MarcusCAG

How sweet!

My, oh my! That is a game! "Good boy, good boy"... not so good boy!

So I've been "working" with Marcus and Beaker a bit more with the magnetized alphabet letters. Marcus still is very interested in this new game and usually lets me get thorough about four or five words before his interest seems to start drifting. He particularly likes the letter 'S'. I will hold it up and he will mimic the sound: "Ssssss!" Last time I held up a letter 'T' next and he made the "Ssssss!" sound again, so I told him it was tuh, tuh instead. He still kind of wanted to make the 'S' sound so I tried to call my hubby in for a little M/R, but he didn't hear me, so I just dropped the issue and spelled out some other things for them. Yesterday I was holding a book that had big print on one of the pages, and since Marcus seemed curious about what I was doing with it, I told him I was "reading words" out of the book, like he does with the alphabet letters. I pointed out some letters we've covered a few times, like the letter 'B' (he may remember that from the name "Beaker"), and Marcus was staring at the page intently... so maybe. Maybe something's clicking. I don't know. It is a fun little 'game' I can play with him though, he loves those letters, and even if Beaker isn't picking them up like Marcus may be, he still acts interested sometimes too--just for the attention I think, haha. But it's nice for all of us, it's fun.

Jake: Are you keeping them as animal companions or are you hoping they will be a breeding pair? Even with a box they may never breed. Love them for who they are--they may very well be bonded to each other at this point, especially if they have not had much direct human contact over the past seven years. Hopefully someone else more knowledgeable about all this will reply after me but I just think you should give them what they need and want and forget about trying to make them something they're not, especially if they were someone's pets before.

Thank you for all of the thought-provoking comments, everyone. I just wonder why I do that? We don't have children at this point, but do parents speak to toddlers in the third-person a lot ("Mommy and Daddy are doing this or that...")? Maybe they do, it just feels kind of natural for me to talk to Marcus and Beaker that way. Of course we use "I" and "we" and "you" in front of them too. But the other night my husband came in to the living room with Beaker on his shoulder and said, "WOW!" I asked him what was up, and he said that while he and Beaker were leaving the boys' room, from his cage Marcus asked, "Where you go?" So even though it wasn't perfect English this time like it has been some others, it was close enough. He has the right idea.

I am so, so sorry to read this!! I think I would just explode from pain if that happened to our dog, I am so sorry! Your poor baby! :(

He's a doll in those shots! Thanks for sharing.

I've been looking into travel cages for the boys as we might be moving later this year, but we haven't purchased anything yet. Marcus and Beaker have their cages situated near the one window in their room, and the windows are old--from the seventies--and the two of them often sit in the sunlight that comes through the screen. I figure they get a little sunlight that way, at least, but I do think it would be nice to take them outside and let them really experience being 'out of doors' with us sometimes.

What pronouns do you use? I ask this because I've realized I kind of flip-flop back and forth between first- and third-person whenever I speak to Marcus. I wonder if I'm confusing him! :confused: For instance, sometimes I'll say something like, "Mommy's cleaning the kitchen floor, she'll be done in a little bit," and then a couple of minutes later I'll say, "I don't like it when you try and bite, it makes me feel bad" or whatever. I do the same thing when I speak directly to him: "Marcus is a good boy!" as well as things like, "You are such a sweetheart, Marcus, thank you!" I'm not sure why I do this. :mad: Anybody else have this problem? Do you think I should just try and stick with a certain pronoun or not worry about it? Marcus seems to understand me either way, really, I just don't want to mess with his head unintentionally somehow...

If I can manage to dig up a photograph in time of the Amazon I grew up with, can I submit him too even though he passed away a few years ago? All these pics are making me feel a little sad about him... But thanks for sharing all of your wet babies!

Hehe, that mental image: "it looks like I stuffed her in a frayed yarn ball!!!" Just love that! Marcus' toys get pretty beat-up looking pretty quickly. At this point we can afford maybe one new, big wooden toy to hang in his cage per month (his plastic one is ageing quite well by comparison, and he has no interest in his shreddable toys). He just rips that thing to shreds, and since he's kind of lost interest in his foot toys for the time being, that big wooden chew toy gets even more banged-up. But that's okay. I'm more self-conscious about the bird poop on the floor than a beat-up bird toy! That gets cleaned up after it's dried, it just seems to smear into the rug when it's still wet, yuck! I know if anyone saw the bird room on bad days though before I get to cleaning (especially if sweet potato was served recently), they'd be a little skeeved out if they aren't bird people, little messes and dried food and pulverized pellets and feathers everywhere...

I don't have any way to really take our boys outside, and my hubby isn't too keen on the idea anyway because of all the hawks in our area. I'm glad Brutus responded so well to it, though...

