scoopsdad

Hey guys! Thanks for the continued warm welcomes, it's greatly appreciated! Everyone is so friendly here...if only all forums were this way, eh? Laurie and Sandra, thanks for your comments about being first-time Grey owners and bird owners all at once. It's sure good to know that there are survivors, haha! Sandra, we're in southwest Pennsylvania, about an hour outside of Pittsburgh. There is a Parrot Rescue in Pittsburgh actually! They have required seminars you must attend before adopting a rescue, but they're at odd hours (something like 10am-12pm) during the weekday - and, only held once every 2-3 months, it seems. Makes attending rather rough for people who work...and have to make a bit of a long drive, to boot! I'm not going to give up though - sooner or later, an opportunity will come along somewhere down the line. My fianceé has a successful pet sitting business...one of her new clients, who she'll be working with in May, has 8 birds (and a new Grey arriving about that time!) so I plan on hanging out with her as much as possible when it's time to make visits, that's for sure! Ok, so here are two MAJOR questions I have for those of you able to answer: 1) Like I said above, we have 6 kids - including 3 dogs and 2 cats. Now the cats I'm not worried about; but, two of the dogs - one, a bonafide small animal/bird hater when out in the yard - and the other, a spoiled Chihuahua who doesn't like to share his Daddy's attention - well, they worry me. With these birds requiring so much attention and interaction, I would have to lock the dogs out of the room for so many hours a day just to let the bird hang out with me sans cage! How do you guys with cats/dogs make it work? Were you able to introduce them slowly? Do you keep them completely seperate from each other? 2) For those of you who have/had both a Conure and Grey, what were your experiences? Pros/cons, good/bad. I must admit, I have a weak spot for the Conures (I've just seen Suns and Jendays in "real life" though). There's a little Sun baby I keep going to visit at the pet store on a regular basis - she melts me, I swear! Is it just me, or are kids THE biggest manipulators EVER?! Honestly, every single kid we have manipulated the pants off of us. I tell ours all the time, "You really should hold your own seminars in manipulation. We'd be millionaires by now." Gotta love 'em though! :lol:

Thanks, Toni and Judy, for the warm welcome! Judy, I'm afraid that the story behind my name is a bit dull, haha. My Mom just loves lace (as in the material). That's it! I guess she figured since Casey, Tracey, and Stacey can all go either way - why not Lacey too! I hated my name up until I got into jr high - then it seemed like the girls really dug it I plan to spend a lot of time poking around in here, so I'm sure we'll be getting to know each other quite well! Thanks again for the nice welcome, ladies!

Hey Gang! Woo! So excited to find a forum all about Greys! I thought I'd post a message here in the "newbie" forum to introduce myself a bit... My name's Lace (yes, Lace, and yes, I'm a guy, hehe). My fianceé and I are proud, happy parents of 6 kids - all the furry type, no human kids: 3 dogs, 2 cats, 1 mouse. We sadly lost two of our babies recently; our Ferret girl, Baby Weez, and, Mighty Mouse, the brother of our current mouse. But, alas, we have a rather big family! We've been talking about adding a bird to our family for a few years now. My fianceé, Mylyssa, was raised around birds (although not a Grey, specifically) - but, I've never had a bird myself - so I've always been a bit on the fence about it. Over the last year or so though, it's been on my mind more and more...and, I finally think I'm ready to be a bird daddy! I've been researching as much as I can about the different species out there; like a lot of folks, I seem to have a real pull towards the beautiful, intelligent African Greys. However, I haven't had the chance to actually be around any as we live in the middle of nowhere and there are no breeders out this way (at least not within several hours driving distance). Our local pet stores (PetSmart, Petco, etc.) don't ever have any Greys either, so haven't even been able to get to know them a bit that way! With us not being the "add a new kid to the family on a whim" type, it's starting to get frustrating for me that I'm unable to take my research off of the net and into real life - for I know this is a decision that involves much more than just reading up on things. Then too, I've read so often that people who have never had a bird before shouldn't start with a parrot, but instead a smaller, less dominant, lower maintenance bird. Soooo folks, here I am at the Grey Forums! Hopefully I can learn a lot from you guys, get to know you and your birds, absorb all of your experience and wisdom, and have a place to ask my tons of never-ending questions, haha. I look forward to meeting you all!