MarcusCAG

Hehe! Too cute!! Marcus does exactly the same thing--almost every time I vacuum the boys' room. It's so weird, it's like the vacuum triggers his desire to bathe! The silly boy gets most of the water halfway across the room and maybe an ounce on himself. :) But he never shows interest in larger bowls of water and he hates the spray bottle (which he gets occasionally anyway) so I just leave him to his vacuum-time water-bowl-bathing.

I really know next to nothing about eclectus parrots, so I can't offer anything spectacular in reply, but are there any patterns to anything triggering his screaming? The only thing that popped into my head is maybe he doesn't feel good somehow and maybe you should see your avian vet. (???) I'm just sorry he seems to be so upset.

Adorable! Thanks for sharing!

Thank you for sharing the pictures of the white squirrels, they are lovely! Near us (not in our neighborhood, about ten minutes away in another neighborhood) I once saw a pure black squirrel. It was so beautiful, all silky-looking and jet black. I heard that it had been living in the area for a few years. Pity I don't have pictures to share of it, too!

I'm not quite sure what happened to spark the debate and the upset feelings in this thread, but I don't think it was the issue of adopting a parrot per se. There are a lot of parrot owners here who have such gems in their lives because they chose to adopt a bird (or two or three!) who needed loving new families. Our two boys are both adopted/rescued, for instance, and my husband and I have strong feelings that we would never buy from a breeder--there are just too many parrots in need of good forever homes out there for us in good conscience to overstep them in favor of a bird without 'baggage', who just might be a little younger and little cuter. We can work with baggage. Marcus and Beaker both are showing us how far a turn-around parrots can perform when given plenty of love, attention, and care. It can be a little extra work in such cases, but we wouldn't trade our boys for anything. But please don't think you need to 'bow out' here because of all of this. Your picture of Hunter that you shared was lovely--I'd like to hear more how he is getting along with Amy in the future!

I. Love. The. Yawn.

You'd be surprised what pops out of his beak sometimes!! Long strings of nonsense words mixed in with a few intelligible phrases, and then a question clear as bell that he seems to want an answer for... But yes, I know pomegranate is a long word, and we haven't really been able to work on it since with him, but Marcus really doesn't have any favorite treats so far (almonds are nice, and chicken is good, but nothing drives him bonkers) and so since he sometimes says "Want some" when I eat pomegranate in front of the him, I thought it would be a good starting point, a decent incentive.

I think that's the best recommendation you could receive for this issue. A lot of people here are very sensitive to the issue of clipping a bird and have very strong feelings against it. Personally, we've kept our Quaker parrot, Beaker, clipped for a while now, and our CAG (Marcus) was clipped shortly after we adopted him. I have not seen any aberrant or depressed behavior in either of our parrots because of this, and in our home situation, I personally think keeping them clipped is the safer and more responsible thing to do at this point. That may change in the future--Beaker's flights grow in quickly (within 4 weeks he is essentially flighted again, he gets lift, I know people might not believe that but it's true), and he obviously enjoys flying in his bedroom when we go a little longer between clippings. Right now we're letting the boys both 'grow out' until summertime again, when the ceiling fans will be turned on. But again, that is just our household... you have to analyze yours and figure out what's best for all involved. Read the threads, the pros and the cons (there are good arguments presented for both sides), and make your own choice. And remember, if you do end up having your parrots clipped professionally (and I say professionally because there are some absolute HORROR STORIES of bad clips I've read about that are absolutely detrimental to the bird because they were done with complete ignorance and without caring for the welfare of the bird at all!) and in the end wish you didn't have them clipped, their feathers will eventually grow in again. And in terms of Hunter not touching his toys... if he's in a travel cage, a new and bigger cage will certainly give him lots of room to explore, and may inspire in him a desire to play with lovely colorful things you might hang for him there, especially if he sees your Amazon playing with his too.

Thank you, everyone, for all of your input. And thank you, Dan, for your comments about Grey role-playing. I had imagined that perhaps Marcus was envisioning the swing as some representation of the individual whom I simply refer to as "that evil man" who was his previous owner and apparently traumatized Marcus so much with the whole step-up command. I thought maybe he was trying to bite the swing and pretend it was that man, because maybe he couldn't bite that man before for some reason but wanted to. (????) These thoughts were particularly interesting to me. That idea hadn't occurred to me at all, about him psyching himself up to step up onto the swing. It would make sense, though. Marcus let me put his swing in his cage right out of the box without any apparent issue, he went right away to inspect it and everything (so far Beaker, our Quaker parrot, is truly the bird with more 'phobias' pertaining to new things, which surprises me). But he hasn't made any move to really perch on it yet, even though I let Beaker 'demonstrate' how it's to be used. So... maybe. He does like chewing on the plastic dangling chains though. Thank you for those comments... Thank you, birdhouse, and yes, I would love to be able to do that with him. Every once in a while I can convince my husband to M/R with me for a few minutes, and Marcus did seem to respond to it last time, after a short session one night we got him to say the "Puh... puh!" for the beginnings of the word pomegranate (because, much to my chagrin, everything is a french fry, he brought that with him from his last home, it's how he tells us he's hungry: "French fry?"). When I told my mom, she was like, "Why such a hard word?" but the boys do love their pomegranate arils... Anyway, my husband is impatient with the M/R process, unfortunately, and so far I have yet to convince any friends to come over and help me M/R for Marcus in that regard. It is on my definite to-do list for the future though, if I can arrange things to work it all out, it does seem like something that he would do well with just from what I've seen from him so far.

