Elvenking

I make sure to give Issac a lot of toys to choose from, things to hang from, bells to ring...etc. They like to chew little pine cone to pieces too. Toys, toys, toys.....make life interesting. I also leave Smooth Jazz or Kids shows on for him to hear. The best you can do is make the cage entertaining. If he doesn't like the toys that are in there, and you notice no signs of wear on the toys...try other toys.

Whenever I come home and take Issac out, one of the first things he does is stretch each one of his wings out one at a time. And when he does this, I can hear him catching air in his throat sort of like someone waking up from a nap. He will even sometimes smack his beak together a couple times like. While he does this, I will lightly kiss him on his soft tummy....and tell him what a pretty bird he is. Just a little ritual we have. Another cute one is when he will fluff up for what ever reason and do a quick head shake then relax his feathers again. When he does this, he will make a tiny little sound when his head shakes and end up sounding like a little motor boat. (Bbbrbrbrbrbbrbrbr). And finally...sneezes. Super cute...and I am sure all are familiar with that. Issac has also started an entirely new noise that looks like another attempt at matching the tone of when I say "Hello" to him. I keep cheering him on. Go boy I know you can do it! Just a little update...thansk for reading.

Ohhh there is nothing like getting bird poop between your toes. Or having your heel slip in a nice wet one. Or in your shirt pocket. We are just not appreciated enough eh?

Yes...I indeed do have an air cleaner too. It's silly, I pick up afterhim constantly so I can't see any harm in some bird poop. He's a beautiful bird.

Yes...Issac has a thing for the caps of almost anything. Especially Milk jug caps. Look up a toy by Stanley's Bird Creations called 'Bottle Cap Fun' and you'll see one of Issac's favorite toys. http://www.mcssl.com/store/stanleysbirdcreations/catalog/search?keyword=bottle+cap+fun

I have a 7 year old daughter that visits my place often. I also tell her not to approach him without me there. Issac usually does his normal bit of following me around, making observations from my shoulder. With everything that has been said, I would say that if there is someone who even has a slight uncertainty that a Grey is the right pet for them...they should not get one. You have to be able to say a resounding "YES I CAN HANDLE THAT!" to all of the things in Dave's "10 reasons not to buy a parrot" list...and then expect to have those points challenged regularly. I always take forward to the prospect Grey owner the work that is involved in owning one. Don't get me wrong, the beauty and connection you gain from sharing your life with a creature like this is pretty magical. It is just all too often that people get one and then discover how much a part of your life they want to be, and how much attention they need, or how hard it is to keep the house clean...the lists go on. It even still dawns upon me how many people out there would not be able to withstand what I go through to give my baby a good life. It is just a pet with really uncommon needs.

Where are the bird toys in the picture. Greys need a lot of colorful things to play with. if you have not already done this...please get him things to hang in his cage to play and hang from. See the pictures from other threads to get some ideas. But that cage is totally empty. I would be flying away to look at other more interesting things as well. If there is any chance of him staying on his perch...it is going to have to become very fun to be there.

LMAO!!!! I haven't thought of that. BUT. I have gone out with a "Bird Shirt" on. Streaks down my back. Figuring this out when you are walking in a public area is less than cool. "Oh god I forgot to change out of the poop shirt."

LOL...its nice to know I have company. It is pretty obvious that he doesn't 100% forbid himself from pooping in his cage....however, it is also obvious that he is making an effort not to. Whatever the reason, so long as I catch those first bombs, I am pretty much okay. One of his favorite places now...is into the top of my floor lamps. I have two identical ones and he seems to find them a comfortable place to poop. Even given that, I still have a huge job picking up after him. He is so loved. LOL.

Does anyone else have this issue. Issac will very rarely...poop in his cage. He saves all of his 'love' for me. What is up with that. I will occasionally see a poop at the bottom...but it is far few and in between. Anyone else have this?

Dan...did you forget to mention that they poop wherever they are??

Yes...flight does spread to 'love' if you will. And if you have a shoulder bird like me...better have a special shirt handy for hanging around the house. I call em 'Bird Shirts'. Issac seems to think nothing of leaving me a gift at will. I don't even think he has a filter for where he poops...it's just time to poop!

Cleaning poop is my constnat job. Me and my apartment are getting crapped on at a high frequency. He drops lunch all the time and to me...it's like a mechanical reaction to get up grab a paper towel and clean up. Sometimes I don't even realize I did it. I vacuum every day. I figure I would have been dead by now if bird poop was deadly. Say I have Issac for 1 year...and he craps in my apartment at least 10 times a day....thats 3,650 poops!!!

My friend recently came over and witnessed my bird pooping on a regular basis and was thoroughly disgusted. I am so used to it, but he was like...actually afraid to breathe the air in my apartment. For fear of some disease that might go airbourne and kill him. He was also warning me about bringing my daughter over and having her I guess...get a fatal illness. What is the word on Parrot crap. Is it deadly. Has anyone ever gotten seriously ill?

I have been where you have been and would love to offer my thoughts. As bird owners we always wrestle with the thought of how to best give our birds a life in captivity. The more you love your bird..the harder this is. You definitely have the love to be here asking this question. All I can say is..make it work for flight. It is a super beautiful thing. This is from a member who lost his bird due to a very stupid mistake but ended up getting my baby back. I am not telling you that because I want you to think its easy having a flighted bird and recovery is easy should they get lost. I am just saying..that I still left my baby flighted even after that...and that you can always find a way to keep em safe. Issac is a shoulder bird..and he flys there all the time to be right next to me...I can't imagine it any other way. Birds Fly.

