LindaMary

We don't have a dog, but our rabbit (who shares the birds' room) runs straight to Tanner's cage as soon as he is let out for a run and starts scarfing up the food Tanner flings all over the floor. (Tanner is my dry-food flinger - Maxi ususally just flings things that will stick to a wall: pomegranate seeds, bits of egg, etc...)

Jane08 wrote: I'm betting the yellow ones taste like banana. Here's Maxi when faced with banana: "Ptui! :angry: Ptui! :angry: Ptui! Yuck! Banana!:sick: Yuck!:angry: Yuck!" (Also it might make her face messy, which (refer to messy-face thread), like Judy's Josie - Maxi of course would N-E-V-E-R tolerate! (Miss Prim...)):evil:

This thread struck me as ironic when I first saw it, but I know that's just my own frustration coming through! Maxi eats Harrison's high potency coarse - IF I stand in front of her and match her one for one. My own feathers are looking really nice now, and my daughter Mary agrees I've become less aggressive... :P Good job getting yourself set up, Carol!

Sending prayers and warm thoughts to Millie and Megan.

I am so sorry to hear this, Sameera. I am sitting here with tears in my eyes reading your post. Grieving the loss of a bird is like grieving the loss of a child: time is the only real healer. Right now I know you are still in shock, but I know you will get through the rest of the process with your own unique wisdom. I agree with Azzie on what to do with her toys, with your pooped-on shoe, etc: if you don't know what to do with them, do nothing: your heart will guide you. Rest easy in the knowledge that you gave that young girl a wonderful year-and-a-half, just as she retuend the same to you. God must have had some other plan for that little spirit. Take whatever time you need, and if you feel you can, come back and let us know how you are doing. I also agree with Judy that another grey may be in your future, but I'm sure you need to breathe for awhile before that. God bless, and {{HUGS}} to you.

sarah8002 wrote: Hi Sarah - welcome to the forum! The body language you are describing that accompanies that screech sounds like a grey in a defensive posture - one that feels threatened or is trying to warn away a threat. It would help to know a little more about the cirumstances under which you see this behavior. Is your grey older, or a baby? It could be as simple as a reaction to someone being too familiar with him or getting too close to him before he's ready to relax around them. One thing I would suggest is to not look at HIM straight-on, but rather from the side. Like: look at him out of the side of your eye, rather than head-on. Our eyes are mounted in the front of our faces, since we are basically built to be predators, and some birds will really react badly to that straight-on stare.

That is awesome news, Carol! I'm so glad you followed your heart on this one. Terrific names for your little twins, too! You are going to have your hands full!

{Feel-good-0002006E} That is hysterical, Acapella!! "Does he talk", indeed! Maxi almost never talks in front of strangers, in fact she mostly just taks to me. My daughter Mary isn't even sure I'm not making up some of the things I have heard Max say. I know it's all about comfort, tho. I'm the one Max sees the most of, so she tries out her new stuff on me...

That is so cute, Sheila! Glad to see he is fully recovered from his recent scare!

I have a large laminated photo-poster of a tropical forest hanging on the behind each of my birds' cages. It protects most (not quite all...) of the wall, and it's a nicer scene for the birds than a blank wall - I think I got them at Drs Foster & Smith. (After that first pomegranate wall treatment, I learned! ) I just suffer with the floor so far. I keep an old sheet spread out in front of each cage, to catch cage-door-sitting poops. Maxi throws less food than Tanner, but Tanner has these spaz-attacks when he feels the need to fling half the contents of his food dish out of his cage. At which point I let the bunny out of his cage to go have a snack before I clean it up - the bunnny loooooves parrot pellets and seeds.... Of course there's no real helping the fact that this seems to be National Throw-Every-Toy-Off-The-Playtop-As-Far-As-Possible Month. Both Maxi and Tanner are celebrating it with gusto!:woohoo: :woohoo: :woohoo:

Wow, Pat, what a transformation! I can't believe how fast Little Shady is becoming Big Shady! It's wonderful to hear how well your birds all get along. You really have a touch with those guys! I hope you feel better soon, too!

I think that's really interesting, Erika. It sounds like the sounds we perceive as threatening, stress-inducing, associated with danger - really cross species. And Cooper hasn't yet become jaded about American Idol! I've never watched it myself (not a "reality" TV fan...) but it must be fun to listen to him singing along!