So in a post somewhere I believe I mentioned recently that I wanted to start exposing Marcus and Beaker (but especially Marcus) to the concept of the alphabet beyond the familiar ABC Song. My husband and I both read a lot, and I sometimes get the impression that Marcus in particular wonders why we're just staring at these books and not paying him all the attention he might feel entitled to. So I'll tell him "Mommy's reading" or some such, but I want him to have an idea--if possible--of what I'm actually doing when I tell him that. Of course, the past success of one particularly famous African Grey and his vocal identification of visual representations of various phonemes that make up words (goodness, let me just call it reading!!) makes me even more curious about this endeavor. Not that I am expecting or not expecting anything with Marcus--I'm just curious what he'll do with all this. To begin with, he just seems to love the letters themselves. I won't let him hold them or touch them; they're the Melissa & Doug variety but I still wonder if they might not be so good for him to chew on (and who wants mangled letters?). Anyway, I also got a little magnetized easel kind of thing so that I could be kind of like Vanna White or something while I'm spelling out the words, haha. Marcus said "OooOOOooohhh!" a lot in the beginning but he's quickly seeming to get the idea, in his own little way, that this is a fun game and maybe, maybe, maybe he's understanding that what I'm showing him might relate in some other way to other things in his life. For instance, last night I decided to have an impromptu lesson with the boys. I've spelled out their names for them a couple of times and made a big deal out of the individual sounds the letters represent, but I thought maybe they'd want to see something else spelled out. Yet while I was opening the box with the alphabet letters in it, from his spot perching on his open cage door, Marcus mumbled something and then said quietly, "Letters." "That's right," I told him, "these are your alphabet letters." He watched me for another moment or two, and then Marcus mumbled again and added softly, "Reading words." "That's right!" Oh, I was delighted! "We're going to be reading some words!" And today, during another impromptu lesson, I spelled out words I thought might be of more interest to the boys than some others: 'book' and 'chicken', for instance (Beaker in particular loves chicken!). After that, I asked the boys what word they wanted me to spell next--again, just to see if I might get a reply at all, because Marcus isn't always chatty when I necessarily want him to be. But Marcus said, "Okay!" so I ended up spelling out the word 'okay', haha. Following that, I realized that I might be even losing Marcus' interest, so I asked the boys if they wanted me to spell out some more words for them, or if they wanted me to stop for the time being. "Whatever," Marcus said. So I put the alphabet letters aside for the moment and told them I would resume their lesson later. And for whatever it's worth, I think it's nice time spent with the two of them, but I honestly think Marcus is very intrigued by those pretty, colorful wooden letters. When my husband (yay!) actually took my suggestion and played with the letters with them after I did last night--I don't want the boys to think only I can spell things out--he spelled out 'wings' and 'food', and he made the "ffffff" sound of the "F" when he held it up for Marcus to see. Marcus was on the floor at that point, and he made a little "ffffff" sound too. I kind of think that was just a coincidence, but my husband was just tickled and thought he was trying to imitate him. So, we'll see. But I wanted to let everyone know how it's going so far, I will admit I have this little daydream that Marcus will be able to identify the letters and their respective sounds after a while, but what does it matter even if he doesn't? We're having a lot of fun right now, and that's what's important.

In terms of #6, I actually like having the choice of printing or writing cursive.

I live in the US, so I don't think I can be of any direct help, I'm sorry, but for those forum members who live in the UK--what is your Grey's name in case he/she is spotted?

Reading your wife's message brought back a lot of memories for me. I had to put down a beloved cat about seven years ago, he was young and the vet told me he was fighting to stay alive despite the injection, he was kicking in our arms, that was so hard for me to bear... I wept profusely for a month straight, longer than that even, everyone thought I was insane, "it's just a cat"... So I think there was a wall up inside of me when I read your wife's post, I didn't want to personally revisit that pain again, but I can still feel for you and what you've all been through. There's a tightness to my eyes and a tenseness in my throat and I am so sorry you all had to make that decision, but I agree her little chirps were either her way of saying good-bye, or her letting you know she loved you. They have so much trust, these animals, when they know how much they're loved and wanted in our families. It's the way it should be. I'm sorry her little life was cut so short by this illness but she had a good life with you, and I know she appreciated everything you all did for her.

Cosmo is a looker! Congrats on the new member of your family's flock!

Nice to meet all of you, Spock and family! By the welcome you've received here in this thread I can tell you're a beloved part of the flock here in the Grey forums... I look forward to hearing more of your (Spock and Joey's) antics soon.

I'm sorry to hear about that situation. In answer to your initial question, though, YES it is very possible to rehome an older Grey that has been abused/neglected and in time develop a wonderful relationship with them. Our Marcus has a somewhat similar background to this Grey you're thinking of adopting: He's been in a few households in his eight years, the last one seemed attentive enough (clean cage, regular feedings) but he had not been taken out of his cage in three years because the woman who cared for him was very afraid of his bite. Before that, he apparently belonged to the woman's son, but he spent a few years out on his back porch and we got the impression had very little interaction with humans then, too. On top of that, when we adopted Marcus we found out that he had been traumatized by a man (presumably the adult son) because whenever we tried to get him to step-up, he would throw these scary little fits and yell in a big man's voice and stamp his little foot around. Even though he still will not willingly step up for us except on rare occasions, at least Marcus doesn't throw those fits anymore... But he's really come around in the time we've had him, about six months now. I think the influence of Beaker, our Quaker parrot, has been a good thing; they're not buddy-buddy or anything but they definitely do enjoy each other's company in their shared 'bedroom'. And Marcus is just blooming under our doting love and attention! He was picky about my homemade food and pellets in the beginning (he was on a diet of strange, colorful bird food that looked rather like kiddie cereal) but now eats them with relish, his vocabulary is just growing and growing, and he loves head-tickles and being kissed on his beak and he LOVES it when I sing to him. You can tell he is just so happy. :) And even though there's still a lot to work on even in terms of his issues with being directly handled (like a step-up), I do feel that with enough time we'll overcome that hurdle too. So even though I only have the experience of Marcus to share and speak from, I think that if you do end up adopting this other Grey, in time you both will be able to develop a lovely, trusting relationship, as well.

I am so sorry to hear about this... thinking of you and your family right now...

Poor Sully! I'm sure he misses her, but it sounds like it was a good decision for your dad and Zoe Ann...

What a beautiful video! Thank you for sharing that.

Glad to hear he's such a healthy boy and that he survived his vet visit, haha.

I don't have any advice really, everyone else seems to have covered that, but have a safe trip.

Hehe, what a handsome Grey! The red-factor feathers (that's what they're called, right?) are quite striking how they're arranged on his chest...