chezron

They ARE that smart!!!!!!!!!!

I don't sprout seeds yet, but i do buy mixed sprouted seeds and they LOVE them. Other foods come and go in popularity, but sprouted seeds remain popular with the crew, pretty much all of the time. i may try your method soon.

Oh, and Pancho, the Panama Amazon chow hound, he watches me like a hawk if i go to the refrigerator or the pantry, he says his name until I share. (Like I would forget that he is in the room! haha) I don't always share, or if i do share i either give him what I am having (if it isn't bad for his health) or give him something way better for him than what I am eating. At least i give him SOMETHING. Although it might be a carrot when I am eating lasagna. He does love carrots. He has me WELL trained, as they all do.

"By the way I am FCT! My cert is coming in the mail soon I've been told." Am i the only one who does not know what FCT is? Please tell me so i can congratulate you appropriately.

Hey Dan! How are you? I was thinking about you the other day and hope you are doing well. It seems to me that you haven't been around much. I have been scarce since I just defended and wrote my thesis for my Masters of Science in Ecology. I WILL be graduating in December. With all that has gone on in the last year, i consider this a miracle!

So funny! I can imagine how dicey that time was before cocktail.

After Brutus broke through a loose screen and was gone for three days, I come home and I am on alert. I do not relax until I see him. Sometimes he is not in his usual places and i start to freak out. I always tell him before I leave to, "stay in the house." All of my windows are no longer open except for a sliver, so he can't fly out. He doesn't hide so I can usually find him very quickly. It does mess with your mind when you can't find them.

Polynesia Memory Loss won't open for me. Bummer

Sterling, I can relate on the training thing. Brutus always learned from my ex-husband. He does not learn from me, so he is making stuff up. I need a boyfriend just so Brutus can learn more vocabulary and Pancho can have a significant-other (since he likes men). Not really, but it is a pretty good reason. haha

Jeff, We need videos!

Right now Brutus made up a word and he says it all of the time (with all of his other stuff). I think he just likes to hear how it sounds. He says it as a question, as a definitive statement, and he says it really softly and sweetly. The word is "Jocker." He rhymes it too, he says "flocker" and "hocker." He also is attached to the sound, "awheeeeeeeeeee!" What kind of stuff does your grey make up? It is hilarious!

Anything i eat, I share. Bite for me, bite for Brutus, bite for Pancho, and bite for Jimpster, and repeat…. Unless, of course, it is a salty snack and then I hide before I eat it since they can't have salt. I eat dinner, in peace, after they are in bed. I especially feed them special human food (healthy) when i come home from an extended time away, just as a mama bird would do with nestlings. You know if a mama bird is gone and comes back she better be packing some chow! It makes it seem like my time away benefited them...

Yeah! so happy for you!

Great thread! I will work on "talking" to Brutus soon.

What are you feeding him?

I am having a difficult time understanding how you can have a heated toilet seat and an oil heater, but you can't have a heated perch? Please give us the full story. Do you lack outlets? Does your house lack insulation? Are homes typically not heated in Japan? I am not being judgmental but I am trying to understand. We really have no concept of what you are dealing with unless you explain it, like you would explain it to a retarded person. I wouldn't use PVC as a cover as the off-gassing is toxic and if it gets warms it will off-gas more. This quote is for HUMANS and birds have MUCH more sensitive respiratory systems. I would use cotton canvas that was washed to remove treatments. PVC also releases phosgene gas and hydrochloric acid when heated which are both EXTREMELY toxic--even for humans. "Chronic Effects: Chronic exposure to fumes and vapors from heated or thermally decomposed plastics may cause an asthma-like syndrome due to the inhalation of process vapors or fumes. The onset of irritation maybe delayed for several hours. Fumes or vapors may accumulate within the facility during normal operating procedures that involve elevated temperatures. Exposure to these elevated concentrations, if not adequately ventilated, may have significant health effects."

They don't have sweat glands there, so it isn't stinky or anything. It is just such a pleasure to be in such a vulnerable place with their full trust.

Yeah! Good story!

Is your bird NOT in your heated house? Where do you live? This sounds bad. African greys need to be in conditions similar to conditions where humans are comfortable. Plastic and PVC and enclosed heat sounds like a problem for a sensitive respiratory system--like a bird has. I imagine all sorts of off-gassing and inhalation of compounds that should not be inhaled. Please describe the full extent of where you are, what you are doing, and why it is necessary. A bird should not have to live in the condtions that you describe.

Looks great!

That is a great story! Keep playing with his feet. He will look forward to it and miss it when you don't. We all want to be cherished and messed with. Such surprising and appropriate things that come out of their mouths!

So sorry you are going through this.

Sorry I got your state wrong. I know how Texans are... Just want to add my two cents since I work in the biz. If you just want a tree you can hack back and don't care about what it looks like, by all means, hack away. Because crepe myrtles bloom on new wood people have gotten confused and assume that if they don't cut off all of the branches that they will not bloom well--that is not true. You can destroy the form and health of a tree when you "hat-rack" it and cut it severely back to nubs. Then it sends up weak-wooded water sprouts and that are easily damaged and structurally ugly. All sooty mold is, is the sugary droppings from aphids, or other Hemiptera, that attract a black mold. They are easily washed off. Powdery mildew, on the other hand is caused by placing a tree in less than full sun. Also there are varieties that have been bred to be mildew resistant they have an Indian name like 'Hopi' or 'Natchez.' Here is a photo of bad pruning on this website. Also, I did not mean to be preachy in any way just informative. http://southernlivingthedailysouth.files.wordpress.com/2012/12/crepe-murder.jpg?w=640&h=484

Snuffling sounds cute! More GraycieMae videos please!

Hey Sterling! You can get rid of the sooty mold easily by washing it off with a heavy stream of water. This also washes off the aphids or other sucking insects. Do you mean 30 degrees F? Butterfly bushes will come back from frost. I had a huge one in Georgia and it got down to 10F. You live in Oklahoma right? It should be fine there. Mulch your plants and water them deeply when you water.