Vamppire

Oooh! I think I found another sitter that is available. Not as obviously reputable as the first place, hopefully I wont come home to an empty apartment lol, but I think it will be OK. Thanks everyone for the help and advice, something tells me I will need it in the future anyway!

No I just moved here and don't know more than 2 people, and this is during christmas..

Thanks! Thats a little scary.. I'm still holding out that the pet sitter will squeeze me in. If Delta has warm cabins for checked baggage, that might be the safer bet it seems, as I would think they'd be less fussy with that than what I'm bringing in the cabin. I hate handing him over to Delta employees (my bf works for Delta...Oh, the stories he has...) but choices are limited....

Delta has temperature controlled checked baggage, supposedly, although thats $200 each way... carry-on isnt cheap either but he has to be able to fit under the seat. Would a CAG fit in a carrier that is only about 8 inches high?

I just moved out of state a couple of months ago. I am retuning home Weds - Sun xmas week. I planned to have a pro pet sitter come by but suddenly they are booked. Trying to convince them to squeeze me in, but if they can't, I don't have anyone else that can check in on and feed Spencer. The other well-known sitter in town only does cats/dogs and I have lizards/bird LOL. I guess the alternative is to bring him with me? I have a few questions.... first, how would Spencer react to being flown over and then being in a completely new environment for a few days? I knew leaving him completely alone for a few days was bad enough, but will the shock of a trip cause harm? He flew over when I bought him from the breeder and seemed ok...but still... or will he be OK because I am still there with him? Second.... I will have to get some sort of travel cage he can stay in at the destination... it obviously can't be anywhere near as big as his home cage... What do you think of those foldable cages? They are about 18 x 19 x 20... ack that sounds so small...but will he be OK hanging out in there for a few days? If he won't freak out too bad, I can certainly take him out of the cage for a little bit, but seeing as how its not my house and holiday activities will be bustling about, he can't be out all day Any advice is appreciated! Thanks ahead of time!

I must have lucked out... I was pleasantly surprised when I got the total for Spencer's initial avian vet checkup! Cheaper than my cat's typical vet visit. But then, I also just moved to Indiana and my previous vet experiences were in NYC... It was around $125 (give or take...don't remember exactly) for blood..poop...physical checkup...nail filing...and a visit with the office degu when he took off and crashed in the degu's tank... (who keeps an animal in a tank with no cover inside an exam room for flighted birds? lol...)

Spencer (male CAG) was 4 months old when he was weighed at his first vet visit the day after he arrived, and was about 396g. Today he is 6 months and is 430g. Is this a normal weight gain? When is the typical age a CAG is fully grown into an adult? Thanks!

Thanks! I wish I could work in the same room as the cage, but its not possible in this space. I will try to keep placing him back on the stand, and I'll add some more toys there to entice him. He likes most of the toys I make, but the ones there right now might be losers LOL. I'm always thinking about letting him on my shoulder, but the few times he wound up there by accident, it scared me to death, I kept thinking he was gonna poke my eye out of bite my ear off :eek:

I work at home at my PC in my bedroom, while Spencer's cage is in the living room. I would like him to be able to chill with me while I work, but I'm having a heck of a time at it! I made him a PVC gym for the bedroom, with a boing attached to the ceiling. He also has a small perch on my desk. (its not very exciting but I usually have an assortment of foot toys I offer him when he's there) Maybe I just need to add even more toys to the playgym to occupy him, but he is really intent on being near me, so he will usually lose interest in the gym after a couple minutes and fly over to me. That's fine, thats why he has a perch here on my desk... but then he spots the keyboard and the mouse. Maybe it doesn't help that they are both pink. LOL. but, yeah, once he spots that, theres just no stopping him or distracting him with something else. So he winds up going back in his cage. Is there any hope for being able to hang out with my little guy while I work? It would really be an ideal time, because after work I am all over the house doing things so I can't always babysit him, or I'll be going out, etc... I'm currently neglecting my needs and chores around the house because I have to stay in the same room to watch him. (he's young, he still gets into trouble / crashes into walls etc) Do I have to just keep putting him back on his stand when he goes for the keyboard/mouse? Will he learn or is it a hopeless battle? I do need to get work done and can't be fighting off a birdie ALL DAY... LOL... but if there's hope that he will learn, then I can try it! Any advice is appreciated!

I also doubt it has gone bad. I've read a lot of customer reviews of red palm oil that say the stuff stinks (and a lot think it tastes about as good as it smells LOL).. but like a lot of things, some people find it offensive, while other people don't and think it's great stuff.

