KatB

LOL I need more votes! So far I have people I trust suggesting I take him and people I trust suggesting I leave him. My biggest reason for not wanting to leave him is that if he stays home he won't be able to leave his cage for 7 days because even if the sitter does agree to stay at my house for an hour or two each evening I doubt Oliver would let him/her, whether my friend or a paid sitter, close enough to put him back in his cage when that's needed. And of course he can't stay out of his cage when no one is there to watch him. Since I'm his 3rd home, at least, I really don't want to take him anywhere for boarding because he might think he's being re-homed again. Take him -- stress of long trip and strange surroundings. Leave him with sitter - he stays in cage for 7 days. Board him - issues related to multiple re-homings may surface. I welcome all thoughts on this!

Good morning,Forum Folks -- I was googling for some info about my grey and ran across an article proposing a new (to me) theory about why parrots pluck. The author, Donna Sleight, suggests birds living in close proximity to birds from another continent (Africa vs Amazon, for example) could be plucking out of terror from being forced to exist so close to an alien species. I only have the one bird -- who keeps me quite busy -- but I wondered what some of you flock-keepers think about this. She bases her theory on a survey, but something about it comes across as flawed logic to me. What do you think? http://www.realmacaw.com/pages/pluck.html

Wow, I didn't know CD was making a trip with Ceasar. I won't be leaving until next Saturday (March 8) and would be interested in hearing how Caesar adapts. Wonder if CD will be online, or will you be in contact with him?

Yes, I'm leaning that way, too. The only other people he knows are making the same trip I am, so it's either this person Oliver doesn't like or pay a pet sitter he's never met about $250 for the week to pop in a few minutes 3 times a day. I know I would have better peace of mind if I take him with me. I guess I needed some objective viewpoints because I don't want to make the decision based on what's best for me, but base it on what's best for Olvier.

Thanks for the advice, Judy and MommaFawkes. I need to defend the pet sitter, though. He doesn't treat Oliver with contempt -- he adores Oliver. Oliver treats HIM with contempt and refuses to have anything to do with him. I wouldn't be suprised if Oliver refused to eat just because the food was provided by this person. And yes, I'll be gone 7 days. I'm trying to balance out which is worse -- the long hard drive there and back or the long week with the only break in isolation being 15-20 minutes 3 times a day with someone Oliver doesn't like.

Hello, all, I'm in a quandry. I'm going to be traveling to visit my parents for my father's 83rd birthday. They are a 16-hour drive from my home, which I'll be doing in two 8-hour days. I have the choice of putting Oliver in his travel cage in the back of my SUV and taking him with me, or leaving him behind to be cared for by the pet sitter. The pet sitter is the man Oliver has decided is his competition, the person he hates most in the world. He will be coming in two times a day to feed the dogs (and Oliver if he's here) and a third time to put them to bed. Although Oliver treats him with contempt, he would love nothing more than to hold Oliver on his finger. To add to the mix, my 3 year old granddaughter will be traveling with me, and when we get where we're going my neices and nephews will be excited to meet Oliver and may not understand his stand-offish-ness (although they will probably back off once one of them has a first-hand experience with the beak). Any advice? I'm sure there are things I'm not considering, but at the moment I'm thinking it would be best to take him with me.

Happy Happy Mother's Day Tracy and Siobhan!!! You know, misery loves company. I always thought I was the only mother in the world who never got a Happy Birthday or Happy Mother's Day from child or hubby. Now that my son is a father who expects to be remembered on Father's Day he's much better at remembering Mother's Day!

I would modify that to say "to quit smoking only takes _remaining_ convinced that you actually WANT to quit."

