jessdecutie18

Aww poor Piper! I hope they can solve this at the vet and Piper will be okay! Give him a big cuddle for me

Hello, let me see if I can answer some of those questions! The reason my husband and I chose a TAG over a CAG was this: My husband had never handled a bird before, unlike me, and was nervous about getting a big bird. He said he would rather go with the smaller TAG. I want one of both someday, but am still working on convincing my husband I've heard a lot of things male v.s. female, and in the end I think that it doesn't work that way. Individual behavior is a much bigger factor. Yoshi was still hand feeding when we found her. It was her or her brother. Her brother didn't want much to do with us but Yoshi darted for my shoulder as soon as I was close enough. I fell in love with her and it wasn't long before my husband did too. I still was leaning towards the bigger and in my opinion 'bolder' and more outgoing CAG when we found Yoshi, but changed my mind quickly. I'd say go interact with them yourself, see which strikes you as the best. Yoshi is extremely special to me. She has such a little personality! She is starting to become more independent now (almost a year and a half old) yet almost every night she still gets all cuddly and wants scratches. She has adapted perfectly to our lifestyle, and really has her place in our family. She is friendly towards both me and my husband, but much more tolerant of me than him. I can file her toe nails and check under her wings and take her places, never worrying about actually getting bitten, where as my husband receives much more bites than I do, sometimes apparently for no reason, lol. Yoshi will make a funny noise, grip my fingers and push them away, and move away herself, but never does more than a grip on my finger, which I totally ignore. I'm much more of a calm person, and do not react to her nips, so I believe she learnt early on that I'm not going to freak out if she bites me. But while Yoshi seems to be more attached to me, demanding that when I get home from work she is stuck to me like glue, at night when Yoshi is wanting cuddles and scratches 9 outta 10 times she goes straight to Mike. She loves for him to sit there and scratch her forever, and moves under his hand for scratches. If he stops, she will try to find his hands demanding that she gets more loving. Mike says she is just using him I could talk about her all day I finished hand feeding her, which was a nice new experience for me. She loves showers and is most talkative in the shower and with music on in the computer room with us in there. She is socialized but refuses to talk around others. She will play and listen and eat but in totally silent. My family wouldn't believe the noise she makes sometimes if I didn't have YouTube videos to prove it I've had other birds, but Yoshi is definatly at the top of the scale for fun and smarts. She has learnt how to open her food bowl doors from the outside by putting her weight on the latches and lately will work at the latches and climb in the little food bowl entry to get inside her cage instead of going in her wide-open two front doors, lol. She has a double-macaw cage, big fun for her, and she loves it. She has so many toys and stuff to do in there She likes a challenge, and anything with nuts or animal crackers and such stuffed inside distracts her forever I'll shut up now, lol.

So it's been a long time since Yoshi started saying her first real word, 'Peek-A-Boo'. She has been obsessed with that since April! 4 days ago, in the computer room with my husband playing video games, Yoshi was chatting up a storm. Just her usual nonsense, gremlin talk with 'Peek-A-Boo' about 5 times a minute, random seagull noise and computer volume button clicks. The button clicks are so funny, but really hard to catch. She will start barely audible and get louder, then a minute later start up loud and go quiet. Mike (my husband) figured out that it was his computer, as he is always ajusting the volume on it Well, she is quiet a minute climbing upside down across her cage when we hear a very quiet sound. I say "Did she just say 'Yoshi'? My husband isn't sure. It sounded more like 'Shoey'... we heard it like twice more and then nothing but 'Peek-A-Boo' for the rest of the night. Well yesterday, much to our amazement, she said 'Yoshi!' sooooooooo many times, more than Peek-A-Boo, lol, just out of the blue. She doesn't say it that loud, and it actually sounds like 'Show-shi' with an S not a Y lol, but she is definately trying! It was so neat So at a year and 3 months, she has finally taken on her second real word

Yoshi isn't much of a noise maker, but having music on in the room encourages her a ton. She rarely speaks when the house is silent, only yells when she wants to come to us, but turn on some music or play a video game or something and she soon livens up. I think she just feels braver when there is other stuff going on and her noises don't stick out in the quiet, lol. She's a shy baby

That is a crazy amount of money! I actually hope they aren't sold, as then people will feel they should breed the heck outta them to make some big profits. Poor birds

The reviews on Amazon sound terrible. I think I will skip this one

Aww what a cute picture Good luck with Loki, I pray that he will bounce back and catch up with the weight he should be

Yoshi's hallmark has to be that she would rather sleep on her 'sleep bowl' than anywhere else. I posted about it before. She has adopted an empty fourth bowl in her cage to sleep on every night, and no matter how I rearrange the cage and even with several other types of perches in there she always goes to her bowl to sleep. She is such a goofball Here's the old link http://www.greyforums.net/forums/showthread.php?187601-Ever-heard-of-a-sleep-bowl-P

I think Dave summed it up! Sounds like they are being friendly and trying to feed each other, not being sexual.

