Parrotdise

I've got a seriously swollen head over here right now. We are making incredible progress,that I thought would take a whole lot longer. Yesterday was 2 weeks for Gil living with us,and he is making such an effort to be a sweet and darling guy. Tuesday night my husband swore he heard Gil say"Whatcha doing?" clearly in my voice. Talking is cool enough,but it's not even close to as exciting as what came next. I spend the majority of my nights upstairs with Gil,watching TV,surfing,reading and anything else I can do to just be there. He was out of his cage getting tickles and I reached down to get a feather off the door,and Gilbert just stepped right onto my hand,like it was no big deal and he does it all the time. Yesterday he took a bath for the first time,I've tried to gently mist him,and that wasn't much of a success,but yesterday morning he got into his big dish of water and splashed around for a good 15 minutes,getting completely soaker. I'll admit at first I wasn't sure how much of a touchy relationship we'd have,and I was fine with letting him lead the way. I now believe that I'm going to be able to handle him and that this relationship is going to be hands on,because he wants it. Oh and he has one new feather on his fanny. He also seems to enjoying new food,off a CLEAN spoon,and I say,whatever it takes to get him to try the good stuff<br><br>Post edited by: Parrotdise, at: 2009/04/02 14:32

That is so so cute,she sounds like she is just full of personality

Is a parrot experienced petsitter(that would come to your home)an option in your area? That way he could stay at home,but not having to worry about someone pushing him too far,or not realizing if something was wrong

Hi and Welcome, I personally think the logic behind that theory is bull. There are plenty of members here with 2 or more greys that are still pets despite having more then one bird of the same species

I'm not an expert and I never claim to be,but I have 3 rehomed parrots and this is worked well for us 1. Don't do anything more with her cage right now,her life has just be turned completely upside down the the cage is the only familiar thing in her life. She will be so much more comfortable if he cage is the same as it was in her old home,within reason. If it desperately needs cleaned then do that,but don't rearrange toys,perches and dishes 2. Don't worry about touching her right now,there will be plenty of time for holding and touching later. Right now just be there,read a book near her cage,watch tv,go about your life. Speak softly and gently to her. She doesn't know you and doesn't know if you're a predator or not. Try to avoid staring,they are stunning birds,but predators stare 3. Let her set the pace,if she wants to be touched you'll know and follow her lead. My Gilbert calls for treats and tickles,I follow his lead by offering treats and scratches when he wants them,and him tell me when he's had enough of the touching. The treats will be a big help to bonding once you know what she likes. Gilbert loves grapes and pine nuts in the shell 4. Take it slow and steady,there will be less biting and fear(on both parts) Good Luck with the new grey,I'm sure everything will be just fine and in the grand scheme of things you two will be great friends in almost no time Post edited by: Parrotdise, at: 2009/04/01 01:18<br><br>Post edited by: Parrotdise, at: 2009/04/01 01:19

Day 12 of Gilbert living with us. We're really going to be great friends I think. Tonight he was out of the cage,while I'm shopping for a new cage for him,and I noticed he only sat on the door of the cage,not up top like he normally does. So feeling frogggy I went and offered my hand,and he bent really low and put his head under it to be rubbed. Now I've got a swollen head and I think in a few days I'm going to ask him to get on my hand/arm

Everyone is really sweet,I know he looks pretty rough right now,and because of someone I've met here,I know that he may never be fully feathered too. Gilbert seems sweet enough and seems to want my attention and love(which I'm more then happy to give him),especially since because of what I've learned I may be the only woman in his life that he's ever let touch him

Almost totally OT,but is Gizmo a yellow collar? My folks have one and he is the coolest little bird

I'm still trying to get new toys into his cage,but right now he's really upset by that,so we're taking it a bit slower,the toys are on a table next to his cage

I wanted to get a pic of Gilbert this afternoon,so here he is in his little less then fully feathered glory <br><br>Post edited by: Parrotdise, at: 2009/03/30 01:58

We only use diluted Simple Green,or just plain vinegar and water. Simple Green is a great effective,bird safe,cheap cleaner

Don't laugh at the bird diapers. My p'let wore one a lot,and I enjoyed not wearing poop for the moment As for poop off,I dunno,we just use diluted Simple Green,it cleans everything great!!