LOL, I certainly wouldn't damn you :lol: We all have our own path to walk and if your path includes smoking, that's none of my business. Nothing annoyed me more when I was smoking than to have someone, especially someone who never smoked, tell me I should quit. Now that I think about it, I'm not too crazy about anyone using that "should" word to me for any reason

What a sad story, dblhelix! I agree, the key is realizing you have control. I do think for many people it's hard to believe you have control until after a few weeks of success -- and that's where all the tricks and crutches are helpful. One trick that helped me: Get some plastic drinking straws, cut them into cigarette-size lengths, put them into an empty cigarette pack, and substitute that for your cigarettes. Draw fresh clean air into your lungs through the straw whenever you reach for a cigarette, chew it, hold it between your fingers, use it to calm the physical addiction. That will help get you through a few of those crucial first hours... For my part, I used patches in many of my attempts and all those attempts ended in failure. I would be doing oh so well, but when I finally weaned myself from the patch I would be smoking again within a week. So I agree, for me anyway patches were not the answer. Welbutrin was helpful to me, but you do have to be very careful about how you wean yourself from the Welbutrin. I had the same experience with Welbutrin as with patches for several quit attempts -- quit the Welbutrin, started smoking again. Then I figured out I had to stop the Welbutrin even more gradually than the doctor recommended and was successful. As you say, we all are different, these are just things I noticed worked -- or didn't work -- for me. All you future ex-smokers keep trying. It's hard, but it gets easier every hour you hold out. Good luck! Kat

Thanks for the encouragement, Judy! It did take everything I had to keep putting my hand in there LOL

Ouch!!! Oliver just got a chunk of the flesh between my forefinger and thumb!!!! I needed to move him from his play stand to his cage for a bit (can't remember why now, maybe it will come to me when the bleeding stops ). Anyway, I'm so verrrry proud of myself for not giving up. I can't say I didn't flinch, but I did remember to say "No Bite" firmly and stick my hand back up there for more abuse. He got me twice before he unbalanced himself with the fury of his bite and flipped upside down on his perch. By the time he righted himself, he had forgotten he was supposed to be biting me and stepped up nicely.

Then again, there's always the admin's power to prevent him from posting. If he truly wants to learn, just about any subject he could ask about is addressed within this site and is free for the reading. If all he wants to do is publish his "misguided" training methods and boast of his superior intellect which allows him to know better than experts who have spent their lives studying the subject... at least if he can't post, we won't have to endure his bile and future newbies won't be exposed to his suggestions.

Laurie- I just came upon this thread and read it from beginning to end. I was a smoker for many years and quit and started back too many times to count. I think I know how you're feeling right now. At least, I know how I felt in the same circumstance. I was sooo relieved to be smoking again. Yes, I was disappointed in myself for starting back, but the mental, emotional and PHYSICAL relief far overshadowed my disappointment in myself. This in a nutshell is why it is so difficult to stop. You'll try again, as you said. You'll get all your ducks in a row, make sure the Farmer's Almanac says it's a good time to quit, stock up on patches (or not), stock up on Wellbutrin. Circle the date on your calendar. Maybe it will take next time, maybe not. That's the thing. Once we've been smokers, we can never be non-smokers. Right now, I'm not smoking. I haven't had a cigarette in 2-1/2 years. I'm not naive enough to say I will never smoke again. I hope I won't, but I know it isn't a sure thing as long as I live. All I can do is do my best day to day to remember that "just one" is a trick of my addiction -- which is sometimes sleeping but never banished. Okay, sorry for the long post, especially since this thread is essentially done. For anyone who sees the thread in the future, though, I wanted to post how I "quit". Laurie, you were hypnotized but it didn't work for you or your brother or husband. I was hypnotized and it did work. I don't know about your hypnotist, but if it was a group hypnotism -- I don't think that works very well. My hypnotism was one-on-one with a phychiatrist. He spent almost two hours with me, first talking with me to gain my trust, then doing a couple of preliminary hypnotisms before the main event. Apparently you go deeper each time you're taken into and then brought back out of hypnosis. Finally, he recorded the final hypnotism and instructed me to listen to the tape at last two times a day for the first week, then once a day for the next week and once a week thereafter. I haven't listened to it since the second week, but so far the effects have stuck. A funny side note: I had absolutely no intention of quitting when I walked into his office. I thought I would give it a shot but I wasn't at all expecting that I would never smoke again when I left his office. When I did leave his office he asked me if I had any cigarettes in the car and if I did I was to bring them to him and throw them away. I told him no, there are no cigarettes in my car, all the while seeing in my mind's eye the pack on my dashboard and anticipating the smoke I would have when I finally got away from him. I walked to my car, reached in, grabbed the pack and then I walked to the trash can a short distance away and threw them away! What was I thinking?!!! So I got in my car and drove to the corner store to buy some more. I parked, but couldn't get out of the car. I was terrified that when I drew the smoke into my lungs it would feel like I was breathing in flames... because that's what the hypnotist suggested it would feel like. Anyway, I'm no longer afraid of the flames but I'm still not smoking. I'm just very thankful that I found a hypnotist who knew it would take a very powerful visualization to make me not smoke. Good luck to you next time Laurie. Take it from someone who smoked for 30 years... my quality of life as a non- smoker is so much superior to my life as a smoker that I can't even begin to express it.

