reggieroo

I think Murphy is on less of a routine than most & I'm at home all day, we never know how the day is going to be. I'm terrible at routine myself & can't stick to one so try to mix it up a little for Murphy so things don't freak him out as easy. It has worked pretty well so far, bought him a new cage, he was in it an hour later, few hours after that he was on his new perch etc, didn't like one of his toys though. :rolleyes: I've had him since a baby so thought it best that he gets used to my way of life from the beginning. I guess even though I'm not routine type of person some routine is inevitable, like every morning I wake up, take off the sheet & say good morning. I normally let him out first thing in the morning for the rest of the day. Some days though I go outside to do jobs if my Daughter is at her grandparents, so those days Murphy is in his cage safe & sound where he can't get into mischief. Even on those rare days he gets at least four hours of out of cage time in the evening which is recommended as a minimum. He always gets his 10-12 hours of sleep a night, normally always 12 unless I'm naughty & keep him up late. He's like a little kid though & hates going to bed, he would rather stay up with his Dad & watch TV. You will find your own way & routine to live with a grey, just make sure they get at least four hours out of cage time a day + 10-12 hours sleep, some good food & lots of love & attention & you will be rewarded with a little grey best friend.

Well I hope your right. Actually this morning is the first morning he hasn't wanted to come out straight away, normally every morning he is up & about a few minutes before I get up, get coffee & wake up my daughter up, he whistling for me to come get him. This morning however I could hear him stuffing his face & he's still at it now, wasn't even interested in a tickle or coming out. I think he likes the larger bowls so I he can have more food in them, they are a lot bigger than the old ones & he doesn't seem to be tipping all the food out like before. Also last night I put him in for an hour while I went for a sauna & Kate said he only screamed twice which is good for Murphy. Maybe my little boy is getting a little more independent as he gets older? His new cage is definitely a lot better for Murphy & think it will make things a little easier for us too.

I got him a poly's twister perch (the yellow one up top), a candy cotton toy, peck n play puzzler for treats & a birdy babble ball. All of which he liked except the birdy babble ball which I had to move up the far corner for him out of the way. It took him a few hours to get on the twister perch but the birdie babble ball he just sat growling at it for ages so I moved it. I left it in so he can get used to it.

I didn't think so Dan as in all the years I've kept a parrot they have never caught a cold. I thought maybe I just couldn't tell if they did have a cold or not but it's a question I always meant to ask.

That particular cat was obviously allergic to the collar. Personally never had a problem or ever heard of any problems using them & my parents have kept cats for 25 years+ & always used flea collars. I'll bear it in mind though as it could be like people with a nut allergy, just the odd case here & there.

This is something I've always wondered about when I'm ill. At the moment I've got a really bad cold but Murphy keeps landing on my shoulder for tickles & I wonder should I be handling him with a cold.

I had a similar problem at my old house with fleas on my cat Binks, he got infested like never before. What I had to do was to keep giving him flea baths & using a flea comb to actually get them off him. The problem is the eggs, so you have to eliminate the cycle which I did using a spray that stops the cycle & prevents then from breeding for up to 12 months. I then gave him a flea collar to keep them off him & also used something that you put on the back of the neck like front line but can't remember what it was. Interesting about the salt though, I would give it a try & see if it works. I actually had hardwood floors would you believe & still had the problem even with no carpet. They live in the cracks around your house if you have no carpet & jump out on the pets when they go past. When using the spray we just put our parrot outside in the garden in his cage for the day with us. Once I sparyed the house & treated the cat a good few times I finally got on top of it & now just use a flea collar which works just fine.

That made me laugh, I thought of Murphy & you can't shove him out the way, he comes down & tries to grab whatever your using to wipe the cage & chases your hand. He also loves the handheld hoover, which I use inside the cage to pick up all the bits before wiping down. He actually wants tickles from the hoover when the hoover is on would you believe!

He's right little chatterbox isn't he? Clever boy!

Even though Murphy has been biting Kate, lunging for her as she walks past & swooping at her face she has just bought him some new goodies. He has a new Polly's twister perch, a birdie babble ball, cotton candy toy & a peck & play puzzler foraging toy. All ordered tonight from Scarlett's parrot essentials. Not to mention the new cage Kate bought him on Saturday. One lucky little parrot.

Well I got the perches done, fitted them in & it took all of 5 seconds for Murphy to start stripping the bark. I think it's safe to say he like his new perches.

