FirstPenguin

Yeah I know, my language when I'm home isn't exactly the cleanest and I'm trying to curb that. We mainly use the Xbox as a media streaming and playback platform (all we have in our bedroom is a second xbox, a bluray player, monitor and speakers) but when time permits a FPS or two has been known to be played. On a related note, we had a movie playing and it was interesting to see how Elwood payed attention to the movie which was a fairly dialogue heavy film with little flash to the imagery. I've been leaving music playing when I leave for work and sometimes I log in remotely and switch it over something on Hulu. I've adopted the idea that quiet is a sign of danger for a lot of prey animals and while they do need quiet a steady background noise can be a good thing.

Yeah, we started traveling with our Senegal just after getting her and now we can take her anywhere. I know greys are much different, but we're hoping to get some semblance of the frequent exposure and socialization that our Sennie got. So far it looks like even after one trip to the vet and one trip out of town, he's getting accustomed to the carrier. In those pics all but one are in a home he was only in for a weekend. Everyone talks about birds not eating when they're nervous, or not playing. Those are two things Elwood excels at. He loves foot toys and eats well wherever he is. Elwood gets 1 up...

likewise, I like to hear what people shoot with, feel free to share.

aww shucks no blu-ray. I can't remember the last time I bought a regular DVD.

So it's been a solid week with Elwood. He's still "asking" for mush and eats quite a bit of oatmeal when allowed. However, he eats pellets and some of the fresh food we provide him. He seems to be a fairly solid eater since the first day we got him home. I took him to my parents place to visit, which involved a cab ride, a train, and a car while in the carrier. Going there he was a little panicky at times and he whistled every few minutes on the train. That was friday evening. He was not a happy camper that evening. The second day we set him up on a small play stand and he settled in really well and was eating and causing trouble like you would expect. He almost broke a few things. So overall it was a good trip. The reverse ride back he was MUCH calmer. less than 5 whistles or so, and little to no pacing. Seems like he's getting used to it quickly. He got onto a chandelier more than once.

Thanks, I spoke to the breeder a few days after we got him and she felt this was in no way unusual and said he would eventually get back to his regular food. He likes to ground forage so when I let him out I sprinkle pellets and some seed on top of his cage play top and he spends a good 20 minutes or more up there nibbling away at at it all, going back to crumbs from something he just crushed and sent flying. However, after that he wants mush. The main places we're trying to discourage him from flying are the places that already are our Senegals territory and we want to establish that. Problem is it's not fair to put something scarey in an area where you want our Senegal to be but not our CAG.

Thanks again for all the kind words. He seems to be settling in well. the night before last we had our first epic skritches session. He flew back to his cage and then flew back 5 minutes later for more. Last night he was a little more independent. We called in a favor and had someone personally go pick up one of the old-stock get a grip nets since the shop that had them kept putting us off by 2-3 days at a time and we don't live in the area. Elwood is already flying onto our Senegals net so it's a safe bet it's worth the effort to get. I was quite entertained since the person we knew in that area is fairly successful and mentioned she'd have her assistant ship it to us. I kind of imagine the assistant looking at this pile of rope wondering why it's worth shipping all the way across the country. I am a bit concerned about Elwoods eating habits, he's regressed a bit since we got him (it'll be one week as of tomorrow) when I get him up and in the evening he makes baby grey sounds (you know the dinosaur ones) and is quite eager to be fed mush of some kind. I shared some oatmeal with him the first or second day we had him and he seems to expect it now. He does the pump action with his neck and chokes it down while some he eats in a more normal fashion. The people I've asked (breeder, avian vet, bird shop owner) seem to think this is normal and I'm not too worried but wanted to get some opinions here about it. Please weigh in on how long i should let this go on before consulting with my vet again. If I do spoon feed him mush once a day what should be in it? Right now it's Bob Red Mills thick rolled oats, hot cereal mix, canned pumpkin and crumbled pellets.

