Elvenking

Ohhhh he is! He is like, 'check me out...this is what i built yeah...this is me'. Super cute. He'll bring kitchen utensils in there and kind of play. Make weird hooting noises in the corner....hilarious.

Definitely the sounds Isaac makes when he is feeling the love a little too much. I think this is that time of year for them too no? Mating season? So it can be a bit more intense around this time of year.

Mine sometimes likes to hang out on the bathroom door when no one is there in the very back room and whistle away! I often enjoy the free time in those moments as well. I know he is not getting into anything.

Yeah...I have adjusted over time to just let him play in my kitchen since he likes it so much. So there are some cabinets I give him some rights to. This one had a box with a couple of containers left in it. He opened it up and eventually got inside to make the picture you see. He seems really calm with it all so I am letting him check it out. In fact...last night....it wasn't his favorite thing for a bit.....so it's not like he is spending all his time in there or anything.

So my little guy found a cabinet he really likes and a little box inside. Came by and saw this...should I not let him do this. He seems to really enjoy this little hang out lately. Is this nesting behavior?

As soon as you said "11 hours flight time" I knew there could be no reason the bird would be happy. As others have said...try to provide a comforting and kind atmosphere for the new baby. I wouldn't keep her covered for any long periods of time other than maybe for sleep at night. I find it amazing that someone who breeds these would even consider "shipping" them like some kind of stocked goods. Really hard to stay partial on that front but I will. Please find a lot of love and compassion for the new baby so she can recover from the trauma. I wouldn't mind knowing the feeding instructions the breeder gave with the syringe and formula. Did they say what temperature to heat to and how to check? Just want to be sure everyone is being really careful with this precious new gift of life. At any rate, I think she'll eat something soon. LOL...the only way I would take Isaac on a plane is if he could be in the seat right next to me where I would gladly pay a full price ticket for him just to make sure everything is okay. Then maybe...I'd still be afraid that he would be startled by the engines. HA! Just wait till you see how much you end up loving that bird. You'll see.

Thanks....I took apart and cleaned the old cage so I have it as backup to take somewhere if I need to set up an intermediate cage for him somewhere else. Maybe even an outside cage. He is really settling in to his new place. It is funny, because he has this one area he spends most of his time. I was worried about him finding that one little place...but he did find it. I do see him cruising all over the sides and checking things out though. I am happy to know that he has more space.

By the way...I have had the fan on for background noise for Isaac at night and he has not flapped in the cage once since I started that up. Looks like we may have a winner there. He is like me in this sense, because I also sleep with a fan running so that the quiet noises in the background cannot distract me from going to sleep.

Hahahahha...yeah...when Isaac gets into it and flapping....he will also fly off and give a battle cry! Exactly what I was hoping to see with this. Needless to say I will be collecting lots of caps. However, he does like wooden beads on the leather straps too. Things are shaping up for his play time.

Continuing with Isaac's play area around his cage...put his atom back up in a new location with a long rope hanging down. I finally sat down and made a toy out the water bottle caps and milk caps I have collected over the last few weeks. So this is the second toy out of water bottle parts....REALLY recycling!! LOL. Anyway....he could not leave me alone while I was building these leather straps with water bottle caps. He was going for my fingers like, "Hey...those are mine...give them to me." I was really being over taken by him the whole time. I was trying to tell him to relax and that he would get it very soon. He wasn't having any of it.....he wanted it now. I did eventually get it built and it looks like this. Well...with how much he loved it...I figured I could hang it at the end of the rope hanging down and he would have a great time flying around with thing.....and he did! He was swinging on the rope and I was laughing my butt off. The pic is a little blurry cause it was my phone camera...not the best action cam. Man...there is no toy that makes him do anything like that! Ha! I have to find a way to keep making these for him. He was swinging from that rope....flying off on the up swing and landing on counter tops. Home made toys are the best!

This is a great question. I also go away to work and am gone from 9AM to about 6PM. I leave a television Isaac can actually see going for both sounds and visuals. (Disney channel to keep it light) I also find things he likes to gnaw on (like empty water bottles) and jam them in the cage. Seems that those are timeless entertainment for him...he loves to chew them...and I love to drink water. The tough part is finding things they take to, but when you find that...make sure they have access to it in some way during the day if it is possible. Isaac is tough because his favorite toy is me. He walks all over my floors playing with kitchenware, cups and other things. Experiment a lot and find things they like. Lots of people suggest parts of a book to jam in the bars of the cage for chewing....I use bottles....cardboard can work....I make toys out of plastic container caps and wooden balls. The key is to try a lot and see what sticks. Good luck and share your discoveries.

Wow...now you have me thinking. Does your Grey bathe in that himself?

LOL....yeah...I am lucky to have my original iPhone cable....with chew marks that have not yet severed the wires....BUT it's the original one. HA!...yep....1 minute with a key board and at least 10-20 keys are popped off. Most of the time he didn't ruin the bottom of the key so it can be stuck back in. So often I am able to re-assemble the keyboard. But at least 6 keyboards have had enough keys mangled to the point of no return. Heck....you know...some keyboards are only like 10 dollars....cheaper than a bird toy really.

