BaxtersMom

My grey was 12 when I got him and he didn't know how to step up so the first couple days I had to grab him out of his cage but it was stressful and not helping trust issues much. I finally got him out and perched him on my finger and made him step up over and over for about 8 to 10 minutes (with small breaks in between) then pet him a little & let him go back to his cage. I didn't want to over due it because I don't think their attention span is that long.. After a few times he knew was I was asking and would do it pretty good. I did this 2 or 3 times a day for about 5 to 10 minutes each session and he learned quick. He learned it in 1 or 2 days. And it made life so much easier! I also would put him on our dining room chair and ask him to step up from that. I read that in a african grey book and it worked perfectly for me. Good luck.

I've had Baxter a little over a month now, he's 12 years old. All I know about his first family was they had him about 10 years, ended up putting him in the basement and got tired of him, then gave him to another guy. The last guy never let him out of his cage.I know he was cage bound the last 2 years and probably his entire life:( The more I have him the more I think his he has been really really neglected and I'm surprised he doesn't have any more issues than he does. He's a great bird and I love him.If I just feel so sorry for what he has probably went though. He only had 2 old toys when I got him, he was only on a seed diet for parrots and when he came here the only snacks he would take at first was junk food. He used to throw his healthy foods out of his cage when I first introduced them to him but He is now loving his fresh veggies and dried fruit along with his seeds diet (for parrots) and I am trying to get him used to new foods as I think of them, too. Fresh fruits I try but he wants no part of them yet. Back to the toys, he would only occassionally pick at the toys but never really play with them so I bought him tons of new toys but he showed little to no interest. He liked the simple things, the bells and eventually the straw balls that he could tear up but nothing that really hung in the cage. I tried them outside first, then inside, but nothing. I read the post about someone else whos' bird was neglected and they were told that us people owned by their CAGS must play with them first. Well, I've been doing that with no results for a little while, untill today. I put together a toy that he was a little used to, some chains and a bell and some wood blocks layered on a rope. He hasn't like blocks so far. I've been "teaching" him to play with them against his wishes it seems and showing him how fun they are:silly: Well today he was getting aggrevated with the toys and with me and he grabbed that bell and shook it and shook it and shook it like the monitors on a childs playground telling them to go in:woohoo: That's what he looked like too, someone ringing a bell. Yea! Then I would take the ropes and go over his toes and over his beak and wings, then he started biting and tugging it. Yea!! Then I left him alone but continued to play with the wood blocks. Eventually I brought them close to him and he started nibbling on them to (untill he realized what he was doing LOL) I feel like this is major progress for Baxter and I am so happy about it. Maybe he will continue to gain interest. Atleast I'm very hopeful. 2nd issue Now, since he has been cage bound probably all of his life, he doens't fly. His wings are not clipped and probably never have been. Now I might let everyone know that when we brought him home the first thing we did was open the cage door and let him come and go as he pleased. It took him 3 days to figure out to go on perch on top and a day or two to figure out how to get back inside his cage. I had to teach him Step Up, too which made life so much easier! He loves his freedom now and comes and goes as he pleases:) He started flapping his wings when I would hold him on my arm. I let him. No problem. But noticed if he slipped he would go almost straight down. :ohmy: He didn't know how to flap at first and had a couple kind of bad falls which scared me. Now he is flapping his wings on me more than I want him too which is good I just wish he would practice on top of his cage. But now he is starting to let go of my fingers and trying to fly off but I am scared he is going to hurt himself, When he flys (and I use that lightly) he takes off but continually goes in a downward movement and lands in a thump most of the time but he is getting better. he has never went up. When he lands it's much better but he still has no control and ususally bumps something pretty good because he just doesn't know how. I want him to get the confidence to fly or atleast feel confident in the flapping part but am scared to death he will break a bone or feathers and really end up injured. Does anyone have any advice. He doesn't flap unless he is on my arm. I am now getting scared to let him do this but don't want to discourage him either. What do I do? Those are main issues right now. I think Baxter is really happy otherwise. I take him all over the house with me when I can. He talks to me in the mornings, then in the afternoon and talks more in the evenings. He is picking up so many new words and he is using them in context which is so cool:lol: . It's great and he cracks me up so much of the time. He is such a joy to have around and I want to make up for the bad treatment he has received. I think the previous owners just didn't know any better and didn't care to learn. It's amazing he is such a good bird. He lets me pet him all over his head, back and wings. He expects it in the evenings and really gets into it. During the day, he likes to have me around but not touch him too much. He never bites me anymore, He did the first couple days. Sorry this is so long, but didn't know how to say all I wanted to without putting all that in. Any advice would be appreciated.

