lisa

My Grey starts to talk and whistle as soon as the vacuum cleaner goes on. He absolutely loves it ... wish I could teach him how to do the vacuuming!

Try a humidifier, not too close to his cage. A flight suit to stop him from plucking, because even if a humidifier does work he might have developed a habit. If you are handleing him do not have the suit on him. Are you using bottled water? Preferably spring? I would suggest this especially in a far flung place like Croatia! Things with natural oils such as pine nuts, peanuts, even a little peanut butter from a spoon held by you, but not too much ... scrambled eggs with a little milk and butter. Sounds like his skin is dry, as it gets when you go skiing for example and your nose dries and bleeds ... skin gets dry, lips crack. Very painful! Has he had any change in climate? evan just a change in houses? If you think about the fact that where they originate, its pretty humid. I have owned two and had many friends who have also .. no plucking complaints, but we have lived in very humid places like Singapore, Dubai, Texas. Good luck, I would love to know if this works for you at all. I am no expert, just a Grey owner and this is what I would try. Lisa.

Do you think Greys go through a terrible two stage? Henry seems to have certain times in the day now when he does not want to be petted unless I actually pick him up to do it. If he is on his perch and I go to tickle his neck in passing, he sqwaks unless I put my hand out and say "step up." It's sort of like ... "my way or the highway lady!" And any of you with children know they all go through a period, even if it is very short of testing the boundries. Anyway, I simply don't pick him up when he is yelling at me, and do when he is not. He is out of his cage more than he is in and I am home the majority of the time, so he is getting plenty of attention. I really do see a lot of the same behaviour in my beautiful CAG, as I did when my even more beautiful children were little. They just seem to reach these behaviours sooner than children.

Yeh, I call it Shadow Boxing. He tends to do it before he goes into bed for the night ... I have three kids and when they were little they tended to have a little boost of energy before bed also. Perhaps letting out some of the aggressions of the day? ... because he does seem a little pissed off when he is playfully attacking my hand! Never hurts me.

My CAG is out of his huge cage when ever I am home. I work out of my home, so that is a lot of hours. Often he hears me in another room and comes to find me ... with a big "hello" when he does. He tries to climb up my clothing if I don't pick him up right away. This scares me as I think he might bite through my clothing and get some skin! Anyway, I try to get him to stay on my shoulder but he inevitably climbs up onto my head. Of course I know that birds want to be at the highest perch they can find ... but when he goes to the loo it is not a pleasent experience!!! :lol: ... whereas I can at least cover my shoulder with a towel. He would spend all day on my head if he could preening (and pulling out) my hair! Any suggestions on how to get him to stay on my shoulder? He is 10 months old and has been in my care since three months.

My CAG 'Henry' is ten months old. I baught him before he had even hatched and the breeder wouldn't let me have him 'till he was three months. I am so happy with him! He said his first word (hello) at six months. The first time I left him it was for five days and I had a friend come to my house and stay so as not to change his routine too much. In those five days my friend taught him "here boy". The next time I left, same thing ... I was only gone for three days and when I returned he had taught him "hootie hoo" what ever that means! Two weeks I left only for the weekend and when I came back he had learned "Ho Ho Ho" ... Santa's greeting. He is now trying really hard to say his name "Henry" ... notice a pattern here? Everything starts with an "H" !! I assume he is saying all "H's" because he finds it easy since "H" ello was his first word. What has me puzzled is, why can my friend teach him to say something very quickly? A few reasons I have considered ... my friens voice is very distictive, very gravely. Perhaps he pays attention more because of this? Also, every time I return home Henry regurgitates in my hand!! ... I expect that as he getd older that will turn into an attempted bite. Anyway, do you think that he finds my leaving a traumatic experience and that this could have something to do with it? He really does not like anyone but me and when my friend comes for a visit he does not like him either ... gave him quite a bite the other day!! Apparantly when I gone, he also goed to wher ever my friend has been sitting and poops there!! Funny! Well, I am not worried about Henry at all ... just thought it was curious.