pixiexoxo

Hi Mas, I am a South African living in England and know for sure that you can buy aloe gel out there as my brother still lives there and I have seen it in his bathroom Am pretty sure you can get it in either the bigger supermarkets such as pick n pay or chemists. Good luck!! Amy x

You make me feel so selfish by putting it that way Thanks for the input Dave, much appreciated. You are right, although it is actually a 4 day trip not 2, but thats by the by. As strange as it sounds, the thought of not letting him out of his cage hadn't even crossed my mind as he is out so much. as I said before, my parents adore him and I just presumed that they would have him out like he is at home. I could tell them not to let him out at all, but would that not stress him out too? What happens if he gets out when they are feeding him/ cleaning him out? I'm not like the thoughts of getting him clipped at all, hence why i'm feeling guilty enough just about thinking about it! Just thought i'd ask opinions though, so thanks again for your input, I do agree with you.

Thanks Tari I love to see him fly although I think he prefers to climb on things, and wouldn't even contemplate having him clipped if he had just completed his molt, but thought if we were to do it, now would be a good time as it wouldn't be too long before his flight feathers grew back. He's still only a baby, not one till July, and although we are trying to harness train him, he isn't quite there yet. I have booked an appointment with the vet for tomorrow to go and have a chat about it to see what they recommend, as I know my vet will not clip birds unless they think there's a good reason to. I did speak to her on the phone today and she completely understood my concerns but I thought it would be a good idea to get some points of view from everyone here too. Amy x

Hi all! I'm in a quandry of sorts and thought i'd come see what you guys think... Myself and husband are going away for a long weekend break at the end of May... not anything really to do with question but is the reason why I started to think about it... It got me thinking about the saftey of Biggles while we're away. He will be going to stay with my parents, whom he gets on well with and they adore him. My problem is that I can't seem to stop worrying about what if he gets out while he's there, or flies into something because he's not used to their house etc etc. So, I started to wonder whether to get him clipped, for peace of mind really, due to the fact I would NEVER forgive myself if something happened while I was away. He has just started his first molt which would mean that if I clipped him now, it wouldn't be too long before he got his flight feathers back, or am I wrong in thinking that??? What do you think I should do? I am feeling so incredibly guilty about thinking about clipping him as I don't want to upset him in anyway :dry: Hugs Amy x

Hi all, Biggles has some new tail feather appearing which are a lovely bright red colour, although his old ones haven't fallen out yet. I have noticed the old tail feathers are not as vibrant as they were before though so I was wondering whether this is also a sign that he is about to molt??? He is nearly 10 months old now and has been losing the small downy feathers for ages now. Amy xx

Thanks dan! I suppose you guys would be able to decipher more than me as you are all Grey pros! I'm still learning myself Biggles has started doing a "wowowowowowowow!" noise today and i have noooooo idea what it is or where he's got it from lol. tis very cute tho :laugh:

Hi again Knight, I treat Biggles the same as I would with a small child... reward when he's done something good, lavish him with attention when it's time to, and make him understand that he has to have cage time occasionally! Biggles also does the sad call thing, especially when he wakes up in the morning, and as cute as it is, and as much as I would love to have him with me all of the time, it isn't always convenient. I have a son and 2 dogs to also sort out in the mornings as well as myself. As hard as it is to ignore the sad call, you're gonna have to learn and not allow yourself to be wrapped round Chloe's little talon lol :laugh: Tis hard tho as we end up being owned by them instead of us being the owners! I love it though really ha ha! Persevere with it and don't feel mean if you have to keep Chloe in her cage for a few minutes more than you would do normally, as long as she's got things to entertain her in there she'll soon understand :-) Feel happy that you have a CAG that absolutely adores you! Amy xx

Aww bless ya, I know just how you feel when you've got a new baby coming home. I was exactly the same with Biggles and so desperately wanted him like NOW!! lol I think you already know the sensible answer though hunni :laugh: Good luck and looking forward to seeing pics soon Amy x

Thanks knight :-) Biggles is having no problem with talking and for a 9 mth old is doing very well on that subject.We're always talking to him and he gets moooore than enough attention from us lol. :laugh: I suppose i'll just have to monitor it and hope that it doesn't change him. x

Thought I would ask how many of you have mirrors in your Grey's cages? I was told in another topic earlier that it may not be a good idea as it can cause the bird to talk to the mirror instead of us... Has anyone experienced this or does anyone have any advice on this matter as I don't know anything about it at all. Biggles has a mirror in his cage and enjoys looking at himself and playing in front of it, although I wouldn't want it to cause any problems in the future... Amy x

I never noticed that! Well spotted Siobhan :laugh: He makes so many noises it's hard to determine whether it's just baby talk or if he is trying to say or mimic something! I shall keep my ears peeled for that one and see if he does it again. Most of the time he sounds like one of the clangers talking lol x

Congrats on your new baby Lovelylew! I hope you have as much fun with Obi as we have with Biggles. :-) xx

