neoow

Hello Sam, welcome to the forums! Congratulations on your adoption of Alex! Here's just a few things that spring to mind. Others will be able to offer further advice, I'm sure! First off- 5 days is absolutely nothing in a grey's lifetime. So Alex is still going to be adjusting to the changes that have happened. (And for some greys, any teeny tiny change is a BIG thing, so imagine what a rehome must be like!). Just ease off a bit. Let him explore and adapt. Let him come to you, rather than you go to him. It will happen, he just needs a bit of time to learn to trust you. Secondly- some greys do not like people in their cages. They can be very possessive of their cages- it's their territory. He also needs to be confident enough to come out of the cage. If you put your arm in that cage and he doesn't want to come out- he will bite. Every time. Open the cage door and sit near by. Give him time and space so he can work out that your home is a safe place to be and that actually, he DOES want to come and explore a bit more. Try not to rush him into anything. Every parrot is different. Every African Grey is different. Let him do things in his own time and he will learn to trust you. Try to rush him or "force" him too quickly and all you'll end up with is a few more bruises/holes on your arm. When are you petting him? Is he coming to you for the fuss? Is he showing you that he wants to be fussed? If he doesn't want to be petted then his only response will be to bite. Try and find some resources (either on this forum or elsewhere) about body language in African Greys. This may help distinguish what kind of mood he might possibly be in and whether he's ready for fuss. I cannot stress time and patience enough. Grey's will do things at their own pace whether you like it or not. Look up some of the threads about a grey called Miss Gilbert here and you'll see what I mean. Her owner is doing an utterly fantastic job of moving at Miss Gilbert's pace and there is SO much to learn from those threads. Another good one to look up is Dorian. Some things will take days, others weeks and some years.

How sure on her feet is she? If she's still a bit clumsy, the only thing I'd recommend is lowering the big perch in her cage and putting some old towels at the bottom of it to pad it out. She may not be used to climbing around a cage so may have a couple of falls. Nothing to worry about, but the landing will be softer if on a towel rather than bars. You may also over time want to add a few more toys in her cage so she's got more to play with (unless she's going to be out for most of the time except for sleeping). Plus get some spare toys so you can switch them out when they get battered and worn. I'm so excited for you!

Widget's sister is called Pixel. My housemate and I both work in ICT, so computer themed names were a must!

You do such amazing work. I can only imagine how chaotic it all must feel at times!! Vincent is in good hands and will be allowed to thrive. I, like Acapella, struggle to just stand there and take a bite. It's as much as I can do to let nothing more than a pained whimper out. I keep as calm as I can, but there's still a reaction of some sort! In fact, Alfie has been known in the past to nip me then say "ouch!" afterwards!

Blimey! Clever Brutus! What an awful feeling that must have been though. Once when I was cleaning out Alfies cage I (for whatever reason) took both trays out of the bottom of his cage at the same time. I set about emptying the bottom tray and scrubbing the top barred tray without much thought. I looked up at Alfie and saw that he was intently looking at the bottom of his cage. I followed his gaze and saw one of the cats wandering around the bottom of his cage having a good old sniff. My heart jumped up to my throat as I realised what I'd done. I usually leave one tray in when the cats are about so they can't get in and climb up the inside of the cage! What an idiot! Fortunately nothing came of it- the cat was too distracted by sniffing the bottom of the cage from the inside so I managed to lure him out with a toy and put a tray back in. Alfie wasn't hurt and neither was Widget (the curious cat!). Phew!

Wow, look amazing! Great work!

Alfie isn't a cuddler and is a 'no-shoulder' bird as he likes to try and find ears to nibble. So I've never heard his heartbeat before. Must have been pretty amazing though!

That's pretty cool. The mental image is really cute. I never really thought about it being possible in birds/parrots.

Hahaha awesome video. I love this in comparison to the other two videos. The cool, calm and collected grey's then the totally crazy amazon! Put a big smile on my face.

What an AWESOME idea for a snack! Talon obviously loves it!

This time next week!!!! Not long now!!

He might be flapping his wings to regain balance if he feels a little unsteady on his feet? I'm not sure. I wouldn't have thought it was anything to worry about though. How old is he? Do you know if he can fly?

Congrats!! He is bound to be really scared. That's perfectly normal. He's just been uprooted from everything he knows by a strange person and has been put into a new environment. Give him some time, let him settle in. Let him get used to you and anyone else being in the household. Talk to him as much as possible so he gets used to your voice. Try not to force him to do anything until he's ready to do it. He will soon come round and realise you're not a threat. Have your thought of any names?

I do love your videos

Good luck bringing your new grey home! We'd love to see some photos once she's all settled

Lovely new photos! May 23rd- 2 weeks!!

Hahahaha oh dear- that second photo does look pretty serious!

I have to do similar with Alfie. He sometimes decides that he doesn't want to step up (particularly if it's to be put back into his cage) and I have to grab a perch to get him to step up on. Otherwise, I get several beak shaped marks on my hands and arms! With the perch, he will give it a few bites and will either give up and step up or will run around the top of his cage to do his best to get away from me/the perch. Eventually he'll give up and either step up or will fly on to me. If it works, it works. I think they sometimes just want to test the boundaries... or that they just wake up on the wrong side of the perch!!

Nothing wrong with a rehome at all- I was just curious. Though getting a baby grey would be a bit different from an older/rehome bird because an older bird would already have a lot of routines and learned behaviours and it may be a little trickier to get them to adapt to a new home/people/routines etc because of that. There is a whole heap of information available on these forums. I still find out useful information here and I've had Alfie for 12 years!

Hello Trevor, welcome to the forums! Have you met your little girl yet? Do you know how old she is? Is she a baby or a rehome? I'd recommend finding out as much about her as possible- particularly if she's a rehome- before you bring her home.

I often get a morning chorus from Alfie. He runs through a lot of his favourite sounds and words for about half an hour or so. Sometimes it goes on for longer. This is the best time for me to listen out for new sounds/words as he tends to practice them a lot during this time. He doesn't scream though. He's never really screamed...thankfully!

Welcome, Zoe's mum! Not long to go now!!

Haha that's hilarious! They do try it on, don't they!

That's awesome! You don't need to apologise for being excited and posted about it. I love reading posts like this! This kind of excitement will go on for years and years. Alfie never ceases to amaze me with the new things he picks up or does. And I've had him for 12 years!

Awesome, thanks everyone! From the little I've read recently, I believe females can be a bit more of a handful and are prone to being a bit hormonal- much like how birdhouse described Kura. I believe they can be prone to displaying nesting behaviours- so might try and hole up somewhere in the house if the mood strikes them. I remember Reggie's feathers being totally different than Alfies. He was a bit of a mess when the store took him in- very messy feathers. But once he had settled, had his diet sorted and was getting socialized they neatened back up again and he was a gorgeous looking bird as well as super soft to touch. He was always really friendly (even though he hadn't spent much time with humans) and VERY curious. Always wanted to take a look (and a nibble) of whatever we had for lunch! I just hope he has a happy, healthy life with the family that took him. The information from greywings was really interesting. Their colours makes a lot of sense when you talk about their roles. I'll look out for the posts about Sully too.