KatB

I'm so happy you finally have him home. I've been watching this thread, waiting for D-Day. Doesn't it pull at your heart-strings to see a little being so demoralized that it doesn't react at all? At least better times are ahead for him. Congratulations on your new toddler!

I don't know enough about how they train them for flight suits. Did they tell you to put it on her every time she comes out of the cage, without fail?

Ziggy, that's the first time I have heard grape skin is toxic. I've been giving it to Oliver. Thanks for the word, I'll peel the grape from here forward. At least I was only giving him one or two a day. Bobby, I've had my grey for two months. He also was distrustful of people, and still is to a large degree. He has recently started coming along, though. I've been spending every possible moment holding him, playing with his toys with him, trying to get him fond of a towel by holding a towel on my lap and putting him on it... he still isn't crazy about the towel but at least now he will sit on my lap on top of the towel without panicking. I think he started making progress when I started pushing the envelope just a LITTLE. For instance, he never voluntarily stepped onto the towel, but I would distract him with a treat or a toy and put him on it and after a while he understood it wasn't going to hurt him. I'm far from an expert, but this seems to be working for me so far... Good luck, Kat

With all this talk about cold, I have to ask the standard question: Is it dry cold? I spent 3 weeks in Iceland during winter a couple of years ago, then another month in Maine in the depths of winter, and found the Maine winter to be much colder, although the temps were much higher at right about -10. The Icelandic cold in the negative teens didn't seem near as cold.

:lol:

Thanks. He seems to be fine today, so maybe it was from overeating.

I wonder if a part-time flight-suit would work? Best of both worlds -- potty-trained AND flight-suit trained? Good luck with whatever you decide. Kat

LOL! I love hearing stories about these guys who speak to us and KNOW what they're saying! I think it would be hard for me to quietly put Oliver back on his perch after he poops in the wrong spot, I would be so excited that he warned me it was coming! Good work!

Hi- Can regurgitation be clear? Oliver did something last night that I thought might be regurgitating, but then I read that it usually involves undigested food particles. He had just eaten a large, heavy dinner of bean soak and lasagne. I mean a LARGE dinner, since those are two of his favorite things and he kept going til it was all gone. Later, he was on one of his in-cage perches and I was standing beside the cage talking to him through the open door. He sort of heaved, like you might if you were about to throw up, opened his beak wide and bent over and out came a thick stream of clear liquid. It didn't last long, and when he had finished depositing it onto the floor of his cage he went about his business as if nothing had happened. I was excited and honored, thinking it was regurgitation, but now I wonder if maybe he just ate too much and thought I was nuts for thanking him so profusely?:blush:

Oliver is 21 months old and isn't talking at all. I get "peep peep" from him quite a lot, especially when I leave the room, or in the morning when he's ready to have the cover removed from his cage. On the whole, though, he's silent. A couple of times in the past we have heard him say a two-syllable something, we think "Hello", but we were so taken by suprise no one could say for sure. Then he just stopped talking (at least when anyone was present) and went back to "peep peep" exclusively. So, we know he can, just need to figure out how to make him want to! lived in a pet store til he was 15 months, then went to live in a traumatic environment for the next 4 months, before I brought him to live with me two months ago. Soooo.. my next big research project after getting care and handling and potty-training down will be to read all I can find on teaching him to talk!

Hi, lalalatv-- I'm definitely the apprentice when it comes to poop training. We have good days and bad days For instance, a few minutes ago I took Oliver out of his cage and stood over the "poop mat" and said "Go Poop" and he immediately squatted and went. But earlier in the day I did the same thing, stood there for two or three minutes with no poop forthcoming, decided he didn't have to go, and two steps into our trip to the office he dropped a nice big pile onto the floor. I highly suspect he knew exactly what he was doing, because he's done it in that exact same spot more than a few times! There is a very good thread under the "Training" topic in which Dave007 gives some fantastic tips. I just picked up some new advice from it and will adjust my training techniques. Nychsa also has a thread under "Training" (called "Success") where she talks about potty-training her baby. This is a great web site-- I've found I can usually find a useful thread just about anytime I have a question, and I always can count on good advice from the members. Good luck, and keep us posted on your progress! KatB