I am in the exact same boat Issac is going on 11 months and he does the pleasent chirping and whoops and whistles. Super cute even at that level. I am doing as others here have suggested....associating actions and objects with words consistantly. I also live alone and have considered the fact that since I pay so much attention to him, maybe he doesn't make an effort to talk. So I play games with him. I will go into other rooms and just listen sometimes, and occasionally I can hear him trying to do something. The morning on the shower curtain rod is also a place where he seems to practice. The best advice I have heard so far is to do word associations. Every time you pick something up that involves him...tell him what it is. Get his attention and talk to him. They love it.

Issac seems to care neither one way or the other. I get pooped on plenty of times. Everything gets pooped on. It seems to have no pattern of any sort. When ever Issac feels the need, he poops where ever he is. Big ones and small ones. Thankfully I know that when I get him out of his cage...to get him over something that is okay to poop on. When he does poop somewhere approved...I tell him he is a good boy. But his habit of pooping everywhere doesn't falter at all. Just like he was in the wild. LOL. Here's the strange thing, he seems to avoid pooping in his cage. Like he is saving it all up for everywhere else. Definitely not an ideal situation. But I have had no suggestions on what I can do, so i have accepted the fact that I am going to be crapped on along with various locations around the house possibly till the end of my days. Let me know if you hear any different. As far as an effort to just poop on me, Issac has had times where he has actually flown to my shoulder, crapped, and then flown off. Seems to be just as random as the rest though.

So happy you are reaching the six month mark with your baby. i too feel like my Grey is my baby and consider him a child of sorts as well. In fact...come look at what I made for my baby's 6 month mark.... Here's to bird love!

Ohh that video of him right after he lost Tui was the most heartbreaking. I am glad he decided to get another, he had a wonderful relationship with Tui.

I had always wanted a bird and it was either going to be a cockatoo or a Grey. I picked a grey because of the things they do. If you go looking for footage of birds and their antics, you just never get enough of what Greys can do. I would walk into stores and do a little whistle, and they whistle back. You can see the little gears turning in their heads. Then a relationship with my girlfriend ended and I was alone in an apartment. So I decided to stop looking for a girlfriend and got a Grey.

Issac is very much a social bird and doesn't seem to misbehave in any way that makes life difficult. He can easily be stopped from doing what ever he is doing and then pick up on something else. I do have a chair he likes to chew on, but otherwise all of my other furniture is fine. He is not allowed to do anything he shouldn't...and those things are plenty. So if he likes to chew on an old pair of shorts, that's fine. In fact, he is already growing tired of doing that after about two weeks. If he tries on another pair of my pants, I stop him and say 'no no no boy' and he moves on. It's just my birds personality, not sure this would work with others. He is amazing. I do have moments where I wonder how I will go the rest of my life making sure he is okay and that I can live as normally as possible. Those days are quickly swept away as soon as I come through the front door and see him looking at me and stepping forward in anticipation. I open the door and he can't hop on quick enough. Flutters up to my shoulder, and we are together again. He is my baby for sure. It is crazy how much i love this little guy.

LOL. Poor confused lil guys. Well...at least they are really good friends. That was super cute.

So it's been a while since I did a general update on my little friend. Thought I would drop in today and let those who are interested know how he is doing and any questions I have. Issac is being very steady in his behavior lately. He is super friendly and, as usual, he loves to be where ever I am. He goes back and forth with his toys. Sometimes I will add a new toy and he doesn't get at it for days. Then one day, I will come home and it is in pieces on the bottom of the cage. Same with the veggies. Some days nothing, others all of it is in bits on the bottom. He still enjoys his formula and I still enjoy seeing him get all excited when its time. One thing he started doing a little while back was chewing on my shorts to get at things in my pockets. So, rather than deter the behavior, I just designated a pair of shorts that I would wear for this latest habit. I find that he will only get these little habits for a set amount of time and then move on to another one. So I haven't been afraid that he will perminantly any one habit. Once it was my shoes and now my shorts. Sometimes I just think of how much what ever he is destroying costs, and how much a toy for him costs...and I think 'Why not...it gives me a little peace and him something to do'. Seems to work. I should take a picture of these shorts, as they now have holes and such. So get this, I wear a shirt that he can crap on, and shorts that he can chew on...imagine how I look wearing this stuff. LOL. He did lose a couple of tail feathers. But he will get them back eventually I suppose. He loves eggs and whole grain noodles and he seems to like melons too. He likes to get at the seeds of squash too so I hope that is okay for him to do. I have had to get quite clever when its cage time. I have to be totally relaxed, or it tips him off. If he gets wind that I am trying to get him in, he will make it virtually impossible. Then I have to stop for a couple minutes and try again. He is very good at this game if he wants to play it. He will step up onto my hand, then quickly fly to my shoulder. Or if I get him to fly low, he will step onto my hand and fly off. If I can't get my other hand on his back, the game ensues. Little rascal. So far, this has been manageable. He loves making his little noises. He quacks like a duck sometimes now. I talk to him constantly just like he was another person in the room. He is so much a part of my life now that I cannot imagine life without him. My little friend. I still think of him during the day and can't wait to see him when I come home. I will have to add some of the latest pictures later. Camera is at home. Thanks for reading about my lil guy. Cheers.

That 'Parrots: A Guide To Parrots Of The World' appears to be the best one I have seen. Gorgeous images and great information. As soon as I get a little extra money to spend, I am going to get that one.