Hiya Skuffy! Biggles comes out all the time and loves to be held. My other half was doing some computer work when I recorded the video which is why he was in his cage as he has a nasty habit of pulling the keys off the keyboard lol. I never knew about the mirror to be honest... Biggles has a natter to it every now and then, but it doesn't seem to stop him talking to us.. do you think it will in time? :-)

HI everyone! Thought I would share a video I made of Biggles, my 9 mth old CAG. He's not long started talking but seems to be picking things up very quickly indeed! We've nicknamed him Iggle Piggle (for anyone in the UK with small children that watch In the night garden, you'll understand) and he seems to enjoy saying that, as well as hello and sneezing, which is so cute. Quite scary how accurate he mimicks my sneezes! Let me all know what you think, apologies for the slightly blurred picture, but sound is fine :-) Amy xx

Hi everyone! As cute as the birdie in the macaroni pic is, it's not mine. Found the pic on tinternet and thought you might find it funny too :-) Good news, Biggles still hasn't tipped his water about since removing the new perch I had placed in his cage so it seems like problem solved. I'm still going to go have a look at different water dispensers though. The water bottles sound great and I know i'd be alot happier going out for a few hours knowing that he definately will have water. Thanks for all your help and comments again. So glad I found this forum xx

Hi everyone!! Thanks to you all for your ideas and stories... am sooo glad that i'm not the only one whose CAG loves to make a mess! I thought I would try to move his perch yesterday as it was a new one that ran right next to his water bowl. I removed it completely and "TA-DAH!!" he hasn't once pulled his water off or even attempted! :woohoo: Maybe it was his way of telling me that he wasn't happy with either a new perch or didn't like where I had placed it lol. I have to admit that I have been taught a very important lesson..... my bird is smarter than me and will not stop until I solve the problem ha ha ha. Utterly, totally, slavishly devoted???... you betcha lol!! :laugh: Thanks again everyone Amy & Biggles xx <br><br>Post edited by: pixiexoxo, at: 2008/03/19 10:11

Clamps..... looks like something I may have to invest in!!! :laugh: If he continues to do so I shall go see if I can modify the bowl somehow. I did tell Biggles no, which he does normally listen to but on this occasion he seems sooooooo defiant ha ha. I feel bad about spoiling his fun tho... maybe I should buy another water bowl for him to drink from and just leave him to have fun with chucking the other one about... what do you think??

Hi all, My CAG today has started to do something very mischevious and we're at a bit of a loss as to what to do. He has discovered that he can grab his water bowl from the side of the cage and literally pull it off (of which he has done numerous times and I have cleaned up:blink: ) Everytime I have cleaned up the huge puddle and refilled his water bowl and put it back up, he goes straight over to it and pulls it off again.....such a fun game :laugh: Any ideas to how we can get him to stop this before it becomes a problem as I really don't like the idea of going out and him not having any water to drink because he has made pretty patterns with it on the cage floor??? Amy x

LOL... that is hilarious!! Must warn my hubby who is a video game fan... Luckily enough tho, no zombie games as yet, just the war shooting ones. I shall wait to see whether Biggles starts impersonating a machine gun! :laugh:

My Biggles is only 9 months old but he has started saying hello and every now and then I catch what I believe to be "Pretty Boy" followed by a wolf whistle :)I'm looking forward to being able to teach him lots of different things, when he is ready though, and if he never says anymore than he does now it won't matter to me as i'm already completely and utterly slavishly devoted to him lol :laugh:

Lol... am so pleased I haven't got the only man who loves to spoil the pets! Our lab is a stomach on legs so any treat is gratefully recieved and he recieves them frequently! Will have to limit the treats that Biggles gets though... Don't want a fat parrot! Not that i've ever seen one!! :-)

Thanks for the good advice :-) Will definately make sure H2B does the treat time thing every day, fingers crossed it will work :-) Just have to make sure he doesn't over do it on the treats like he does with the dogs! lol :laugh:<br><br>Post edited by: pixiexoxo, at: 2008/03/12 21:33

Thanks for the response on this Siobha9. I thought it would just be a case of persevering and keeping the contact going. H2B cleans out Biggles every now and then and feeds him occasionaly too just so he starts to understand that i'm not the only hand that feeds him so we'll just keep on doing what we're doing and hope it doesn't get any worse :-) Thanks again x

Thank you all for the lovely welcome :-) I'm glad you all like Biggles' name, it was an unusual decision, but we wanted something different and cheeky to suit his personality, and it does....completely! Loved the comment on being owned by a grey... couldn't agree more lol. Quick question although probably should post it in the other forum.... Biggles has taken to me much more than he has hubby to be. Although he is nice to H2B most of the time, he can be quite nasty to him when in the mood to be and gets very protective over me. I do know that CAG's tend to prefer one person to another and H2B has accepted his place in the pecking order (lol) but I would like Biggles' attitude towards him to stay the same or get better than it is... any ideas to make sure it doesn't get any worse please?? Thanks again for the lovely warm welcome :-) Amy x

Thank you for your welcomes :-) We named Biggles as he loves to dive bomb people and isn't the worlds best flyer hee hee. He really is a character and definately has his naughty days, but I love him no matter what mood he's in :-)