Nychsa

danmcq wrote: Ok Dan - you are just one sick puppy!! Feet don't reproduce or I failed biology :laugh: She is in love with my feet :blink: Last night she was holding on to my toe with her foot and then she "gurged" on my foot

Congrats Sallas!! Doesn't it just make your heart burst with love! She looks adorable.. It sounds like you'll have plenty more pictures to share Looking forward to seeing them. Cheers! Terri

Ah, Lyric is a little boy alright! he looks SO SWEET in your picture with him! Bella can get onery, but I didn't know it might be related to hormones. She's always been very active and full of personality, so I figured she was just being Bella. But the whole love-gone-crazy thing was a bit freaky! She's got it in for my feet! I posted a video recently on here where she was quite lovey with my feet! Nothing like having a grey with a foot fetish!

Hi there Lyric, Bella hasn't been onery - she's just a little overly amourous!

Well, I don't know for sure if Bella knows her reflection - when she sees herself in the window or in a mirror she dances around and says "Hi Bella!".

Oy vey! From now until she's 5???? :S I mean, she's not obnixous or mean or anything, she's just wierd!!! :laugh: I mean, can you imagine her getting so amourous that falls off the couch!!! She's also clearly uncomfortable with her feathers. She and Jiggy both have those little pin feathers now coming in after their molt, and she is really fussing with those. I imagine it's like having little needles all over. She's still loosing some feathers - when she walks they just fall out. I was a little disappointed that she didn't loose all the clipped feathers. I thought she could jet around with Jiggy - even had a dream about her flying last night. Oh well, maybe I'll take pictures of her teen behavior and show them to her when she's all grown up so she can see what a pain she was as a teen :laugh: Thanks!!!! Terri

Hi Tilliesmom, I moved from Maryland to Florida with 1 CAG, 1 conure, 2 greyhounds and one New Yorker (from the Bronx) in a cross over SUV :laugh: I used the Avian Adventures Avian Hotel and put them right behind our seats so they could see everything straight ahead and out the windows. They had water and food in the car. We made arrangements to stop in North Carolina in a pet friendly hotel where we could keep the dogs and parrots. It was a Marriot Residence Inn, very comfortable! Bella, my CAG LOVED riding in the car - she was paying such close attention to everything - almost like a co-pilot :laugh: So, lots of water, food, and a nice comfortable transport cage...

Bella was $1200 fully weaned... today - priceless

Greetings everyone! Well, what do you make of this: My vet told me Bella would be sexually mature at the age of 5. She's 14 months right now. So, I have no reason to believe her recent odd behavior is some kind of sexual behavior - or is it? Yesterday she started rubbing her neck and head all over my feet, making little panting, and squeeking sounds, and dropping her wings down very low. In fact, she got so into it, she fell off the couch :blink: I mean, to me, it looked like she was having some kind of puberty-like experience. But, she's only 14 months old. The other thing I was wondering - maybe she's mimicking the dogs? Greyhounds do something we call the "greyhound mosh" - when they first see you after you've been away for a while they surround you and rub themselves all over you, making panting and happy little squeeky sounds. So - for all your experienced grey moms and dads - what do you think? Doggy mimicking or pre-puberty?

:laugh: :laugh: Dan! Well it looks like Dayo is training you quite well! Now what on earth does it mean when I open the door to the backyard, Bella makes the door opening sound (perfectly - it's frightening!) or when I open the microwave door she makes that door sound :blink: I'm not going to anything - I'm already there! Maybe it's a female bird mind game

judygram wrote: Awww, you're not missing out! Josey sounds like she's pretty darn cute and quirky in her own right! She's just a little more "sophisticated" than silly Bella! I love how Josey tells Sunny to "shut up!" Being so "enthusiastic" can also have it's down side - liek when you're trying to talk on the phone. Bella always starts yapping when ever I'm on the phone and if I don't answer her in between she'll get louder and louder and louder! Yesterday she was yapping at the top of her lungs until finally my partner and I couldn't hear each other any more! I put him on speaker and he told her to hush, and of course all she did was yap even more! :blink:

My pleasure Tracy and Judy! I wish she'd say a few more things on the mic. She really is hilarious when she talks. She has this little girl voice which I think she picked up from my grand daughter. And then she picked up my female greyhound's growl :laugh: I think she likes how my male runs off when Dream growls! It would be great to get a video of her first thing in the morning when I let her out of her cage first thing. She is SO spun up, she litterally jumps into my arms, and then we wrestle around, she dangles off my fingers upside down, I blow rasberries on her belly, and she babbles and yaps, and says whooo hooo and just goes CRAZY! :laugh: :laugh: :laugh:

Mel, I don't know how strong a grey's beak is - but it certainly is enough to do some serious damage! It really is a personal choice I've found. For me, I've always trusted Bella as she just doesn't have a malicious bone in her body. She gives me nips, but never bites per se. So, I guess it all comes down to the grey's personality and ones relationship with that grey.

That's a great story Amber! Is the cat "interested" in Tuki? I bet that kitty would be surprised if he/she got too close!

Hi there Heather, Bella copies everything - she copies my laugh, my grand daughter taught her to say peak-a-boo, and then she babbles really fast mimicking our talking or the TV. She has a pretty decent vocabulary, but she won't say it on video -s he's too busy trying to eat the mic!

