ZivaDiva

I thought they didn't scream much and it's not the normal parrot squawk but damn, she's noisy. She does the spaceship ray gun and the PING! sound which vibrates my ear canals. And there's some other screeching sound I haven't figured out yet. They can all be deafening. Annmarie, thanks for the link re: the books and dvd's. Friday is payday and I'll be ordering. I'm not sure if I should try speaking softly to Ziva when she's screaming as I'm afraid that will only reinforce it. I'm just not sure. She does want to be around me all the time even if she wants to kill me. I do make sure to let her know where I am in the house and call to her. When I get her stick trained, I think things will be better as I can move her around the house with me and I could also put her in a time out cage if I go that route. Yesterday she started something new. She starts to "talk pretty" as she says and then throws in the ping or raygun sound. "Good morning -PING!" Instead of saying "I'll be right back", she now says, "I'll be right PING!" Or she'll throw the ray gun sound in at the end or the middle of what she's saying. I'm finding it difficult to figure out when to praise her for not screaming. If she starts to speak quietly and I start talking to her and making a fuss, she right away goes into a PING! or ray gun. I'm getting dizzy turning and walking out of the room. The funny thing is that each time I turn to leave the room, she says, "I'll be right PING!" I normally tell her I'll be right back when I leave the room but now she's telling me AND making noise. I think I hate that a parrot is smarter than I am.

Thanks againg to everyone. I'm trying to convince myself it's time to go home. I'd rather stay at work. I have spoken softly to her and was trying it again yesterday and she just yelled back at me. It made me nuts but I was happy that she doesn't appear to be doing it because she's freaked out or scared. She was happy as hell and dancing. She was having fun while So Cal was going deaf. Quick cute story - in the morning she woke up and was still covered. She started softly saying, "Good morning. Helllooooo. What 'cha doing? Are you sleeping? Are you beddie bye? Helllloooo." I didn't answer her as I don't get her up until 8am and it was 7am. She repeated the same things for a few minutes and when I didn't reply, she started yelling, "You son of a b!tch" over and over again. It was hard not to laugh out loud.

Thanks everyone. Ziva has no problem with the floor. She flies down and walks around and then goes back up on her cage so that won't work but I will see if I can think of something else as a distraction. RE: the time out method - I thought I read somewhere that punishment is not a good thing. I know there are different views on everything but am at the point of covering her cage up for a few minutes of quiet. I haven't done it but I've thought about it. She isn't stick or finger trained and it's a pain in the behind. I'm trying but all she does is jump over and take off so even moving her to someplace else is chore. I have purchased 2 play gyms for her so she can be with me around the house but I can't get her on them unless I towel her. I've only done it once and she didn't seem to really mind but it seems like a mean way to relocate her. She wasn't a biter before and now she's not only trying to bite but lunges and flies off her cage at me or the cat. She's clipped so she can't go far. She's always been clipped and came that way so that's not new to her. My daughter went home sick from school today and she's trying to sleep but that's not happening with Ziva in the house. Poor kid.

Thanks for the reply and support. I do believe the siren is here to stay. Hopefully having the birds in one room will knock down some noise since they won't need to scream at each other from 3 rooms away. I had to leave yesterday and go to my mom's so I could take a nap since I was sick. I'm hoping ignoring the bad and praising the good will knock down some of the screaming. I hope my neighbors can wait that long. Our walls are really thin. I came home last weekend and found some items on the floor that didn't start there. That means they were slamming doors downstairs - probably in response to her screaming. She does that space ship raygun thingy over and over again. She does have toys and is not really into them. She is starting to play with them a little. I'm thinking about trying more foraging toys but replies to my post before about her not playing with toys told me that older greys don't really like toys. I did buy her a bell but she's still afraid of it and it's not even on her cage yet.

Her behavior has changed so much in the last week and I'm losing my mind. She seems to be coming out of her shell as she's getting used to being in our home and to us. She's gone into attack mode and tries to bite me when I am near her. The problem is that she's out when I'm home and her cage is right next to my bed. (She is caged at night) I will be moving her to the dining room and making that the "bird room" this weekend. I was home sick yesterday and in bed and she screamed the entire time. She doesn't care if I'm right there or not. She's happy and loves to scream. She does scream at my lovebird in the same room. She also screams to my cockatiels in the living room and to the wild bird outside. My entire apt. was screamland yesterday and it appears to be that way now during the day. This is obviously not a new problem with her because while she was screaming, she was also yelling at herself in her former humans voice. "Shut up. You're being too loud. Talk pretty. Knock it off. You are so annoying. I'm going to cover you" and on and on. I ignore the screaming and leave the room and give her lots of attention when she's talking nicely. When she's quiet or talking softly and I start to praise her and give her attention, she screams. I'm not sure how to handle that as then I'm just in and out of the room. I don't let her see that I'm upset and I don't say anything when she's screaming. I ignore it but at times I think about how I'd like to take a baseball to the side of her cage! She flew off her cage yesterday and onto my back while I was in bed. The good thing was that once she was on my bed, it was unfamiliar territory and she scurried back to her cage. She's also flying off and going after my cat who is the nicest creature around. She keeps telling me, "Shut the door and keep the cat out!" Ack, I am so frustrated between the screaming and attacking I am happy to be at work where I can find some peace and quiet. One other thing - she is also immitating the sound of a siren. You know how the fire dept. and police change up the siren at an intersection. It has a distinct whoo whoo sound. (Not sure how to spell that) Well, I live directly across the street from an ER and it happens all day and night. She joins in each and every time (except when in bed) and now my other birds scream as if they are being killed while she does the siren sound. I want to run away!!! Thanks for letting me vent.

