Nychsa

Hi there Kat! I think Bella avoided the bowl at the bottom of the cage too when I tried it the first time. She only goes to the bottom of the cage if she dropped something she was playing with. Oliver and Bella are about the same age no? Bella is 8 months now. Cheers! Terri

judygram wrote: Oh my gosh Judy no kidding - wow, that's going to be a hard one for me. When ever I take her into the shower with me, I have a soft warmed up towel waiting for her when we're done and I wrap her up in it and only her little head is sticks out. She'll sit in that until she's nearly dry! When you rub her while she's in the towel she coo's and snuggles closer, so she seems to like that. I've taken her out before after rubbing her down and she shivers. So, I leave her in longer now, and I have this muff like thing made of fur that she can crawl in to in order to keep warm until she's dry. I just can't imagine she'd want her water cold! Well - I'll give it a try! Jiggy - I can see him wanting cold water. He's terrible about staying in the towel. I have to make this excape proof pouch to put him in, and he bits me the whole time I try to wipe him down, and he doesn't shiver the way Bella does after a bath. I'll try! Thanks! Terri

Wow Tee, I'm so sorry to hear that. You know I'm the kind of person who feels healthcare providers, whether it be for myself or the animals is a very personal choice and one has to be comfortable with that provider. If you felt the way this vet handled Rosie was not the way you wanted, then if it were me, I would not return, regardless of how many people recommended that vet. And frankly, I would also let that vet know he/she was too rough for your taste - you are the one who pays - you should tell them when you're not satisfied and if they try to tell you they know what they are doing - wrong answer - if they didn't put your mind at ease they do not know what they are doing! My experience was like Spooky's - my vet absolutely loves birds and it shows and Bella was just fine after the visit, not even loose stool (which he said could happen due to the excitement of visiting the vet). So, I would find one that loves birds. I checked the local bird club for options - do you have one of those? Take care and I hope Rosie bounces back soon. I know that must be so upsetting watching her suffer. Regards Terri

I let mine perch on my shoulder, but the breeders where I got her don't allow the babies to do that. I am cautious in the morning though as she's very playful in the morning and likes to rough house, so in the morning I tend to pick her off and set her on her playstand. So, as others have mentioned, it seems to be a personal decision.

Thank you everyone for sharing your water bowl bathing experiences! Talon - I love the idea of the rubber duckies! I may give that one a shot :cheer:, Snow - that is SO funny with Boo! I bet that would be one heck of a U-Tube video or Animal Planet Video :laugh: By the way, what is preening powder? Bruce - cold water?? I've been making it warm for bathing! We have some pretty cold weather, so I've been keeping her baths and showers warm. She loves to shower with me,and lets me rinse her beneath her wings etc.. Jiggy, my conure does too, but he complains just in case there's something to complain about :blink:

proddytheparrot wrote: Hi there, sorry to hear that Proddy is not warming up. How often/long is Proddy out of his cage? Does he take interest in what is going on in the house? Is he in an area where he can watch what's going on in the house? Sorry for all the questions - I'm by no means an expert on AG's, but I think if it were me, I would try to identify what seems to get his interests and leverage that. I noticed your cage has one of those rounded tops - does he have an area where he can forage around? I really had no idea how much parrots enjoy foraging until my vet told me create a foraging environment on the top of their playtops of their cages. When I'm home and they are out all day, they forage, and forage and forage. They also seem to enjoy the little puzzles I make for them. The reason I'd want to get him interested in something like foraging would be to re-engage him. It sounds like while he was with the older couple he may have just simply disconnected due to the lack of stimulation and proper food, and internalized a good deal of frustration and well, now he's just angry! I have no idea if that's the case, but it would seem to be that it would be possible that could happen! I am amazed at how complex and observant my feathered housemates are! Nothing escapes them, and I can't imagine what it would do to the psyche of such an animal to be locked up and ignored, and fed the wrong things! So, that would be my guess. I'd want to do things to make him happy again, like foraging, giving him opportunities to be out and about. Or like other members suggested, get him one of those trees to climb around on - you can put foraging cups on the tree and let him find things. Bella loves to climb around on things, dangle upside down while she's attacking a toy. If he loosens up and begins to enjoy things around his enviornment, he may show signs of wanting to hang out. The thing you have going in your favor is that they are flock animals and do like to be close to their flock. Like I said, I'm no expert, but if I were in your situation, I think I'd want to re-engage him. Good luck and do share how things go! Terri