I've gotten most of my help from this forum You can search for anything concerning you and see what others have said about it. If you don't think your question has been answered before than just post it in the appropriate forum and there will be lots of people willing to help you

I don't know about that...

That is a cute picture with her toes crossed standing all tall

neat lol

Thanks guys for all your nice comments

Yoshi my TAG was $900, almost fully weaned (down to one feeding a day), bought from a local breeder in Florida She is worth every penny!

Thanks Dan I really hadn't thought about that, It felt natural to make sure Kiwi ended up happier than she was with me or I wouldn't have been able to part with her.

Some of you know a little about my previous experience with parrots, but I wanted to go into more detail in a story of how I learnt of responsibility with parrots. Perhaps someone will learn from my mistakes... Ive always been fascinated with birds, and always knew Id be a parrot person when I 'grew up'. My first bird was a parakeet when I was really little. We were best friends, and my parents always clipped her wings. She would ride around on my shoulder and play in my hair... She was a sweet little thing. She lived a happy life, then died sometime in middle school. It was so sad. After that I dragged my parents to pet stores every time we went out, so I could watch the birds. Finally, about 5 years ago, I learned a tough lesson firsthand when I purchased a little Quaker parrot from a flea market. I'd had my eye on her a couple weeks, she was so cute and little. I loved her so much... She had a lovely cage, full of toys and a happy hut she loved to sleep in, placed right in front of my bedroom window. She learnt a few phrases... We really did have some fun times, Ive got some great pictures of her. But all didn't stay so wonderful. She had what I now know of as a two week honeymoon phase, wonderful with everyone. Then she became really possessive of me, and my parents wanted nothing else to do with her after a couple nasty nips. She was to stay in my room only. We still had a good time for a while, but I was still in school and was not prepared for the commitment. In less than a year, things turned from happy to very very sad. She started biting me, probably unhappy from lack of attention... She was never allowed out of my room, my parents didn't want the mess. She got kind of wild, flying into things, so I clipped her feathers, hoping that would help. I had kept her unclipped before then, realizing now that I was old enough to think for myself that I loved watching her fly and couldn't imagine her without flight. I only clipped out of desperation... NO clipping failed miserably, it depressed her and then she started pulling feathers. She stopped talking... I was horrified and hurt... I'd cry when I saw her doing the feather pulling, open her cage and try to get her to step up, but she got to where she would bite me all the time. She had all these lovely toys, good food... Nothing seemed to matter. It was a huge mess, and none of it was her fault, I just didn't know what I was getting into and handled everything wrong. I never did have enough time for her. Well luckily this terrible story does have a happy ending! In exasperation, I reached out to a man I knew at school, a friends father, who said several birds of his own, including several different parrots. I refused to let Yoshi go to a home that I couldn't check up on her... I just wanted her happy again. I told the man my story, and ended up giving him Kiwi the Quaker with her cage, food and accessories, and even her stand, for free. He turned out to be a breeder, and offered me a cute baby lovebird when it was finished hand feeding, saying that I should give another bird a chance since I loved them so much. I wouldn't accept anything... I just wanted him to take Kiwi and make her happy... I remember when he came to my house to get Kiwi... He was so firm and so brave with her. He picked her up from her cage and she started biting him and he said "none of that" in a calm voice and just continued to hold her. He had her for about 10 minutes and she calmed down, exploring his arm and shoulder. He told me she would be fine, just needed some time and training, and laughed as she bit him when he put her back in the cage. He took her... And OMG that was hard! At that point I couldn't even hold her very often anymore, but I still loved her, and I cried and cried and cried. It broke my heart to see her leaving, and I stared at the empty spot in my room every morning with sadness. My parents were worried, my Mom wondered if we should get her back... God it makes me cry just thinking about all this again... But two weeks passed, and each time I called the guy said I needed to give it more time. Finally, after a month, the guy let me come over and see Kiwi and she was like a different bird! She was happily talking again, chattering with the two other Quakers in the cage next to hers. The guy said she had takin a liking to both one of the other Quakers and a Conure, and that she ignored everyone else. Lol. She still had biting and feather issues but they were working on it. I could tell things were much happier for her now. It made me happy and I promised I'd try again someday with another parrot. Well I never did visit Kiwi after that time, I learnt a couple months later that she was doing very well and had her own little place in the flock. After high school I joined the Air Force, got married, and last year decided it was time to try again. This time I did soooooo much research... I wanted to know all I could, and I quickly decided that Id try a Grey this time. It's so much different now, having my own place with my husband, and not being restricted by other's rules. I searched for a good breeder and a young grey... So now I have Yoshi! I got her from a great breeder, finished hand feeding her between me and my husband, tried my best to socialize her from the beginning. Bought her a double macaw cage for plenty of room... Figured why not give her as big a space as possible? She has plenty of toys... Is out of her cage everyday for several hours. She loves tasting human food and being a part of the family! She has a stand in the bedroom and living/dining room, so she can be with us throughout the house. Most important she gets love and attention every day. She has her issues, mainly just with yelling for attention as she is a bit spoiled, but we are working on that. I am determined to give Yoshi a loving home for life, and work through any issues together I love her to death, she is everything I wanted her to be and more. She is always so excited to see me, and it is great being able to properly take care of her. I could go on about Yoshi forever, lol, but don't want to make this longer than it already is I just want anyone considering a parrot, for themselves or for someone else, to know that it is a HUGE responsibility. With my experience owning a parrot while still living with your parents is not a good idea unless your parents are already bird people parrots require a lot of attention and aren't suited for a busy school kid... I know there are exceptions but I wasn't one of them. My experiences with that quaker taught me a lot, the tough way. I will never forget those mistakes I made with her. I also doubt Ill ever clip Yoshi's wings... Birds are meant to fly, period, in my opinion. Unfortunately Yoshi's wings were clipped after just one first flight by the breeder, something Im very sad about, but at a year and two months old now she is slowly getting new flight feathers, 4 so far, and I can't wait until she can truly experience flight! She is my baby and I love her to death... Both through the good moments and tough ones. I know that she is my responsibility for years and years to come, and that's fine with me I'm ready for that now Thankyou for reading EDITED ~ Here are some more pictures of Kiwi http://picasaweb.google.com/jmcase1426/Kiwi#

