Nigalius

Hi... Thank You for the replies. I found them very useful. The Grey I am likely to buy is 3 years old and being sold in a good quality pet shop, not just a shop that sells hamsters, guniepigs and rabbits. I have been to the shop twice and seen the bird both times. It is extremely tame and likes being petted. The bird has never seen me before but was at home putting its head down for me to rub the back. It is a talker and already has a good repetoire. It is being sold with the cage and I thought I should buy the cage it is used to as that will help it settle in here. There are toys allready in the cage but I will buy more. It is a female bird that is also rung. I think I will cover it at night time to help with its sleep but that could be a problem as I am sometimes up until the early hours and then get up for work at 06.00 in the morning. That would give it only about 5 hours sleep, so, do you think the time through the day that I am not in would count as sleep time too. I am thinking that I could cover it as I get into bed around 01.00 and briefly uncover it at 06.00. Then when I go to work I could cover it again and it would then remain covered until I get home around 18.00. Would this period of being covered through the day be ok for it to sleep? Then in the evening it would be out of the cage early evening and put back around 23.00. I am told it is used to being out of the cage and likes to sit on top. Is this sufficient as a play stand? I would have various toys strapped on the cage so that they do not fall down as I would not want it to spend much time on the floor. My Fish tanks all have solid tops except one and in the next day or so I will be taking the fish out of that one to put into another. I hope there is enough info here to give me an idea as to if a Grey will be suitable for me. One final thing... Re the talking/mimicking side of things... as I said, it is already a good talker and I am sure it will learn more. What is the best way to teach it? Stand in front of the bird and keep repeating the same words or just be 'normal' and let it pick up what it wants to pick up? It is not certain I will get this bird but will base my decision on the advice from members on this forum. Thanks Nigel PS:- I used to be a parrot but i'm ok now, i'm ok now, i'm ok now, i'm ok now... lol

Hi, First of all thank you for this site. I have learnt a lot in my short time here. I dont have a grey at the moment but am thinking of buying one pretty soon but first I want to do some homework and learn wether it will be the right choice for me. I read that the birds can be noisy but think that can be controlled by covering the cage at night. Is that right? I understand that they need a lot of variation with toys etc to keep ammused, no problem, I can sort that out. I also understand that at a minimum, they should be out of the cage at least 3 hours a day and interract with the owner at least 45 minutes a day... Again no problem but..... The bird would be in my bedroom. As I spend most of my time in this roon on the internet I think it right that the bird could be in this room too. I think I would like to train it not to poop all round the room, is it easy to train the bird to go in one place? But my big problem is the various wires and cables here. I also have 4 tropical fish tanks here, a full size keyboard, 2 PC's c/w monitors, and there are naturally many wires around the backs of worktops and fishtanks. Do you think I would have a problem in making sure any A/G does not chew on the cables. I could not put any bird in any other room and I am only interested in A/g's due to there possible talking capabilities, bonding with the owner and just general A/G behaviour. I hope there is enouigh info here for someone to advise me. If not, perhaps another kind of Parrot, what kind would give me the best talking choice and training capabilities. Thanks... Nigel