Nychsa

Well, Bella is certainly showing me what I frequently say! Jiggy nipped at her toes the other day and she towered over him and said "NO,NO, NO, NO, NO!" LOL! So, I started watching what I say, and sure enough, the dogs get into something and I say no, no, no, no, no! Geezum! This is going to be like having a tape recorder around!

FeatheredFiend wrote: Oh no Kris! LOL! Bella thinks the alarm is our flockng call, so she does that "away" sound for the alarm every time I leave the room, adn she does it in perfect rythm!

That is a hoot! How old is Laith? You know I've been wondering if they watch TV - Bella seems midly interested but she's more interested in cuddling when she's on the couch with me and Jiggy, my conure is interested in terrorizing her!

She's starting to terrorize the greyhounds. She's figured out if she chatters very excitedly they start scrambling around, and sooner or later they'll tell me it must be something outside that they have to tend to. And I think that's what Bella wants. Every time they race outside barking at something she runs for the window to watch them. I think the same way she manipulates my partner, she's going to manipulate the dogs! My poor male, Doc, got stung in the tush by a bee two years ago so anything that flies has got to be trouble in his mind and his response is - run upstairs and jump into his basket. So, he comes down stairs one mornign and I say "hi Doc" and Bella pipes up "Hi Doc". He stops dead in his tracks, looks at me, looks at her and in his face you can tell he's thinking "that is just wrong!" and zoom! Off he goes to his basket up stairs LOL! To the poor guy's credit though, when people come over that Bella doesn't know, she seeks refuge with Doc, she flies over to him to be with him (of all critters in the house!), and he just puts up with it. I'm going to need a hound shrink soon! LOL Cheers! Terri

Greetings Everyone! Since Bella came home, people have been telling me all kinds of funny stories about Greys, so I thought it might be great to share: A lady in Florida told me that her Grey will yell "Help, Help call 911!" when ever the groomer comes to do his talons LOL As for Bella, she's starting to do some things that keeps us in stiches. We think she believes she's one of the greyhounds. But we also think she tattles on them - she's only 6 months, so even though she chatters non-stop, the words are still working themselves together. She chatters as fast as I do so that doesn't help. Her new thing is she will chatter, chatter, chatter and then in the middle she'll say "woof, woof woof" and then she'll continue to chatter LOL! The newest chatter is she's trying to bark like my male greyhound and that is coming out just all wrong! I have a grey in an indentiy crisis! She thinks she's a dog!

danmcq wrote: LOL Dan, I had no idea she would have such a wicked sense of humor! She has such a sweet disposition - to think she enjoys terrorizing my partner is just a hoot. He sits in my kitchen watching her forage around on her playtop, watching the dogs outside, happily chattering away - he could watch her for hours! But the minute he gets up, she growls and he is clearly distressed by it LOL! I could swear I see her grinning!

KatB wrote: Hi there Kat! I buy our stuff at Whole Foods. They have a large selection of soy products and rice products. I buy my dog food there too - with all the issues going on with pet food in pet stores, I didn't want to take any chances with my greyhounds, so I buy them organic dog food from Whole Foods. I get Bellas organic vegies and fruits there too. So, it's a good source for all kinds of things!

judygram wrote: Aaaaah! I'm lactose intolerant as well - my milk is lactose free and the cheese is for the most part soy as well as the frozen yogurt. Got it! thanks!

judygram wrote: Oooh thanks for that advice - cheese is her all time favorite - that and dipping her beak into milk, and frozen yogurt! She's quie insistant on those things! Are milk products not good for them?

Thank you Judy! LOL I feel like such a "new mom" - every hick up she makes I observe and fuss over LOL! When I read Broxboomer's CAG weighed 375 grams I was thinking Yikes!!!! Bella is a good deal more! Well, before I brought her home, the Vet told me he'd like to see her predominantly on veggies and fruits, with an offering of pellets. She doesn't touch the pellets, but she does seem to like this Ecotricion that my Conure likes. She has a VERY healthy appetite, and will eat yams, green beans, kidney beans, and cheese all day long as well as forage for goodies on her playtop.

Hi Kat, We noticed quite quickly that Bella reads emotions like a book. My business partner loves her dearly, but he's terrified of her beak and her talons, and she plays that for everything it's worth! She growls at him every time she sees him. She growls at him when he's sitting, standing, when he's giving her a carrot. And then when he's in the living room, she flies over to him, and sits right next to him and lets him know that's HER spot! The other being she growled at is our neighbor's little pooch, and my grand daughter when she raced past Bella startling her. So, my partner is quite distraught about her growling at him, but I can clearly see she's playing him! So, I'm convinced they can pick up on the slightest flucutation in moods!

Yikes - my Bella, Female CAG as well, but only 6 months weighs 453 grams!!! Is there any place one can find normal weight ranges? I have an upcoming appointment with the Avian vet with her - her first check up visit - I'm wondering if hes' going to chew me out because she's too heavy???