Since I got him a new cage, my old way is not going to work anyway. His old cage was wiped down enough to keep rust from setting in. So he was good. Now there is too much space in the cage for him to get away from me. So it is going to have to be his travel cage now.

Excellent idea, I will run a fan that doesn't need to blow on him...just make the ambient white noise. That must be it! HA....I think you might have nailed a good idea, because sounds always send him bolting away. I will let you know how this works out. It makes sense though, because sometimes I have his humidifier running and I don't think he gets scared then. Could be the reason why he stops sometimes.

I just moved Isaac to a newer cage which is bigger. However, this all started long before that inside of his smaller cage. He's done it covered, not covered. This isn't the first time I have tried experimenting to see why. I was actually on the fence about getting him the new cage due to this....I figured he would be able to get more speed across a larger cage. Fortunately, it looks like he still can't do too much to him self. I just don't want a wing to get stuck in the cage bars or something. How much can you really do? I cannot identify a source that is there when this happens. He must hear or sense something stir, not know what it is, and just react. I always stay calm and talk to him softly telling him that everything is okay. Maybe I will try to leave the sliding door blinds open so the sun peeks in slowly. He never does this in the dead of night...not sure why he is inspired at bed time and first thing in the morning.

Yeah...sounds similar. Same thing...over by the time I get there. Startles my Conure and he is flying around. Exactly like something startles him and he is just too overcome to remember that he is in a cage. Thus the flying like blind analogy. I wish he would not do this. I might try to just leave the blinds crack so he can see the sun coming out in the morning. The night light I put in last night didn't help. This morning....I wake up to the flapping and I saw what I descried above exactly. WHen he stops, he is looking around and breathing like he saw something. There is nothing to be seen.

If by flight exercises....you mean flying from one side of the cage...slamming into the other...then back to the other side and then down to the ground...appearing to be completely BLIND...yeah...he is exercising. He only does it right before bed...or in the morning before I have come out to open all the blinds. Does anyone recognize this behavior?? At first...I did cover his cage...but I believe I stopped because of this issue. He'll go quite a while and not do it...but lately...he is doing this again.

You do live close! Yeah...I have been spraying Isaac in the corner of his cage. He is really good about dancing around trying to avoid getting wet...but I get him pretty good. For now it's the way.

Yeah...this usually happens around bed time and I JUST realized last night what I must do.....he needs a night light. I am going to try that. What happens is I will turn off the light for bed, and sometimes he will get scared. I'll go out there and turn on the light, and he is looking at the bottom of the cage as if it was trying to get him. I do not see anything at all. So I figure he is just having a problem with it being too dark. Getting him a night light for next to his cage. Isaac does get at least one chicken leg a week. I peel the skin off a baked chicken leg and he goes to town. One if his favorites for sure. He also gets red palm oil veggie pasta. He is also under a Full Spectrum lamp all day long. I am not sure why any of those things would be related to cage flapping, but in Isaac's case, it doesn't seem to make a difference. He likes it when I leave a little light for him. So I'll give that a shot.

Only the 'W'....hahahhahahhah ah ah a...you got off easy. My baby has done in at least 5 or 6 keyboards (some were 70 dollars + till I learned). This year alone, he has dumped 2 waters in the back of my computer as well (minimum $150 each motherboard replacement) . He has also claimed a smart phone (at the time costing 500 to replace). Oh yeah chaaahhhh ching! Definitely watch for those power cables though...those could really hurt em.

Thanks for chiming in. Well then maybe I'll just keep the light I have. It's not really super bright in my apartment....so I think he does need something but maybe that light is overkill. Just trying to do my best to give him everything he should have.

Good to hear from you. How close was the light to the cage for Talon? I was planning to hang this from the ceiling about 12" above his cage. perches are really 2.5 feet below the ceiling of the cage....but there are toys at the top so I don't want it right on top of the cage. I was just worried my current one wouldn't be doing much that far away from the perches. However, do let me know if you think what I am doing might be dangerous as I can always return my stuff. the stuff I read in the article I linked above seemed pretty legit.

Each time I spray Isaac and give him the best shower I can give him....he almost always ends up by one of his water dishes trying to get his own bath going. So I figure...I can get a casserole dish....fill it with water and place it somewhere he can get at it...or near his play stand...shower him up a little, and see if he puts the two together...we'll see.

That is what I had heard too....you have to pay attention to the amount of UV Index, UVA and UVB Output.....5.0 and below is pretty safe for tropical....above that and it is replicating dry desert conditions so that probably would not be good. Other than that...mounting at proper distance is important. I read the following study someone was doing on avian lighting and this was one of the recommended bulbs from the 33 or so they tested. http://buffalobirdnerd.com/clients/8963/documents/UVlightingBirds.pdf Seemed pretty good. Let me know of any hard evidence that I have missed though.