JeffNOK

Gracie is a nine month old CAG female. Over the time we have spent together we have gotten very close. Our bond is strong and she trusts me. I worry she is becoming a one person bird. When she was younger, she would step up on anyone, but now she refuses to step up on anyone but me ( and occassionally my father who she has only met a few times but who it tall like me and has a similar voice). I have tried to expose her to different people over the months we have been together. She accepts treats from anyone, but if they ask her to step up, she walks away. This is a recent change. I had some students over to my home this afternoon, and in the past she would step up for her favorite treat--cheddar cheese. Today, she just would not do it. She wanted nothing to do with any of them. She took treats from their hands, but that was it. I also noticed that she seemed more comfortable with the males than the females. When women asked her to step up she walked away immediately. With the men she seemed to consider it--sticking her neck out and even raising a foot, but when it came down to it she decided against it. I am single and live alone and it's pretty much just Gracie and me most of the time, but I do have guest over weekly. What can I do to make her more at ease with others? I will never force her to step up on anyone--it will always be a completely voluntary thing--but I want her to enjoy the big world of people besides me. Is this typical?

I agree with judygram. I think the "garbage" comment was specific to the repetetive technique of just exposing a parrot to language in a meaningless way. I don't know what Barabara Heidenreich's video entails, but I assume it gives strategies for parrot owners to use to make language meaningful while interacting with their birds. On a sad side note, when I was 11 I got a budgie and named him Perry. On his first day with me I took a tape recorder and recorded myself saying "Perry, Perry, Perry..." over and over for 30 minutes. Then I left it by his cage and subjected him to it for a couple of hours. The next morning he was dead. Now, I doubt my tape recording had anything to do with it, but I've never tried that again!

The poicephalus group is considered relatively quiet as well. I read that Cape Parrots are as cuddly as cockatoos and as smart as greys without being noisy. Jardines are gorgeous and amazon like in their activity level. I've also heard pionus are wonderful birds, but very laid back. Have you thought about Eclectus? Eclectus are also considered somewhat quiet and they are stunning to look at.

LOL Hannah is a smart girl and your response to her is teaching her that language makes things happen!

Cheddar cheese. She doesn't get it often, but she loves it.

Welcome to the forum. Congratulations on your new baby. I'm pretty new myself, so I don't feel qualified to offer much advice except to say that a calm demeanor and lots of time just sitting and talking to your baby are the way forward. Three days is the blink of an eye. Don't set a time table and let things evolve naturally. Growls are a sign of fear, so don't push things. Let your parrot set the agenda. You have 50 years with this creature ahead of you. Just radiate love and safety to your grey, and I think you will find that he will adjust and thrive just fine. Also, a hand entering a cage is more frightening than a hand outside the cage. You mentioned that you have to put your hand inside the cage to change food and water. Is the cage not built to allow you to change food and water from outside the cage by opening little doors next to the food and water dishes? I've never seen a cage without those. I think if your cage is set up like this you should change food and water without putting your hands inside the cage. When I first brought my Grey home, she was also fearful of anything entering her cage. Once she was out of her cage,however, my hand was not nearly as threatening and she stepped up nicely. Don't be discouraged. Greys know when they are loved and as you consistantly show love your you baby, you will be amazed at the progress you will see. It may take a few months, but it will come.

My thoughts and prayers are with you. I've never owned a greyhound, but I have a good friend who has had several and they are really special. I'm sure Kirby was a joy. I have a 13 year old Lab that I'm afraid will be crossing that Rainbow Bridge soon. It's hard to let go, but the love they give outweighs the pain of loss. Bless you and know we are all here for you.

Love that expression on Filbert's face in the close up. It's like, "Here I am!". I doubt I will ever have a Too but it is great to enjoy them vicariously through this forum.

What a horrible dilemma. My heart goes out to you. What island are you supposed to go to? Is there a law in place that prohibits bringing in birds? I was considering a teaching opportunity in American Samoa and I read that they will not allow any animals aside from dogs and cats in from the outside, so I quickly decided against going. This might seem like an odd suggestion, but have you considered staying in San Diego and letting your husband go on his own for a year? You could possibly visit him every 3 or four months for a week or two. I spent a year in Romania and found that through skype I was able to maintain relationships quite well. You never know--your husband might learn to appreciate you more with a bit of distance--"Absence makes the heart grow fonder.." and all that. As far as what Dave007 said, I'm still new to greys, but my dog sure remembered me after a year away. He almost jumped out of his skin at the airport when I got back he was so overjoyed to see me. With greys being so intelligent, I'm surprised they would forget more easily than a dog. Again--I'm a newbie so I don't know at all.

I feed my CAG the exact same veggie mix a few times a day as a supplement to her diet. She seems to love the peas and corn and eats the carrots and green beans last. I've tried broccoli and cauliflower as well, but Gracie doesn't seem as thrilled with them. She also doesn't appear to like fruit very much. I also feed her Zupreme Wild and Spicy pellet mix. I was going to go organic and do Harrisson's but Gracie vetoed that. Occassionally I also feed Gracie some cooked chicken, eggs, and sweet potato. As treats she likes sunflower seeds, pine nuts, and cheddar cheese (all in strict moderation becuase they are too high in fat for general feeding). I guess the key is variety and balance. There are many posts in the forum regarding nutrition. Most fruit and veg are ok.