I have another questions re: growing up greys - my Bella has lovely grey eyes, almot a bluish grey. But friends are telling me they've read her eyes will turn colors and will turn yellow/gold. Not that this would bother me, both are lovely - but does anyone know if this is true or not?

Brian sure does sound wonderful! I ran into the mouth fascination without knowing it was coming. Bella was on my shoulder when I took a sip of juice, I had no idea it was coming all of a sudden this sharp little black beak came out of no where, she latched on to my cup and wouldn't let go! I had to give her my juice finally. She then filled her beak with juice and then tried to give me some by dribbling it all over my mouth! LOL what a mess!!!

Hi Kek, My Bella is only marginally interested in chewing at this time, but she loves walnuts and she loves looking for things. So, I have one little toy which hangs on her playtop that I fill with walnuts and she has to balance to open it, and flip the top off to get them. I also make little foraging cups out of dixie cups and hang them in different places all over the cage. Some I cover up with another dixie cup and run the string though both so she has to figure out the opening part, and then others I just put shiny rocks, but no walnuts, to keep her looking. I also have a little box with a latch that I bought at Michael's. We started with the walnuts on top of the box, then walnuts holding the box open, and then walnuts inside the box, and then walnuts inside with the latch closed. She really enjoyst fussing with the box! I also bought her a parrot abacus. She can't count yet, but she sure enjoys moving the big colorful shapes back and forth. I also have a hanging rubber ball that has holes in it. I put carrots and celery sticks in it and hang it from the cage roof. Bella has to climb and balance to get the carrots. She gets really mad about getting the carrots that when she gets the ball finally she attacks it and growls fiercely! I also play pull the beak with her, we do tickles, and many kisses, and right now she's tearing up the paper towel in may hand and my conure is trying to pull the keys off my keyboard, so I better stop before my computer takes a dive!

Greetings everyone! I'm delighted to see so many Grey-Conure households! The Conures are certainly a one-bird show. Jiggy does the "jiggy dance" bobbing around when ever someone tells him to do the Jiggy dance, and now he's kicked it up a notch by hanging upside down in his cage doing the Jiggy dance when he has an audience! When he gives kisses it isn't soft and delicate like Bella, it's a big SMOOCH!!!!!!!! What a character! And Briansmum, I too can tell the my Bella is a bit of a brat right now. She wants to rough house with me, and that's fine, when she beaks me, she barely touches me with her beak. However, I do think she's serious about wanting to put the hurt on Jiggy when he pushes his luck. I can't believe that nut case! After she chased him around the other day, he came charging out of his cage yesterday attempting to nip her toes. She's a slapper, so she just wacks at him with her talons. It's like watching my kids growing up all over again! Cheers! Terri

Hi Judy, thank you for your response. I think I'm going to take them to the hand feeding ladies where I got my Grey. They board as well. Bella's environment was very loving, and fun, and I'm sure the two ladies who run the avairy will be able to work out any issus Jiggy or Bella would throw their way. I need a solution for the summer as I go away for four weeks on retreat each year and I thought if I could "grow" a sitter with them, it would be fine, but I just did not feel good about any of this at all!

Greetings everyone! Last week I had to fly down to Florida for a day, stay one night and fly back the next. My doggie daycare center happens to have a woman working there who has pet store experience with Greys and other Parrot types. They offered to take care of my birds for the day I was gone. The lady came over two days before I left to meet the birds. As I expected, Jiggy, my conure promptly bit her when she reached for him, and Bella, my grey went to the furthest point on the playtop and refused to be coaxed out. So, we decided to sit at my table and relax and let the birds come around on their own. Well, to make a long story short, the sitter wasn't successful in getting either one to step up, either on to her hand or the portable perch. She assured me that when she is alone with the birds, she'd bring them around. I just didn't get a good feeling from this, so I emailed an avian veterinary friend of mine. She was emphatically against the birds being taken out of their cages while I was gone as she was concerned the birds would panic if the sitter attempted to put them into their cages and they would hurt themselves in an attempt to escape from the sitter. So, I told the sitter to leave them in the cages, and provide fresh water and food through the access doors on the cage. Needless to say I was on pins and needles while I was gone, and felt horrible that they'd be in their cages so long. Normally they are out a good five hours/day. Does anyone have any experience with sitters, and if so, how did you work this out? Thanks! Terri

Hi Chapala, I think you've pegged Jiggy quite correctly! When I took him to the vet he jumped on to my shoulder and tried to attack the vet when the vet reached over to him. I thought he didn't want to be touched but the vet said he was defending me! My grey does not appear to be as territorial as my conure. The environment she came from at the breeders was quite open, the birds were in a large space with lots of windows, cages open, and they hopped from one cage to the next, foraging around each playtop. So Bella doesn't care a lick if he's in her cage, she's never chased him off, but he's furious about his!