What great pics. He looks like he is having the time of his life. I bet you had just as much fun watching as he did getting soaked. I've been trying to think of a way to get Baxter to do something like this. I tried urging him in the sink, but nope, then I had a baking dish like you had and put it in his cage but he wanted no part of it. (He went in his water dish,too) He does get sprayed & soaked once or twice a week but think he would have much more fun and get a better job done if you he would only do it like yours did. You have inspired me to try again. Good thinking on your part!:woohoo:

I didn't know they had more than one tummy:ohmy: . Would someone please explain this to me?

I knew you would be the perfect owner for Gatiep. She is so lucky to have you. You knew exactly what to do in a crisis. Karma to you. I'm so glad it turned out good. Keep up the good work.

Follow up to last question...Is there a way people can reply to a blog? Or is it just the blog?

I do want to blog and I actually posted 2 blogs. I was hoping that people could respond to it and make comments but for some reason, it only showed my blog and no where for anyone to be able to reply to it. So, I took them down.

I gave kitty the talk saying "It's up to you now. You got to fight and beat this thing, You can do it" Might be silly but I swear she heard me. It's been almost 3 months now. She's just a bit slower but is doing remarkable well. I'm pulling for Buddy!{Nature-00020095}

I was in the same spot on June 7th with my cat. She was diagnosed with kidney failure which is terminal and although they said she would only make it a couple of weeks but she is still going strong today. Don't give up and realize that even the doctors don't know exactly what is going to happen. I cried and grieved then decided I would just enjoy her every day I had her. I know its so stressful. Hopefully Buddy will hang in there and get better too. Don't give up hope.

Oh, I'm so sorry, I hope it isn't liver failure and will say some prayers and keep him in my thoughts. Stay strong. I know you are.

Hello Kevin and welcome to the forum. I joined last month and found it so helpful. Great to have you. You must tell us about your grey and photos if you can. We'd all love to see and hear more about him/her.

LOL!! :laugh: I like that Carolyn. Yes, just send them all my way. No bird turned away! :silly: You need one now:P I was worried that I could not handle 2 birds, but not anymore. It's really not any extra trouble at all and twice the fun:laugh: I recommend it for everyone!<br><br>Post edited by: BaxtersMom, at: 2008/08/19 00:58

Yea, that's for sure. He's the type if I don't bring him something home he will throw a temper trantum{Feel-bad-0002006A} I've been trying to not get attached to him and leave the emotions out of it incase "they" did show up to claim him. As of today, It's too late now. My hearts involved. Might have to tell them he flew away again;)

Hi, wow, sounds like you are goint through some issues with Zahzu. I hope everything is okay but it sounds like you have a great vet and that you are very well prepared to handle all this. I wish you all the best. Keep up posted.

Hi Christian. Wow, this all sounds like great news for you. Congradulations. Sounds like you have a bright future ahead of you. How will this affect you getting your baby grey and will be able to take it with you to Australia? Or are you putting it on hold for now? Last time I seen you online you were about to go pick up your little bundle of joy and said pictures would be coming. How's all that going?

The Bird store is my favorite place to shop now a days!!!{Characters-0002005C} I get so excited. When I first got Baxter I wanted to load him up with toys and bought quite a few. I was kind of disappointed that he really didn't show much interest in them. To be honest, he could care less:( So when Bonkers came to stay with us he was thrilled with all Baxters extras:woohoo: I'm glad I had them to give. But man it's a temptation every time I go in to get their food. I cant resist a couple new goodies. I have to control myself too because they are quite pricey:ohmy: Baxters favorites are the little cheapie things like the straw balls and wreaths. He understands a budget:silly: My latest update in finding the previous owners is I got in contact with our local animal control who works with surrounding areas. They have all the needed information. I also put an add on craigslist in the lost and found section. It will run for 45 days. I feel I have done my best and I have put in quite a bit of time on it even thought I didn't want to. The rest is up to the previous owners and how bad they want to find him. I know I would have fliers up in all my surrounding areas to get my bird back and call everyone agency that I could think of.

