oblivion

I, of course, am no expert, but as for rounding up the wandering bird, I'll outline what has mostly worked for me. Though he doesn't step up, Spencer is very 'secure' in his travel cage and is also VERY attracted to floor toys he can bat around. I have leveraged both of these things to get him around the house. I can either lure him into his main cage or his travel cage most of the time by getting him excited about one of his toys (empty heavy plastic bottles are a fave), and then flipping that into the cage while telling him, "Put yourself away!" If the travel cage, I can then carry him back to his main cage and he'll (sometimes after a small delay) climb into his big cage. This is about 95% reliable. VERY rarely, if in a hurry to get out of the house and him being stubborn, I resort to 'herding' him gently in the direction of his cage (also telling him to put himself away). He's not a lunger, so I feel this is acceptable. Were it to visibly upset him, I wouldn't do it. So maybe find something (toy or food) irresistible and lure her with that. And of course praise her when she complies. Additionally, I often play 'fetch' with him when I'm NOT going to close him in a cage, so hopefully he doesn't associate the game strictly with being put away. I don't know if those ideas will help, but again, it's what (mostly) works for me and a 14-year-old TAG. As for the dogs, I'd work on training them to ignore/avoid her as opposed to trying to get her to stop calling them. In my experience, dogs are WAY easier to train. For banging the toy she 'loves' around, that sounds like normal play to me. Spencer is REALLY rough on the toys he likes. He's not much of a chewer/shredder, but he LOVES stuff he can bang around and make noise with. Good luck.

Thanks for the info. Yeah, that's the girl I saw online, too, but didn't know if you wanted me giving away details. I hope it works out for you both. There's another rescue about an hour south of me (depending on traffic) - Refuge for Saving the Wildlife in Northbrook, IL. I wish either was closer to volunteer at. I'll definitely make contact with them before a visit. Thanks again for the slight topic derail. Best of luck to you both!

Malikah, Your description and location sounded familiar. That rescue is about an hour away from me as well and I've meant to check it out. They actually have some re-sale items I'm interested in (larger travel cage and an aquarium stand), but I'd like to visit the birds as well (but fear being able to resist temptation). How did you like the place? Are they welcoming of visitors? I'm curious to see how this story plays out.

You are nuts. Let us know when you bring her home.

Eshana, look up a few posts on 1/29 for the URL.

Ha! Cute pic. Budgies alternately look like wise and grumpy old men to me.

I know it. I also forgot to mention before that growing up I had a budgie missing many toes (captured in back yard that way), a finch and a canary which each only had one leg (pet shop gave them to us). They all did just fine.

I've told the story elsewhere (my Welcome thread), but I got Spencer (14 y.o. TAG) when he was nearly 13 from his original owner who had hand-fed him from about 4 weeks of age (yeah, I know). I knew 'of' him for the previous 4 years (and she'd even offered him to me a year prior), but I had never interacted with him. He was well-fed and in a clean cage with toys and given 'outside time' in good weather, and she works from home, so she was 'around,' but he wasn't allowed much out-of-cage time. He had started chewing his flight and tail feathers, which is when she decided she was no longer providing the right home for him. When my budgie died and I mentioned to her I was thinking about a new bird, she renewed her offer. After a few days and a million questions, my wife and I decided to take the plunge and I haven't looked back. We started off with a 'weekend' trial and the rest is history. With him, I got his cages, toys, food, and what little vet documentation she had (DNA sexed male), as well as a 4-week-old picture. Really, it was probably the best a 'rescue' could go (which is why I hesitate to use the word with him - perhaps 'life upgrade' is better ). She's 'around' for me to ask questions of, but she has always been kind of reluctant to talk about him - I'm guessing from feeling badly about giving him up and/or missing him. So I've never pressed for much more information, but she has been glad to hear my updates about him no longer plucking and other progress. I see her fairly often, but only talk about him if she asks. Her comment when I recently told her about him letting me scratch his head was, "And he didn't whip around and bite you? Huh." A bit telling, that. Anyway, Spencer is my first re-homed bird in my adult life, but my parents were always taking in stray and second-hand creatures - even the occasional person. Of my 'grown up' pets, our rabbits were both from a shelter and my cat was born under the stairs where I work - her mother a true barn cat. My dogs are AKC titled pure-bred Labradors (a decision I will defend without hesitation), but a shelter dog is definitely in my future. My 'tiel and budgie were pet store birds, but that's because I feel I didn't know better at the time. Despite having 'baby envy' of people with newly-weaned bonding machines, I'm fairly certain my life will be filled with re-homed birds from here on out. Any cursory search of Craigslist (let alone PetFinder) shows there are WAY too many animals (not just birds) out there which need homes.

