katana600

That is priceless Steve. Misty might be related to the witch on Wizard of Oz. Come to think of it, Gilbert is so determined not to get wet, maybe he is related to the flying monkeys and has seen what the water did to the witch. Way to keep bath time fun.

Thanks, you give me too much credit. It is just seeing where there is a need, going in scared spitless but getting up every morning and doing what ever needs to be done. I am ready to slide down in my little rabbit hole for a while and just chill. But.. I left too many quilt projects behind, so I have to clean my kitchen enough to work in there again and then sew to my little heart's content.

Thanks for the warm welcome back and all the condolences and caring thoughts for our family. Gilbert does seem to thrive on the variety and new horizons. He has not only become more outgoing to more people, he has been playing with toys consistently now. He has a sisal woven ball with tissues and treasures with which he has suddenly become consumed with curiosity to dismantle it. Since he had been out of his big cage such a long time, I rearranged his food dishes to a more convenient configuration and haven't gotten too much flack for that either. His activity level has grown exponentially and he is on the go most of the time now. He is getting a lot of exercise and doing a lot of flapping and stretching. He has been the center of attention and has many admirers from afar now. He is nearly a legend up there with his antics and vocabulary and now my sister is asking for visitation rights. LOL. I think she misses him more than she misses me. He really got close to her and was on his best behavior. It is heartwarming to see him open up to more people.

On one hand, I do have a fear of losing a parrot and never knowing what happened. On the other, if I ever lost mine, I would hope someone just like you would find him. I do appreciate that you found our forum and joined us to learn as much as you can about your newfound friend. That is how most of us found this forum, by wanting to know more and how to do things better for these very special and exquisite companions. When he calms down and gets comfortable he may even tell you his name. Our boy came to us as a rehome and he knew his name is Gilbert. However, he persists in calling me LuLu and that isn't even close to my name. You will have some interesting stories to tell.

I watched the whole video and it is all so senseless. One thing that came to my mind while my heart was being broken is the care given to Kiwi, the time spent to make his video and share him with us was a loving tribute and his life was spent in loving hands except for the brief snatching which was probably motivated by watching his cheerful antics. Our little birds are more than just companions to us and we treasure what we have learned from them. I also like that they asked for prayers for the person whose senseless act also cost his own life.

I love Nilah. No matter where I go, I can hear her chatter when the kids dyed Rocky pink. I am with Janet, Nilah could almost convince me to bring another feathered friend into the house.

Welcome Shelbie and Irwin. I was so excited to see another rehome TAG. We have Gilbert and he was considered a bird "with issues" and had been in probably four homes before ours and they thought he was somewhere from seven to ten years old when we got him a little over two years ago. Irwin is doing well with you in such a short time and your patience and gentleness will pay big dividends when he finally decides to trust you. Your instincts are already great so follow your heart where Irwin is concerned. One of the things that seemed to help Gilbert is predictability. As it got toward bed time, I would turn off three lamps in the same sequence about ten minutes apart. He knew when the second lamp was off, he got an almond in the shell for his night time treat and then the lights were turned off for bed time. After a while, I could let him out of his cage and when the second light went out, he would go in on his own waiting on his favorite sleep perch for his almond. Another thing I learned was he didn't like me to come through a doorway without announcing myself. I learned to whistle a little as I came up from the basement and he knew I was going to be coming through the door. He is a beauitful little TAG, thanks so much for joining us.

Just like finding an object when you give up on looking, Lolita let you exhaust yourself trying to figure her out. So happy to hear you are making progress and she is responsive to you. We have a rehomed Timneh African Grey (TAG) and he was really great about stepping up to me. Then I got braces on my teeth and he has not wanted to have physical closeness since then. It will be interesting to see how he reacts when they come off next year.

Its going to be an interesting reunion, I haven't known anyone else who has been able to do this. I have often thought of fostering for someone going through a rough time and wondered how that would work out for the parrots. In your instance it is the best of both worlds because they need you now and you are in the best place to bring them back. I hope they are as thrilled with the reunion as they can possibly be. It is going to be fun getting to know them with you.

That is lousy customer service, right when you have something you like so much. I will keep your experience in mind when I am looking for a unit. Hopefully I can find something that has a permanent washable filter or something that can be created from another common material. Hopefully your son will find a good solution to let you keep yours working.