Hannah_Rae wrote: LOL See I thought they had a wicked sense of humor! Bella loves to horse around - she sits with me in the evening and I grab her and hold her way high up and then bring her down fast on to my lap on to her back and tickle her belly, I swear if she could giggle like a little kid she would, she grabs my thumbs with her talons and pulls herself up real fast and scrambles to tuck her head under my chin. After a few minutes she starts nibbling on my fingers to do it all over again - just like a little kid! :woohoo:

proddytheparrot wrote: You're most welcome - Here is everything my vet told me about paying attention to the poop issues: He said in general the fecal should be somewhat solid and consistent. It usually should be the color of what ever she is eating. He said her urine should never be greenish or yellowish - however if the stool is a bit loose, then the urine can become discolored from the fecal matter as well, so it takes a bit of careful observation to see if the urine is discolored on its own, or is its taking on the color of the fecal matter. He said loose stool can come from being unsettled about something, excitement etc.. If the stool is loose very often, wiht no apparent reason, then a visit to the vet is warranted. He said the fecal matter should never be blackish, if the diet didn't have something like blackberries or blueberries. Also any kind of blood is an immediate visit to the vet. Good luck! Terri

Does your Grey tell you that you're having a bad hair day?? Apparently mine does! I work at home sometimes and when I am engrossed in my writing, I don't notice the escalation of the preening going on behind my head until it gets quite loud! Today I was writting away, and Bella flew over to me, sat behind my head on the couch and began to preen me - that's ok, we do this. But then I had some phone calls in between and when I'm on the phone she has to add her two, three, four cents and then some. But then she started to preen me rather furiously, and I kept writing and then I think she took offense to the swirl in the back of my head or something! But all of a sudden she was preening me with a vengence and growling the way she does with her toys!! I don't think I've ever had a parrot tell me I'm having a bad hair day! :woohoo:

Reta your food suggestions are always AWESOME! I've picked up a couple of your suggestions thus far and Bella has been gobbling them up - particularly the dandiion greens! Karma to you girlfriend!

Hi, As other members have recommended, it is not a good idea to wait. When I took my CAG to the vet she pooped in the carrier and it was dark blue and my vet immediately asked what she ate - well, Bella had eaten blackberries and blueberries, so all is well. But he told me if I ever see blackish poop an she didn't eat something that would have caused that, I need to bring her in ASAP because that is an indicator of a potential bacterial infection in the digestive tract and he seemed to be very worried about that. Good luck and do let us know how it turns out! Regards Terri

Dan, I'd be willing to go in on some, maybe someone else would too - we could get one order and distribute them no? Tracy, what is the shelf life of palm nuts?

LOL ok - water bowl will go in - I'm sure she watched Jiggy do it and was fascinated by it (hence her comments - which I'm quite sure she picked up form my daughter who totally loves Jiggy and when he did it the first time, I'm sure my daughter made some interesting comments LOL!) Bella is VERY interested any time any of us get excited about something and she watches the on-goings very closely. So, my sense is she decided to try out this water bowl thing. Jiggy made a huge mess though today - he got himself soaking wet, then he decided to hop out of his cage, but since he was wet, take off was a little dicey, and he landed in his walnut shavings :blink: He was NASTY!

Then we'll give it a try - for some reason I was under the impression the Grey's don't like the whole bird bath event. Cheers!

Yah Dayo! Boy you got lucky there! I bet he's saving the spicey language for just the right moment like when a dinner party is in the works! :laugh:

Greetings everyone! My nutty conure Jiggy loves to take baths in his water bowl. When my CAG Bella got wind of this the frist time, she ran around the top of his cage jabbering at him and saying "Jiggyman, Jiggyman, what the hell!". Well, I thought she was simply shocked at his behavior. Today Jiggy took a bath in his water bowl again and about an hour later Bella decided she wanted to go into her cage too. Shortly thereafter all hell broke loose in her cage! She was doing everything possible to try to take a bath in her water bowl! Of course she's a good deal bigger then Jiggy and getting into that water bowl wasn't going too well :laugh: I thought Greys didn't do that?? Does your grey do that? If so, do you think it's worth while trying to put a shallow bowl in the bottom of the cage? I had one there before at the behest of Vet but Bella wouldn't use it. Thanks!! Terri

Hi there Abdullah, I think it will be well worth asking re: if they socialize the babies as well. I'm not sure if that's the norm as Bella is my first Grey. So, you may want to check with the others here that have more experience then I do. But it sure helped me out as you can imagine. Geezum - I'm under attack here LOL! Bella and Jiggy are all over me pulling on my clothes, glasses, and hair - it's their breakfast time, so I think I better get them fed before they think of something new to do to me!!

