BaxtersMom

OMG! Carol, you have a "big ole boy"! I just weighed Baxter who is about 13 years old and he weighed 490 grams. That's actually pretty good for him because when we brought him home he weighed 460 grams.

Oh, they are gorgeous!!! They look like they would be so fun to have around. They look very outgoing from what I see in the picture. How long have you have them? How old are they? Are they friendly at all or perfer their mate for companionship? Are they loud? Anyway, Congradulations on the new pair. They are some good looking Toos:)

Something might have happened that frightened her and she might associate it with you and maybe blame you for it, whether you had anything to do with it or not. If this is the case, you will have to earn back Willows trust and it may take a long time. Start from scratch and just talk to her, sit by her cage at a distance she is comfortable with. Read her a book, magazine, sing to her, tell her about your day, offer her her favorite treats and be patient. I would respect her space for awhile and not try to push. Let her come back to trusting you at her own pace. You said she still gets along with your wife though. That is good. I am wondering if she has recently chosen your wife as her favorite person. Many greys are one person birds. They get attached to one family member and that sometimes will be the only person a grey will associate with. Baxter (my grey) was fine with me and my husband for the first few months we had him. Then overnight it seemed he would not allow my husband to pick him up anymore at all. If he did, he would bite my husband really hard and go for blood. My husband doesn't pick him up anymore but now they have "come to an understanding" and my husband worked his way back up to giving him treats and petting him. He can do anything now except pick him up. It was really strange because it came on so unexpectedly. You said Willow screams when you come in the room now and I understand that can be hard to take but I would let her scream but keep talking to her in a soft voice to reassure her. Like I said, it may take time but will be well worth it. If your wife still has a good relationship with Willow, I would not rehome her. It is very important for greys to have as much out of the cage time as possible. Atleast 3 to 4 hours a day and more if possible. Does Willow still come out of her cage if your wife is around? Also, is she still eating good, playing well and acting her usual self, except for the recent attitude with you. I am just wondering if there is an underlying health issue is why I asked. Keep trying and go slow with her again. Spend as much time talking to her and offering her treats as possible. I am hoping others will have more advice to give you on this too. Keep us posted.

I have 4 different kinds of parrots. A CAG, an eclectus, a conure and a double yellow head amazon. I think it is fascinating how each one is so different from the other in just about everyway!! I really enjoy seeing the difference in the species. All seem to have their own specific traits so i do think it is wise to really research what kind of "birdie behavior" you would like to add. Oh yea, I wanted to ad that my grey and my conure are the ones that are really close buddies and it does look cute because of their size difference. But size does not matter at all. My small conure will attack and dive my amazon and try and beat him with his wings:ohmy: :angry: . The amazon is the largest bird we have but my conure doesn't care one bit. He hates him for some reason. I have to keep a close eye on them because my little bird would beat up my big bird:S Post edited by: BaxtersMom, at: 2009/04/11 18:14<br><br>Post edited by: BaxtersMom, at: 2009/04/11 18:15

Those are fantastic pictures!!! He is so sweet and he looks like he already has such a personality. And definately a camera ham:laugh: Those are wonderful. Thanks for posting them for us to see:)

The link didn't work. I can't get in to see it:(

I think in order to help you we will need a little more information from you. How long have you had your grey? Are there other people in your household that your grey does like? What is your greys name? How old is your grey? You said your grey did like you at one time...Did something happen to change that? When did the change happen? Does s/he associate you with something bad that happened? Was your grey tame at one time and handlable? Is s/he let out of his cage daily or always in the cage? Please give us some more information so we can help you out for your specific problem and I'm sure many will be able to give you good advice.

I don't know the answer to that question but sure the others will be on shortly to let you know. I did want to congradulate Shady on making the big move up to the perch. Growing up fast, huh?

Azzie wrote: Oh Gosh Azzie::laugh: What other surprises I have to look forward to :blink: . I didn't even think about that "involuntary reflex" :blush: Oh my...What to do, What to do?? Some things they just don't teach in the books:huh: So far, I have actually enjoyed it much more than I thought I would. Everyone is so friendly there. I was glad to see a bunch of different ages in the class, from 18 to one lady in her mid 60's and several in between. Said she was retired and bored so she went back to school. I might even end up with a few new friends by the time it's over. It's been really good so far. Except for all these "surprises" I am finding out about along the way. :unsure:

I know, shame on me for getting that movie, but I thought it was about a ghost and fiction. Turned out it was based on a true story, too. :ohmy: It was an awful movie. But I do like a good scary movie from time to time, just not that kind. I just thought it was kind neat that Cooper could tell it wasn't "nice" TV and turned his back to it. That was pretty smart in my book. I think Cooper would like to stick to his cartoons, disney channel and singing shows. Those are the ones he actually will pay attention to. No more scary movies for him.

