MarcusCAG

I'm sorry your baby his given you a bit of a scare... Marcus has cut himself a time or two on his cage (on his forehead, above his eye) and I just put a tiny bit of ACV in his water to help ward off any infections and spritzed him down with a squirt bottle filled with aloe vera juice and water to rinse the cuts. (It was warmer out and the cuts had already basically stopped bleeding.) He healed up on his own within a week or so. Green leafy vegetables and other fresh produce should supply all the nutrients and things to help the process along that is needed.

That's awesome! Even the smallest accomplishments can make us parronts so giddy over our fids! It sounds like your Gracie is really coming along, JeffNOK, and that you two are forming a wonderufl relationship together--so cool. It's funny, though, Marcus really doesn't wolf whistle. Tybalt is actually the parrot that has mastered that in our household, and he came to us knowing it.

Someone please correct me if I'm wrong about this (I very well could be!), but I remember reading somewhere that Greys have clutches of eggs that are often larger (in number) than those of other parrot species because they have a tendency to be destroyed rather easily. I assumed this was because they laid their eggs on the ground/closer to the ground than other parrots, so maybe that has something to do with what your little girl is doing. ^^

Yes, the articles look wonderful (I started reading one, lovethatgrey--and the one sticky on body language, Dave, thank you, I somehow missed that before), thank you everyone for your advice, recommendations, and commentary! I do have a lot to learn, some days I feel pretty 'on the ball' with understanding our flock and other days I'm just totally treading water. (Sigh!) I'm starting to think all the issues I had with Marcus stepping up last year, and he being so new with us, was just compounded with him really just being hormonal, because he's acting the same way all over again. (Except he no longer has his crazy little stomping/yelling fits whenever we ask him to step up, thankfully!!!) Birdhouse, you're always a wellspring of avian insight... And Dan, I do remember that video with Dayo trying to bait Jake and Jake being so sweet... that just slipped my mind while I was watching Marcus and Tybalt together, but I guess it was essentially the same thing. Tybalt unfortunately seems to have a death wish, though, so I have to be quite on my toes if they're both out of their cages at the same time. Can't wait until these raging hormones calm down a bit again!

Marcus just made a joke!! Or at least something like one. I've read before how Greys have senses of humor and will sometimes say funny things that reflect that, and this is the first time I've ever heard Marcus apparently say something with the intention of being witty... Just a few moments ago, he was out here on his playgym and we told him it was bedtime. He stepped-up nicely onto my wrist and I started carrying him through the house to the birdroom. As I opened the door and turned on the light (he helped me 'knock' first by putting his beak to the door), Marcus suddenly said, "It's shower time." I looked at him and said, "No, you know it's bedtime," but he had already started up with a jubilant version of my husband's laugh: "HahaHAHAHAhahaha!" I couldn't help but laugh, too--actually, it was contagious! And once he was in his cage and I was running to tell my hubby what he'd said, I heard him back in the birdroom, repeating rather gleefully: "It's shower time. HahahahaHAHAHAHahaha!"

This is an interesting concept... we have fluorescent lights in our kitchen, and they flicker sometimes, but I've never seen any adverse effects in any of our flock because of them. Tybalt does try to 'help' me a lot when I'm doing the dishes, he'll prance around on the counter; and sometimes I'll drag Marcus' playgym in there too and we'll all hang out while I'm doing chores. But I've never seen any of the birds get weird or aggressive or anything.

I've heard it referred to as a 'sucker punch' when a Grey bends their head down as if requesting a tickle or scritch--but then they twist their head around quickly and bite you! Marcus has been rather hormonal lately, I think he's building me a nest or showing me what a great, manly chewer he is via all these toothpicks he's making out of his toys and such lately. Well, our Indian Ringneck, Tybalt, is almost as bad these days. Today Tybalt was in uber-love mode and, after wooing the rest of the willing flock, was trying to flirt with Marcus through the bars of his cage (Marcus was on the bottom grate and Tybalt was on the rug a few inches beyond his reach). In response, Marcus kept putting his head down and pressing it against the bars of his cage. He was all ruffled up, but not in a happy way--more like his "I'd charge you if I could" look. He kept calling Tybalt by my husband's name (???) and would look up occasionally to see if Tybalt was responding. Honestly, it looked like he was baiting him with an aforementioned sucker punch--or he was actually trying to get Tybalt to groom his head or something. (I know, that's probably very unlikely.) So I was just wondering if anyone else's Greys have ever acted in a similar fashion to any of their other birds? It was interesting to watch, but I was glad I was so close to them both that I could quickly intervene if necessary.

