him do? He won't get access to any good books, only ones that I've already read and will either toss or give to the library book sale. My Mother-in-law reads 20-30 paperbacks a month, so we have a ton of books around the house, so I've got a good supply of them. Thanks for listening! Norm

Fall is coming. I've recently inherited an AG from my brother-in-law -- better home environment, more attention paid to Gandalf, and better care. Over the past few weeks I've greatly enjoyed sitting out in the front yard or back porch, with Gandalf sitting next to me just enjoying the outside. A few times a few crows or large birds went overhead and he got terrified and real close to me, but otherwise he seems to really enjoy being outside and hearing the world. (Unfortunately -- he's now great at mimicing all the neighborhood dogs .. *sigh*) So now, with fall coming, the temp outside today is in the mid-50's, after being mid to upper 70's until yesterday. How cold can it be outside and still let me go outside with my bird? I know from readings that the cage should not be near a window or subject to extreme temps, but .. what about sitting outside for an hour or so? ******* After posting this, I find the link to the following at the top: http://www.greyforums.net/forums/african-grey/27978-fall-coming-and-temperature-changes.html I did a search for "temp" before posting, and it didn't come up. Does the search not search forum postings, or did I mistype temperature/ ******* <br><br>Post edited by: n2fisher, at: 2007/10/11 22:04