Doug

Regarding Varo's food, what did his breeder feed him/her? You're probably better off sticking with the same food while Varo adjusts to the new home.

You never know what will catch their imagination (OR why it stops being interesting to them)! At almost ten months old, Ellie only recently started getting fully engaged in my bigger play-stand, climbing all over it and playing with all of the toys. Ellie spent about 45 minutes today playing with a bit of twine that had a knot tied in the end: Once the toy is gone, play with the string by shyzaboy, on Flickr

I wanted to make a play-stand entirely from natural wood. This one is more of a jungle gym than a play-stand... I like sycamore branches because of their twists and turns. But those twists and turns are typically on a fairly large scale. I found a huge sycamore growing next to the road and cut up some of the dead branchs and hauled them home. This is the mash-up that I made (with a couple old towels underneath). It is very bulky. Ellie likes to climb all over it and chew up the bark. Kelleigh, on the other hand, is not fond of it AT ALL... One problem is that once Ellie picks off the papery bark, the wood is very smooth. That makes the vertical sections too hard to climb. I think I'll go back to hibiscus... Not the most successful design by shyzaboy, on Flickr

Exactly! (I was worried that I didn't describe it sufficiently...) I'm pretty sure she wouldn't be too happy if she managed to swallow my finger...

Painfully cute!

You'll especially notice it if Gracie is very relaxed (in her cage, for example) and no-one is around. They can be a bit shy about practicing new vocalizations. They seem to start with the cadence of speech. The actual sounds (words) come later. Is it dry in your house? I curious if all of that scratching is because of dry skin (versus molting)... (Ellie has only lost a couple feathers - well there are always a few down feathers floating about - and she is almost ten months old.)

Ellie does that as well. (She's almost 10 months old.) She also begs me to feed her like a mama bird would. She crouches down, lifts her head up, opens her beak and bobs her head forward and back. I tell her I'm her friend, not her mother, but she doesn't believe me... She usually does both the noises and the begging first thing in the morning when I take her out of her cage. Or if I've been away from the house most of the day...

The folks in my club gave me a bit of a guilty feeling since I got a baby grey instead of rehoming a bird. A lot of people on this forum have taken in older birds. Depending on the previous environment, it may be a bit of a challenge. All the stories that people on this forum have shared have shown that, with love and patience, even an abused bird can become a cherished member of the family.

I'm sure that eventually she will learn that when she messes with my desk that she goes back into her cage. A battle of wills...

The past couple of days I've given Ellie little peanut butter sandwiches. I cut a piece of sandwich bread into sixteen pieces and used two for the PB sandwich. I put the rest of the pieces into a bag for other mornings... I don't know how much she actually eats, but she has fun tearing it up.

Same with Ellie. But things are (apparently) a bit less "standardized" in Dubai...

Unfortunately, she would still prefer to spend time on my desk tearing up the paper and playing with all of the telephones and wires...

No question. No question. Now if you had taken over your daughter's closet while she was still living there...

Judy, Ellie is trying to look like me, of course! Unfortunately, her beard is no more...

Even if there aren't many greys in the club, they should be a pretty good starting point - suggest places to look, connections to make...

When I took a shower yesterday, I took Ellie with me. (Not shocking anyone with that, obviously...) I left her on the shower curtain rod while I dried off and got dressed. Apparently I didn't notice a little poo that she left behind. My 10 year old son thought it was a worm when he went to take his shower that evening and freaked out. Oops. I do try to check to be sure that I don't have poop on my shirt when I leave the house...

Mine, from King's Cages, is 32" wide and 25" deep (inside dimensions). Seems like a pretty good size for Ellie (a TAG). I would've preferred a larger cage, but I don't know where I could put a larger cage. I have the top of her cage tricked out with three tree branches (in addition to the stuff already on the top) (one of the branches is visible in my current sig picture - and another branch partially visible here), so she has a lot of room to roam when the door is open.

One option is to see if there is a local bird club. If so, attend a meeting or two and ask for recommendations. I first saw Ellie as a tiny baby at the bird show put on by the local bird club. I spoke to the breeder for a while, took her card, excitedly convinced my wife to "let me" get a Grey, and called the breeder as she was driving home from the bird show... I didn't do any research into the breeder and I kinda regret that, but I'm glad that I have Ellie!

What did the breeder feed him? Sunflower seeds and fresh corn only? Or some type of pellets? Something else?

I have a home office with a play-stand in the corner. (See this thread for details.) (Note: I moved the jute-wrapped ring into the "stop sign" area at the top...) Generally, Ellie only would spend 30 minutes or so on her play-stand before flying to me or my desk. While I DID let her nap against my chest (with one hand over her head) yesterday, it is nearly impossible to get any work done if Ellie is at my desk - she will NOT stay on my shoulder. As such, she usually ends up back in her cage (in another room) until my next bathroom break. For some reason, the past couple of days she's hung out on the play-stand for a couple of hours at a time. Of course, I keep my camera handy... If you click on the picture, you will go to the picture's page on Flickr which has different sizes and some additional explanation (if it isn't obvious enough!) Once the toy is gone, play with the string by shyzaboy, on Flickr The rare bearded African Grey parrot by shyzaboy, on Flickr Untangling the twine by shyzaboy, on Flickr Hanging out on the swing by shyzaboy, on Flickr

Depends on whether you've displaced normal household items for your storage bins...

I'm gonna need to set up a dedicated work bench with storage bins for all the parts in bulk. Which may just be enough for my wife to get me declared legally insane...

I've got to get my butt in gear and order some toy parts!

Is that easy to find?

Softer than pine? Cork? I'll have to try the adding machine paper - if I can find it. Does anyone still use such a critter?