This is going to be quick because I need to get back to stuff here, but just a thought: have you ever just spoken to Zak about how you feel? Like, had a conversation with him about it and really just expressed how scared you get that he'll bite you? I'm amazed sometimes at how well my boys respond when I just talk to them about things that concern me with them--I don't know how much specifically they understand from it, but it's all usually just even a bit better afterward.

Hello everyone... So on this rainy day, I'm home cleaning. While I was in the bedroom making the bed, in the other bedroom I realized that I was listening to Marcus repeat a little monologue over and over. I quietly moved into the hallway and peeked around the doorframe without either he or Beaker noticing me. This is what I witnessed: Marcus was sitting on his long perch, before which and slightly above hangs his new swing. He has yet to climb on it but he has chewed at the dangling bits a little. Anyway, Marcus said to the swing in a sweet version of my voice: "Step up?" His feathers ruffled as he whipped his head down, his eyes pinning, and he made his signature SNAP! sound of displeasure. Then, lifting his head again, in a man's voice (not quite my husband's) he said, "No!" and he bit savagely at the swing. Then his feathers ruffled again, he looked normal for a moment, and he began it all over: "Step up?"... So my question is, was I watching some form of Grey parrot role playing, or daydreaming? Marcus, as many people here know, came to us with a number of issues, the "step up" command/action being a big one. In February, we were delighted that he stepped up onto us both a handful of times and didn't seem terribly distressed by it. It wasn't like he jumped up on us with adoring gusto, but he at least let us pick him up that way for a few seconds. So we are making progress to a degree. But what do you guys think of his little repetitive monologue? Is it self-therapy of some sort? When he finally noticed me he walked over and offered to kiss my fingers between the bars, he was his perfectly normal little lovely self. Any thoughts would be appreciated, thank you.

Perhaps I missed something somewhere, and I'm sorry if I did, but has Zak ever bitten you at all before? I mean, beyond a nip? My husband and I were both introduced to Marcus' bite pretty early on, mostly from curiosity on his part I think. I still believe that he never really learned his bounds in his former situation, I really don't know if he was handled at all, and he was wondering what he could get away with us at first. Now that we have a number of months' ground covered between us, Marcus knows what he can and can't do in the sense of what does and does not hurt us. Even I, the beloved one have received wretched gushing wounds from my darling boy (and believe it or not, our Quaker parrot has delivered bites almost as bad!). It comes with the territory. There are definitely warning signs to look for, but sometimes they get startled, sometimes they're just in a bad mood and I think they 'lash out' like people do occasionally, for any excuse of a reason just because they're in a cranky mood. I don't mean to frighten you saying this, but just so you know: if your Zak does latch on, one of the things I've found that works well with Marcus is to take my free hand and kind of push up and into his chest a little bit. It startles him (and I get his signature exhalation of displeasure, cute under other circumstances), and he lets go. Marcus rarely BITES at this point, if he reaches for me it is to pull my fingers up for a head tickle. But I know what he has done and still can do, and just the other day he bit my husband on the shoulder for who knows what reason? But we love him anyway, and wounds heal, and he's our boy. So if you really want to work Zak into accepting a harness, just take it slow, know there might be some bumps in the road ahead of you... but relax and adore him anyway. He'll relax more for you then and it will all be so much easier!

Gizmo is a beautiful boy--thank you so much for sharing your pictures! I'm so sorry to hear about your loss, but it sounds as though Gizmo has finally come into the best hands he could, considering... and like everyone else has said, yes, he certainly would remember you and your previous kindnesses to him.

Hello... I'm so sorry to hear your new baby is grieving so much right now, the poor thing. May I ask why Hunter's last owner had to give him up? He sounds as though he loved and was loved very much in his last home (my husband and I are just curious). But in terms of his screaming, like everyone else said, it will probably take some time for him to adjust to his new home, a new owner, and new surroundings. Think of it like a young child who was adopted by another family in another country. If they loved their family and weren't an orphan just praying for a better situation, you know they were upset when they were pulled from everything they'd ever known! So just talk quietly to Hunter, let him grieve and don't give him any reason to fear you (like getting upset over the screaming) and he will probably pass through this acute phase in good time and you both can really start to get to know and trust one another then. Hopefully, for you both, his pain will lessen soon...

Still haven't been able to get the link undone! I figure I'll get my hubby to try and play with it today, maybe he'll succeed where I failed, haha!

Sooooo beautiful!

Gorgeous photos of your gorgeous girl! Thanks for sharing!

Oh, that was just wonderful, thanks for sharing!

He looks very happy in that second picture in his new home.

Yes, the images are gorgeous! I'm sure the lack of power is difficult to deal with for you though... I hope you and all of your loved ones keep safe...

Okay, any help would be appreciated, because I am totally frustrated over this and feel ready to explode! So the toys I ordered for the boys came today. Great! They love them. But I noticed that I put the one toy too close to Marcus' water bowl because he's getting bits of chewed-off parts in it. Okay, let's move it to the other side of the cage... The quick link on the one toy is stuck!! Maybe I turned it too tight, I don't know. But I need it OFF and yet I can't get it to BUDGE after however many minutes I've been fighting it. Sigh. Any advice? I tried a wrench kind of thing and it didn't work. How about oil? Anything? Thanks...

Marcus does the phone thing too, with lots of different rings and lots of different voices! It really keeps things interesting... thanks for sharing your own 'telephone story'.

I'm so glad to hear more news of all of you. It sounds like things are going well still--brava!

I'm sensing a trick question here. But if I'm taking this at face value, I'd gun the car (or even if I can't, like if the 'constant speed' is truly fixed) and turn to my left. A drop off of two feet really isn't that bad! Yet I'm wondering, what makes it so dangerous? Can't we all just ride together?