As much as well all love the african greys here I commend you for doing your research beforehand and then making a decision as opposed to getting one and finding out it's not what you had hoped it would be. They are not right for every family and think you made a wise decision because the grey do tend to favor one person. As for the SI Eclectus..I have one:) His name is Tigger. He is so lovable and will go to both me and my husband. he just loves attention. He has such a sweet personality and a great joy to have. He is actually our best talker, too. Good luck to you and you can still be a part of the forum since we have the "Other birds" room and you can feel free to ask any questions you want to there. Many of us have several different kinds of birds and we would still be happy to chat with your new ecclectus and help answer any of your questions. So please don't be a stranger just because you won't be getting a grey. I would love to know if and when you get your new ekkie and how things go with him or her.

Cooper my dyh loves to watch TV. He cage is fairly close to it and every night he has TV time. He goes out on his cage door and watches the TV for hours. Last weekend we rented a few movies. One was a scary movie called "Baby Blues" I thought it was about a huanting but it was actually about a woman with post partum depression and killed most of her kids in different ways. (drowning, meat cleaver, pitch fork) :ohmy: Crazy movie. But I noticed Cooper...he always sits facing the TV but after a little while I noticed he put his back to the screen and would not watch at all. There was a lot of screaming and baby crying and I think he really just did not like scary movies at all. I don't blame him one bit but found it amazing that he actually could tell the movie was not a "nice" thing. This was the first scary movie he has seen and he did not like it one bit. His absolute favorit show is American Idol. I used to like it too but can't enjoy like I used to:angry: . Cooper gets on the cage door and he sings very loud the whole time the contestants sing. :laugh: He loves it!! When they are done singing and the people start clapping he says "Yay, Yah", then the next one comes on and he starts singing again with them. If I turn the sound up, he only sings louder. Atleast someone is enjoying it in our house.

One of the reasons I chose this particular class was that it is increasing in demand and is getting more recognized & needed in the medical field. My future should be stable:side: In 4 days I have already learned alot. It's not like high school, they give out the info and expect you to know it in a short amount of time:unsure: I took my first test yesterday and got an "A":woohoo: and I have another test tomorrow:S (Lots of tests:dry: ) I gave and received my first massage today and it felt pretty good. I needed it, too. I am learning many things that I never even thought of about massages and clients. One that particularly sticks out in my mind or is haunting me is that the clients can and do get so relaxed that it is not uncommon for them to fart:sick: OMG!!! I guess if it happens while I am giving a massage I will consider it a compliment:lol: Today was the first day I actually flet half way good and wasn't so darn tired. I am so glad. I was really stressing out over this cold. It was a bad one. But I'm feeling good and really think I'm going to enjoy going to school again. And if anyone is in the north Texas area and needs a massage, I know of a real good massage therapist;)

I agree with the others. You will need separate cages for each bird. Their own cage is their home and sanctuary and where they go to be safe. I do have an conure that sometimes visits my grey and they will share the same cage for an hour or two while visiting but they always go back to their own cages. It is their home. I think it depends on the birds themselves if they get along or not. I feel I am lucky and it's rare that my conure and grey get along so well.<br><br>Post edited by: BaxtersMom, at: 2009/04/08 20:08

:laugh: That was a good one. Too funny!

I read in a bird book or magazine (can't remember which one) to not feed parsley at all. I don't remember the reason but I'm not taking chances on it.

I use zupreem fruit blend too but I don't buy it in a bag. I buy it in bulk and just scoop out how much I need from the bins. I usually get about 10 pounds at a time and always thought it was pretty reasonable. I have never bought the already prepackaged stuff because it was much more expensive. Seemed like it was about twice as much in the bags. I don't know if it's true or not but the worker told me it had less additives and preservatives than the prepackaged zupreem. Their supplies arrived in large grain bags.

