CuteMandaPanda

Hi All, Baby Boy is a fairly hardy eater. He loves his pellets of all varieties. He isn't always reliable when it comes to eating people food. He usually tries things, but he hasn't found anything he's super crazy about. I'm posting today to get some suggestions for easy to concoct/prepare mashie type meals. I don't want to go broke. I have plenty of time to devote to this, but I don't want to spend large amounts of time preparing food. I don't have a blender or food processor. I prefer to not buy bulky fruits/veggies because most of it goes to waste. What suggestions can you offer? Thank you in advance. Amanda and Baby Boy

Can someone give me a healthy CAG weight? I weighed Baby on my electronic food scale. It said he was 4.5oz which is about 128g. However, I'm not sure if my scale is weighing accurately because it's a little off balance and doesn't sit flat on the counter.

Hey friends. I have been making great progress with Baby! He's stepping up from cage, perches, playtops, etc to my hand. Sometimes it takes some coaxing. He likes to see for sure that I'm leaving the room and simply want him to come with me. So, sometimes I have to turn the light off in that room for him to get the point that I'm leaving to another room. Then his little leg flails. Sometimes, he will bite as we ask him to step down but that seems to be less and less. Rob is even able to get him to step up to his hand too, but not all of the time. He seems less interested it receiving a scratchie, his vulnerable time for that is bedtime recently. But when he does want a scratchie he allows me to stroke his back and I've been trying to get him used to me touching his wings. We haven't played the towel game recently, he's not very receptive to it. He loves to play with his toys and eat dry pasta no matter how it is presented to him. I attempted to introduce him to the kitchen sink and show him to bathe in the sink, but he wasn't having that. He didn't scream or screech but he shivered and felt like if he could say it, "Mommy, get me out!" He loves to take a bath in his water dish though! He's talking a bit more. He's saying "How are you?" and "Really?" (as in "Oh really?") Nothing is being said in context though. He's also part monkey as we taught him to say, "OOoo ooo ooo ooo ahh ahh ahh" when we ask him to show us the monkey. He's gotten really good at it! It sounds like he's practicing more and more because I can't understand a lot of what he's saying. Thanks for following us on our journey. Amanda, Rob, and Baby<br><br>Post edited by: CuteMandaPanda, at: 2009/12/22 04:17

That is such a cute story! Thanks for sharing. Is Bismark flighted?

Rob and I were inspired by the craft projects we used to do in school with dry noodles. Remember when you used to glue dry noodles to paper plates? Or make garlands or necklaces out of dry noodles? That's where the idea came from. Haha.

I was thinking of getting wagon wheels. One of the toys I made for Baby is pasta strung on jute rope, and then I stuffed it in a toilet paper roll. Then I "stitched" each end of the toilet paper roll with more jute rope. I didn't close the openings, just used the rope to secure the opening to the point that the pasta can't fall out, but Baby can see inside. It made a nice foraging toy because he sees the pasta and if he gets ahold of a piece and breaks it, they don't all fall out because they are stuffed inside on the rope. It's hard to explain, but it kind of made a rattle. He hasn't showed interest in it. But he definitely found every piece of pasta I strung around his cage bars!

Ok, cool! Yeah he tries to break pieces off that are big enough to carry back down to his perch so he can munch on it. Sometimes on his journey back to his perch he cracks and breaks the noodle between his beak and the bars, and he has to go back to the top and start over again. He really seems to enjoy both retreiving and snacking on it! I'm glad the dry pasta is a good idea because it's pretty cheap. Gosh, it sure is messy though!

I decided to get creative and took dry pasta noodles and strung them on jute rope and places them around the bars of Baby's cage. I figured they'd be fun for him to chew and crack because they are brittle and make loud noises when the bang off the sides or bottom bars. Turns out he enjoys eating the dry pasta. Should I be concerned? I will not make a habit out of it since I don't too much of anything is a good thing. But I want to be able to give it to him once in a while because it's stimulating and encourages him to play and move around his cage, etc. What are your thoughts on the dry noodles?