David, I love your insights!

:P That's too funny, Steve! He sure was determined to get through that cord!

Mingus wrote: I know exactly what you mean, Greg! I swear Maxi knows what I'm going to do next before I do. And God forbid I try to trick her into anything. She gets this really haughty offended little attitude, which of course is completely justified!<br><br>Post edited by: LindaMary, at: 2009/04/08 17:21

This is the first place I have heard warnings about parsley. As it happens, my birds have been helping my bunny chew through a big fat bunch of it this past week, with no apparent ill effects. Hm.... I do agree with the romaine-only philosophy on lettuce - but my birds actually prefer swiss chard to just about any other leafy green I've tried so far.

I think so much of what our parrots are willing to do depends on presentation. Neither of my birds was initially willing to go into a shower. I bought a shower perch, and started out by putting Max on the perch (outside the water stream) while I was showering. I didn't try to get her wet the first few times, but I let her watch me shower and made a big fuss of how much fun I was having: gargled the water, made excited noises, etc. (The moisture in the air was good for her anyway, even if she didn't get wet.) I think I only did this routine three times before she was willing to step up and let me run her under the (cooler!) stream of water, sitting on my hand. I would always give her a count of three first, as in "one..two..three... wheeeeee!" as I ran my hand and her under the water. She held on like an eagle at first, but she has now relaxed and apparently learned that it is not the end of the world, and actually feels good. By contrast, she STILL hates it and squawks and tries to bite me when I mist her (whether with water or with aloe). I think the difference is that when I am misting her, it's ME doing something to HER, whereas when we are in the shower together, it's more like we are playing together. It doesn't infringe on her dignity as much. Give it a try!

This is a good question, Joe. I know I have heard fish is fine, but I'd be curious to hear more discussion about specific types. I wonder, for instance, if the higher-on-the-food-chain fish (like tuna) would be a concern because of mercury etc. My birds haven't shown much interest in fish anyway, until a few days ago when I shared my snack with them: consisting of dried anchovies cured in chili peppers and sugar. I get these at the local Asian market, and turns out both birds really liked them (they both like crunchy things much better than soft foods). I didn't give them many because of the sugar, but it was fun to see them actually get quite enthused about fish! They're both molting, so I know they need extra protein right now...

Bonek - here's a link I copied out of another thread on here, which lists some details for you. Hope it helps! http://www.plannedparrothood.com/plants.html

Thank you, David, for putting this into perspective for us. Karma to you!

That's such a wonderful feeling, isn't it, Rana? I love it when Maxi puts her head down and rubs her chin with her foot - that's my signal that I'm supposed to scratch her head and rub her ears. It makes you feel so trusted! Good for you!

:P Pat, this is too funny: I guess yesterday must have been African Greys Visiting Severe Macaws Day! I don't leave both my birds out at the same time without close supervision, because we still don't have an established "friendship" between them. Tanner goes to visit Max on her cage any time he gets a chance - just crawls down off his cage, waddles across the floor, and crawls up on hers - and she seems to be accepting his presence a bit better, as long as the door is closed and he can't come INTO her cage. She usually just goes on eatng or playing or doing whatever she's doing and ignores him. But yesterday for the first time when he was in his cage with the door closed and she was out, I came back into their room - where's Max? Looked on the bunny cage, which is her usual spot : no Maxi. Well, guess where she was: yep, up on Tanner's playtop! And he was just sitting in his cage as quiet as a mouse. I feel like in our case it was less of a social call than a reminder that she's the boss bird, but I'm not sure (and of course I hope I'm wrong). For the last four days, I have been able to have both birds on me simultaneously again without much fanfare, so maybe they are both starting to feel a bit more secure about each other. When I think about it, we've only had Tanner about 4 months now, so all in all I think that's pretty good progress. But congratulations on the Tyco-Gizmo Social Hour! I'm so happy for Gizmo, really - I'm sure he was thrilled to have a visit from a fellow FID!

It sounds like he's really making some progress! I'll be thinking of you on operation day, and will look forward to hearing how it went. Karma to you for your patience with this process!

Great job, Dan! Thank you for this great summary!

What a cutie-pie!