I am guessing that your bird is an older bird by your title. Truth is, some greys aren't talkers. I rehomed a 12 year old grey last year. He does say a couple of words and phrases so I know he can talk but he seems to like whistling or doing sound effects better. It makes no difference to me as he is worth his weight in gold to me and he keeps me laughing and happy ever day. I do hope you didn't get a grey because you heard they talk. They have so much more to offer than their vocal abilities. Like I said, mine can talk but chooses not to. Also, like Dave suggested, we do need to know the age and how long you've had him. If you've only had him a few days it might take him awhile to get comfortable enough to talk around you. Please give us more info.

she wrote: I know exactly what you mean Sheila. I am doing it but I really don't know how we are going to make it through without me bringing money into the house like I used to. I don't have to pay for my schooling untill I am done (thank goodness) but we have cut back on almost everything we can think of and I'm still not sure it's going to be enough. Of course, we may be going through hard times but the birds won't;) They have no idea money is tight. That's the one thing that won't be skimped on. I did have to think long and hard about it and I came to the conclusion that I can't afford to go to school but I can't afford Not to go either:unsure: At the moment we don't even have health insurance because my husband work isn't offering it anymore:angry: and I have been feeling run down and tired for over a week and I have a sore throat. I haven't been sick in over 5 years atleast but let us not have insurance and of course I get sick. We recenlty moved and I started looking for work and found that there aren't many places hiring in what I do or they are already laying workers off and I got scared:ohmy: (Stupid recession):angry: I keep telling myself IF we can get through this year we will be fine as it's only a 7.5 month class. It will be lots of macaroni and cheese for us for awhile though.:laugh:

Thanks Poppy and HappyinGreece. In the first 2 days that's what they had us doing...memorizing, memorizing and more memorizing. We have been working on the skull the first 2 days and yes, you need to have a good memory I have found out:blink: Still working on it. I think we are going to do a couple scalp massages next week and are going to learn some stretches and excercises on how not to hurt ourselves, too. Who would have thought giving a massage was hazardous to our health. :huh: I have been looking through the books and we have to learn alot, all the muscles, all the bones and ligaments, tendons and so on. I'm still working on "The head bone is connected to the neck bone":woohoo: HappyinGreece...you sound like you have some knowledge of this "stuff" I am learning. Are you a massage therapist or in the medical field as well? And thanks for the tip on pulling a muscle for the "not so young spring chickens" :laugh: {Nature-000200A9}

Well, at 42 years of age I have decided to get my butt back in school and make something of myself.:laugh: I guess, it's time for me to grow up. I recently enrolled in a Techincal School only a few miles from my house. It was just too convienent to not seriously consider it. I have/had a pretty strong background in the manufacturing and printing industries but they seem to be really getting hit hard in this economy so I am trying the medical route. I have signed up for Massage Therapy and going to take the Clinical and Theraputic side of it as opposed to the spa treatments, although I will be trained for that, too but I want to get in with the Physical Therapy. Anyway, I have completed 2 days of school and they are teaching me first about the body and body parts, how they work and on and on. I am having to learn all new words for my body parts:laugh: and they all have so many letters in them. It's not just an arm or a leg anymore:dry: I feel like a fish out of water in there and learning a strange new language at the same time but it is also fun and exciting too. Apparently, they will help place you (locally) for work when I graduate. This means I will be doing a lot of studying in the next year. I will still be on the forum, checking in but I might not be able to be as active as I was in the past. So this is the next chapter of my life. I am excited and scared. I just hope I pass the course. So far it seems pretty hard and lots to learn but I think I'm up to the task. And if anyone else on here have thought about going back to school to further your education even if you're not a spring chicken anymore (like me) I would say go for it. They really made it easy for me to go.<br><br>Post edited by: BaxtersMom, at: 2009/04/05 19:20

Maybe you could try a foraging toy. The pet stores have several different kinds. You put the food in the container and they have to work to get it out. It's kind of like a game to them and a challenge. Usually once they pull something out or get to it, they will eat it and it becomes a reward to them. My favorite is a ball shaped object with holes in it. It's made of a kind of rubbery stubstance and has holes all over it. You can put foods in it. I usually put veggies, fruits, cereal or whatever I have handy. I have several birds and some really enjoy this and some don't really care but it might be worth a try.

Congradulations on getting your new baby. Sounds like the trip went just fine and you guys are having a blast getting to know eachother. I hope we can see a picture soon. Hint Hint;)

Hello Annmarie and welcome to the forum. Dan has given some great advice. I can only ad that mine has given me so much joy and I am amazed by him daily. He is more than a pet, he is my companion and friend. They are very in tune with your emotions as well and pick up them too. Before I got him I would have never thought I was a bird person. Baxter is pretty much a one person bird though. There is only me and my husband in the house. My husband and Baxter do get along but he only allows me to pick him up but my husband can feed him treats, pet him, give head scratches so the relationship is still good between them as long as he doesn't pick him up. We don't have that many people come to the house but when the occassional neighbor stops by, he does tend to show off:silly: And you can ask as many questions as you have. That is what this forum is here for so ask away. Congradulations on finding a baby grey so quickly. Does that mean you are going to "go for it"? If so, please tell us all about the new baby.

Baxter is about 13 years old. First family had him about 11 years, next family had him about a year and I will have had him a year in July.