Gaevren

omg hilarious!!! :lol:

We just got a cockatiel yesterday. We were told not to try handling him till Tuesday at least, to give him time to settle into his new home and calm down (I say him but it hasn't been sexed yet so who knows hehe). But we were also told to weigh him or bring him in to be weighed if we didn't think he was eating during the settling in period. So here are my questions- How long should I wait for the bird to eat before I really need to get worried? I put food and water (seed/pellet mix given by the folks we got the bird from, as well as some fresh veggies) in the cage yesterday when we moved him into it, and changed it out this morning. I also put some millet spray in- the guy recommended we do that as they might be more inclined to eat it even if it is stressed from being moved. Well I didn't see any seed litter this morning, and our little guy (Spike) still hasn't touched any of his food or water. I have a scale that weighs in grams, so I can weigh the bird here at home instead of subjecting the poor thing to another trip so soon, but how do I get him out of the cage without terrorizing him, or is that even possible? I don't think waiting till Tuesday is a good idea, especially if he doesn't seem to be eating. Any advice would be much appreciated!

The only thing I would worry about is that the gray might chew on some of the toys and end up swallowing bits of plastic. Would that be a possible concern? Or do they only try to shred wood/paper/cloth? Still a noob, so I'm just curious.

Wow excellent tip, I would never have thought to buy baby toys for my birds! I will definitely remember that idea! :laugh:

Are your budgies hand-tamed?

Yes DIY means Do It Yourself That is an amazing play gym! I'm also curious as to how you made the perches pink!

You never know, he may end up associating the harness with fun times outdoors and start going nuts (in a good way) whenever he sees it. Or he may even start bringing it to you and begging to go out!

I have the same dilemma honestly. Names are very important to me...it has to be just right! It's funny, even before my husband and I married we had a name all picked out for a boy baby (we were going to name him for our respective grandfathers), and of course all we have are girls! And we had the devil of a time coming up with names for them, because the meaning of the name was very important to both of us...but so was the sound of the name! And it's always been hard to name our pets too, for the same reason. I'm sorry I don't really have any advice for you lol. You could try looking for a gender neutral name, if you aren't sure the bird will be sexed in time to decide on a name that way, or have a "boy" and a "girl" name ready for when it *is* sexed, so you can start using the appropriate one right away! I don't expect to own a gray for another two years, but I'm already pondering names

I've seen that Einstein video (I have it bookmarked because it makes me laugh so much) and that is so funny that Dorian does the oinking now! :lol: It sounds like she's making great progress. How wonderful!

That is wonderful news! /hugs

Are there any sprouts or beans that one should never feed to a Gray, or are they all pretty much ok?

I voted!

oh no lol!:laugh:

Too true!

From the little I've learned of these birds, I don't think you could survive living with them if you didn't have a sense of humor!

Well not only do I need to prepare myself but I need to make sure my husband and kids are prepared as well! My girls will be no problem I am sure...they love birds and will devour any information about them, like me. My husband I wasn't so sure about. I'd talked before about getting an African Grey at some point but not recently since I knew it would be several years before I'd really be able to (right now I'm in college and I just couldn't devote the necessary time and attention, not with school *and* 3 kids!) I talked to him about it yesterday however and he definitely liked the idea. I said something about "companion birds" which made him think of "companion dogs" vs "working dogs". It gave him a mental image of a "working bird"...he said the image in his mind was of a bomb-sniffing parrot squawking "You're screwed! You're screwed!" I was drinking some water at the time and I almost snorted water out of my nose lol. Now it's time to start doing my research on local breeders and getting to know them.

It sounds like clipping could be as hot a topic as whether or not to declaw a cat (biggest difference of course being that declawing is permanent whereas clipped feathers will grow back). Under the circumstances I probably wouldn't clip the wings, but you know your bird best

This is fantastic info, including the other thread. I'd heard about potty training grays and was curious if anyone else had done it!

That link is a godsend! I didn't have much luck doing my own search for breeders in my area, but I would infinitely prefer to go through a breeder than a shop.

We have one parakeet that belongs to my daughter. She's 10 years old and has had this parakeet for about a year and a half. She was begging me for a pet "of her own" so I told her yes under certain conditions. She had to take care of our other animals every day (dog and a cat at that time, the cat is no longer with us) without me reminding her, and she had to earn the money to buy the bird and all its accessories herself, and would have to earn the money to buy her bird's food, toys, upkeep, etc. as well as care for her bird (training, feeding, and so on). I said if she did all that, I would pay for any vet care. Well she earned her money and bought her bird and I have not had to remind her to take care of it once. It's very shy, I think a large reason is because of the cat we had who liked to "stalk" her. We tried to keep the cat away from her cage but of course she kept going up. We found the cat another home, partly due to the keet but mostly my other daughter turned out to be allergic...and are now working on step-up training with the keet. She's still very very nervous so we're just taking it slow and easy right now. I bought "The African Grey Parrot Handbook" a couple weeks ago and devoured it. Lots of excellent information there!

I know there are pet stores that sell birds, from parakeets to all kinds of parrots. Even PetSmart does. I don't think I would ever buy a bird from a large chain store, but what about buying from a smaller (hopefully avian specialty) store? I would never ever buy a dog from a pet shop because you never know where the dog came from, a puppy mill, etc. Are the same concerns prevalent at avian shops or are most of them a fine place to pick up a bird?

Heya, I'm new to the forums I've been researching birds for a few years and decided that African Grays were the bird for me. I found this site and I'm hoping it'll be a great resource for more information! It'll be a couple of years yet before I can get a bird so I want to put the time to good use.