Came across this while I was browsing. Not as big but lighter and cheaper. https://www.windycityparrot.com/mobile/home.asp?#page-598

Came across this while I was browsing. Not as big but lighter and cheaper. https://www.windycityparrot.com/mobile/home.asp?#page-598

The biggest issue in this case is not finding the design or the skilled labor, it's sourcing a rope that is bird safe. Plenty of places sell rope for toy making parts but I never find anything over half an inch in these situations. For a CAGs feet I think you'd want a minimum thickness of 1inch. The existing get a grip we have I believe is 3/4 rope and when he lands on that his toes go all the way around. I contacted two sellers on ebay that sell Manila rope. One siad he doesn't know what's done to it during import, and the other flat out said no this is not safe for birds.

He is such a handful. He's a lot stronger than I imagined and already flies down Shortly after you start eating. Plus, he was allowed on shoulders at the breeder so he has no hesitation to land on your shoulder and reach for what your eating. I'm definitely trying to discourage him from intercepting food as I'm trying to raise a fork to my mouth. However, I didn't realize how much of an extendable reach these guys have. Let's say you're sitting on a couch with a bowl in your hand. He will climb down a few inches and reach out and hook onto the rim of the bowl. After having smaller birds you develop a natural distance to hold your bowl in that situation. I do see some of that Grey clumsiness, but I think I imagined a bird who is clumsy even despite careful calculated movement. Elwood reminds me of the newfoundland puppies (large working breed dog)I that I grew up with. They were big lumbering out of control bull dozers that didn't always apply the brakes soon enough. Not that I'm disappointed, I love that about him. Who wouldn't want a flying puppy.

While I've only had a Grey for about.... 50 to 60 hours I've been quite focused on traveling with our Sennie in various ways and tried quite a few options. I own the mini and medium size of the king's cage. We use them as sleep cages. I've never seen the big one but the medium one is not light weigh. The handle on top is to flimsy to feel secure holding it one handed. These cages are really well made, maybe too well. You could probably get something roomier and weighing the same for the same or less money. Not that you can go wrong with these. We like to keep our birds among the family we visit so they don't feel left out. Some of the more skittish people do not like them out of the cage. So we like to use the cheaper wire cage since it's far easier to move from room to room and keep near the action. It's something to consider if there are children involved. Though I wouldn't leave them in it since the latch and coating are questionable.

[Qingy;266870]It looks like Parrot and Conure World has cotton and palm nets in stock http://birdsupplysales.ashopcart.com/catalogue.php?exp=28|55|67|&cat=70&shop=1 Thanks. But I feel like 3/8 inch rope is a little light for a CAG and that's the thickest they have. It's also the small side. This is why I'm exploring making one I'm aware of the cotton one called the OG Crawler which We may opt for if DIY doesn't work out.

[Qingy;266870]It looks like Parrot and Conure World has cotton and palm nets in stock http://birdsupplysales.ashopcart.com/catalogue.php?exp=28|55|67|&cat=70&shop=1 Thanks. But I feel like 3/8 inch rope is a little light for a CAG and that's the thickest they have. It's also the small side. This is why I'm exploring making one I'm aware of the cotton one called the OG Crawler which We may opt for if DIY doesn't work out.

I found this article on how to make a climbing net. Any thoughts on what kind of locally sourced rope would be good for a project like this? Our new CAG has shown an extreme interest in our Senegal's net. We were going to get a get a grip net (what our sennie has) but there is only one person I can find with old stock and she's being very difficult to deal with because "her store is swamped" and doesn't seem motivated to make sales like this over the phone. http://www.birdtricks.com/blog/how-to-make-a-climbing-net-for-your-parrot/ We'd really like to find abaca aka Manila rope like the get a grips use. Our Sennie LOVES the texture of it for chewing and rubbing her beak head and face on. I might settle for something cheaper locally sourced rope and do a practice version. We have to regularly retrieve our new CAG from the net and we've only had him two days.

