Nychsa

Awww Judy, it sounds like Josey wuvs you I think every good nip I get from Bella I deserve because we horse around a good deal. I think today is one of those days were I'm going to be in for a good nip because she's sitting on my laptop screen again and she wants to play "bing" which is where I play poke her belly and say "bing!". She gets a real charge out of that. If I stop doing it she starts bobbing around going "bing! bing! bing!" and we do it again. The only problem is she tries to bite my finger when I poke her belly and she's nicked me already a couple of times! :blink: She looks like such a goof bobbing and weaving around going "bing! bing! bing!" :laugh:

Their ability to talk certainly puts a new twist on the relationship between a human and a companion animal Zahra :laugh: Just recently I had another new experience with Bella - I was out of town and a friend was taking care of Bella and Jiggy. When ever my friend would come over Bella would start yelling "momma!!" over and over again. It made my friend feel so badly for her that she was so lonely. When I heard that it brought tears to my eyes. We suspect our dogs and cats miss us when we leave, but our parrots - they can say so....

I've never seen that kind of toy Pat. Where did you get that? It looks like something Bella would love too!

Oh no Pat!! What have you done!! You're toast now girl! Tyco is going to play this out until it can't go any futher I bet!!:laugh:

Hi there Raz, well, in reference to the red headed guy -I haven't had experiences with red headed guys and Bella, but Bella is crazy about my toes (I've posted a video on here about her going crazy on my toes) and I do have red painted toe nails :laugh: Maybe some of these girls just really like red???? It's the running joke on here that Bella has a foot fetish! I think she digs red toes! :laugh: It's the oddest thing I have to say. She rubs herself all over my toes, and really gets into being quite amorous!

Hey there Emz - Like Dan said, a conure might work out well. Little birds with HUGE personalities! My conure and CAG do play with each other - even though my CAG looks like she wants to open a can of whoop A*z on my conure every now and then! :laugh: In the mean time before you get another budy, you may want to look into one of those bird-sitter videos. Mine love to listen to that and both begin to sing and chirp away with the other birds on the video

Oh do tell Kitty!!!What is Precious up to??

There we have it - a Grey is good for your health no matter how you look at it right Dan! :laugh:

Well, for those of you who are still working on getting Christmas dinners off your hips, look to your grey for the best assistance in the world! A couple of weeks ago my Doc told me I needed to get down to skin and bones in order to avert back surgery - That means drop 20 lbs! So, any of you who've tried this know, you get a little bit of that stuff that you REALLY like and savor that treat! Well, my treat was morzarella and tomato salad and then Taragon Chicken with polenta. Bella - in her usual charming manner, comes running when I sit down to eat knowing it's her time to eat too. The first thing she takes a dive for is every single piece of morzarella. I thought I'd let her have one of two pieces, but she was so fast in digging that beak into every single one (wasn't that much to begin with) that I had to scramble to get it away from her before I was left with nothing :unsure: As I tried to poke a couple of pieces free for myself she attacked the fork and then looked at me, pinning those eyeballs at me and growled like my female greyhound Dream!! What a little brat! So, we argued about the morzarella until I finally got a few pieces but by then she'd made her way to the main course and decided today - she didn't want chicken - she wanted polenta. I had sliced the chicken up into strips - again, that was the more calorie intensive part of the meal. Rather than just eat the darn polenta and leave the chicken, she decided she was going to toss the chicken over the side of the table and did so with such speed that my greyhounds were on it before it even hit the floor! :huh: So, by the time it was all said and done, I had about 1/2 the food I set out to eat! Snacking in the evening is not an option either - most snacks are not good for greys and Bella insists on having her snuggle time, head tucked under my chin and getting her scratches until I go to bed. I've tried to snack just a tiny bit, but of course that beak was right there, and she managed to crunch up a pretzel all over me and I had crumbs all over! I think she's in league with my doctor!!!!!!!! So! If you need to shed some love handles - engage your grey! I assure you - you'll be skin and bones in no time!!!:lol: :lol: :lol:<br><br>Post edited by: Nychsa, at: 2008/08/06 14:19

