Mawnee

I mean no offense... but one baby has already died in your care. What makes you think you are giving this one any better of a chance than the one that died 4 days ago? http://www.greyforums.net/forums/showthread.php?192398-Wild-Caught-CAG&p=224271#post224271 I am beside myself right now after reading your last thread......and now knowing that another baby is right now being put in the same situation is .....inconceivable. By all means please follow any and all advice offered by the great members of this forum. But my personal advice is to find someone local who knows what they are doing to raise this baby or at least help you raise it.

That definetly seems like a very real cough. I hope the vets figure it out and Zak is all better soon. Our Cosmo has a cough, but we know its an imitation. I had a cold for a couple weeks last fall and he started imitating me during that time. Now its part of his regular vocab and he'll throw it in while being chatty. He also has a sneeze..... With Zak though, his body language during the cough makes it obviously not a mimic.

Very cute! Everyone is looking for employees willing to work for peanuts.

^ Yea, I taught him that noise while we were cuddling one evening. The next day my wife was almost in tears when he did it while one her shoulder asking for a neck rub. Its so cute! He almost always does it while being really cuddly now. But of course its part of his vocabulary, so he will practice it at other times as well. The problem with the camera/phone isnt that hes afraid of it. Its that he loves it. As soon as he sees it it consumes his attention. We have tried leaving it in the room, but it leads to him going for it constantly during play time I'm working on a solution with an old webcam we have.

Thats awesome! That one little green guy had great D ! =P

We have the same situation in our house. Cosmo will gladly accept neck scratches from the girls, but for real cuddles or wrestling around I'm the only one. Greys are known to be somewhat of "one person" birds. We are happy that he is at least friendly with everyone, even if he has a favorite

Very cute!

My wife and I finally got a video of cosmo practicing his favorite phrase "Good boy!" He is usually far more talkative and vocal, but was a little quiet with the camera out. He usually wont make a sound once he sees a phone or camera. We are very proud of our baby, not even 11 months old yet [video=youtube;3-CiNlDN3sU]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3-CiNlDN3sU

Cosmo will talk while I'm in the room. He'll even talk while on my shoulder. Cutest thing ever is him saying "good boy" with his beak IN your ear. But as soon as I pull out a camera or phone he goes silent. Doesnt matter how sneaky I try to be with it, that little guy knows something is up.

Seems right to me. Every bird I've known sleeps on one foot. Cosmo will stand on one foot while hes being talky...then usually doze off.

Cosmo does that scratching when he wants let out of his cage really bad.

^ I love that video! I know they are wild but.........Everytime I see it I get a mental image of all of them looking at me and saying "Do!" to demend a neck scratch...all at once. Cosmo loves TV. I have a 32" lcd on the wall in my office(his room) that I leave on disney channel during the day while I'm at work. He has favorite shows(Handy Manny, Mickey mouse clubhouse) and gets upset if I change the channel while one of them is on(on my days off). He doesnt bother with the computer screens too much, but has chased the mouse pointer around on occasion.

Looks like fun! One cool thing we found that occupies cosmo really well is cereal boxes. We'll put a new one on top of his cage once in a while. Can keep him busy for quite a while.

Great video! Thanks for sharing. Did anyone else catch that he lost his footing at 2:15 and said "oops", very cute

LOL nice. Cosmo absolutely hated a bright pink sandy perch I got him to trim his nails. Screamed his head off if it was anywhere near him. So I left it up on top of one of my computers for a few weeks, since I didnt want him up there. Eventually he got used to it and started climbing up there anyway....at which point he was fine with me putting the perch in his cage.

Cosmo does this duck sound. Kind of a low "errrrrrr", I usually get it when I go to put him in the cage.

LOL thought I'd share this funny exchange Cosmo and I had last night. Over the last few weeks Cosmo has started nipping. Not full on biting, but threatening with his beak to get what he wants. Hes found this works with my Wife and Daughter as they will flinch back at the slightest show. With myself however he doesnt bother because I dont react. I make my living turning wrenches...smashed and bloody fingers/knuckles is just part of my day. Cosmo has pretty much free roam in his room(my office) but knows there are a few places he is not allowed to go. One of the biggies is on top of my computers. They have large fan openings on the top which means if he poops on them it will go down into the computer. Usually when he hops up on one it takes a simple calm "ah ah, get down from there" and hell fly off. The second warning is always "ah ah, want to go in the cage?". Usually he wont push it, because he knows the third time is a trip to the cage for timeout. Well last night he was fiesty and wanted to test me I guess. He kept jumping up on top of the computer. The first two warnings went as usual, but both times he responded with a loud "clack!"(I think its a grey curse word) before jumping off. The third time he jumped up and immediately turned to me and gave a loud "Clack!". I asked "You want to go in your cage?" to which he responded with an even louder "CLACK!!" and stood up really tall and puffed out his chest. I stood up from my office chair and he immediately hissed and put his wings up really high(think vampire pose) and showed his beak. I said "oh really?" and reached for him with both hands at which point he screams bloody murder and tries to run for dear life. Too late. I've got one hand over his wings(so he cant fly) and the other under his belly. I carry him over to his cage and place him inside. As the door closes he turns and gives me an indignant "WHAT?!" as though he has no idea what he did wrong. It took all the willpower I had to get out of the room before bursting into laughter. This little guy cracks me up...even when being naughty