[QUParrots fchck;266848]Very cool! Who was the breeder? There is one here who i adore, her name is Lou and i have been to her place several times now. I like to go there just to ewww and awwww. Lol Her name is Wendy Craig. Google Wendy's Parrots. She's got a website with her take on each species which is worth reading in my opinion. Does anyone have a recommendation for ways to interact with a very willful stubborn fledgling. Sometimes he only wants to be on the highest spot in the room. I've been letting him play with foot toys on top of our bookcase. Doesn't have much desire to come down from there and I don't want to force him unless I have to. I've also given up getting a get a grip net. I had found a store owner out of the area that has old stock but she's being difficult to deal with and keeps putting me off for a few days at a time. I discovered an article on how to make your own. Any thoughts on where to source Manila rope locally or what would be a good alternative?

Thanks, your info reminded me to mention Elwood was hatched in the DFW area.

Just got back from the vet. Just over 4 months old and 440 grams.

It's official. A perch was held to my head and I picked a name. So without further ado let me introduce to you, Elwood. Here he is experiencing Central Park for the first time. We'll probably get a carrier better for walking around soon. In other news we saw our avian vet who was quite impressed with him and commended the breeder he came from. I won't have the lab work back for a few days but he checks out on the initial exam. Weighed in around 440.

Thanks I'm aware this may be a honey moon period of sorts. He's already causing trouble. Targeting high spots we don't want him on. The toy hook on the play top is currently his favorite spot to perch. He's quite stubborn but doesn't mind being handled.

So it's been 3 years in the making but I've finally got a grey. His name is still pending. According to my girlfriend I have till 3pm tomorrow to decide. That's when we go to the vet and have put something on paper. For the moment I thought I'd share a few bits from today. We both had half days at work and picked him up at 3pm. We took a train to the airport. Both station and airport were a zoo of people headed somewhere for the holiday weekend. We tracked the flight the whole way. Smart phones probably exacerbate OCD behavior, but it's pretty cool to sit in a cafe and know which state your precious cargo is over. We got him in the traditional air crate carrier and went back the way we came. This guy may be only 4 months old but he's already rode on trains, planes, and automobiles. During which, he started to make small chirps, whistles and unidentifiable grumbles. We got him home and literally cut him out of the carrier. The carrier had been zip-tied closed at 4 points on the door. I was expecting him to take his time leaving his carrier and also to be wary of us and take his time to letting us handle him. It was the exact opposite! He bolted out of there as soon as there was a space big enough. Not only that he flew straight for shoulder. I was debating whether to let him on my shoulder. It seems I don't have a choice now. I'm going to try and get him to be on my knee or chest height more. Please ignore the ugly human. After a while on my shoulder and a flight or two to my girlfriend he took water and a pellet or two (all while on my shoulder) and had no interest in exploring the cage we had setup. We hung out in the bedroom for a bit and suddenly I feel the weight on my shoulder becoming lighter. He had scaled a hoody draped over the headboard. Sat on top of the headboard and preened. Eventually, we approached the cage and he didn't show any hesitant signs so we got him to step up and he went straight for the foraging sphere we had hung in there and then proceeded to another colorful toy that was brand new to him. We got some fresh food in him and ourselves. We also popped something bubbly to celebrate. He found the bubbles extremely interesting. Towards the end of the night (for him) he started exploring the playtop of his cage and sat on the corner facing out and surveyed his new digs. This kind of careful observation was more or less all I expected on a first day home after such a travel ordeal. Eventually he decided that the toy hook was a good place to perch on since it was highest. At some point he made some phone calls while playing with my phone which he honed in on pretty quick. Looonnngg story short, he's here and so far I'm really happy with how much I can handle him already. All of this and more happened in a very short period of time. Thanks for reading this epic. I'd write out more but I need to sleep. Day two starts soon enough.

Well said, but I still feel some of the more senior members are at times hard on people who are coming here having read poor information elsewhere.

I appreciate that, i wasn't referring to anything you said. I think your comment was one of the nicer on topic comments I've seen. I was referring to the way Dave answered my question. I've made some sarcastic comments on here and have since resolved to be better with in this community because we're all here for a common interest but we all come from different backgrounds. Unfortunately there are a few bullies on every playground.

Well look on the bright side, from what I read RIM could really use the business. Nilah just wants to preserve the diversity in our mobile ecosystem.

Your assistance is appreciated but in that case I didn't appreciate passive aggressive comments like you tell me.