Most of our flock is made up of rehomes we adopted through Craig's List. They've all come with their baggage but, with enough time having passed now, we're really starting to see them all come into their own. It's really beautiful to see... Just because this Grey is very attached to its present owner doesn't mean that it can't form a meaningful bond with you someday, too. I like to think that, even if it would have been better if all of these 'secondhand' little ones had been able to stay in their respective first home as a forever home, and been loved by their original human flock and cared for properly, they certainly could have done worse than ending up with us. And that's the thing. How many people out there are really willing to put in the time and effort, dealing with bites, plucking, and etc. for who knows how long, all while caring for these creatures in a loving, knowledgeable manner? Not many! So if you know you can give this CAG a great home, and a forever home, regardless of how long it might take them to learn to trust you, then I think your answer's already there staring back at you.

^^ I guess that's a hint that nobody is going to come crawling out of the woodwork here. I did actually notice that a lot of the articles online about those parrots seemed to be written by owners/breeders in Australia... I'll have to check out the forums now, too. Thanks!

Hello everyone, I just wanted to "update" things with our Tybalt! Occasionally, he will still eat my skin but I've come to think he needs a lot more protein than I have generally been giving him. Whether or not I wear the lotion seems to make little difference anymore... he has been acting very feisty and hormonal (which just makes me crazy with Marcus in the same boat right now and they're both so often making trouble because of it, yikes!). But I've been giving him hard-boiled egg or small pieces of chicken every other day or so now, and that seems to be helping. Sometimes he will land on my arm now and look at my skin, as if he's thinking, "Hmmm..." but I'll say "No!" and he'll generally look up and just kind of squawk at me in his happy voice. He seems to be adding new inflections anymore, like he's really communicating something besides his normal "Meek-meep!" My husband calls him a muppet anymore, hehe... I do think it's interesting though, recently online I read that in India, sometimes they'll capture Ringnecks from the wild to keep as pets and "tame" them by stroking them on the head... my husband had just started attempting that a little while ago (petting his head), and Tybalt now seems to be falling in love with him, he is so flirty and attentive with him anymore! (Granted, it might be the hormones and whatnot these days, too.) So when I read that bit online about the Ringneck head-petting it was a bit of a lightbulb moment, and occasionally I can even get away with stealing a few "head tickles" from Tybalt now, as well.

Someday, Gwen, I think you will look back and remember these issues through the veil of time that smudges the edges a bit... that is how I feel with Marcus. I remember getting annoyed with my hubby once because he just turned to me and said of Marcus, "He's never going to step up!" and to me, that was so discouraging. But I just said something about how we'll see... and we'll see, indeed! He still won't step-up for my husband, really, except onto his lovely couch cushion but Marcus steps up for me all the time now! So it's like those months where he wouldn't, were just a dream. I really don't even think about those difficulties anymore; I'm just so glad that Marcus is well on his way to acting like a normal, healthy parrot--and surprising us immensely in the process! Who would've thought he could be such a wonderful clown?? <3 He will, Dee, he will!

Does anyone own, have past experience working with, or even just know anything about any of the Asiatic parrots aside from the Indian Ringnecks? I have been doing a bit of reading on them lately and am just amazed at how many 'cousins' our Tybalt would seem to have! Derbyan, Alexandrine, Moustached parrot, the Plum-headed parakeets... I'd love to hear some species-specific stories if anyone has any to share! Thanks in advance for any replies!

Oh, a part of me would enjoy that very much someday! And thanks for sharing the video of Mabel, she is a lovely girl! Imayes69: Your baby sounds a bit larger than our Marcus, but on the box it says that the Adventure Pack can hold up to 'small cockatoos' so perhaps he could fit after all. Marcus is quite comfortable in the Pack now and we've gone on a few nice walks with the dog... I have yet to get my hubby to take any pics of us, though! I will share them when I can and hopefully that may help with you making a decision, too.

She's growing up to be a big girl.

How cute!!

And that's definitely a good thing. Please keep us all posted as you two continue your life journey together...

Yes, that was so uplifting to watch, thank you so much for sharing it!

My hubby sent me the link from work... we don't actually have HD TV or get any channels or anything, ourselves, so unfortunately we'll miss it... but he said that it should be aired on the local PBS channel in whatever area you're in, as it's advertised as a Nature program. I don't think it's a new special though, because elsewhere I looked up its title and it's supposed to be out on DVD now, too, but I can't find online where it might be sold.

