reggieroo

What size do people use?

I've tried two different perches now with no good results. I have a twirler natural wooden perch with bark on it & a calcium trimming perch, none of which has done the job. I even gave his nails a trim when I bought the perches but they have grown back sharp as ever. Murphy has some talon on him I can tell you, almost pierces my skin! I've looked at various other ones inc sandy perch, polly's twister perch & wondered what people have used with good results?

Well at the moment Kate doesn't want any physical interaction with him so I'll leave her to come round on her own. I'll show her these posts, let her have a read & hopefully she will give it another shot when she feels more confident. Good idea about using the treats Jane, might be worth Kate starting like you did with just some treats to help build the relationship. Going to suggest that to Kate. They are hard work these greys aren't they? You can read & read as much as you like about greys & their behaviour but when you have one they are way more complicated. Just when you think you've cracked it they do something to make you think hang on a minute, what's it all about? Some of you, who have had them for years probably know what I'm saying & possibly know greys & their behaviour inside out but I can see how that would take years & years of ownership. I'm not new to being a parrot daddy as I had an Amazon for 10 years but I feel greys are a different story altogether & you almost have to learn as a novice when it come to grey behaviour etc. I'd just like to say thanks to everyone on here who has offered me help now & in the past, much appreciated..........many thanks!

Well I think Kate does fear him, you can almost smell the fear when she trys to interact with him. What I have noticed tonight is he puffs himself up when Kate goes to tickle him. I had him on my hand & walked in to see Kate, I asked her to tickle him & he puffed himself up just as she touched him, Kate then backed away. I can literally do what ever I want with him & he never bites me (I'll get bit now I've said that!), I can flip him on his back & touch his feet, tickle his belly & he's fine with it. It will probably end up just me handling him & Kate just having a verbal friendship with him for the time being. I'm sure once he starts talking away she won't be able to resist chatting with him.

I did think of the obvious that he might be pissed off, but thought no there must be more to it than that. It does seem to be the only explanation that fits, I just thought surly this little parrot can't be that moody!

Well with Kate he is actually flying down to her & offering his head for tickles & then...............bam! He gives her a hard bite! So after this happening on more than one occasion she refuses to handle him or have him on her. I have tried to have her ask him to step up but he just lunges at her finger, now I can't get her to try at all. She has washed her hands of him totally unfortunately. I'm quite gutted to be honest as I wanted Kate to play a part in bringing Murphy up, but now I fear she really dislikes him!

Yes I give him treats quite often when he does good things. I try all the praise/treats (positive reinforcement) when good things happen. It's funny he returns to his cage under his own steam when he wants to eat etc. I see him take off from his stand & go to his cage & stuff his face for 20 minutes or so.

On a shower day for example when I don't put him back in, he's fine up until the point that I do have to put him back for something else. He pretty much is out of his cage all day unless I'm either not in, which is rare or outside doing some jobs. Well I say all day, that was the case before we had these problems which have been going on for weeks now. So now Murphy is stuck in his cage at times because of the issue when he would normally be out with me. It's not just when I go in the shower we have the issue, that was just an example. It's anytime I have to put him back in his cage for whatever reason. It could be something as simple as going out the back door to put the rubbish out. The thing is I can't leave him unattended at anytime so if have to do something where Murphy can't be with me then he has to go back in his cage. The other day I left him for two minutes on his living room stand while I went to wash up, came back he was on the leather sofa chewing it up! :mad:

Right, the biting issue has got worse with Murphy now biting people really hard. Kate won't have anything to do with him anymore as she is now scared to death of him. I'm the only person that can handle him. I'm wondering if it's the fight or flight thing going on with him. The reason is if I ask him to step up he most often flies off but if somebody else asks, he bites hard! I also wondered if it was an issue with him not liking women as much because he also bit my Mum hard but then another day he also bit my Friend Ady who is male so don't think it's that. The only other person who he hasn't bitten yet apart from me is my Dad. My Dad was his caregiver when I was on holiday, so the only people he doesn't bite so far is me & my Dad both his care givers. At least he doesn't bite the hand that feeds but seriously this is a problem we need to overcome!