Love the pics! Thanks for sharing. Socrates looks great! Your color training was fun to watch. Very smart fid--she is going to live up to her name.

I'd recommend reading as many posts in this forum as possible starting out with the nursery forum. This is hands down the best resource I have found anywhere. Also feel free to post specific questions when the need arises.

God bless you for your compassion. It's good to be in this forum in the company of people with hearts that extend to all living things. I was teaching in Romania for a year, and I was in a car with some local teachers driving down the highway when a dog ran into the road. The teacher made no attempt to slow down or miss the dog and struck and killed it. The other teachers in the car just sort of chuckled and said "rest in peace" as the car continued to speed down the road without any attempt to stop. I sat there in shock fighting back tears of sadness and rage at the insensitivity. I'm still angry with myself for not saying or doing anything, but with the language and cultural barriers I took the cowards way out. That image is seared on my conscience forever.

AryoAsh, I can't imagine the color would be a significant factor. Before I got my CAG I purchased an aviator harness for her. Sadly, Gracie(CAG) wants nothing to do with it. I won't force it on her. I hope you have better luck because I think they can be great if accepted by the bird. Mine is sitting unused its package.

I'm sort of on the fence when it comes to trick training greys. I wholeheartedly endorse any interaction that is a fun bonding experience. I've seen some very entertaining videos on youtube of parrots that seem to enjoy doing tricks. What strikes me is that these videos rarely feature greys (except the ones where they show off their verbal skills like Einstein). I wonder if greys just don't really get into performing tricks. I think if I tried to train Gracie to do a trick, she would just look at me like "Give me a break..what is the purpose of this?" I tend to spend my time with Gracie trying to communicate with her and interact with her in more meaningful ways. More like I would do if I had a young child. Again, I'm not against trick training per se, I'm just not sure Gracie would enjoy it much. I'm curious about the experience of some of the other grey parronts here. Do your greys enjoy doing tricks?

I have no doubt that Gracie can taste what she eats. One example is cheddar cheese. Now we all know that cheddar cheese comes in mild, medium, and sharp varieties. They all look the same, but Gracie will not eat sharp cheddar. When she sees me slice a piece a cheese she immediately chirps and comes for a bite. Once I had sharp cheddar and she just spit it out. She always eagerly eats the mild. This was not a one time thing. She always devours the mild cheese and spits out the sharp. She must be tasting it.

I was off work this week as our school was on a break. After feeding Gracie breakfast on Tuesday I decided to take a nap on the couch next to her cage for an hour or so since I didn't need to go to work. I left Gracie out of her cage figuring she would be fine. I was asleep for a bit when I was awoken by Gracie flying over me three or four times. She did an aerial figure 8 --into the living room-and back to her cage. I tried to ignore it and go back to sleep. She chirped and squawked and flew for about ten minutes. Then everything got quiet and she suddenly said--as clear as day-- "STEP UP!". Now, I have no idea if there was any meaning in that, but I just had to laugh out loud because she did seem to have the agenda of rousing me from my nap and that was quite an appropriate way to express it. As I posted earlier she has been practicing a lot of pre-speech lately, so I knew some words would come soon. I was hoping it would be "I love You" (which I practice with her ad-nauseum) rather than "step up", but I guess we can't choose. She hasn't said anything since, but it was a thrill to hear actual English words (2 words!) come out of her beak! I'm a proud Dad.

Did I actually read that Bravo is quiet while Trance Music takes a nap?!?!? I'm seething with jealousy. <Smile> Only kidding (mostly)

Like judygram said, the waiting can be tough--but it is also sweet with anticipation and time for preparation mentally, emotionally, and materially. As far as names--it is such a personal thing. I'm glad I'm single because I didn't need to get approval from anyone. Before I knew my fid's sex I had three possible options. For female I decided on Sophie or Gracie. For a male I had decided on Miles. Well, one of my friend's ex-husband was named Miles, and she put a lot of pressure on me to reconsider. Thankfully my fid turned out to be a girl, and I decided on Gracie. Why did I choose Gracie? It just sounds like a happy name to me and I want my little girl to be happy. There wasn't any deep meaning and I didn't even realize the connection between Gracie (Grey-cee) and her being a grey. It just sounded happy and when I say it to her I feel happy. I think she does, too! By the way, I also researched tons of African names, but I have some strange ethnocentric idea that all animals are inherently American! Whenever I visit my friends in Europe I always subconsciously imagine their dogs and cats are ex-patriots abroad.

kins--it's so greyt to hear what a good family member Sophie is. It sounds like she has a good relationship with the whole flock--which isn't a given with greys from what I understand.

Definately make that fist if you can't avoid a bite--it works!

So, does it do any good to try to communicate to our greys that it's not nice to bite, or is it better to just read their body language and avoid the bite? As I said, Gracie doesn't really bite, but as Dan said, she is young (just turned 9 months). Will she be more likely to bite when she gets older? One other thing that I find works with the toy situation is that if she is poised near her toy when I want to move it or exchange it for another, I ask her to step up on one hand--then move her away from the cage while I use the other hand to handle the toy. When I do that, she just waits patiently for me to return her to her play top without any aggression.

I love Luigi! My partner's cat is named Luigi and he is a gem.

Looks just fine!

Sounds like you're moving forward. The best things in life require a bit of persperation. Sweat it out sweetheart!