Well, I'm just speaking from my own experience here, but we adopted our Marcus through CL and we never met prior to bringing him home... I saw the ad, called for details, talked with my hubby, and a day or so later we were driving a distance to meet this mysterious new Grey. I felt so much adrenaline! I didn't know what was going to happen. But he was there, he had his cage, they didn't spend any time with him and he hadn't been let out of his cage in over three years--and we wanted a Grey. Done and done. He came home with us and there were some issues in the beginning, yes, but in no way do we regret our decision at all. Actually all of our parrots but our cockatiel came to us through Craig's List: Tybalt and Beaker both were meet-them-and-take-them-home-the-same-afternoon scenarios, too. I mean, really, what can you do? I know some people like to "test out" personalities and such, but my feeling is if you have the time and the desire and patience to care for a bird, if a bird you know needs a home, then what's really the issue? So in terms of your situation, I agree with luvparrots that it sounds like this Grey needs a new and loving home. If you want and think you can handle another Grey in your home, why not just jump in with both feet unless there is some overwhelming gut feeling that tells you to do otherwise?

http://www.wusf.usf.edu/tv/channel/wusf_tv I figured this would be the room to post this in--apparently there is going to be a special on parrots from Australia tonight: "Parrots in the Land of Oz" on WUSF TV at eight. Just figured somebody here might like to watch it, if they know it's going to be on.

Yes, it does, Gwen, thank you!

Well, Marcus' new Adventure Pack Travel Cage was delivered today... at first, I wanted to allow my husband the honor of putting everything together, but then I re-read everything and figured I could probably do it without too many issues. (I am not very good with that type of thing, haha!) Thankfully, I think I did everything right, and now the Adventure Pack is assembled and the canvas backpack has successfully be zipped up onto it. I am not quite sure what to do about the snaps though, there does not seem to be enough to roll up the little 'window shades' on the sides, because I snapped the top on everywhere the snaps seemed to line up, and there's none left over... ah, well. Anyway, on to the important thing: How is Marcus reacting to it? At this point, he is fine if I just have him step-up onto my hand, and then I place him inside. I made the mistake at first of trying to shut the door and zip up the back end; he got a little upset over that, and he was breathing kind of heavily. So I told him he was a good boy when I took him out, I told him how much fun the cage will be. And so the next time I offered him to go inside again, he stepped into the travel cage and I didn't try and shut the door or anything. He looked around for a moment and then--up came the foot! (So cute!) So I let him step-up and out of the cage, we cuddled, I distracted him with the computer for a minute or two, and then we tried again. That time, too, he waited for a few moments and then up popped his little foot to step-up! So we will just have to do things at his pace, and we'll see how things work out in a week or two. Bunsen did "model" the pack for a bit (she wasn't too happy to be in it all zipped up, either), so I know Marcus knows what it's for now, and when I put it to the side all zipped-up and empty, Marcus went "Whoo!" and I asked him if he liked it, and he gave his equivalent of 'yes' ("Woof, woof!" ...Don't ask me where that came from, because I don't know!). So it seems like a nicely-designed little out-for-an-afternoon travel cage, and I will post pictures and et cetera once Marcus has become more comfortable with it.

Yay, congratulations!! You and Louie make such a great team together... Hooray for his first official step-up! In some respects I'm in the same boat as you with our Tybalt, he is just stepping up now and I'll look into his blue eyes and think, I know you want to trust me more, and I want to trust you, but how can we do this without making each other too nervous in the meanwhile? He gave me a 'clown nose' last week when he tried to "kiss" me like the other parrots "kiss" us--but he has no idea about pressure or anything yet! So it's all baby steps when it comes to so many of these parrots, the baby steps that add up to big accomplishments; and with enough time, respect, and love, I believe it will be like these issues we fret about so much now, were never there.

Oh, poor little Oboe. I'm so sorry about this incident... I can't offer any advice about the beak-rubbing, maybe someone like Dave007 or one of the other mods would be able to reply with any certainty? It's probably something that would be very obvious if we could think like Oboe--maybe the meds just feel particularly messy on his beak, and he at least has the energy to keep himself 'clean' if not groom anyone else. Ah, I just hope he starts breathing more easily soon! And birdhouse, about the Gerber: I had a total cow (and posted in near-hysterics here) the one time I made birdie cookies by a recipe in a book and bought the Gerber cereal, and realized in retrospect how much iron was in my birdie cookies. I believe there are other baby food products out there now with a similar consistency but not the same supplementation, that could be substituted. Personally, I just haven't used the baby cereals in my birdie cookies since, since I'm a bit paranoid now. But I check out even the little jars of pureed food to make sure that all the ingredients okay, because sometimes things get slipped in and they aren't even labeled very obviously on the boxes and such.