Oy Dan - Dayo sounds like such a reasonable guy! Bella seems to jabber all day long about something or the other. I think sometimes she just likes to talk! :laugh: Whether she's sitting on the couch with me, or playing or observing - she jabbers about something. So, while I agree that they will verbalize a desire of sorts, I think some are just talkative and jabber for kicks and giggles! I know both Jiggy and Bella have songs that get them going - specifically Dance songs - they seem to like Morgan Page right now, they bob up and down, Bella starts singing her Tottie Tah, and I'll stop doing what I'm doing and dance with them too :laugh:<br><br>Post edited by: Nychsa, at: 2008/08/05 20:08

Hi, I'm not expert, but maybe I can add my two cents: it's my understanding that AG's vary in their vocalizations and it's often really related to their particular personality. The way I understood that - just like with people - some AG's are just more quiet then others! Some have a more extroverted personality than others. But I don't think that means the more quieter ones can't learn more words - in fact, my bets are he knows quiet a few more words, he just has decided not to say them or he sees no reason to say anything. Maybe you can give him a reason to say something by working with some of his favorite treats or drink. My CAG, Bella, loves fruit juices. When I would pour some juice she'd scramble down off her perch and hop on to her cage door and lean forward really far and say PEAK-A-BOO really loud. I'd ask her "do you want drink?" and I'd say it a couple of times. I'd then let her drink and say "good drink!". Now when I pour juice she still scrambles down off her perch and hops on to her cage door and leans forward as far as she can, but she says "DRINK!" well, she's only 15 months old, so it comes out "DINK" - she's having issues with "r's" :laugh: Then we played a name game and for this I used walnuts as the reward as she'll do sumersaults for walnuts! I would point to my conure and say "Jiggy", I'd point to my female greyhound and say "Dream", and then to my male greyhound and say "Doc" and then I would point to Bella and say "Bella". Bella was really hyper observant! She focused on everything I was doing - in particular the walnuts she knew I had in my hand behind my back. And we'd go around and around. Took a while - many days and then one day my female greyhound came into the living room and Bella said 'DEEEM!!" I was delighted! So of course she got walnuts and she knows everyone's name So - food goes a long way with Bella :laugh: What treats does yours like? Cheers! Terri

LOL that's a great picture Spooky! My conure likes doing the head upside down thing. If I make a pouch out with my hand in my lap, he'll crawl into my hand, head down like that and tush up and he'll fall asleep like that! Bella doesn't do that, but Jiggy does it with my hand and with blankets. B)

Awe Meg - I'm sure once Refund and Joey get settled in, you'll start hearing all kinds of fun things! I do like to hear Bella's jabbering as well. The only problem is when she tries to out jabber me when I'm on the phone and she gets louder, and louder and louder until I have to leave the room. Then she starts yelling "Momma!!!!!!!!! Momma!!!!!!!!!!!!" at the top of her lungs and most people whom I'm speaking with think I have a kid who's going crazy! So, I have to explain that it's my parrot and then of course the conversation stops - and they want to listen to Bella carry on. Fun - but in the middle of a teleconference where you're trying to discuss complex engineering issues, well, that's a different issue! :laugh:

Oh - and she has a variety of responses to me as well! When she's up to no good (like climbing a lamp and trying to eat the little beads on the lamp) and I scold her and say "Bella no, no, no!", She's starts to growl like my female greyhound (my female greyhound growls at my male greyhound when he tries to zero in on her food bowl - Bella finds that fascinating)! Now that sounds wierd coming from a bird :blink: Oh - and she sings this silly song my grand daughter taught her - the tootie tat. She bobs up and down and sings her heart out! I don't know about some AG's, but Bella is constantly jabbering about something!

