EFGriffith

Dan, That cage you gave the link to is BEAUTIFUL!! I think if I'd known about it, I would have spent the extra $150 and ordered it instead of getting ours. As far as inexpensive cages go, I don't think you can beat Craigslist. I trolled it as often as I could, as good cages are posted and snatched up pretty quickly... So it took me about a week to find the one I wanted and snag it up quickly enough. I got a $550 cage for $150. Can't beat that! www.craigslist.org - search bird cage

These are such cute ideas, thank you! When I was out last night I only picked up Legos. Actually K'Nex, as Legos have gotten expensive and only seem to come in those kits, not just a big tub of blocks... I tried to build him a little birdie escape house, but it was waaaaay too small, so we took it apart together. I'd take apart the big pieces and hand Tango a few that were still connected, and he'd take them all apart for me We sat and did that while Hubby watched his DVRd episode of 24, and the dogs laid on the floor with chew toys. It was a nice evening B)

Sorry, the photo was too cute for me to not do a little resizing assistance

Balling your fist works really well. Mine will act like he's going to bite, then I make the fist and he puts his head down. It's like he's saying, "Okay, don't be mad, just give me head scratches please." But even when he does get his beak around a finger, he doesn't break the skin. Although he has bruised a couple times lately... I think we might be stepping into the beginnings of the same phase.

Since we upgraded to a slightly larger 1BR apartment, we decided Tango needed a larger new space as well He's the little blob on the green perch, since it's kind of hard to see. I just bought Legos so I can make some new toys, and we're planning on getting a couple more toys, 1 or 2 more perches, and a little sleep cozy, over the course of the next couple paychecks. I'm happy for our little man! He's livin' the life now!

Pynk, welcome to the flock! Thank you for being so dilligent in trying to find this baby's owner. I know if any of my three fur/feather babies were to get lost, I'd be more than heartbroken. It's good to see there are still some nice people around who care about others.

What a cutie!! "Hey, Jackson, you killed Kenny!" Those are really sweet pics of your little guy :lol:

So I'm going to the mall tonight to see a movie and thought I might pick up a couple toys for Tango while I'm out. However, there's no place in the mall that sells bird toys -- only a kid's toyshop. I was hoping maybe a few people could give me ideas on PROVEN SAFE toys to buy that our fids can enjoy as well! I know Legos rank highly on the list... But what else? Thanks for any input!

Tango and I are going through this right now because I've been home a lot with him lately. When he starts being obnoxious, I just leave the room for a few minutes until he hushes. If I come back and he's a good birdie, I'll let him out on top of his cage or give him scratches or something as a reward for being quiet.

Chloe, happy hatchday! Congratulations, little yearling :silly:

haaaaaahahaha. What a cute picture. It's fuzzy, but I can still see his little personality (birdality!) shining through. He looks so curious, and like a big camera ham! :woohoo: :laugh:

I like this thread. I think I'll go back and read all the responses once I have my coffee handy! But I'll go ahead and post my own reasons now. I'd always wanted a bird, ever since I was little. I grew up with dogs, cats, hamsters, guinea pigs, hermit crabs... But never the feathered friend I wanted. My family is NOT bird friendly. When I joined the Marine Corps I was unmarried, and stayed so throughout the duration of my enlistment, meaning I lived in the barracks. While I was there, I really grew to miss having animals around, which came through as "I'm going to get a dog as soon as I get out." I always had dogs, so that's where my brain defaulted. When I finished my four-year enlistment, I got married to the man I'd been seeing and we adopted a puppy from the pound. Then a couple months later, we got another one. I'd actually forgotten I ever wanted a bird until we started studying Alex in my psychology class. Over the course of the next year I thought about it off & on, but never saw it as a true possibility until around September. During that year I'd do sporatic research, watch YouTube videos, read about Alex, etc., but never really went into what it takes to have a Grey of your own. Then in September of last year, things changed, and I started to really yearn for a little feathered boarder. We talked about it and did the research, and in October I brought home Tango. I'd always wanted a bird, but the reason I went with a Grey is because of Alex and all the work he did with his colleague, Dr. Pepperberg Being a psychology major, I find their work very interesting. And while I may or may not ever duplicate some of the things they did together, I'm happy with my moody, warbly, affectionate, flappy, trusting, comical little guy. Yet another reason I have to be thankful for Alex and Dr. Pepperberg -- if it weren't for them, I might not have my Tango