Thanks everyone. I'm glad you all like it. I thought it fit pretty good and the name did go pretty good with Baxters:) When I bought Baxter I loaded him up with a bunch of new toys but Baxter didn't seem very interested in them so Bonkers lucked out. I did go buy him a coil rope and he loves it. The cage came with a swing at the top and he hopped right on it. I was wondering if they are naturally taken with new things and show no fear or if hes probably had one in the past. He's definately a pro at the swing and the coil rope. The only think that he or Baxter has not even went near really is the brightly colored thing made of plastic straws.

Yes, he is adorable. He looks like a totally different bird wet. I really like taking pictures of my pets too. Can't wait untill I can get the 2 birdies together:blink: That should be fun! Well, now that all the chaos is over it's time for the name. He really did have us freaked out yesterday and we did take that into consideration in naming. We were scared{Feel-bad-00020063} {Emotions-00020120} He/she is back to being an angel today. So it's not Mo Money anymore and it's not psycho either, those were just temporary. I've been thinking about "real names" since yesterday and wrote a few down. We finally decided and thought it would fit the personality. And The Name is......Bonkers {Emotions-000200BE} It had to be gender friendly and it really drove us Bonkers yesterday while it was going Bonkers here!!!! Now it's playing and doing flips on the toys and going Bonkers in a good way! I looked up "Crazy" on the online thesaurus and Bonkers was another word for crazy:silly: Seemed to fit. Now I am attached and although it would probably be better if his owners did find him, I would be heartbroken. I have claimed for my own now. If I thought it was from a bad place I wouldn't give him back but I really think he came from a good place. Another reason I didn't want to find him another home. I'd hate for a good bird to through too much stress if it isn't necessary.

That picture of Jiggy really needs to be framed and hung on a wall. It's great and really made me smile:lol:

Yep, he's demonic looking. LOL. He looks like quite a character! It's time to start thinking for a permanent name for this little guy. Here's a picture of it's cage. Hope it downloads ok.

This is in response to Nychsa last post. I want to thank you for explaining some of it's behavior and how evil they could be and that I was not the only one to experience it. Wow, yours sounds like it can be a little demon, too. Sounds like what we were going through last night:) It was scary:dry: We thought we had a demon in the house:woohoo: Today he has been calm all morning. It's 1:27 pm now and I haven't even heard a loud scream yet. I'm sure it will happen though. I was afraid the noise would be an all day thing. He's nipped at me a couple times but not near as much. He absolutely hated me yesterday:evil: I guess its kind of funny now, especially for those who already have conures. I'm sure you could imagine what I was going through and {Feel-good-0002006E} getting a good laugh out of it. Maybe he fely that we were having second thoughts on him and decided he better show his good behavior off a little more. We are keeping him. {Communicate-000200D5} Your post on your conures behavior really helped me out. I think he may even be a blast!!!Thanks..

EXACTLY!!!! {Communicate-0002011B}Couldn't have put it better myself. Baxter the grey likes Opera and Conure here is into Kid Rock{Feel-good-0002006E} Today conure is minding his manners and I guess it can be good, too{Feel-good-000200B9}. I would let the originals owners take him back home but have decided not to place him anywhere else if they do not show. I couldn't put him through the stress of it. He is quite the acrobat too with attitude and he just needs a little time. We are keeping him. Today I'm sure he will be great fun. {Emotions-000200C6}

I will definately keep everyone posted. I really appreciate all the feedback you guys are giving on it.

Thanks for the links. It may turn out fine with some time and patience on our end and perhaps learning more about their behavior. I think I may be a little freaked out and overwhelmed at the moment, too.It all happened so fast last night and the bird didn't have anyplace to go. The guy who brought him to us has 3 dogs (one is a wolf) and a few cats in a very small home. No set up for birds at all. I felt I had to take him/her in and there realy wasn't any other option at the time. And he also was such a little darling last night, too. I never seen such affection from a bird. If it turns out the little devil can not stay with us it would be my main priority to find him a place where he go through the least amount of stress possible and place him where I knew the possible next family knew what they were getting into. We are like a bunch of old fogies including our grey trying to entertain a 7 year old:ohmy: It would be wonderful if the owners could find us because I know he was a very loved bird. This decision is a very very important one and I know it. I will do what is best for our little guest, perhaps he will be a permanent resident in the end. Thanks again for the links to the rescues. I probably don't have the heart to send him away anyway. Just need some more education and time hopefully.

Oh,that is so funny!!! I bet the clerk really thought you were off your rocker letting your baby eat on the table like that. How funny!!! I bet you were just dying laughing inside,.