At the moment Kate is using a piece of wood to get him to step up. Kate tried the treat thing & didn't work like we hoped. Kate first gave him a treat to gain some brownie points then asked him to step up & he lunged for her! I managed to get up to step up to her hand from my hand, she then gave him a treat which he snatched from her & then tried to bite her again with the treat in his mouth!

Best wishes to you & Kopi, hope he keeps getting better!

That's the one I'm thinking about buying, the twister perch. Just been to yet another pet store & they don't do them, all I can find is the calcium trimming perch that I already have which doesn't work! Right then, enough research has been done, going to buy the Polly's twister perch.

You learn something new every day, I'll give that a go.

Can you use the white vinegar neat, straight out of the bottle?

Thanks for the suggestion, it was only a little bleach diluted in a bucket of water & also gave it a dam good rinsing. I'll keep a look out for some apple cider vinegar next time we go shopping, guessing it's good stuff to clean the cage etc? I can't recall ever seeing any though, what about white vinegar?

I looked at these ones. http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Screw-Parrot-Cage-PERCH-Sand-Shingle-Surface-Lge-MACAW-/260373990579?pt=UK_Pet_Supplies_Birds&hash=item3c9f7fccb3 This one I looked at the pollys twister perch in large http://scarlettsparrotessentials.co.uk/GGGG.aspx

I specifically looked for a cage with the seed catchers on it because of my little 11 month old daughter. Murphy would often sit on top of his old cage & poop off the side on the floor, I would clean it up as soon as I seen it but I didn't always see it. It was a miracle that my Daughter Ella-Rose didn't think Mmmmm, what's this, looks good enough to eat! A lot of people say they are useless but thought I'd give the catchers a try & so far there has been very little mess & no poop on the floor. I also taped some bits of foam on the front two corners just in case little Ella-Rose bumps her head on the way past. Just been out & cut down an apple branch, just gave it a scrub with bleach & a wire brush, I'll pop it in the sauna later to dry.

Yes I'll get him a natural wood perch, I have an apple tree in the front garden so might go out & cut one off for him. His stand in the living room is made from a tree branch that I cut down last year.

Murphys new cage.

Finally got Murphy a new cage & he took to it quite well. At firsts he wouldn't land on it but after me putting him on top a few times he was fine with it. Also while inside he was looking up at the roof as if to say, "not sure about that" but again is fine now fine with it. Within 10 minutes of being in there he was playing with his toys. It's so much better than his old cage with a bigger door & skirt round the outside to catch the poop & food. Now I can rest easy that my Daughter won't try to eat some parrot poop off the floor. :eek: Just need to get some more perches as it didn't come with any & also some bowls for the top.

Now that's persistence!

I was just about to post Murphy's foot fetish for Azzie, thanks Jay. By the way Murphy still has a thing for feet when he gets the chance.

Well the issue in the daytime seems to have improved quite a bit. I can now go in the shower, put out the rubbish etc & he will come back out when I offer my hand + the screams have virtually stopped. I have no idea why this daytime situation has got better though, I have not done anything any different. That was the good news but we still have another issue that has been developing in the evenings to a similar thing. At around 6pm every night I feed Murphy his tropical soak mix( his dinner), he goes in his cage for this but as soon as he finishes he starts with the screaming/shrieking thing. Some nights he has to stay in the cage if I'm training in the gym because Kate can't handle him, so for obvious reason he stays in till I get back in around 7.30pm. On the nights I am there, he still ends up staying in his cage most of the time because he is screaming so much & I don't want to teach him that "scream & I'll come fetch you out" Only if he stops screaming will I go get him back out which has become a rare occasion lately. He then goes to bed at 8pm for his 12 hrs sleep. When the screaming goes on he gets completely ignored, except for the odd occasion when we can't stand it anymore & sheet him up early for bed, I'm wondering is this then a reaction to the screaming? Kate suffers from bad migraines & after a hard day at work she really doesn't need it when she gets in from work. Kate arrives home between 5.30-6.00pm always knackered & already stressed out & the last thing she wants to hear. This bird does himself no favours at times, especially with Kate. I'm beginning to question the grey intelligence (well Murphy's anyway), surly he should understand by now that screaming gets you nowhere, we have had a screaming issue with him for 7 months now & have been working on it so hard. When he does good noises (which in my book is anything other than screaming) he gets rewarded with praise or treats. Every time he whistles or attempts speech I talk to him giving him the attention he wants. I actually make a point of doing it even when I can't be bothered to answer him, I just do it to teach him, good noises get you attention, kinda keep up the good work type thing but screaming gets you ignored!