For some time now I have been having some problems getting Murphy out of his cage at certain times of the day. Murphy is now nearly 10 months old. A typical day goes a little something like this. First thing in the morning I go to the cage & uncover him, he gets tickles through the bars & a morning chat " how are you?" etc etc. I then open the door offer up my hand with the step up command & on he goes, no problem at all. He then stays out a while whilst I give my Daughter her breakfast & feed myself & Murphy. Then comes time for my shower, my 11 month old daughter goes in her cot & Murphy goes back to his cage (except Wed & Sat when he joins me for a shower). Well this is where all the trouble begins! I ask him to step up & he flies off, at this point he starts to give me the runaround round the house. Every Time I ask him to step up off he goes, I then go to where he has landed & it happens again. Eventually he gets tired & steps up while kinda squeaking baby type noises, I get the feeling that they are upset, anxious type noises but not very loud at all. I then put him in his cage while speaking to him, trying to reassure I that I'm not locking him away for ever & ever. I sometimes spend a few minutes asking for tickles but get no response. When I get out the shower, I go to get him back out at which point I have more problems. He just hops away from perch to perch frantically trying to get away from my hand as if he's afraid of it. If I try & persist he just starts thrashing about the cage so I have to leave him be. I close the door back up & walk off, followed by him screaming/shrieking & pacing round his cage very anxious & nervous looking. It sometimes take hours & hours before he lets me get him back out. I try several times with no luck as I don't want to leave him in his cage & he seems like he wants to come out but every time I stick my hand in he doesn't want to know. I could leave the door open but I want him to step up on my hand or this could just get worse him not stepping up from the cage. I wondered does he associate my hand as a bad hand for putting him back in when I go for my shower? But why Doe's he seem scared of it when he comes out no problem first thing in the morning? I have also not use timeouts in the cage as he has always had a problem being in his cage & thought that would make it worse. He has never liked being in his cage, maybe because from day one he has the freedom of the house except at night when it's bed time or when I can't supervise him. Also the only time he screams & shrieks is when in his cage with the door closed. Murphy really seems to hate being in his cage. Biting has also got worse, see my other thread.

I take him in twice a week for a shower with me but I do like to have a nice peaceful shower & some me time the other days. He's with me the rest of the day as is my daughter so I don't get 5 minutes to myself, it's busy, busy here throughout the day.

That's terrible service. like I said we have had around two occasions where a customer has told us that we forgot to pack an item, the person packing namely my Dad (family business) swears he packed it but we still sent out another to keep the customer happy. After all mistakes happen & nobody's perfect & it's not worth arguing over & maybe losing a customer over a couple of £££s His loss & future losses as you wont go back there again & I'm sure people on this forum won't use him either. I would send him an email explaining that you have posted his great customer service all over the Internet & parrot forums.........lol. Great for business that, sure he will be chuffed.

I'm sure it will all go ok, I wouldn't worry about it if I we're you. A little change will be good for him especially while he's young as I'm sure he will have lots more changes in his lifetime.

I would make sure he is in his cage when you are not around to supervise him, much the same as you would a baby human. At the moment I have my 10 month old daughter with me every day looking after her & also Murphy our 8 month old grey & I never leave them unsupervised. Yesterday we had an BT engineer around fixing our broadband & Ella-Rose our daughter was on the living room floor & Murphy on his stand. The engineer asked me a question who was in the hallway, I went out to answer, went back in a few seconds later, Murphy had flew to the sofa to chew a cushion & Ella-Rose was in the log basket trying to eat some wood! :eek: That was just a few seconds! What I'm saying is it doesn't take greys long to get into something if they get curious the same as a human baby. That's how you have to think with a grey around. When I go in the shower for example I put my Daughter in her cot & Murphy in his cage. He doesn't like it & screams his head off till I come out but better safe than sorry. He really doesn't like being in his cage as he loves his freedom I have given him but sometimes it's a must for his own safety & has to be done.