I wasn't looking for a grey,in fact I wasn't looking for another bird at all. I was contacted by his "father"who was moving and wasn't able to take Gilbert with him. I wasn't even sure what kind of relationship we'd have since our first hour together were really hard on both of us. Gilbert has lived in our home for 9 days now and we're getting better everyday. He loves his scratches and asks for me to "tickle"him. It's still way to early for me to tell for sure how everything is going to work out,but now I'm confident in saything that first impressions really aren't as important as some would think

I should have shared some of mine too For Parts www.wrightslittlewonders.com/ For Toys www.busybeaks.com<br><br>Post edited by: Parrotdise, at: 2009/03/28 02:49

I'm so happy!!! Gilbert hasn't nipped me in 2 full days,he's been showing off up his vocab,and all the cool sounds he knows. The most interesting are the telephone and sending a fax,along with one sounds that sounds like an incoming missile strike He also has proven his intelligence and picked up a new word already and uses it. He was calling all treats and scratches"Cracker",but today he called for a "Tickle"and put his head way down for me to scratch the back of his head and neck. He certainly loves the scratches too,I rubbed and scratched for 15 minutes and he made a noise that sounded like a cry when I had to stop He's only been here 9 days so I'm expecting us to have a really great relationship. Now to start working on Step Up Post edited by: Parrotdise, at: 2009/03/31 04:13<br><br>Post edited by: Parrotdise, at: 2009/04/02 14:25

I want to buy some more toys for the flock,I'm done to just one rubbermaid of new toys:ohmy: What are some of your favorite online stores? Also are there are types of toys that tend to be well liked by the Creys?

Welcome Clive I'm a new member too,but I really like the folks around here already. I've felt very welcome from my very first post

No I'm afraid I don't. The ladies website is www.pamperedpeeps.com I was all set to get a sennie baby from her,but then I got pregnant and decided not to get a baby at that time. I was on a local yahoo group with her and many people on that group had babies from her and they absolutely raved about them all the time<br><br>Post edited by: Parrotdise, at: 2009/03/26 02:19

I'm brand new here,so please excuse me for just butting in. I know an amazing breeder in AZ that breeds Congos,she has a waiting list,but her babies are worth it. They are oober socialized,abundance weaned,flightsuit trained. Just all around amazing birds,if you like I can give you her website to see