This was 10:30 last night so I must have been really, really late. I'll tuck her in on time tonight.

Just ask Ziva. She says new things daily that she learned from her previous human and I'm still trying to figure out what words were used for what. Bedtime can be a problem, as she'll say "Good morning" and act like she wants to stay up. I have heard her say, "Are you sleepy?" so I've been trying that. Last night, I let her stay up late. Well, actually I was just lazy and hadn't put her to bed. I was in the tub and could hear she was saying something and she sounded pissed. I went to check on her and she had gone into her cage and was sitting on the bottom perch where she sleeps and was repeating, "Wanna go beddie bye!" It was not a question or request but a demand. I covered her up and she was quiet. It was very cute and now I know what to say.

The funniest part is she says "in the water" just like her previous human. So, she sounds like a cranky old woman with a NY accent.

I've had Ziva for 5 weeks now and she is changing daily. I'm sure she's getting more comfortable with me after living with her previous human for 6 years. When she sees my betta fish, she yells, "Look in the water!" I have tried to give her a shower and she hates it. The other day she was trying to take a bath in her water bowl. She hates new things but I decided to grab a dish and put it in her cage. I grabbed a pyrex baking dish with water and put it in the bottom of her cage. She ran down to it and dove in and kept repeating, "In the water, in the water!" She looked like she was snorkeling as she kept putting her face under the water. She was so happy and it was so cute. She stayed in for a good 30 minutes. She climbed on top of her cage and dried off and then went and played with her toys - which she has never done. It was like a diferent bird moved in. My daughter came home and Ziva repeated, "In the water, in the water!" over and and over again. It was if she wanted to tell me daughter she'd taken a bath. So, now I know what "in the water" means and she can have a bath whenever she'd like. I took pictures and someday when I figure out how to post them, I will.

That's so great to hear!!! :woohoo:

YEAH! It sounds like he's doing so much better. I'm so happy he's happy!

I'm glad you have a diagnosis and that he seems to be breathing better. Please keep us updated. He is so darn adorable and I can't help but be concerned about him. I hope you're hanging in there.

I love reading the stories! Ziva has a huge vocabulary as the 91 year old woman that had her talked to her all day long. I think the funniest things she has said was when I asked my mom if I could borrow her charge card to order pizza and Ziva said, "You can't afford it!" Somehow she had seen my bank balance. Over the weekend, Ziva said, "Do you want a cup of coffee? Do you want a cup of tea?" She speaks like the elderly woman that had her and it sounds like she was a tad cranky all the time. I told Ziva I'd like some tea and she replied, "You want some tea???" She said it in a very disapproving voice as if coffee was the much better answer. This past weekend she also said, "Oh goodie, goodie. Mommy's home! I missed you so much. I love you so much. Wanna do something special? I'm going to go out in the garden and get you some worms."

I've been dealing with something very similar. I adopted a 6 year old CAG just over a month ago and she doesn't play with toys except for some baby links and she only beaks those for a few seconds. She had a shopping cart full of toys when I adopted her and I was told this past weekend that all of her hanging toys had been kept on the bottom of her cage. I will try that in the next few days but I'm concerned about the mess. I play with toys in front of her and have bought a zillion toys for her but she's still not interested. She does like to throw balls at me when I hand them to her. It was suggested here to buy her a large bell and I did that and she is still getting used to it. It is outside of her cage and she doesn't like new stuff. I also learned from replies that older greys don't always like toys. I'm going to keep a bunch of them for her and give her the option, but she seems to keep herself occupied with looking out the window at the wild birds and traffic and talking to my other birds. When I'm home, she's out but I have been concerned about her keeping herself occupied when I'm gone.

I'm sorry the news wasn't better. I was hoping it was something really simple. I hope he explains it more to you when you speak with him. Did he say anything about it being contagious to your other birds? Please keep us updated. I'm sure those that know more will reply with something intelligent!