Hi Jessi and Jake! If I'm understanding your description correctly, that I'd have to say, Yes, my Congo African Grey does the air blowing noise/snorting noise. I am interested what the other responses will say, but I don't think it is anything to be concerned about. I think it has to do with how they form sounds and noises as they don't actually have a voice box but more of an air control type of thing.

All of the pics are great! I can't decide if I like the first or the last one best! Thanks for sharing!

Glad you enjoyed it! Hmmm wonder when he'll be brave enough to get in the shower with me. Is it necessary for their back and under back feathers to get wet? He doesn't really let me get back there with the spray and he definitely can't get back there by taking a dish bowl bath?

Hey all! I decided to give Baby an Aloe misting today. It inspired him to take a bath in his cage. I captured some of it on video. He was really going at it prior to me getting the camera out but then he got shy. It's still cute though!

Active and regular members, who else is from PA? I'm in eastern PA. Grew up in this area.

Hey Chelsea! Biscotti's orbit looks awesome! How did you make it?

Hi Gran, we're glad to have you here. I'm so happy you like it here!

Really? It's that easy? LOL I'm comfortable at 70 and Rob is comfortalbe at 60, so I guess anywhere in between there the 3 of us can both be comfortbale. I didn't think it would be that easy as the CAG is a tropical bird. Thanks.

Rob and I were wondering what the lowest temp that our CAG Baby should be subjected to in the home? We're trying to figure out our heating situation. Thanks in advance, Amanda, Rob, and Baby

Very nice =)

Good luck! I hope you will achieve peace in the near future. Keep up the great efforts and you will be repaid.

How does he initially react when you drape materials over him? I love the picture! It looks good on him. How old is he?

Congratulations on the breakthrough. Hopefully the progress will continue in a positive direction. I can relate to the challenges with step-ups. I'm having the same issue with my Baby, he'll be 2yrs old on Dec 14. His previous owner has him conditioned to step-up on a stick which is good because at least he knows what it means and he can be moved from his cage and relocated, etc. But he lunges and bites at the hand that offers the step-up. I've been working with him and taking many hits but hopefully we'll have a breakthrough one day like you! I'm inspired.

Thanks! Glad you enjoy them =)

I was doing some thinking and I came to the conclusion that his issue with hand movements may be due to little kids. In his previous home, he loved with a bunch of young kids and I'm sure between them and their friends especially that they may have rubbed Baby the wrong way? You know, quick movements, being disrespectful to his needs and desires, pointing, poking? I'm sure the list could go on. I really feel he has trust issues, which is expected. Although his trust issues might stem from something rather than the typical "I need to know my flock members before I trust them theory." I really appreciate all the advice coming my way. Thanks for taking the time =)

Thank you for sharing your experience with us domyoburk. It makes a lot of sense. Can you share with me some other things you learned from the behaviorist? I'm curious. What else did it help you with? I don't think he enjoys leaving his cage. We have different play stands and a t-perch. I always give him something to play with or different snacks. He seems to have fun once he's out. He is usually chatty and vocal making all his different noises. He loves toilet/paper towel rolls so I usually give that to him. But for some reason he doesn't seem anxious to be out of his cage with us. With that said, I don't know if the "ignore and walk away and try later" approach would work. With time, patience, and consistency, I hope something will eventually take with him. I got nailed a few times encouraging him to step up from perches to hand or from my lap to hand and he seems to hate it 100%. He seems to dislike hand movements in general but he's getting much better with me. He's very lungy and nippy when Rob tries to interact with him. I can't tell if it's his approach or just a general dislike for Rob? It's so confusing. Baby is so hard to understand.

http://s35.photobucket.com/albums/d190/BklynPanda83/Baby%20Boy%20our%20African%20Grey%20Parrot/ There's photos of practicing the towel game. I think I made progress with the game but I may have pushed his limits by practicing it for too long. I hope he will not be afraid of the towel now. Enjoy!