If greys could change their facial expressions like we can, I could really imagine the look of horror and disgust Spencer wants to give me every time I try offering the stuff to him. I don't blame him at all... it horrifies me to be honest LOL I got some on my hand and I couldn't rinse the stench off and it drove me nuts! I've since put it in the fridge and will try offering it cold.. I think I was being a little too ambitious with it and offering too much at once. So, yeah, you're not alone! I'll be following the advice here too!

I am in Indiana and purchased Spencer from an amazing breeder in Georgia (also found on BirdBreeders.com). Met Spencer for the first time in Indy airport cargo. He was fine. I personally think its much more important to go with a reputable, well rated breeder than to go with someone closeby just for the sake of being close.

Hmmm... thanks for the suggestions! I will experiment a bit.

I made some birdie bread using pellets and veggies and corn bread mix and I'm not sure if I did it wrong or if my bird just doesn't like it. I've tried feeding it a few times and it doesn't look like he takes much, though he tends to destroy it a little. I'm just confused because it's very crumbly and I'm not sure really HOW he would eat it, as most of the things he likes are foods he can grab with his feet or really get a good bite on. Since it's not a favorite food of his, I can't actually stand there and watch to see if he will eat it because if I'm there he just is too excited to eat lol! I'm just going by how the bowl looks later. I don't know, maybe he is eating it and the remains are just in the bowl instead of all over the bottom of the cage like the food he grabs lol :cool: Anyway, is it that crumbly for everyone else? How does your bird eat it, does he peck away at it or did I bake it wrong and it should be something he can hold on to and eat? Thanks!

This has inspired me to put up some similar setups for my guy to play, amazing, thanks!

Starting a blog and facebook page for my new little guy Spencer! Will have photos, videos, and random thoughts. http://spencerparrot.wordpress.com/ or http://www.facebook.com/home.php?sk=lf#!/profile.php?id=100001696897725

Great to hear!

I'm not really sure what Spencer is thinking when he showers with me... I've had him for about a month now, the first week I tried the spray bottle while he was caged and he didn't seem to mind, did a lot of flapping but didn't run away or make any disgruntled noises. I've since taken him in the shower 4 times or so and he's never screamed or growled... when on his shower perch he tries to fly on my head, when he's on my arm and i hold him under the spray, he will sit there briefly then try to fly on my head LOL otherwise he will walk up my arm away from the water. He will squawk a bit but nothing that sounds angry. It's basically just a struggle to keep him from flying on me even though I'm literally only standing a foot away from him! So i have to constantly distract him. I guess I lucked out and found a grey that doesn't mind water Can't say he's a big fan of it, but he tolerates it with a bewildered look! I'm hoping one day he will walk towards it or lift up a wing!

Just to clarify, when I said they took blood from my CAG's foot for his exam, I meant with a needle, not from a nail. Yikes.

When I took my little guy they used his foot for blood. Only a small amount is needed so I wouldn't think a vein is necessary... similar to when a dr pricks your finger.. It seems that sometimes they'd need to bandage if it keeps bleeding but my guy didn't need it. He was pretty stupefied the whole visit and didn't seem to hold it against me that I was present. But I took him the day after he arrived so we hadn't bonded at all yet.

Awww that was really sweet!

I have carpet... and I actually got about 9 plastic placemats from Target ($2 each) and put them around the cage. I cut out some of them to fit around the wheels of the cage. They overlap and go a little bit under the cage so it catches a lot of mess (except when he launches things across the room). I have to pull them out and wipe off each one and vacuum but it seemed to be a better solution than trying to find a big plastic mat and then, yeah, you have the problem with the edges curling up when you do that. I'm happy with my cute flowery placemats right now. On Spencer's first day, I neatly arranged newspapers around the cage. Then Spencer took off flying and whoosh! newspapers everywhere. LOL. That's fine with me, newspapers looked horrible lol!

I got it here: http://www.cagesunder500dollars.com/p-501-large-bird-cages-play-top-bird-cage-40w-x-30d-x-79h-cfds-1303.aspx Spencer isn't too impressed with the playtop yet, but that might be because he's a baby and not too confident yet.. or just wants to fly to me every time he's out! Otherwise I am happy with it. Seeing him in there with his toys, I really can't imagine having anything smaller.

Hehe thanks Dan! I'm so happy there's a place I can post my new-mommy worries and questions!

Thanks everyone!