I know it seems a little too Pollyanna to say I gained so much more than I gave but it is true. My sister is about six years younger and I left home at seventeen and never looked back because of the disfunction. Over the years we saw each other cordially but infrequently. Then an older sister was alone dealing with breast cancer and we both "heard" a calling and contacted her the same week. That was the first time I went away from home to care for someone and it was horrific but Marilyn came too and we were strong for each other. We have lost three of our sisters and are all we have left. We actually went to Pennsylvania in January for a week to attend a hearing where my husband was Marilyn's representative and it came out favorably. Both sides of our family live in our hometown so when we went to visit Mike, it was evident that the spread of cancer was terminal. Marilyn quickly invited me and all my pets to stay as long as we liked and we had a wonderful time over the months. I taught her to make quilts and she is now enjoying a hobby dear to me where we can keep the connection strong. Mike was too tough to permit anyone to "take care" of him, so I drove back and forth and took him to treatments and slowly he let me in and began to have trust. We have worked hard to maintain family connections on David's side and with all this, his mom has Alzheimer's and is in assisted living so having an extra person there was helpful so Mike's wife could continue working and being home with him nights. It was a joy, a blessing and an honor to have spent this time increasing the depth of family connections. It was a double blessing to live in a home where my pets were just as welcome and accepted as any human. My sister has discovered she is a "grey" person. She works about twelve hours a day so now is not the time, but she looks forward to more visits with Gilbert and just fell deeply into a mutual appreciation with a kindred spirit. She said to me as I left that she thinks I came for her to learn a lesson that every time we give unconditionally we get back in multiples and in unexpected ways. That is true. When I got Gilbert, I thought I was helping him because there was no place for him and he had "issues". Over the time I have seen him come to life again and it is my gain that we worked through the hard parts and just kept hearing Marguarite's sweet voice singing "just breathe" and with every breath we are taken to a better place.

Whenever I see these baby pictures, I feel myself getting so filled with awwwww that when Gilbert gets an ornery streak, I can just picture him being such a cute little thing and forgive his momentary lapses. It seems like such a long time ago that I was holding a baby grey and making the decision that changed my life. It was the best thing I have ever done just for me. Congrats on your bonding experience with your baby, can't wait for you to enjoy the wonders that come to grey companions.

I am so glad this topic is being refreshed at just the time I am thinking about getting a filter. When we had both parrots in one small bedroom, I could not believe the dust that they produce. It could be the difference between baseboard heating and forced air which filters and refreshes the air too, but a small filter near the cage seems to be a good idea. Thanks for all the insight you have provided. I probably wouldn't have thought to look for replacement filters and maintenance cost when looking for a cost comparison.

Gilbert has changed so much I had almost forgotten about how he would pull himself in tight and sit for hours and hours for nearly all of his first two years with us. Since we have returned home, I have the travel cage with the top opened where he can climb in and out of the big cage. He spent so much time in the travel cage, I didn't want to shock him from the small intimate enclosure back to the big cage. He has returned to the smaller cage many times even though it is on the floor. He has also climbed onto the floor and walked around, he has "flown" or glided off the top of the big cage into the living room suprising even himself. I think he is flapping wildly and getting "lift", at least that is what I am praying he is doing. I would so love to see him regain his flight. It is kind of funny when he does the flapping/running as he gets to the floor and he scuttles quickly under a chair where he regains his composure then he comes out to walk around on the floor. There was only one or two times he has done that before we took this long trip away. He is beginning to forgive David for his imagined transgressions and is speaking politely to him again. LOL. It is so good to be home again, we are all readjusting better than I could have hoped. I can hardly wait to see what the next year brings for out little guy. He may look tattered but he is beautiful and so well loved. I am realizing I needed him just a little more than he needed me and we are both looking forward to many happy years together.

Welcome to the forum to you and to Cosmo. He is a beautiful boy with a great sense of humor. I am looking forward to you sharing more of your life together. Thanks so much for joining us.

Big cheers for Bongo. He will surely continue to speak to you when he darn well feels like it. Gilbert said very few new things since he came to us, but within the past few weeks he has picked up lots of new things. I live with a little apprehension that he is taking notes and will suddenly start saying things I would rather he didn't pick up. There are always those times when someone will forget he is within earshot and they say something that makes me say "not in front of the bird". LOL.

I am a firm believer in the Rescue Remedy. We ran out of beans for about four days and I made him a mix of my own with similar ingredients. It all coincided with staying out of town for those few days that Gilbert plucked. He was not eating his bean substitute so those were days when he didn't ingest his rescue remedy. (I put the drops on his warm bean and grain mixture.) After things settled a bit, I also made a three day jaunt to Atlanta and back to have my braces repaired. I was really only gone two nights but he didn't pluck or get nervous when I was gone. I really think his plucking was more due to not getting rescue remedy rather than my absence. He was really happy and comfortable and way more outgoing at my sister's home. I was coming and going daily, leaving him alone for most of the day. He may have picked up on my stress during that time, but later when I was gone overnight every night for a week, he was not at all bothered and that was a more stressful time.

We built a closer kinship while driving him daily to his radiation treatment for the past couple of months. We logged about 1200 miles a week and we were in the end of his seventh week when his health took a bad turn. Hospice was in with us for the last week and I am honored that he built up enough trust that he could be made comfortable at home I was able to stay round the clock for the last week and bond with his wife and kids in a way we would never have known otherwise. We celebrate that he is no longer suffering and he is free from the tubes and surgeries. Gosh it is good to be home again and able to stop every now and again and read the forum. I have missed all of you dearly.