High 5/wing! What kind of dogs do you have? Labs here. My older one (8) ignores anything I tell her to. The younger one (5 - away with a litter of puppies - coming home soon) is a bit more rambunctious and I'm interested to see how she's going to be when she comes home. She's more needy of pets and will push anyone out of the way when attention if being doled out, so I've got to keep that in mind, but I have faith I can keep peace. My real wild card is my cat (6-ish) who completely ignores the birds most of the time and then stalks them from across the room other times. I have to keep two eyes and a squirt bottle on her. Welcome and good luck. I just recently moved my updates from the 'welcome' room to the 'rescue' room since these older, re-homed birds require 'a little bit extra.' Pop in there with whatever questions you have and we can all bang our heads together. BTW, I love the term 'grey turkey.' I was just calling Spencer one the other day.

The trick with poop on carpet is to make sure NOT to rub it in. If a 'good' one, you can pluck it off with tissue/paper towel. If not, let it dry (don't step in it! ) and deal with it then. If a veggie/watery poop, you're gonna have to blot to get it out, though.

Best of luck to all. I'm lucky enough to have never been a smoker and am pretty non-addictive in general (I think my attention span is too short to build an actual addiction ) but I watched smoking kill my grandmother who lived with us after my grandfather died (also not helped by smoking). My mom quit briefly when her mom first fell ill, but went back to it for another few years. She eventually got pneumonia, presumably from smoking outside in her bath robe in a Chicago winter because we no longer let her smoke in the house. She ended up coughing so hard she broke or separated a couple ribs. She finally quit. She used hypnosis, gum, and gained a fair amount of weight (she had ALWAYS been a stick) by replacing smokes with hard candy. But the weight is now gone and she's still smoke-free. That was about 20 years ago now, and I'm so very proud of her and glad she'll be around longer for me and my daughter. She does say that not a day goes by that she doesn't want a cig. If it's not that hard for you, consider yourself lucky and take full advantage of being 'able' to quit. I used to harass my mom and grandma for smoking (my grandma continued to sneak smokes while on oxygen and left with less than one complete lung). Now I realize how little it was really their choice by that point. You have my support. All of you. Also, I've seen a group of friends recently debating the e-cigs. Many are strongly in favor - one guy is on his second month of no cigs. A few still point to an old study questioning if they're any better than 'real' smoking. I'm not going to pass judgement, but from what little I know, they seem like a great alternative to investigate whether as a long-term replacement or a transitional tool. Again, I wish you strength.

Ah, thanks. I'm not perfectly patient or understanding by any means, and in fact I'm sure now that I started off on the wrong foot (just look at my old threads), despite the best intentions, but I try and I'm always open to learn more. Still no scritches again, but last night we did share some Cheerios, water, and some empty-bottle tug-o-war. He is so very gentle when he takes food, that my 5-year old can even give him treats. And I know I've said it before, but MAN, he LOVES empty bottles! They seem fun to handle AND make great noises (on their own or when banged against the cage, bell, etc.) Here's a short vid of him going after one on top of his 'visiting' cage. Do you think he realizes he doesn't have 8 full toes? Thanks again.

