Morana

I tried with peanut butter;he doesn't like peanut butter-go figure:-P I'll try this with splintered wood. Sounds like a great suggestion:-) Thank you all:-) I'll let you know how it goes:-)

Well, there is a complication will all your suggestions because I already tried all of them and nothing.. I had a (more than a ) few typs of wooden toys hanging out of the cage and in the cage. I played with them, even put it IN my mout like I'm chewing on it. Wrapt it in a plastic bag (because he adores plastic bags-because they make sounds he likes when you touch it) so it would pique his interest. It is not a type of agression towards doors. He really likes chewing on the doors:-S I think it keeps his beak in shape. I hanged only that type of toys for longer than two months for him to play and nothing. I tried with peanuts and a various range of nuts placed/inserted beetween wooden parts. Nothing..

I watched it and that is exactly what I am doing now, but big tnx anyway;-) PS about one of my recent posts here: Zak began to screem when I go to work since we moved to new apartment so this is something to be aware of for those who are moving sometime soon;-) I believe he is still a bit unsure about his surroundings so he doesn't want to be left alone and causes him to react this way. I hope he gets comfortable really soon:-)

Tnx, I am gonna look at it the first thing tomorrow when I come to work because I am unable to watch videos (for now) while I'm home..

This crossed my mind while reading another thread about training;-) Zak likes only shreddable toys but he wants to chew doors too. Problem is that he doesn't like any type of wooden toys I present. No matter if it is a foot toy, or a piece of wood-if it doesn't shred it is not at all interesting. I know he is chewing on doors because he has needs but I actually have no idea how to interest him in a wooden toy and in a way that he would keep that interest. Any ideas?

I just wanted to mention- I tried rewarding with attention or if he is scared with something like "click with a clicker means the scary thing is going to go away" and here I had some success but not so much. I figured he connected two things he shouldn't have: clicker+being scared. No matter that the scary thing goes away after the click, the clicker is always associated with something scary so the clicker becomes negatively reinforced. My mistake was that I didn't positive reinforce clicker on its own to begin with... Now I don't give fruit in the bowl at all , instead i click and reward,and again, click and reward,.. I started that on Tuesday so we'll see how that goes.. Also, one of the videos that I saw today made me pay even closer attention to unwanted sounds Zak makes. I started completely ignoring unwanted sounds and reinforce with attention the ones I like. I'll reward it with food when I find something I can carry easily in my pocket;-) The thing I'm gonna try tomorrow is not giving breakfast, instead click and reward with fruits and serve breakfast when I am off to work so he would be preoccupied enough instead of screaming when I'm leaving..

Tnx;-) I missed Zaks baby years in a way that I didn't even know training existed or that there are even types of toys and that Zak could prefer one type of the toy of another-which he does;-) So as I didn't know that, he didn't play much or he played with potentially dangerous home made toys...and so on.. Not to mention I could have avoided aggressive behavior all together, or stress- when introducing new things,.. So no, he is not a re-homed parrot. Zak doesn't like,at all, walnuts and hazelnuts:-S He gets them every day but nothing.. I tried in a shell, without it, grinned into mash,...nothing. He chews through dry fruit but doesn't eat it..

