snoepgoed123

ahh I love it!!! The only time he really flies towards me is when I have a bowl of food in my hand... or am about to go get food, or I'm thinking of getting him food... like this..... and he only ate like 2 hours ago... I need to prep all his food or else he won't eat (he has pellets in his bowl on the stand)

aww thats cute... I wonder what she would do if you were to say no...

I feel like Archimedes is a bottomless pit... and he's constantly hungry! He loves his mushy pellets (Tops pellets with a bit of warm water). He eats them so much that his crop just sticks out and is just completely solid... I don't wanna overfeed him... but he really likes his food... oh and I only give him around 1 tbs at a time, because I don't wanna just leave the wet pellets in his cage (not that that's a problem for him) and no... he doesn't like eating the pellets dry (I leave dry pellets in overnight, and he won't touch them)

TWIX I'm in the same boat as you, Archimedes is still a baby, but I'm hoping that one day I can get some awesome dialogues like these going too...

thanks everybody, Archimedes is doing so well! he really loves food! That for me was the biggest concern is to make sure that he eats enough, and now that he's here a few days, I can see that he is. He's still not eating pellets as much as I want him to, but if I add a little bit of water and let them get a little mushy he eats em up like they were as awesome as french fries. Once he gets better at eating food, I'll probably start to move them back where they're supposed to go and maybe shortly after that we can start foraging for food rather than outright eating from a bowl (since it's more mentally stimulating for them) But like I said, I wanna make sure he's eating enough first before we start experiments and all that good stuff.

I keep hearing about all these wonderful conversations that your greys are having with you, and I hope that eventually Archimedes and I can share the same joys that you guys have. I am curious, is there a correlation between the amount of chirping that a bird has at it's infancy stage to speaking/mimicking ability it has as an adult. Archimedes is quite the vocal little man (LOTS of squeaks and chirps), and I'm just curious to know if this will be any signs of whether he will want to talk once he gets to an older age. ohh also I'm kinda curious, what was the first word that your grey said to you? (just a ps... if he never talks I'm quite happy with that, though I just think the conversations that your greys have is so cool, and it would be awesome to actually witness that in person)

yes birdhouse, that's the size, per everybody's recommendation, I took out almost all the toys, leaving 2 small dangly toys and 2 balls in his cage (and took out like 6 different toys)... he's settling in a lot better, but I'm scared he might not be getting enough food... we have the first meeting with the vet (avian specialist) tomorrow so I'll see if I could get a couple portions of formula feed... I mean, Archimedes IS eating (boy does he eat) but I'm scared that he's not eating as much as he should...

he's been eating for the past 45 minutes, just chirping away and munching along

we have a wood burning furnace, and a few years ago the thing started smoking, nothing serious, just smoke, but it was enough for the fire alarms to go off. The fire alarms were so loud, that I wanted to get my chinchillas out of the house and used the opportunity to make it a fire drill... luckily they were so stunned, and sleepy, that with little struggle, I could get them out of the cage. Next time, weather permitting, I'll have to see how I can do a fire drill incorporating all 3 of the animals... But it is right what you're saying... it's one thing to have the stuff for an emergency... it's another to actually be faced in an emergency... and while just smoke alarms isn't an "actual" emergency... we need to get practice in acting like it was an emergency

oh man, was it a lot of work... we pretty much added the whole safe food list into the chop.... we blanched all the food just to be safe. Archimedes gave it a seal of approval which I'm happy about!!!!

and can I say I'm really excited! My dad and I picked him up yesterday, and I got to spend around an hour with him before I went to work (boo) and he was still awake around 11.30 when I came home from work and today he woke up at 6... so needless to say, neither of us got much sleep last night. He's doing this weird thing where he's trying to bulldoze the side of his cage... He'll put his head down against the bars on the bottom and will just run... my guess is he just wants to be with us... but eventually he settles down and he took a nap... here are some pics from yesterday On the way home too busy playing with all his new toys to take a picture *I spy something grey with a red tail* ohh also we made a BIG BUCKET OF MASH for him... and he LOVES it... took 3 hours because we blanched everything (just incase of bacteria) and of course he picked his favorite person... my father... :confused: :confused: and of course he's the one that did the least work getting prepared for having him home... but oh well... things can always change

yup, right now Archimedes is a lap and hand bird only. We're still learning to trust each other, and until we can read each other's body language, he won't be coming anywhere near my face, and when he does, it will be on my terms. I do believe that discipline given correctly, and befitting the act is very healthy, for children... and since greys have the cognitive abilities of children (to some extend) they would also benefit from a correct and healthy amount of discipline. and your story of how Sophie picked you guys is adorable, I loved that the family let her decide and not have the family decide (because it's her life that's being changed)

ya know, I was actually thinking the same thing... could a cag and tag hypothetically mate... I know curiosity killed the cat... but I'm curious... just look at all those macaw mutations that are out there, some are completely different sizes and they're bred...

not only can it dry out the skin like luvparrots said, but a lot of blow driers have teflon coating (why i don't know) or ceramic coils.... so I really wouldn't risk it... also air drying is most natural for them... if it's really an issue, you could always take your grey to the warmest part of your house to dry if temperature is a factor

aww thanks guys, yea I am REALLY EXCITED!!! my father might be taking a half day... maybe... see if I can convince him to go get Archimedes today... I *really* don't wanna wait until the weekend... heck... if I had the travel cage with me yesterday I would've picked him up! And Artoo... I think you're the first person to realize he's named after Archimedes the owl.... talking owl, hopefully talking parrot... most people are just like ohhhh ok... but a lot of other people are like "THAT TOTALLY FITS HIM"

haha thanks for all the great stories guys! These fluff balls really know how to rule the roost don't they!