TubeScreamer-- I can't help but think you're playing with us. While I realize there are many people who might behave as you describe, they are usually either uneducated and not too smart or they know enough to keep their opinions to themselves. After all, there are animal abuse laws and child abuse laws to skirt. The way you write tells me you are neither uneducated nor stupid, and yet you openly boast of animal abuse, thinly disguised as "training". So you're either playing games or you're taking advantage of the anonymous nature of this Forum to air your sadism. How's that for Logic? Okay, giving you the benefit of the doubt, maybe you really don't understand why "training" these birds with sledgehammer methods is a bad thing. Try googling "parrot plucking". You could also learn about it by searching it on this forum, but apparently you don't give the members here credit for their extensive and impressive body of knowledge. It may already be too late to prevent your bird from becoming a plucker, but I guarantee if you continue to "train" him with force, you will have a featherless bird very soon.

Matt, I wish I could say something to bring you a small measure of comfort. Remember the happy bird he became over these past few months and feel good that you were able to bring him the peace he needed to stop plucking and evolve into a well-adjusted little guy. I'm sure the other forum members who followed your story join me in feeling a bit of your loss. Please let us know what the vet discovers. KatB

Hi, Terri-- I'm still interested in participating, just tell me how I can help. Feel free to PM me. If it happens that we don't have enough volunteers for this first wave just yet, keep me on the list and let me know when the time comes. Kat

A Sharepoint page would probably be more efficient, especially looking to the future and the likelihood that there will be a need for a central document repository as time goes on.

LOL, stubborn little buggers!

I'm just so happy to learn that he CAN talk. Since he's almost 2 years old, I was afraid it would never happen. Now at least I know he can do it, it's just a matter of making him want to do it when I'm around. Funny thing is, he's calling me Kathy. I'm almost never called Kathy around here. It's either Mom or a form of Grandma, usually. LOL, I have one friend who comes by once a week or so, but Oliver hates him, won't let him near his cage and bites him whenever he can. But he says "Kathy" with the same inflection my friend uses when he says it!

oh, never mind! I can't make it happen. But really, he did say SOMEthing!

I'm having trouble getting the attach box back on edit, so I'll try posting anew. Here's the three-second recording as a zip... [file name=OliversFirstWord.zip size=46915]http://www.greyforums.net/components/com_joomlaboard/uploaded/files/OliversFirstWord.zip[/file] OliversFirstWord.zip

Ok, I've suspected for a while that Oliver was a closet talker. Every now and then something slips out that I think might be a word, but he won't repeat it and he gives me this "Who, me?" look when I ask him if he said something. So I left a voice activated recorder in the room with him for about 15 minutes while I was in the office at the other end of the house. I heard his peeps and clucks trying to get my attention as usual, nothing else. But when I listened to the recording, I heard words! It sounds like he's calling my name ("Kathy") in a couple of places. I've tried uploading a one-and-one-half-minute segment of the file as a zip, but it's too big, so I edited it down to just a few seconds of him saying (my name?) once. What do you think? Post edited by: KatB, at: 2008/02/03 16:48 Post edited by: KatB, at: 2008/02/03 16:49<br><br>Post edited by: KatB, at: 2008/02/03 17:08 OliverSpeaks.zip OliversFirstWord.zip

Congratulations, you have a success! And what a great shot of the three Your bird room is totally impressive!

I know your poll specifies CAGS, but for the record... My DNA sexed male TAG looks like the female in your photo (except for beak and tail, of course).