Like Judy, I have a conure/Grey combo - my conure, Jiggy is the quieter one (believe it or not!). He'll screech when I come home and then every now and then in the morning, Bella, my grey, on the other had jabbers all day long!:laugh: She always has something to say and most of the time I have no idea where she's getting this stuff. The other day I was trying to read something on the couch and she yells from behind me "WAKE UP!!!!" I was dumbfounded! Where did she get that??? Well, it was that stupid Pepsi commercial that's been playing recently. Then she has an entire variation on Peak-a-boo. She'll sing it, she'll yell it, she'll say it once, she'll say peaky, peaky, boo boo. She'll just say Peak-a, or she'll just say boo boo. Then she says beep beep, and it just goes on and on - she barks like the dogs, rings like the telephone, sounds like the microwave door opening. She is this none stop talking machine! I sit on the floor reading the paper, she comes up to me and says "watcha doinin?" I told her I'm reading, and then she lets out a laugh and then a kiss. Go figure! :laugh: She growls fiercely at the birds outside, so I don't think she'll mimic them any time soon, but for that she makes up in abundance else where! Cheers! Terri

Loofa wrote: Hi Bill, I took Bella (and my conure, 2 greyhounds and a very unhappy New Yorker :laugh: ) from Maryland to Florida - 15 hour ride split over two days. Bella loved riding in the car. She was attentive the entire time, sitting in her travel cage, watching everything go by. She was as focused on the driving as a race car driver! :laugh: My unhappy New Yorker partner said it was too strange every time he looked in the mirror he saw Bella watching every move he made. We stayed at a Resident's Inn Marriot which allowed us to have the animals. The babies did fine in the hotel - curious about everything. Then we were off again. The impression I got from the birds was that they were perfectly happy as long as we were together. I did however prep them in their travel cages for a couple of weeks so they were familiar with those cages. Cheers! Terri

I agree Mark - makes perfect sense. I don't believe however I wonder if they would even touch decaying meat the way vultures would or would they prefer fresh. In other words, if they do happen upon meat, I wonder if they have the digestive system to consume like scavengers would. It would seem to me that their normal diet of fresh foods would preclude that.

Ah Mark, that is a very good point! That would certainly mean I need to be cautious about how much meat she eats - she'd guzzle until it's bad for her! The protein she gets comes from a variety of sources, not just meat, and she rarely gets steak (as I do as well!)

Bella only goes for the rice or pasta Judy if the meat is still too hot. She clearly prefers the meat!

Hi Tracy, isnt' that odd that they love meat like that, but it apparently isn't native fare for them? The chicken bones really are a huge hit with Bella. Jiggy though could care less about any of that. He likes is apples, berries, and water melon. Well, she gets at least one source of protein/day, seems to be working! Thanks! Terri

Greetings Everyone! I know there aren't that many studies about greys in the wild yet, but one thing I'm really curious about, and I'm wondering if anyone has read anything is just how much meat do they eat in the wild. Bella is a serious carnivore! When she's given the choice of meat and vegies, she will hands down, always go for the meat. I had a vegie pizza, lots of bright, beautiful vegies on it, and chicken meat. She didn't stop to check out the vegies, she systematically picked off all the chicken meat. The same thing happened with steak - I had a nice pile of yams, corn, and green beans along with a rib eye steak and she was all over the steak. In fact, she acted like the vegies were just in the way! Chicken bones are hands down one of her favorites - she grinds the bone down to meal (which the dogs eat then) and she fishes out the marrow from the bone. My conure, Jiggy, on the other hand, can't be bothered with meat. He has absolutely no taste for it. So, I'm wondering if there is a clear dietary distinction between the AG's and the South American birds. Are we feeding our birds like South American Birds when maybe they might have other needs? I have no idea if this is the case, I'm just really surprised by how vehemently Bella goes after meat. If you've read anything of interest along these lines, I'd love to hear your take on it! Cheers! Terri

Awwe, nice cage top! Pretty soon she'll be saying peek-a-boo!

I once read that you should never get a bird for your bird. The only reason to get another bird would be if you wanted another bird. I had my conure before I brought home my grey. I got lucky - they get along for the most part. At least the play with each other and when they have a tiff, they usually just lunge at each other but don't hurt each other. My understanding is parrots are odd creatures as it relates to other birds - they can get jealous and start plucking or develop other behavior issues. So, if it were me, I wouldn't a bird for my bird - I'd evaluate what kind of companion animal I would be looking for, and then decide Cheers! Terri

archna wrote: I got Bella when she was 4 months old. You got yours young! Did you hand feed her yourself then? Cheers! Terri

:laugh: Mel - is your brother worrying you that you're looking to get him to settle down?? Hi there Bella's Mom - I'm the Momma of a Bella as well My Bella is 14 months now