Oh dear, I almost forgot a funny part of his stay away from home. He appears to believe David is the one who went away from us rather than the other way around. David came to visit several times but had to travel and work out of Atlanta most of the time. Since he came up to get us, Gilbert seems to blame him for everything wrong in the world. For about a week now, he will elicit a response from David by whistling and talking and right when David responds, he says disparagingly "Quiet!" He will call out Night Night and when David tells him good night, he shouts "Quiet". The best part is the nasty little satisfied chuckle he makes when he does his little verbal smackdown. He knows just what he is doing, it is really funny, especially since it is aimed at someone besides me for a change. LOL. I am over-the-moon delighted with Gilbert's new activity level and his new vocabulary and especially for his new outlook on things. He is ready to take life with gusto and vitality after a long long time of huddling and pulled up tight with fear.

What a wild adventure for Gilbert. He has done remarkably well in a situation that might have stressed him to his limits at a different time in our relationship. Due to integrating our two parrots and two small dogs into a household with four really big dogs, Gilbert was in protective custody upstairs in my bedroom with two sets of safety gates to keep the big dogs away from him. Luckily the floor plan was open and we created a makeshift sewing room in the upstairs foyer so he could see us work and he could also hear us and chat with us from upstairs to downstairs. It was the perfect setup for his personality. He fell totally head-over-heels in love with my younger sister, Marilyn from the very beginning. She felt the same affection for him. She came home from work every day to go directly upstairs with him to visit and take a little nap sometimes too. Very early on, he was offering her his foot for a step up from inside his cage, which has been unheard of for me in the past year. She was a little afraid of him, but since he was asking, she took the risk and they bonded like nothing I have seen. He learned to say her name, he learned to say two new names of their dogs and he took great relish in bossing the dogs around from his high perch. He also learned to say "light on". Sometimes I would forget and about the time it was getting dark he would call out for me to come turn his light on. Once our out-of-town hospital stay was over, he quit messing with his chest feathers and they are regrowing nicely. The amazing thing is how he has come out of his shell in the past three months or so. He is climbing all over inside and outside his cage. He is playing with new toys and trying new foods and is almost like a long-term "normal" grey. Since we got home yesterday he has been climbing all over from his big cage to his travel cage, from his floor stand to walking around on the floor. Last night he "flew" from his cage twice and made it across the living room to land on the sofa next to David and was real sweet to him. He has been asking for more and more head scritches and for long periods of sustained contact. I look back at where he was just a few months ago, and this trip was very very good for Gilbert. He was even chatting away in the car on the long drive home.

I am so sorry for your loss of T2. We lost our baby at nearly the same age and were stricken as we attempted to understand what happened. Even when the lab results came back with an explanation and that there was nothing we could have done to save Juno, it was of little comfort compared to the great loss of our little one. Time does soften things a bit so you can remember the joy of his life with you even though it was way too short.

With sadness our work is done in Pennsylvania when my brother-in-law lost his ten year battle against cancer. It has been a learning experience and I am so happy to return home. It is a bittersweet return, we have some wonderful memories from our time away. Never again will I take small things for granted. I am so happy to be reconnected to the internet and to share with our forum again. I missed you all dearly.

When we came to Pennsylvania in January, we packed for a week. We drove back last weekend and got a bigger cage. Gilbert is happy for the freedom. I also brought back the tall dog gates with the doors so I don't have to leap over hurdles in two spots to get in with Gilbert. I am spending time away and its been merciful that he knows and accepts my sister but he did pluck all his chest feathers when I spent four nights away when my brother in law was hospitalized. At least he was able to calm himself and stop after baring his chest and his stress disappeared when I came back. We will be coming home soon.

Thanks Ray. How appropriate your words are. Gilbert learned to open his cage. Marilyn mentioned how quiet he was at dinnertime when he would usually call out to entice her to come spend time with him. She went up and called for reinforcements. He was on top of Java's cage and it wasn't pretty. She helped distract him at one end while I reached in and removed Java and closed her in another room to keep her safe. They were both really agitated. I put her cage on the floor and then Gilbert was happy to step up for me and to go back in his own cage. The latch on his cage shows evidence of him biting it as he has been practicing for a long time to learn how to get it open. I put a quick link on it now to keep him inside and safe from the dogs. I hate that he has to be inside a cage when he is free to be out at home all the time but this is a short term living arrangement and the best we can manage in the circumstances. He is really nasty about the lock on his door. He tries to bite me when he sees me put that link on his door. Last night as I put him back in his cage after a long enjoyable time out with his beloved Marilyn he surprised me by biting me as soon as I put him on his perch rather than waiting for me to close the door. He has been more agitated with company over the holiday. Even though he loves my husband and daughters, the extra commotion and changes in his schedule were disruptive. He has done so well here that we can understand his recent regression but boy howdy does that lock on his cage set him off. I have to use a pair of needle nosed pliers to put it on or take it off because he throws himself at me in a state of fury. Under normal circumstances I would avoid anything that upset him so but the safety factor with six dogs in the mix and four that are just getting to know me is too much of a risk and he is only mad at me and is sweet away from his cage so we will manage one day at a time.

Thanks so much for sharing your experience with Gracie. Slow gentle progress and trust building exercises with your technique of being near without approaching too soon helped her overcome the great fear she had of you. Congratulations on becoming her friend.