These stories are all so sad, my god... I can't imagine the hurt this must cause, especially when the families go to such great lengths to protect their feathered ones, only for some surprise like this to creep up. I'm so, so sorry for the losses mentioned here, it brings tears to my eyes to read these stories... The least I can do in honor of these beautiful lives is go check my own oven. We just moved into a new apartment and haven't used it yet, and if our first use were to kill our Tango, I would be absolutely devastated. Thank you for the warnings, and again, I'm so sorry for the way this knowledge came about.

What a little sweetie!!! His pictures are adorable, so full of life. And the updates are full of life, too! It's so wonderful to hear happy stories like this, thank you for posting so much detail for us!

What cute pics of Alfie! It looks like he's really having a good time doing his thing. What a playful little muncher =)

I can't say if there were tennants before with other pets, but it's likely. This apartment complex is well-known for being pet friendly. If former tenants have pets and ANY urine is detected in the carpet through UV lights (or something), the whole carpet is removed and replaced before the next tenants move in. But dogs have crazy sniffers, and I'm sure can detect it even after it's "gone." Pogo woke me up in the middle of the night peeing on the carpet =( And since he's part Boxer, he's just walking around right now happily farting. I guess we're going to have to go back to puppy mode.

I've been here since October and am just now getting around to posting my photo. This is me with one of my other babies -- Pogo, my boxer/husky mix.

Errrr, I mean Jim. Then I'm guessing Kaedyn is your fid's name...

Good to know, thanks Kaedyn! I just want to add on to this, that you have to enter all your credit card info and get aaaaaall the way to the end before they discount the #3.99. It's on the last page you see before you officially submit your payment info, and it shows up in a little blurb box on the top right of the screen. I hadn't even thought about subscribing to Bird Crazy until now, so you make a good advertiser! :laugh:

Tango and I *HAVE* come a long way. Thanks to everybody for leaving the encouraging notes. I'd been wanting to get him to do this for a long time, and it took all I had to be patient and wait until he was ready. I think he finally trusts me enough now because he can sense the positive change in our relationship =)

Greys are so funny with their different personalities, ya know? Hubby and I were out of town for a week and left Tango with my friends Melissa and Jeff. When we came home, they said he chatters away in the mornings, just kind of practicing the same few words over and over again. But he's never uttered a word in front of my husband or me, silly man. The funny thing is, it goes both ways. They tried to teach Tango a couple of sounds and they never even heard him attempt them. But now that Tango's back home, he uses those new sounds all the time! Still doesn't attempt words in front of me though... It's like he's self-conscious and doesn't want to perform poorly for the expert who taught him :silly:

Hi everybody! So my husband and I just moved into a new apartment with our two dogs, Baxter and Pogo, and our Grey, Tango. One of the things we were happy about was that both our dogs were housebroken in the old apartment and now we'd be able to have a nice, clean carpet. WRONG. :blink: Thank God they don't pee on the carpet, but I've cleaned up more poops in the past few days than I can count =( I take them out and they do their business, then they come in and do it AGAIN 15 minutes later. It's like they have this neeeeed to crap on our new carpet. I say "they," but it's really only Pogo, our 15-month-old Boxer/Husky mix. Any ideas on why he's acting this way? If it were peeing I'd be more aggravated, but would be able to see it as him marking his territory... But the need to POOP on the carpet? What's up with that?

Hi Titch, welcome to the forum! I'm short on words at the moment, more in a reading mood right now, but didn't want to pass up the opportunity to welcome you to the flock

This is the first physical thing we've succesfully been able to teach him to do. I'm too happy, he's so cute when he's up-side-down

Awh, that must make you feel warm inside. It's hard to know sometimes how to be good moms to species outside our own... Having those skills affirmed really is a victory.