A couple vids showing Spencer playing, not with his bell, but a bottle. Don't tell him he's 'handicapped,' he doesn't seem to know. This one's really dark, but you should be able to see how he can hang from the cage-top with no little issue.

Yay! That's funny. My guy imitates one of the worst hacking smoker's coughs I've ever heard.

Nice, Barbara2! I'll bookmark that one. A quick look shows they have better prices on some items, and I like to support 'little guys' when I can.

FYI, I posted my latest update over yonder--> http://www.greyforums.net/forums/showthread.php?194948-The-fun-but-frustrating-dance-with-Spencer. I will probably continue Spencer's story over there.

So I've been updating my original thread with my recent 'breakthrough' with Spencer, http://www.greyforums.net/forums/showthread.php?190058-Greetings! but I thought I might get a little more feedback here. A quick recap if you're not familiar and don't want to read that whole thread - Spencer is a 14 y.o. male TAG I've had since June 2010. We're his second home and he was loved, but not given enough attention, so I hesitate to call him a 'rescue,' but he's definitely got 'rehome baggage.' His wings are not clipped any more, but flights are either plucked or no longer grow on his right side (he was a casual chewer when I got him - has largely stopped that) and never seems to have learned to fly. He does not step up and I only recently was able to give him out-of-cage scritches. Thus begins our story. It's been a few days since he's bent his head for a scratch, and I get that, because I've been involving him even more in daily goings on, and I'm sure he's overloaded a bit from that. Last night, though, I had his cage on a folding table right next to the couch where I was playing some PS3 hockey - in the same spot where he'd asked for scritches last week. After doing his usual of standing like a statue on his perch acting like the door wasn't even open, he eventually ventured out a few times (drawbridge-style door) and played with the 'dried pasta in a plastic bottle' toy I'd made for him. Over the course of a couple hours, he'd stand at the edge of the door as close to me as he could get. If I put my hand up to play with the toy with him, he didn't care. But if my intent was at all to try to scratch him or see if he'd want to step up, he'd retreat to the cage. Smooth and confident, or slow and steady, it didn't matter - he seemed to know if I was going for the bottle or him. Amusingly, he did let me play with his toes from the underside of the door a little bit. The good thing is that he did not seem 'upset' by this testing of the waters. He'd back up, but he didn't lunge (he rarely does - even in his cage - and usually gives REALLY good warning) and wasn't making his alarm noise. He'd gather himself on his perch in his cage for a few seconds, then wander back out to play with the bottle. I was also doing some work on a laptop at the time, and when I'd lean in close to that, my head and shoulder were right at the end of his door. When I'd do that, he'd quickly walk over - like he wanted to get on my shoulder or was going to make a grab for my glasses - but would always stop just short (which is fine with me - I don't want him on my shoulder, nor eating my glasses). I'd look at him, talk to him, and then sit back up and he'd just carry on. He seemed to enjoy the excitement and noise of the video game and his toy until it was time for bed. When I put him away, we did our normal beak-shake with a lot of 'goodnight!' calls. Overall, it was a nice little bonding experience, but it is admittedly a little frustrating to have him always retreat still. He really seems to WANT contact, but still isn't sure about it. My question is, in your opinions, am I progressing at a good pace or pushing too hard? Should I try putting my hand up near the cage and just leaving it there to see how he reacts? Should I sit on my hands (figuratively) and not make any move towards him unless he bends low again? Or not even then? Thanks for any input and/or encouragement.

No worries. It's always going to be a case by case/bird by bird thing. We have differing opinions - that's what this group is about, right? I hope I didn't come off like I was "correcting" you or anything, it wasn't my intention. I have a different opinion, but I'm OK with that. It would probably be wise to err on the side of accommodation, as Spencer's previous owner did, but I still would really be surprised if in the long run, the bird even noticed. Edit - I really wish I had a video of Spencer hanging from his boing attacking his bells - you might see why I feel missing a few toes is no big deal. I'll try to get one soon.