Popsicle: Hi Morana, The things you said are interesting. Got me curious about something though. Were you going out with your boyfriend already when you got Zak? Was it a joint decision or did it happen before your BF? Why doesn't he like Zak? Any specific reason? I had Zak for several years befor my BF came into our lives. The combination of things is responsible for my BF not loving Zak. I'll try to simplify and shorten the story. When my BF and I met we almost immediately had to decide are we going to forget about each other or live together. That was because we lived at the oposite sides of our country, haven't finished college (but he was very close to finishing), without money and both had our last relationships to be longdistance ones so we were sure we are not up to that again. So he moved to my small apartment,and when we got all the furniture we needed for joined lives, the small apartment became tiny. So when youl live in one room with a bird and you are asthmatic (<-BF), got no place tu turn around to be alone, the bloody bird is always bothering you because he wants to be with you, or calling you to come and play, and my BF worked 3 yobs at the time and was exausted, overtime the annoyance towards the bird became frustration and anger and I would say latent agression as well. So, after almost 3 years living in that tiny apartment where everything is subjected to the bird (because Zak was here first) it became a BIG problem for us. Unfortunatelly, on top of it all, BF is Zaks favourite person so Zak was asking for much more attention from my BF than from me which drived him a bit more insane. So no, my BF doesn't like the bird. I haven't seen it (so clearly) till now. Popsicle: About training, maybe you just need to learn some new things, to help you improve the quality of your training. I think you kinda already get the picture where the problem is. Here is a bit more. I was a student for a long time because of my big medical problems. That means I couldn't work except tutor a bit at home. Didn't have money and the books I read were so general and not really helpfull. So, my bird was neglected for a long time because of my ignorance (not that I new I was doind something wrong). Side by side with my medical problems I finally got my head out of my ass and started digging more on the internet about parrots (because I finally realized something must be wrong). I found birdtricks.com. I raised money and I bought some of their dvds. This opened my eyes and I had progress with Zak within a week. Afterwords everithyng stopped because I lacked more money and you can't buy toys you need for Zak, food or books here where I live. Not the appropriate ones anyway. Everything he needs has to be ordered from abroad. Somwhere about that time I found this forum which was a huge revelation. However, i still have a BIG issue: with what to reward a bird (in training) if he is eating his favourite foods all day long!? I mean seeds and fruit. Why is he eating like that? Because I can't order pellets all the time and I still have trouble on switching Zak to a mash or veggies. Also, I don't have the time I need to be continuous in training, or anything really..:-S. It was/is always something (like it usually is in life;-)). I had to hurry up with finishing college, everything in my body was aching and I needed also to cook and clean; tutor when I could, so once again, Zak was on hold. Now is school which was overwhelming me with work; my BF had a huge surgery a month and a half ago and I had to renovate the whole apartment in which we would finally move..and once again..Zak is on hold...:-S I read the book (you suggested in your post) two weeks ago (while riding on a public transportation because it is all the free time I had) and that is why I said I always learn something which proves me wrong. I also watched some of the videos you suggested some time before and I have lot of materials from birdtricks.com but somehow it all seems like a SF to me in practice. I start, not get the results and later on I figure I missed something or did something wrong which I don't see while I'm doing it. Now I am finally cathing up with forum and Shanlungs stories so I am putting some begginers tips into practical use. I am a late bloomer;-) I realyze some stuff in theory but practise..Uh.. I wont give up, I am very determined to make my relationship with Zak the best it can be but I am ashamed that I'm kinda back and fort for better half of the year.. Also' I missed Zaks baby years so I have a lot of learned bad behaviour to correct which is very challenging. Finally, summer came and I'll have a bit of free time now to dig even deeper and try to correct some issues. And finally... The biggest problem is that my BF is kinda undoing everything I achieve with Zak because he doesn't want to read anything, doesn't want to listen to what I read, so he is treating Zak in lots of ways which are bringing Zak back to old habits and whatever I try to say something about it, and whenever I try to talk to my BF about it he gets crossed and we have a fight. So, yes it is a big problem and I'm kinda trying for Zak to have less interaction with my BF. My BFs reluctance to accept any advice/information about Zak is a result of a greater disatisfaction about which I'm not going to talk about here. Sorry for the spelling:-)

I moved just last week so I can tell you what I did but it could have gone better so I'm waiting for other people to post as well;-) I made sure everything is in its proper place when Zak came. No boxes laying around. Everything was tidy and clean. First we brought his playstands, put up his boings and cage. Decorated the cage with his familiar toys. While doing that he was in a carrier and someone was talking to him the whole time because being in the carrier is also stressful to him. When all preparation was finished (it didnt take long) family gathered and we let him out of the carrier. He was extremely cautious but we cheered and encouraged him every step of the way. Never the less, he was very scared and nervous the first night and a part of the next morning. Not proud to say, but he wouldn't get in the cage on his own that first night and he didn't eat till next day. In our case, it looks that the best help was that we let him out the next morning, fed him some treets and let him explore the apartment. So when he decided on his own that the surrounding is not so scarry he calmed down and got back in the cage to eat. Windows were the problem but now that is ok too. He gets scared by the noises in the building because it is all new to him but I calm him down, talk to him a lot and make him new toy(s) every day so he would stay preocupied with other things.

I am really glad that you want to inform yourself about owning a Grey. It is a great responsibility. I don't know are you aware of the fact that everyone in your family will have to know how to handle the bird, including ones that babysits her. Just yesterday, I think, I wrote how awful it is when the only people you can leave the bird with don't know how to care for it properly no matter how hard (and how many times) you try to explain it to them. Sitting with the bird and talking to it won't cut it. Are your parents prepared to be left with the bird, maybe even permanently, when you all leave for college, life,...? Another thing...please don't even try to get the bird online. There are so many shelters for parrots. It would be very great of you if you would consider re homing a bird. Those birds surely need care. ..or at least contact some breeders. And just want to mention (things you probably already know)..no smoking where the bird is, no feeding her crap. She needs special/proper diet. Food is also expensive. Also, you just need to be prepared that something can go wrong and, like me, maybe you'll have to pay vet checkups 3 days in a row. Lot of money... I am especially glad that you wouldn't get a bird before finding a vet. Make sure the vet is really good and that you trust him/her completely.