Oh Judy I couldn't agree more! Jiggy came from a pet shop and he had a lot of trust issues - now granted, he is a conure and not a grey, so I don't know if his inclination to attack first and ask questions later was normal for a conure. In the mean time I've been able to socialize him and he's a love bug as it relates to myself and my daughter. But he's never been as calm and composed as Bella. Bella has never known anything but love, and I think that's one factor that made her the confident little imp that she is LOL! I mean - she rubbed noses with with my male greyhound today! I think that's amazing, particularly because she was initially afraid of the greyhounds when I first got her. But now they are part of her flock. Cheers! Terri

Awww Jimmy - I feel you! I rushed my parnter through a steak dinner last night because I wanted to get home to the managerie (one Grey one conure and two greyhounds LOL!). My parnter wanted to go out to eat after work and I knew the critters had been alone for 6 hours and would want their evening routine. I felt so guilty during the entire dinner I rushed my partner (I told my partner I wanted to wash up and get changed rather then go out to eat in my work clothes ssssssshhhhh!!!) So - I feel you - I would do best if I could take all my critters with me everywhere!

Oh heaven help us around here then Judy! Bella is this little jabbering machine! If that all turns into words, we're in for it! I've noticed now any time I chat on the phone she jabbers, and jabbers and jabbers - and then she has picked up this wicked laugh from somewhere! Now that I really think she picked up from the TV because no one around here laughs like that! I mean every conversation with anyone she puts in her two cents! None of us know what she's saying, but she's in there LOL!

Hey hey Dan! I've been watching out for who's saying that around here! I hear it on TV all the time :whistle: ! LOL! She jabbers all the time in my voice :whistle:

Hmm, I dont know how long they last, but I think when we get ready for a big cage budget item, I'm going to invest in one of those envrionment type cages from www.cagesbydesign.com. I think the only reason I didn't set aside to get one from the jump was because I hadn't resolved whether or not a bird would like that kind of environment. I think in the mean time - thanks to so many here - I have numerous ideas on how to really take advantage of this kind of cage environment. Cheers! Terri

yeah Klaus!! Congrats Laurie!!!! Did he make any sounds before that, jabbering or something like that? Bella jabbers a lot and every now and then something coherant comes out - unfortunately the most understandable thing she says is "what the hell!" when her breakdfast bowl was empty!!! Imagine my surprise when she did that the first time!

Hi there Abdullah, Bella was $1200. The people where I got her are not actually the breeders, they are the people who hand feed and wean the babies. They've been working with the same breeder for many years - they get the babies when its time to begin hand feeding them, they hand feed them and do a great job of socializing them. I loved their entire environment - the two ladies are wonderful women who love parrots and it sure shows! They keep the larger birds in one sun room and the middle sized and small birds in another. The cages are open and the birds visit around with each other and really socialize. I think that enviornment made it very easy for Bella, my CAG to get along so well with my conure when she first came home. The ladies teach the babies some basic commands - step up, and no bite, and they snuggle so much with the babies. That made it wonderful for me when I got Bella - she is a huge snuggle bug and is very confident as all she's ever known is love. The two ladies stay in contact and coach you as needed after you pick up the baby, and also make supplies available for purchase - in addition they board if you need to board your friend in a familiar environment. So, while $1200 may have been a bit more then what some have paid, I think it was WELL worth it. Bella came home healthy and balanced - and I'm a new CAG mom - I needed a good start as I dont have anough knowledge yet to be skillful in dealing with a damaged animal! Cheers! Terri

I can't join throuhg my my CAG Bella, she's never bitten me, but Jigme, my conure! He bites EVERYTHING! I think the worst bite I got from him was when I took him on a plane with me - I had to take him out of his carrier to go through security. I reached into his cage to get him and my figers were turned to hamburger! The worst part - I had to hold him going through the scanner machine and he tore into my hand the entire time! Our bad luck had a family in front of us with a little girl who didn't want to go through the scanner. I finally give Jiggy my ticket to tear up and he did! I've never seen a more PO'd bird in my life!! Needles to say, on the return flight I put his aviator harness on, and when I had to take him out, I let him sit on my shoulder with his harness on - ohter then that - traveling with your bird in the cabin is quite convenient! :woohoo:<br><br>Post edited by: Nychsa, at: 2008/01/13 01:10