My heart goes out to the little guy. What a survivor he must be to still be sane after such a life! I look forward to hearing your reports on his progress. Since my Oliver is also a rescue, I would love to hear your techniques for bringing the birdie out of his shell. We're making progress here, but due to my inexperience it's slow. Karma to ya! KatB

Mike, That sounds exactly like the way Oliver acted when I went to take him from his cage to take him to the vet a couple of weeks ago (there's a long thread on that called "Have I Been Dumped?"). I have no idea how he knew he was going to the vet, but he did, and -- exactly as you described -- he acted like I was going to cook him for Thanksgiving dinner. I made some bad moves, and now he's just beginning to trust my hands again. For weeks I could only get him to step up by fisting my hand and offering him my wrist. Could something have happened to cause Mumbles to be afraid of hands?

Nice shots, Jimmy! Loved the video. It looks like Cosmo really enjoys YOUR shower, does he like his own shower as much?

These are great entries! I can't wait to see more. Oliver isn't doing much more than climbing up the side of his cage, yet. He doesn't seem to have much balance since his vet clipped his talons.

Congratulations! I'm working with Oliver on that, too, and we have occasional successes but nothing consistent. I know how excited you must be!

Another piece of data -- my TAG weighed 375 grams when I "rescued" him 2 months ago. At his vet visit 2 weeks ago he was up to 387 grams, and the vet felt he was at a good weight. He's on the small size for a TAG, about 11 inches tail to beak. OOPS! This was meant for a different thread. Sorry! Please excuse the post.<br><br>Post edited by: KatB, at: 2007/12/07 20:25

Welcome to the Forum, Dona and Danni! I look forward to getting to know you both. Sounds like Danni did you a favor by laying those eggs. I just forked over $$ to my vet to find out Oliver is a He! :laugh:

Welcome, Lalalatv! Be-you-ti-ful birdie! That's the first time I've seen a diaper in use. How is it working out? I've been trying to potty train my Oliver, but he isn't too keen on the idea yet

LOL, Jane, that's funny! I'll bet he was completely bewildered when he found himself inside the cage with you on the other side of the room. Joanne, I was alone in the house that day, so I don't think I mentioned going to the vet. I suppose I could have said something about it on the phone, but more likely he read my apprehension. I really was dreading having to put him into that carrier! I'm new to keeping a parrot, and in retrospect I realize I made a very, very bad move. The vet would have refused to see him if we were 15 minutes late and I likely would have had to wait 2 weeks for another appointment, so I'm not sure what the answer would have been. Toweling? Seems to me that would be equally as bad as the gloves. Cancelling the vet appointment? No treat in the world was going to entice him out of that cage and into the carrier, so bribing him wasn't an option. Of course the best answer would be for him to WANT to go into his carrier. Now that he's acting friendly toward me again I'm going to start taking him into another room with the crate and playing games with it and try to get him to enjoy going into it.

The bath spray I use that's "specially formulated for African Grey powder" and is a mixture of purified water and aloe vera. So maybe the answer is somewhere in the middle... not pure aloe vera and not pure water.

$5 per gallon? Man, that's a steal compared to what I'm paying for the "bath spray". I'll look for it at Walmart. Which department?

I use a product from Mango Pet Products called "African Grey Bath Spray". From the ingredients list it looks like it's primarily purified water, then aloe vera, with omega 3 and 6 oils added. It's fairly pricey, since the local stores never seem to have it on hand and I have to order it online and pay shipping. Is aloe juice relatively inexpensive and easy to come by? Where do you get it -- pet stores or health food stores?

I know my grand-daughter's pediatrician asks us to give her yogurt when she's taking antibiotics. Something about antibiotics killing the "good" bacteria and yogurt replacing them. I would think it's the same for any being taking antibiotics, avian or human, but of course could be wrong.

Thanks, and Karma To You for all your help I actually ordered a T12 setup this morning, complete with a 5500K CRI 91 lamp from http://www.naturallighting.com/web/shop.php?crn=663&rn=3215&action=show_detail I figured since I was having trouble finding a T8 full spectrum bulb locally, best thing would be to order a T12 so I could at least find the bulbs without too much trouble.