Dave, You are very funny. Trust me, I'd love to have my neighbors evicted! The building owner is a bird person so I'll be fine. I was just trying to be nice. But, Ziva is quiet at night so that should be enough. Thanks for the photos and info on the bells. I will track one down and give it a try. I really appreciate your thoughts and ideas. Joann

Luvparrots - I have no problem with patience. I just want her to not be bored and maybe she isn't, I don't know. Thanks for the advice. I will keep trying with the foraging toys. She has several! Dave - regarding the bell, I've read they are not safe as they can remove the clapper and get their beak stuck in the hole where it connects. Have you heard of that? I do know of a bell - but not the cow bell shape - that is stainless steel and long so she wouldn't be able to get to the clapper. I might have to pick that one up. Btw, the walls in my apt. are so thin, I hear the man in the apt. next to me and the one below me when they pee. I guess that means that can hear me also!

Dave, Any ideas what to give her? She's 6 and has never enjoyed toys. Her previous human had them for her but she always ignored them as the woman petted her all day long. I can get her a bell but if she likes it, I'm not sure how much the neighbors will like it. I've given her paper and that shredding rope stuff and no luck yet. I will do a search for toys she can destroy. Thanks to everyone for the replies and advice.

That toy is awesome! I'm going to look for one the next time I'm at a Walmart or Target. Ziva loves to say boing, so she will love it. Thanks for including the picture. I really appreciate it.

That is an awesome cage! I'm sure he's going to love it. I love finding sales like that. Your vet also sounds like a great person. You are all so lucky. I ran to Petco last week and grabbed a rope perch for Ziva. They weren't marked and while checking out, I asked the cashier for the price. She scanned it and said they are usually $24.99 but were marked down to $1.50. I went back and grabbed the 7 they had left. Now all I have to do it get Ziva to stop ignoring it and we'll be all set.

Thanks for the responses. In answer to the questions - I've tried all sizes of toys. She will take foot toys when out of the cage and drop them and laugh. If they are in her cage, she ignores them. I play with toys nightly in front of her and have kept them out of her cage and she shows no interest, she talks instead. She also ignores the toys in her cage. She is 6 years old and I've had her 3 weeks. I was told she has never played with toys. Her diet consisted of seed. I think she might have eaten worms from the garden also or at least that's what she says! (I'm not feeding her those. Yuck!) I have been able to get her to eat grapes and apples but only 3 different times and now she won't touch them. She will eat some hard boiled egg, birdie bread and a bird pasta mix I boil. She only eats the pasta from the mix. She hates vegetables so far. The staff at the bird store said they've never seen a bird refuse peanuts before. I bought a bag of different kinds of nuts and she won't eat those either. She will eat a few of the Harrison's pellets but she also likes making them into powder and throwing it around. She did eat some Lafeber popcorn treats the other night. She does eat with me and has no interest in my food. I've offered it to her by hand and pretended to not notice if she got near my plate but it hasn't worked. She has some foraging toys with toys and seed inside them and they are also ignored. I haven't been brave enough to hold food from her and only have it in the toys as I'm afraid she might drop the food out and then have nothing to eat. I will continue to work on her diet and offer her different food and hope that works. I really want her to play with toys so she has something to do while I'm not home. Half of her cage is in front of a window and she does enjoy looking at the birds and traffic outside but it's not enough. I do play some music for her but no tv as I don't have one.

Sometimes Ziva just sits there also. Other times she's moving all around doing her wing thing. I have found that I can distract her with something and she forgets she was doing it and stops. It's kind of like - oh look, something shiny. I hope they figure it out and that it's something simple. Good luck and let us know what the vet has to say.

Hopefully someone that knows something will answer your question. That person is not me! I don't even know that my bird is female for sure. We find that out next month. When your bird is breathing funny, does he do anything else? Ziva squats down and holds her wings forward which I have been told is the normal breeding behavior. I thought she was scared because she couldn't breathe. I was getting ready to rush her to see a vet but called a breeder who talked me thru it.

I hope you get it figured out soon. I had something similar with my bird last weekend and it scared the heck out of me. It turned out to be breeding behavior but she breathes and squeaks like she's having an asthma attack. Good luck tomorrow.

I have purchased a lot of toys for Ziva and the most she has done is picked at the baby links. She ignores everything. I visited the bird store this weekend that I adopted her from and was asking questions about her behavior. They would take food and toys to the woman that had Ziva as she is elderly. I was told that Ziva has never played with toys as the woman petted her and talked to her all day long so she never figured out what to do with a toy. Ziva also doesn't have a favorite food or treat. It's been difficult as I can't figure out what to use for training. She will like a treat for a day or two and then refuse them after that. So my questions are - Any idea how to get her to play with toys? I play with them in front of her and act interested in them and she continues to ignore them. I feel awful that she's sitting in her cage all day while I'm gone. She sits on her perches and talks all day long - along with some lovely screaming. Any idea about training without using treats? She's rather hormonal when she sees me and is crying and wants me to pet her. I'm avoiding that and would love to be able to use something else as a reward as I'm trying to teach her to step up. It's not going so well as all she does is run off.