I went to visit him again (YES HES OFFICIALLY A BOY!!!!) and I told my mother to watch him for one minute while I go give the breeder some money before I forget. I barely pull out the cash and my mother screamed (why I have no idea) I thought he was dying from how she's screaming... well apparently he was flying because a couple of seconds afterwards he flew past me, luckily he stopped at the cages or else he would've face planted into the glass storefront. Also happy news, I fed him his first red bell pepper, and boy oh boy does he like bell pepper! (it also makes a nice distraction when I'm putting on his harness, since I have started harness training) And LASTLY!!!! He can come home!!! next time we go to the breeder we get to take him home, he's off of formula, but I asked the breeder if I could get some just incase, and he said that if anything happens that Archimedes isn't eating properly I could always bring him by. oh also mini story.... some guy stopped by the breeder this weekend and saw Archimedes and wanted to buy him, of course the breeder said no, and then the guy offered him more money, and wanted the breeder to call me to see if I can let him buy it... the breeder was just like uuuuhmmmm no... aint gonna happen... but geez louis the nerve of that guy! (he wanted to buy a grey that day, didn't wanna wait for any of the babies)

In my other thread about my last visit with archimedes I forgot to mention another little thing that happened. I was walking around the bird room and I was checking out one of the macaws (scarlet). Well... Archimedes did not like that I didn't give him undivided attention, even though I was engaging him ("look at the pretty macaw") and he let me know... he nipped me twice, any time I payed too much attention to the macaw. I know that I can't have him on me while checking the macaws in the future... but if he gets jealous about this, what else will he be jealous of... and what are ways to combat jealousy

yup, believe it or not, just cuz i'm buying a CAG does not mean I'm made out of money haha. And like my breeder said, a $1300 bird and a $8000 vet bill is crazy (which it is, in a way, but we all here are crazy right) so when I get the insurance... that price will not be as scary... were it to ever happen. mini story... I used to have a cockatiel, and one day he was eating some type of seed, (those little itty bitty seeds) and the husk of the seed somehow got under his eye, and got infected. After a $100+ vet bill the eye was still infected... then a day later he was flying around like the crazy bird he is and flew into a wall.... seed popped out... my mother is joking that we should've just thrown him at the wall in the first place. Point of the story, my tiel wasn't more than $100 but we took him to the vet to get him fixed, and if we had that insurance, we still would've paid the copay but it would've been a lot less.

oh I am so ok with the finger nibble... and he used to nibble, and I was fine with that... its where the CHOMP and chew chew chew comes in when I start to not like it so much. The button thing I knew about... back when we had a cockatiel, he was OBSESSED with the rubbery buttons on tv remotes and such so I'm somewhat prepared to go into the hiding the remotes, turning them upside down (though I don't think Archimedes will have a problem turning them back up) I told my mother, anything that you don't want broken... put it away for now (glass stuff that can fall if he lands on the mantle and such) and we can bring it out later... we'll see how that goes though

I went to see Archimedes this weekend, and he's discovered his beak... I'll be the first to admit, I'm not really enjoying this stage. By discovering his beak, he's also discovered 2 things he can do with his beak, the first... Finger's (don't) make good chew toys. And the second... holding on to mommy's phone is (not) fun. The first one, I don't really enjoy because frankly... THAT HURTS geez louis... and it's not just the bite, it's that he chews like you wouldn't believe (well maybe you would). And the second I'm not really too fond of because the screen is made of glass and I don't want him shattering the glass (and possibly ingesting that glass) PLEASE tell me that this is a short stage... even if you've gotta lie

aerial, just wanna add to what you were saying, (because I spoke to them too today) that there are 2 plans, and the one you're mentioning is the higher of the 2 (but it's better because it includes regular tests) the basic plan is around $18 if I remember correctly, and its a $50 deductible and covers around $7000 expenses yearly (this includes surgery, emergency care, medication, things like that)... also like you said, the bird needs to be in your care for 60 days, (and also needs to be 3 months old, plus after you sign up it takes 14 days for the coverage to start... oh and you need to pay for the first 2 months upfront) (ps, I hope you don't feel like I'm stepping on your toes, because that wasn't my intention, just trying to help with the information that I was given)

I wanted to start a new thread, of what 5 things every CAG/TAG should have. Now obviously a cage/perches/food/water are given... but what are other things that your cag/tag can't live without... (or other bird) try to be more specific than toys... say what type of toys are your fid's favorite and you'd be in trouble if you don't have one of those around.

aww thanks everybody! (yes he is cute/sweet/adorable... I agree 100000000%) and I know I'm gonna be in trouble when he gets home. I know you asked jeff, but for anybody else that's curious, Archimides will be coming home hopefully within 2 weeks... right now, as I'm writing this (2/11) he is 13 weeks old (hatched 11/10/12) so we've got a few more days to go... but boy oh boy am I excited to have my baby home!

awww I love the soaked picture of her, it's like she's saying "I might be soaked, but I still look darn good!"