I don't think it's strange at all to think about these things... I bet most of us here have wished our birds had had a chance at freedom before. I know it's been brought up. But honestly, the birds we have, bred and raised by humans, are not capable of living like those wild birds free in that lovely Youtube video. If I felt that I had Yoshi entrapped here against her will and that she would be much better off in the wild then I couldn't bear to keep her. But no, she was raised by hu,and, bred and exists because of the popularity of these 'pets'. If there wasn't a demand for these guys, most of our lovely babies would never have been born. Now healthy breeding of these parrots and wild trapping and shipping are totally different things. I hate to hear of the trapping and wild caught greys, but I don't know what else I can do to prevent that. All I do know is that all these human bred birds in captivity deserve love, care, attention, and everything we can give them to satisfy all their needs. I'm fine with breeding... I love seeing all the parrot babies growing up with their loving breeders and then being sent to a loving forever home... The problem starts with human nature. The greed of companies and stores raising these birds only for profit, and the lack of time and commitment some give these guys when they come into their home. I think the problem is people don't realize just how wild these birds still are at heart, and that it is the owners that must provide for and adjust for the bird, not just expect the bird to adapt and be a simple pet. It's a very complicated thing, and I wish I could save every bird out there on Craigslist and in people's spare rooms, starving for attention and abandoned by all they know, but we just can't. All I can do is love my little Yoshi to no end, and deal with any struggles we have instead of giving up on her.

Very well said, thank you for the better explanation and noting that everyone is important, as well as what they feel and say.

Interesting... Yoshi gets dander spots but they come off

Well, don't worry, I'm not asking why Jill is gone. I don't feel like talking about who is right and who is wrong. I'm sorry about all the hurt feelings going around here... I don't like that all these threads are getting locked down, but who cares here what I want? Apparently this forum has stricter rules than I realized, and while I am frustrated there is probably nothing I can do. Honestly, all I can think about is that I am really going to miss some of you guys. I loved Jill's posts and her personality, never thought anything bad about her. We all make mistakes, and it's unfortunate that she feels upset enough to leave. Jill, if you read this, please reconsider and come back. I'm sure I speak for several when I say that your posts mean something. We are very sad that you are gone! In the meantime, the forum will still be here, and yes we will all move on. But that doesn't mean that each individual here isn't important in some way. We all learn from each other. When someone decides to leave, and so many people are fed up and 'taking a break' please don't tell me that the managers of this forum are just going to say 'oh well, life moves on, if they don't abide by our rules they should go' and try to forget the whole thing. This area is for 'feed-back', and my feed back is that I am unhappy with how things have been dealt with from both sides. If everyone who is unhappy with how the forum is run is just supposed to leave then why have a feed-back section at all. Feed-Back is important. Knowing what people don't like or are upset about is important. I probably have more to say but can't think about it right now. Don't worry, I'm not going anywhere. I love this forum and the people in it. I just don't like feeling that we can't complain when we are upset with something. Also, I know that when someone with so many posts decides to leave or take a break for awhile, we are all the ones that loose out...

Yoshi has been mumbling for about 4 months now... with the exception of 'Peek-A-Booooooooooo!' nothing she says is very clear at all... we are still waiting for more words lol. Hopefully she will learn eventually, she is now a year and two months.

I think that first pic is very cute

I love the pictures... especially the Amazon and the lizard You're good!

Yoshi usually only gets half wet in the shower, standing there and letting the water hit her, sometimes putting a foot up like she doesn't have a care in the world, just chattering quietly... but about once a month she decides to actually get into it and flaps her wings and stuff. It's then that she gets completly soaked