Acappella

Happy Hatchday Nia. Hope you're a happy teenager.

I'm so sorry for your loss. What a shock.

Congrats on the breakthrough!

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I really admire you for all that you did to get Sukei home, and I'm grateful for your efforts in updating the forum. I know this site isn't as active as it used to be, but maybe now that we're not getting flagged by Google we'll get some fresh members around here to liven things up. I'll never stop checking the forum for updates because you all were so helpful to me even before I brought Dorian home.

I wish that breeders had to have a license to breed birds, but since this isn't required for other pets like dogs and cats (although I wish it was) I don't see it happening for these babies. I think it would reduce the number of new babies out there and perhaps steer more people in the direction of rescue. Just a pipe dream of mine.

I call Dorian DohDoh, as is "DohDoh stop that" Right now Mr. 'won't chew a wooden toy' is determined to turn my wooden filing cabinet into so many toothpicks. Why is it that he won't ever chew one of the many toys I've tried to put in his cage, wood of all soft and hard textures, all thicknesses, all colours, but he's only interested in chewing the filing cabinet and the desk?! Sigh

Well, it's Nov. the 27th, which means it's my boy's hatchday. I'm so grateful that he came with his hatch day certificate so that I can keep track of his years accurately. So far he's had a wander around on the floor, made some more toothpicks out of my wooden filing cabinet, then retired to his cage for 1/2 a walnut in it's shell. Other than that, we're working hard on some sound extinguishing, so I'm not able to lavish attention on him today, as he's making the objectionable sound about every 5 seconds! Grrrrrr Anyway, wish my boy a happy hatchday if you'd like. He says hi to all of you.

It looks great. I think it's going up pretty quickly, though it must feel like it's dragging on for you. I think it's a fine use of the money you inherited, and I know the birds will agree. This is what love looks like. Lucky fids.

So cute. I have a cardboard crazy grey as well. He can make quite a mess in a short time. Glad it's not raining down on my head!

So sorry about your niece. I've struggled with bouts of suicidal depression since my teens. (I'm bi-polar). As dark as it has gotten, I've always been blessed with 5% of my brain that's been able to reason out what my killing myself would do to my friends and family, but it's been very bad at times. I've been on a med now that has stabilized my mood for the past three years. You really believe that other people will be better off without you around, that you matter little in other people's lives. I'm sorry your niece lost this battle. I hope her family isn't blaming themselves. It's an insidious and evil illness and sometimes, despite everyone's best efforts, it wins.

KevinD, thank you for saving GreyForums. I don't know what I'd do without this forum, where I can brag, vent, and share what it's like living with one of these little grey tyrants.

The bandage idea is great. I'll dig out a tensor before the morning! Dorian has come a long way. I had a repair man here last week to look at my wifi. I had Dorians cage door open and the guy asked me "he won't bite me will he" and I assured him that he'd stay in his cage. After all this is the bird that, when I got him, would sit frozen and shaking whenever anyone strange came near him. Well, I turn my back on the cage and before I know it the little bugger has climbed down from his cage and is halfway across the room headed right for the repair man's toes! He didn't want to step up for me either. He's turned into a self assured, confident, almost fearless little guy, and I guess I'll have to suffer the consequences. lol

Sorry, but I'm on to you. Lol

That naked little birdy will leave a huge hole in her owners hearts. R.I.P. little one.

The pouf of dust is totally normal, no worries. Glad to hear that flight has been restored.

We have a bit of a cloudy history when it comes to step up around here. When I first got Dorian he was terrified of hands. The only time he ever got out of his cage was to be toweled four times a year to have his wings clipped. Once he was out of his cage he would perch on a person's hand and step up from hand to hand, but shaking in fear the whole time. One thing I started doing was to not say 'step up'. I ask him if he wants to come with mom. When he first started to step up for me it was from a perch on the outside of his cage. He would go to that perch and that was the signal that he wanted to come with me. I've never forced a step up from inside his cage because of his history. I've always let him decide whether he wants to leave the safety of his cage to come with me. I have thought about how this will backfire on me if I ever have to get him out of his cage in an emergency, but frankly I don't know how to get him to step up from inside his cage 100% of the time, I was just thrilled he decided to come with me at all. He's not food motivated so holding a treat in one hand and getting him to step onto the other doesn't work, he just looks at me. lol He is motivated by praise, to a point. I always praise him when he steps up from inside his cage but he still decides when that happens. Any advice is welcome.

I think Dorian misses our sing-a-longs. I miss the piano in my dad's old house, playing and singing, with Dorian doing his best to out volume me in the next room. He still sings along to the radio, but it's not the same.

Ray, sometimes he steps up to my hand when he's on the Desk, sometimes I step him up to a perch, it depends how pissy/excited his mood is, but he will always step up from the desk. That way I don't give him a chance to bite. He only steps up from his cage when he feels like it.

Problem is he's never good when he's on my desk, yet it's one of his favourite places to be, so it's all morning he climbs onto the desk, he does something bad, I put him in his cage, he climbs out & onto my desk, does something bad, gets put back in his cage, lather, rinse, repeat... lol I know I shouldn't react to the bite, but I have a bad case of tennis elbow right now, and boy does that pinch hurt!

OK, this is a strange one. Dorian has become obsessed with my right elbow. Every time he's on my desk he goes straight to trying to bite me in the elbow. It's just a pinch, but it hurts. There's no anger in it. He goes after it just like he goes after the keys on the computer keyboard. It's his persistence that's amazing. Maybe I should have posted this in the training room, because my real question is is there any way to break him of these bad habits when he's on my desk. He has toys to play with and paper to shred, but all he wants to "play" with is my phone, my keyboard, and my elbow. Right now I'm telling him "No" and putting him back in his cage.

I don't know what happened, I seem to be blissfully ignorant in this matter. I just hope that we can all get along from this point forward, please?

Ouch! Bad boy Sterling Gris. What got into you?

Ok, so that was really good! They're doing a great job being faithful to the book, while making the changes they need to do to compress the storyline. I don't want to wait a week for the next episode. Waaaaaaaaaaaa. Tell me when you're ready for a discussion with spoilers.