My pet room is carpeted knowing that it will have to be replaced when we/the pets move out. Dry poop vacuums easily and I don't have to worry about hard landings when Spencer attempts flight. It's spotted, but it's a pet room. Also, bunnies are NOT fans of hardwood or tile, so as long as we have Maggie, we'll have the carpet. I DO have an office mat under Spencer's cage to catch most of the runoff from his water bowl antics, BTW.

Old thread, but I just wanted to throw in that my budgie was hand-tame to the point that I could get a weight on her every day on my digital scale, but didn't like much more than that. On VERY rare occasions, she'd groom my mustache. She'd 'share' a play gym with my 'tile, but she was never really happy about it and let it be known she was the boss. Once we moved from our apartment to our house and she had a whole room to fly around in, she quickly reverted to being untame and getting her back into her cage was much more like herding. She never did talk - just had that obnoxious (to some) budgie yell and would occasionally impersonate a robin or other songbird. I also had two as a kid - neither tame in the slightest (one was a back-yard rescue who lost toes due to strangulation by his yarn 'leash' we found him with. He bit the CRAP out of my dad as he tried to get the yarn off, so we named him Jaws). They're all a bit different. I hope you're enjoying yours. BTW, I had mine on pellets and veggies similar to my 'tiel, with Nutraberries as treats. She lived to be 10 and died of a tumor or cyst. Birds Hangin' by oblivion9999, on Flickr

I don't buy Harrisons, but I generally shop/compare Amazon and http://www.drsfostersmith.com/ and figure any money saved at another site over one of those powerhouses probably isn't worth the time it would take for me to find it. BTW, they both sell Harrison's, but a quick glance shows DFS is cheaper. Free shipping depends on if you have Prime (Amazon) or go over $50 (DFS). HTH.

Yeah, I remember saving a copy on VHS, and then on my hard drive - long before there was YouTube to store all of these things for us.

Sorry for going a little OT here, but CeeCee, Spencer isn't big on 'typical' bird toys either. What he DOES love, though, is anything he can bang around the floor or bottom of his cage. It started with a rolly-polly kind of baby toy he came with, then it progressed to empty Gatorade bottles and other hard plastic things. Just last night I made him a 'toy' by putting some dried pasta inside an old/rinsed out ketchup squeeze bottle and he was happily beating the heck out of that when I left today. He chews up edges where he can, so his beak gets a workout, too. Just something to try if you haven't yet.

But which grey doesn't? Really, missing two toes should be a minimal inconvenience - of course depending a little on which two toes exactly. The only real 'special consideration' Spencer has is a sleeping platform in the corner of his cage, but like the horizontal bars, I don't think it's needed. He sleeps on a perch on his travel cage just fine. And he's only got two toes total. I agree with you on the Cragslist red flag, though. I meant to address it, but forgot to in my haste, so good catch. Of course we aren't seeing the ad, and perhaps the 'seller' would put any 'buyer' through some paces before the transaction, we really don't know. But the bird's age certainly causes concern and thus may lead one to jump to some conclusions.

My TAG only has 4 nubs on his right foot and 2 (front) talons and two nubs on his left. This requires different perching options and he can't hang from toys like a lot of other parrots do. His previous owner special-ordered a cage with all-horizontal bars, but I really don't think that was necessary as he gets up and down the vertical bars on his travel cage just fine. Surprisingly, he can even perch on just the wire rim of a cup-holder just fine - though I'm sure it's not preferred to a good perch. He has no problems eating, just doesn't hold a lot of his food. But he can hold some as well as some toys - he likes to hold a guitar pick in his nubby foot and scratch his head. Spencer was hatched that way and doesn't know any different - he grew up adjusting to what he has. I'd think the bird in the ad is likely just as agile as any other Grey. I'd be interested if it hatched that way or was injured, but either way, it shouldn't be a big deal. Also, welcome to the forums.