As Murphy has gotten older, now 8 months he has shown the fearful side of greys a little more than when he was only 5 months old for example. His fight or flight response is a lot more prominent now. You can see the difference to say an Amazon parrot who are not really bothered about anything. I think Dave is right about their personality changing as they grow older & becoming more cautious etc.

Great pic!

Have they not sent out a replacement for the missing item? I also run my own mail order website business & I think customer good customer service is so important. On the odd occasion we have missed an item but it gets sent straight out the next day.

We have hardwood floors too & I'm always running round with the handheld. As you say DrTak you have to know when to stop or you end up with a bad back & doing nearly the whole room with the handheld.

Obviously my father wasn't doing it on purpose to let Murphy out! He just didn't think that Murphy would fly off so easy, that's why we argued. I actually had a go at him about his relaxed attitude to leaving doors open etc & he didn't take too kindly to being shouted at by his Son & told off! It was the same when a friend came over to stay for a week, he kept using the patio door to go outside for a cigarette to begin with, while Murphy was in the room on his stand. When I tell them off, they think that I'm over reacting & they really believe that he wouldn't fly away. Me I'm not taking any chances.

We have a hoover handheld that has been good so far but I guess not a patch on the suction of the Dyson. If it was up to me I would have bought the Dyson but the misses holds the purse strings......lol

That's a fair comment as I have problems with people understanding this issue myself when they visit. I have got annoyed with people on various occasions when they just walked out of an outside door with no thoughts to Murphy even though I've told them & made them aware of the situation. There was one time I had an argument with my Father when he walked out the front door & left it wide open while Murphy was on his stand in the living room. He only had to fly from the living room into the hallway & there would have been an open door to the big wide world for him to explore.

That's good that Issac gets on with everyone that comes over, Murphy & Issac are proper little socialites.......lol No doubt we will have the odd time we're there is an issue with our grey & our guests, on that occasion they will just have to go in their cages for a while. At least Issac doesn't mind going in his cage, Murphy hates it when I close the door & plays up big time.

Hey Dan, sounds the other way round here then with Murphy. I can give him the deep scratches to the skin while even kissing him on the head etc, I can do anything with him without fear of being bitten. I'll get Kate to also try Dave's comments on the tickles just on the feathers & see if it make a difference. I also wonder if they sense confidence in people you know like dogs know when your scared of them etc. I know that Kate is afraid of being bitten & so are guests when they come over & they always seem to be the ones who get bitten. It was the same with my Amazon, me & my Mum where the only people who didn't get scared or mind being bitten & yet we never got a bit except when we first got him of course.

Haven't had anybody round yet that doesn't like Murphy, he just sits on his stand practising his speech & noises joining in. I had a friend stay with us last week who Murphy really liked, he also thought his laptop would make a great perch & kept trying to land on it. :rolleyes: My friend wasn't really bothered, he just shooed him away & eventually Murphy gave up trying. You just have to read each different situation & act accordingly.

Maybe I'm the only one who gives good tickles then......lol On a serious note I do touch the skin sometimes as he seems to like you to get right in there, almost like a neck massage. I wonder what Kate is doing wrong to get bit then as I never get bit? I'm going to observe more closely next time she gives tickles & watch to see if I can determine whats maybe causing it. Most often I'm sat watching TV & all I hear is "ouch, naughty" I look round & Kate's looking very annoyed telling me Murphy has bit her again. I tell her not to react as he might enjoy the reaction but I guess she finds it difficult as it's human nature to react to something like a bite. I know the game you guys are talking about, my friend used to have a grey that always used to say "give us a tickle" head would go down then wham! Used to do it to me all the time but I kept on falling for that sweet little voice asking for tickles.