Could you please explain this so I could understan it? I don't know that expression and context is not helping me in this case.

Hi! It is nice you wanna have a Grey but there so many other questions that need to be answered first. From your text I am assuming you are still in school. Am I right? If yes, you seriously need to think are you going to educate yourself further and could it mean moving to different town or country or/and how will it afect your free time (which now you have for a bird). Will you live on your own? Where will the bird be while you are away? If you go on vacation, do you have someone trustworthy to leave your bird with? Do you now have a good AVIAN vet? Do you have money for vet checkups, toys, food, cage, playstands,books,cage,....? There are so many more pressing questions which need to be answered first. About the possition of the birds cage. It musn't be drafty. How warm exactly does it get in the sun room during summer? Aside that your mom doesn't want to change pans, is she and the rest of the family ok with you bringigng home a bird? It is constant thinking whether all the windows are closed so the bird won't get outside and get lost. They also must be aware of things like that.. There are so many things to mention that I will stop for now and let you consider this first. IMO don't get a bird if you are not sure whether is the right moment to begin with.. Think of the bird first. When I aquired my bird there weren't these kind of information available about parrots/Greys so I thought I was prepared. If I had known this much (which is not a lot) as I do now I wouldn't get a Grey because the bird is the one who suffers if we can't, in any way, provide for them.

Lol. Once again you made me laugh:-) As I said, I'll try to aquire the warning stickers which look really nice (but the store didn't get back to me yet) and sain ;-) And about post-its... I tried to stick them in a way that looks like I have transparent drapes with green squares so my neigbours wont think I'm insane , not just yet anyway ;-)

wow! Well, that is another story ;-) But still, the green post-it thingies look kinda dashy! Lol :-P

No, that too would also be out of the question unless you wanna scrape it down of my squeaky clean windows yourself ;-P Really visibly green post-its are up and running;-)

I think about what I got myself into when I need to go to (summer) vacation and can't take Zak with me. That period Zak stays with my parents and they just don't cut it. He needs/wants so much more and they do not/can't understand that. Since I don't have anyone else I would entrust Zak with, it really troubles me. I'm tied down which I don't like but that doesn't get even close to giving him away. The plan is to train him really good and get a car so he could travel with me. Other thing is my boyfriend. We live together for quite a while now. He is Zaks favorite person but my BF doesn't like him, doesn't want to spend time with him, doesn't respect him,he hates screaming,.. and so on.....so me and Zak are sometimes really miserable. This is also not the reason (at all) to give my fluffy birdie away but it has to cross your mind when getting a grey. I can't entrust Zak to my BF so you've got to ask yourself is that something you could handle. It can get very hard and frustrating. And although I am young, I already picked (and arranged) whom I would leave Zak to if something would happened to me. So, long story short, I wouldn't give my birdie away but some circumstances make it hard to handle. Maybe I gave you something to think about... PS: the thing that is No1 for asking myself what I got myself into is my constant failure in "training" Zak. WHY have a parrot if you fail in creating a greater bond/relationship and giving him everything (in this case,mostly, mental stimulus) for being a happy bird. Every day I read something about parrot companionship that proves me wrong... It seems like I always fail and my birdie will suffer the concequences. It is soooooo frustrating..

Thank you all for great advices!! :-) I already contacted the store in the UK for those window alert stickers. Till then, I'll be sticking post its on my windows or will keep shades down. It took me 4 hours to clean those windows after renovation of the apartment so I think I would loose it if someone (including me) would make them dirty again (so soon)..;-P

I'm trying not to fall from the chair (from laughter) because I'm at work and it wouldn't look too professionall, but man, this thread is just precious!! LOOOOOOOOOL

Congrats! Can't wait to hear all about your birdie ...and do hurry with the pictures! ;-)

Looool! I was laughing soo hard when I read this! Little mischiefe! Love it! :-)

Finally we moved, couple days ago (that is why I wasn't around with you all), from a small attic apartment to a bigger, "non attic" apartment:-) I have a problem tho. Windows are all very clean and it looks like there is no glass so Zak flies into them, and, when he does that, he flies hard. I'm really afraid for him. He's gonna break his neck this way one time :-S What can I do to prevent this? I pull shades down but I can't keep them down all day. He didn't have this problem before because the attic windows weren't vertical to the ground so he didn't perceive them as an extension of his surroundings. Now he gets spooked and flies straight into one of them. Please help! Also, I tried putting some "obstacles" in front of the windows so he'd know something is there and not to ram into them, but I'm not sure it helps...

Now I know what I'll be doing all summer;-D Great ideas people! Tnx!:-)))

Please note that peanuts can contain fungi on their shell so they can be harmful to your bird. If I used a wrong term (fungi?) someone will correct me.