LOL she's a riot Laurie! She gets a real bang out of watching her own video - she talks to herself

Greetings Everyone! Well I'm still trying to get Bella to give an interview. Today she was a little more chatty on the video than she usually is. Usually she just wants to attack the mic. But today she actually got in a vew Bellaisms! Here's our second attempt at an interview http://www.mydeo.com/videorequest.asp?XID=20197&CID=204668

Hi there mas, it sounds like Zahzu ges spun up by the kid energy too. Bella really gets a bang out of the comotion and joins right in. Of course it becomes ear shattering (isn't it amazing how that doesn't seem to bother kids :blink: )

What a success story Pat! I think you and Tyco are an inspiration for anyone who is considering inviting a rehomed grey into their lives

Ah Dan, you bring up a good point. The running around and acting crazy is something Bella doesn't appreciate either. She's ok with it as long as it's not around her cage. But, Bella taught Haley that herself. When Haley would zip past Bella's cage or do something crazy, Bella would get on the highest perch fluff herself up and growl fiercely! This was back in Maryland when Bella was about 6 months old. Haley learned to respect that growl because it sounded frightening! Even though I explained to Haley that she was spooking Bella, she'd do it again(just being a kid, not on purpose to spook Bella) - to only again get a growl. Since Haley wasn't sure if Bella was going to come down off that perch and nab her, she learned to be calm around Bella's cage. Bella did a better job of training Haley than I did :laugh: But if kids don't "get that", it could end up being a rocky situation.

Hi there Tracy, I agree - if ground rules are laid, and everyone knows how to respect the greys, kids and greys should do just fine. I think real little ones (0-3) might not be such a good combo - but once a child can appreciate and respect where the grey is coming from - it can turn into a great friendship

Hi there Mel, Haley doesn't hold Bella. Bella is 14 months old and wieghs over a pound. While I think Haley could hold her, it would be wobbly, and Bella might try to use her beak to hang on if Haley's arm were to waver. So, we just leave well enough alone and Haley doesn't hold Bella. Haley does know to only pet Bella on her head and only if Bella bows down to let her scratch her neck. Haley knows that if she strokes Bella's wings or tail like she would a dog, Bella could understand this to be hostiel and might bite. Haley does hold my conure Jiggy, and she applies the same rules - no crowding, don't reach for him in his cage, pet him on his head, not his wings etc.. Haley's relationship with Bella is really more verbal/mental interaction rather than a kind of touching relationship. I mean let's face it, only a child can chatter non-stop with a parrot! :laugh: It's almost as if they're completely on the same wave length. Haley was trying to teach Bella to call her Haley - she would point to herself and say "I'm Haley", but Bella kept saying back "Bella". Finally Haley gave up and said - "She just keeps introducing herself to me!" :laugh: If that is what's going on - I have no idea - but it was a hoot! I hope it works out for you as well - it si a wonderful thing Cheers! Terri

Hi there Acapella, I would tend to agree with Zpyder - you are putting your hand in, but you are then lowering your hand and I too seem Dorian getting mixed signals from that. I don't think you're being pushy. When I took Bella to our avian vet in Maryland, I asked him if I should take her out of her cage for him (she has a travel cage that is maybe a smidgin smaller than the cage you have. He said "not necessary". He opened the cage, and then with one swoop he very confidently put his hand in and put his two fingers confidently in front of her belly for her to step up on, he said "step up" and she did! I'm not sure in the video I'm seeing you being confident about having him step up. In fact, you seem a bit cautious (I understand! I wouldn't want to get bitten either!) and you're pulling back and down after briefly telling him to step up. Does this make sense? Cheers! Terri

Bella has has a bowl, but I'm thinking about getting her a bottle as well as she dumps her water out and if she dumps her water while I'm at work, she won't have water until I get home. So, I'm going to leave her the water bowl as she likes to play in the water and make soup, but I also need to make sure she has fresh drinking water all the time.

Greetings Everyone! Well, most of the posts and articles I've read on this topic seem to indicate that greys and children don't mix particularly well. I'm wondering if that is really a true statement, and if we shouldn't challenge that assumption a bit.... This weekend my grand daughter (5 yrs) once again demonstrated that she and Bella have a very special relationship, and one that to me really can only happen between a little girl and a young parrot. This relationship started during our move to Florida and my daughter had the birds at her house for 2 weeks. My grand daughter spent just about all her time with the birds, playing in the room they were in, talking to them non-stop, telling them just about anything and everything that was going on in her mind. Then my grand daughter stayed with me for 6 days and she and Bella seemed to take their relationship a step further - they actually got into a mode of mutually spinning each other up. At night, when I would tuck Haley (my grand daughter) in and read her a story, Bella would sit on my shoulder. Bella really likes being read to as well! When I would share the pictures with Haley and turn the book away from Bella, Bella would get upset and pull the book back around so SHE could see the book! Of course Haley thought that was hillarious. This weekend, Haley and Bella reconnected as if they were two little sisters. In the morning before breakfast they would bob up and down together, Haley would chatter, Bella would answer - it was as if they were feeding off each other's energy... It's a beautiful relationship. Haley's imaginative vocabulary provides Bella with a whole new array of words, and Bella happily babbles everything right back at Haley. They really enjoy each other's company and I think it would have been a mistake for me to have assumed Haley and Bella should be kept away from each other. Of course Haley knows not to put her fingers into Bella's cage or try to crowd Bella or do anything else to cause Bella to feel anxious. With those ground rules laid and respected.. very lovely relationship has blossomed. I'd love to hear other experiences of greys and children and how things are going...... Cheers! Terri