Hi, Thank you for your insights - I thought she seemed like she was acting a little differently - a little bratty almost. When both are out I'm with them they could get into any number of things that could hurt them if I'm not around. I was just so surprised that she took after Jiggy that way! He usually starts the trouble. If she's on his playtop, he'll come charging out trying to chase her off. She usually backed away from him, trying to avoid a fight. He also just randomly pecks at her toes until she makes herself "big" and flaps her wings at him (blowing him off!). So, she's always been the peace maker between the two. That's why I was SO surprised that Jiggy was just in his cage, nibbling on his millet and she was rough housing on his cage door when she decided she wanted to play with one of the toys in his cage - he squawked at her (from a distance!) and that is when she tore after him! Yikes! He's lucky he's as agile as he he is! She was no match for his swift agility, but she was relentless and didn't break off the pursuit until he flew off the cages and to my daughter!

Greetings everyone! My lovely Bella is six months old, and I'm wondering if what kind of growth phases she is going to go through - are there "typical" phases, such as the "terrible two's" or the "teenage years"? It struck me that I may need to find out much more about this as this weekend she all of a sudden decided something about my conure Jiggy really bugged her and she chased him from one playtop to the other, staying on him relentlessly, pecking at him, and clearly wanting a serious piece of him! Now granted, he is a rascal and he usually starts the trouble, and I'm sure he had it coming, but this really seemed like it came out of no where! Then this morning she wanted to rough house with me, which is fine - I just haven't seen her do that before. She was playfully nibbling on my fingers, on my hair, wanting to play tug-of-war with my glasses, and in general getting a huge case of the nibbles on everything. I tugged at her beak, and ruffled her head too and she kept coming back for more. I'm wondering if she wanted to rough house with Jiggy and just play with him the day before, or was she really mad at him about something?? Any inisights?? Thanks! Terri

Laurie, Even though my breeder said my grey Bella wouldn't like showers, both Bella and my Conure Jiggy enjoy going into the shower with me. If I don't do it for two or three days, Bella fusses with her feathers a good deal and Jiggy tries to bathe in his water bowl. So, I do it regularly (at least every other day). I usually take the shower head down (which is attached to a hose) and gently spray them under their feathers, and under their bellies as well. Bella tries to get her head into the stream and plays around with the water. Afterwards, Bella enjoys being wrapped up in a nice warm towel which I have spread out in the sink, so she sits in her towel in the sink while I get dressed. Jiggy hates the towel, so I have to rub him down quickly and put him on the perch before I can get dressed. So, I've disregarded the advice of the breeders and do what the birds let me know they want!

Hi Mekena, My vet recommended to me that I should feed a mixture of fruits, veggies, dairy and occasionally some meats and to infuse pellets as needed (but not make that the main dish). He encouraged me to give Bella a very diverse diet to include walnuts and nuts that any other nuts that are not salted (but to go easy on empty calories such as peanuts). What I've found with both my Conure Jiggy and my CAG Bella is that how I feed it is just as important as what I feed (let me see if I can get this typed out as I'm being furiously preened right now by my lovely Grey who seems to think I need to be cleaned up!): I've found that since creating foraging opportunities, both of my birds prefer to forage rather then eat from a consistant location. So, in one bowl I may have one thing, then in another something else, in the hanging dixie cups I might put something else, and then I hang kabobs. I mix it up every day so nothing is in the same location twice, and sometimes I won't put anything in a familiar location at all. I also have toys they need to open for food such as a little box I bought at Michaels. At first I put walnuts in the box and left it open, after a couple of times doing that, I closed the lid partially and propped it open with a walnut, and now I close it. Next step is I'll latch it (which both of htem should be able to open). Foraging seems to be what they have a good deal of fun with, so if I can combine feeding with foraging - the better! Bella does eat what is on my plate as well, and she drinks a variety of juices such as pomergranite juice. Her all time favorite is milk and I'd have to say her favorite dish is shredded cheese. Cheers! Terri

Thank you for the Welcome Judy and Dan! I've started reading through the posts - lots of information! I'll get some pictures posted as well. We have lots of them. Bella doesn't care for the flash on the camera, so she ducks and dodges getting her picture taken, but I think some bannana could do the trick in bringing her around. Judy, I hear what you are saying re: Bella possibly becoming more indepdendent - that's ok. She can't always be tucked under my chin! She is revealing a good deal about myself though - some of the things I say apparently quite offten: Jigme nipped her toe and she towered over him and said "no, no, no, no no!" LOL! I realized that is what I say to the dogs when they are getting into something they're not suppose to. I must laugh a good deal as well, she mimics my laugh. The first time she did that I was so startled I nearly fell off my chair. Doc, my male greyhound came bouncing down the stairs and I said "hi there Doc" and Bella pipes up "hi there Doc!" , Doc looked at me incredulously, looked at her and then ran back upstairs and jumped into his basket LOL! So yes Dan - we're having a blast - it's a fun household, and we're enjoying it. Bella and Jiggy are due for their first visit with the avian vet since bringing Bella home. He wanted to see them together after they'd had some time to aclimate with each other. I'm dreading that a bit as I know how Bella reacts towards men. I think I'm going to call him first and see if we can do anything to make this visit easier. Cheers! Terri