Our breeder met us halfway on a highway(long drive) and only brought one baby so we didnt get to choose. Cosmo was very young at the time at only 4.5 weeks but was calm and very aware. He just looked around and observed us like "Eh..no big deal". He galdly accepted neck rubs from anyone that would offer. His calm, friendly demeanor convinced us to take him home. Hes 9 months old now and still friendly with the whole family. We can all handle him and give him attention. There was a period a few months ago where he did not like my 13 year old daughter. She had a habit of being too loud and moving too quickly near him. After teaching her to be more careful about these things he came back around and gladly lets her handle him again. *disclaimer* I do NOT recommend taking home an unweened baby. It is A LOT of work(no really a lot) and there are many things that can go wrong. You literally have to completely rearrange your schedule around a baby this young. It will wear you down not getting to sleep more than 4 hours at a time for many weeks. We knew what we were getting into and were prepared for it, but I dont want others to see I did it and think it is "doable" for them. Please just find a good breeder and visit your baby until its weened.

I tried but he seems to like them softer. I think its because it reminds him of formula(hes 9 months old). He doesnt care for raw crunchy veggies at all yet. That wont stop me from offering them to him all the time though

^ Yea at least a human baby grows up eventually. My daughter is 13 now and pretty self suffecient. When my Cosmo is 13.....he'll still be a baby with alot of needs. All you can hope for is that over the years you and your grey develop better communication and understanding of eachother to make things easier. I can assure you there have been days that Cosmo has gotten on my last nerve. But I like to remind myself that those days are greatly offset by the days that he is extra cuddley, or says or does something funny to crack me up. In the end I think we all know that the pros far outweigh the cons, you just have to have the willpower and patience to get through those bad days.

Yea, hes never been clipped. Going on 9 months old now. He is a good flyer, we've always allowed him to fly where he pleases. And we encourage him to fly to us rather than us going and picking him up all the time. Hes had a few crashes here and there but this was by far the worst yet. I'm sure it wont be the last. I can only hope he always bounces right back up

Good point on the heat! I found cosmo likes his veggies warm. I actually buy bags of frozen mixed veggies(corn, peas, green beans, carrots). I'll put them in a little water and microwave them for a minute(untill it boils) to cook them. I then rinse with cold water to cool them down and ensure there are no hotspots. Lastly I'll rinse them in warm water to safely warm them back up for him. This is his daily veggies serving. Aside from that he gets the usual bits of apple, bananna and shares whatever veggies we have for dinner.

Yesterday evening I had Cosmo out playing. He was being a little more hyper than usual and really energetically climbing/jumping/flying around between his cages' playtop and his 7ft playgym. My wife woke up and came into the room to greet everyone(She is an RN and works 12 hour night shifts). She had worked the last two nights so Cosmo hadnt seen her for more than a couple of minutes in nearly 3 days and was VERY happy to see her. He started getting even more rowdy showing off and jumping on/off her to give lots of kisses. During this he flew from my wife to his playgym at great speed and in his excitement missed his landing on the top perch. Instead he crashed into the wall and slid/flapped down it to the carpeted floor. He quietly stepped up and I set him on top of his cage to have a look at him. He was breathing heavily(no more than after a normal flight), wide-eyed and being very still. I asked him if he was ok and calmly reassured him. I immidiately noticed a small spot of blood on the feathers of his right leg. I muttered a curse under my breath(so cosmo wouldnt hear) and I asked my wife to make sure we have flour(I knew we did but needed the reassurance). I gently touched the blood on his leg and it all wiped right off, this is not where the blood came from. Looking a little closer I found it had come from the underside of the leading edge of his wing. There was a little blood there(a small smear,little more than a drop), but it didnt seem to be running or increasing. After a couple of minutes of my staring at it Cosmo started to get restless. He began moving around and talking. There was no more blood than when I initially noticed and he seemed unfazed. I put him in his cage to stop him from flying around and risking further injury. Within 5 minutes Cosmo was back to his rowdy self climbing around in his cage talking and asking to come out and play. I apologized that I couldnt let him out and explained he'd have to stay in there the rest of the night as I didnt want him flying. I kept a close eye on him the rest of the night and within a couple of hours I couldnt even find the injury anymore as the blood was gone. This morning I was greeted by the same happy grey as usual. I put on his cartoons(disney channel)and he was bouncing around happily while I cleaned his cage and got him fresh food and water. We did our normal routine of my giving him a scratch through the bars while he holds one of my fingers with one of his feet. I told him I'll let him come out and play this afternoon when I get home from work. I told him to "Daddy has to go to work, I'll be back in a few hours" and closed the door to his room(my office) to which I recieved the usual response "WHAT?!" "Droid!"(my phone message tone which means "come get me!")

Baby Cosmo

I leave the TV on for Cosmo when I go to work during the day. Usually disney channel. He seems to enjoy watching Mickey Mouse club and Handy Manny because if I change the channel while those two are on I get a "whaaat?!" When I watch "The Daily show" he'll laugh like a madman whenever the audience laughs lol