The story of my flock,sit back grab some coffee and cookies and treats for the fids,cause it's that kinda story First I'll start with my love of parrots In my late teens I became very into reptiles,namely geckos. I was working at a mall type pet store,but I wanted to work with more variety of reptiles and not have to deal with puppy sales:sick: So I sought out a job at the local exotics shop. I started out working with the reptiles exclusively,because there aren't too many people willing to force fed snakes when required. After being at the job for 6 months I fell in love with a quaker who was being boarded at the shop. I asked the owners to teach me more about the parrots. I also started reading everything I could get my hands on about birds. Within a year of taking my job,I was handfeeding babies in the shop,and supervising the visits with new parronts and babies still being handfed. Evenually a new clutch of quaker babies came in,and I was given the middle baby to make my own,I named him Crash and he was the light of my life. Crash was my first child and we loved each other dearly. Crash moved several times with me,but his final move was from Michigan to Biloxi MS. My family and I were preparing to move to Tucson with the military and the movers came. I was in over my head,there were so many movers and just me to watch over all of them and 2 small children. Someone opened his cage and Crash few out of his cage and out the door. I was crushed,we stayed and looked for him for an extra week,but couldn't find him. So now we're in Tucson and have been for several years and I know I want to love another parrot,but AI want something small and mighty. A parrotlet was the answer,so I met a local breeder and we adopted Slimer. I became friends with Slimer's breeder and started handfeeding and socializing her babies. Then almost 4 years ago she got a call to rescue a fairly large group of parrots,one being a quaker,so she enlisted my help. I went and loaded up my van with birds in cages. So very sweet and terrified,others were quite angry in that group was Phoenix our U2. We knew something about all the birds,but Phoenix was the saddest story She was bought as the very first bird as an unweaned baby,her owner knew some but not enough about handfeeding and burned her crop,the owner didn't realize it was burned until formula was leaking for what I understand was a very large hole. Her crop was surgically repaired,but even then she suffered from mistrust due to the injury and wasn't weaned properly and still is handfed at night. Because I was a stay at home mom we decided Phoenix would stay with me so someone could devote lots of time to her and helping her become everything a parrot should be. She lived with us as a foster for 18 months until we decided that she was part of the family. She still is handfed everynight,I don't think she needs it,but she is much calmer,so it's worth it Sweet Pea came to us just a month ago,he was bought from a pet store as a first bird. His parronts did absolutely everything right for him,but found that they couldn't stand his sounds and wanted him to have a home where he would be appreciated for his personality and noise. He is a sweet little bird and is partially clicker trained. And Gilbert Before Sweet Pea come to live with us I had put out an ad looking to adopt a small to medium sized parrot in need of a new home. We adopted Sweet Pea and I forgot all about it. Then last Wednesday my DH had refractive surgery,I got home to see an e-mail about a 4 year old grey who's owner was moving cross country,and couldn't take him. The owner was moving the next day so I had to act quickly,we exchanged a few e-mails,a few phone calls and I left my husband with 4 children so I could fit a cage in my minivan and headed 45 minutes away to see him. The first thing I saw was a Gilbert talking to his human and begging to have his head and neck rubbed. His belly was slightly plucked,but I knew he hadn't been getting the attention he was used to so I wasn't horribly surprised. So I said he could come live with us. Gilbert his toys,food and cage were loaded into my van. The whole 45 minute ride back home were pure torture for both of us. Gilbert sat huddled on the floor of a travel cage alternating between screaming a scream I've never heard and pulling out beakfuls of feathers. We finally got home,I lugged the cage upstairs to our bedroom and get him settled in. By the next morning he had removed even more feathers,but more concerning to me was he hadn't touched the food and water. I decided to offer him a pine nut,which he took quickly and devoured. I also covered the whole cage that first day,quickly peeking in on him several times to make sure he was OK. The next day I was able to coax him back into the travel cage to take him to the avian vet to have a complete work up. We're still waiting on some results,and as long as everything is fine he'll only have 5 more weeks of quarantine. That is the story of our flock,I'll post some pics of Phoenix and Sweet Pea as soon as I find them. We don't have pics of Gilbert yet because I don't want to risk our new relationship by shoving a camera at him

Hi All I'm Sarah,human wife and mom. Also mom to 3 Fids,Phoenix(10 year old U2)Sweet Pea(6 month old tiel)and Gilbert(4 year old TAG) Gilbert is our newest flock member and needed a home so we offered ours. He's been with us for almost a week and is amazing and I believe we'll have a wonderful relationship. Tonight was the first time I was able to touch him without being nipped(I consider a nip anything that doesn't need stitches).I'm not sure what changed this evening,this morning and afternoon I was nipped. Tonight he called for a cracker(what he calls all treats)so I offered him a nurtiberry,and he lowered his head to have his head and neck rubbed and scratched. I scratched and rubbed for half an hour through the bars of his cage. Then I let him out for a while(he's currently in quarantine in our bedroom)for some out time,and he let me rub him out of his cage. It's a huge break through and brough tears to my eyes,we were prepared to love him even if we could never touch him. Right now it feels like we're moving in the right direction,and we're adjusting to the sounds he makes(phone ringing,microwave beeping,and dog barking)and what is the real noise verses what sounds Gilbert makes Anywho after my novel,even though I'm experienced with parrots I'm really looking forward to being her and learning more about these amazing creatures<br><br>Post edited by: Parrotdise, at: 2009/03/26 01:28