Shay

I fixed it. Sorry about that!

This happened earlier today. She wants to play with him so badly, but he's not really interested in more than a head scratch. xP

Going to be adding some manzanita and grapevine perches. Just got everything set up! They have their own room.

I know this may sound silly, but I had no idea the bands could be comfortably removed. My Grey doesn't have a band, but my Eclectus does. Does anyone happen to know about how much it costs for the band to be removed?

Shiraz (eclectus) is ever-so-slightly overweight. However, Jager (african grey) is underweight. Aside from nuts, are there any foods that people would normally restrict their parrot from eating simply due to weight gain? Particularly fattening birdy foods?

Thank you everyone! I really appreciate the warm welcomes. As far as Jäger's name goes, I'm actually not too fond of the liquor. I suppose I've been sick off it one too many times. I named Jäger after it simply because I like the way the word sounds. And when he makes a poo, I can be corny and say that he just jäger bombed. As for Shiraz, rest assured I know about her special diet needs. The Eclectus reminds me more of a toucan in a few ways, than a parrot. One of the many reasons I love having birds in the house is that it encourages you to eat better as well. Fruits, veggies, and whole grain everything!

Hello all! I've posted a couple of times, but never an introduction. My name is Lindsey (my middle name is Shay, you can call me by either). I am 23 years old, and I recently moved from Baton Rouge, Louisiana to Las Vegas, Nevada with my boyfriend (my grey's disdain for him is what sparked my first post), and my African Grey parrot, Jagermeister. When we first got out here (we drove) we were going to be staying with my uncle, but things turned sour within a matter of minutes when he flipped out over Jager. In short, his dog was very ill and couldn't be around other animals, according to the vet. Understanding this, but feeling incredibly screwed over (I sold my house to move out here and go into business with him, and he compared his dog's illness to my mother, whom passed away in October of 2010) I left, and we haven't spoken to each other since. It wasn't exactly a surprise that Jager would be coming either. I had sent him multiple pictures, and even asked if it would be ok if I used his old parrot's cage until I got one temporarily. So without anywhere to go, and certainly not going to let Jager go, we stayed out of motels until we were able to get an apartment. It's been about a month now since all of that went down and we're about to move out of the apartment and into a condo that I will be closing on this coming Tuesday. But to backtrack a little bit and on a slightly happier note, we visited a very odd store a few days ago. They sold golf carts, batteries, old cars, wheelchairs, and exotic birds. It was at the border of Las Vegas and North Las Vegas. There we found this shy little female eclectus, scared out of her mind. I asked one of the store owners about her and was told that an elderly woman brought her in on her shoulder. The woman was going to be placed in a home soon and needed to find a new home for her parrot, she was very upset knowing that the parrot would outlive her. Now, the store /was/ incredibly sketchy, but no matter what was true and what wasn't, I felt really bad for the poor little parrot that was notably terrified. Oh, I was also told that she was never kept in a cage before, just a perch-stand. Not wanting to rush into anything, we left to think about whether bringing her home would be a great idea or not. To make a long story short, I bought her upon an agreement that she needed to be seen by an avian vet. We were allowed to bring her to a vet and the store paid for the visit, she checked out and she's doing great. The first few days were a little rocky. She wanted nothing to do with us, and would only run into her cage for safety. But just today she actually wobbled into our bedroom looking for us (she would normally run away, even if we brought her in there). It's amazing how different she and Jager are. She's the sweetest darn thing I've ever seen in my life. She's so gentle and only makes this odd cooing/woo sound. Jager keeps trying to get her to scratch his head, but he hasn't had much luck so far. She's surprisingly bossy with him for being so gentle. yesterday she even chased him away from me. We fostered a macaw at one point so Jager isn't too shell shocked at another bird being around. He probably thinks this one wont last either. Oh well, they'll get used to each other! I'll be doing a little update after we move this last time and their new cages come in. But for now, here are a few pictures! And if anything I said was inappropriate for this forum, just let me know and I'll edit my post accordingly! I just haven't had anyone to talk to really. The Eclectus. We named her Shiraz (originally Shyra until I realized that Shiraz was the Australian spelling/pronunciation and that that made more sense for her) after the red wine. I like names with a theme, lol. And oh man, I have never seen a bird with such a lusting for noodles. She will sit at her bowl and not move away from it, if it has noodles in it. Today I actually caught her falling asleep while still chewing noodles, while some hung out of her beak. Jagermeister the African Grey. This feather was stuck on his head for a good ten minutes. He's 1 year old, can say Jager, hello, good boy, doodle bird (his nickname is doodles), and oh Jager. He also heard the fire alarm when we set it off cooking the other day, then out of nowhere two days later belted out the exact same sound.

I thank everyone for their feedback and would like to say that I took it to heart and decided to get them both one of these cages instead. They're already ordered, a black one for Syrah, and a white one for Jagermeister. The reviews were very positive, it's more affordable, about as durable, and it's massive. Now hopefully, they will fit in my house! http://www.hayneedle.com/sale/jaspercornerbirdcage.cfm Oh, and here's a picture of Syrah that I wanted to share, from dinner earlier!

I'm looking into buying Jager a new cage. I have one in mind, but I'm unsure about something. The description for this cage says that it'll work for Timneh African Grey's, but it says it in a wording that makes me thing it would /just/ be enough room for them and a congo would be a little too big. Edit:// Whoops! Forgot to paste the link to the cage. http://www.goldencockatoo.com/2889.html Maybe someone here would have a better idea, because I can't tell by the dimensions alone whether it would work, or if I should go up in size to the next cage. Thanks everyone for your help! Actually, I do have another question. I recently bought a female eclectus (I named Syrah, after the red wine, to with Jagermeister!) the store I bought her from told me that an elderly lady brought her in on her shoulder, and couldn't keep her any longer because she was being brought to a home, she was really upset knowing that the bird (only 4 years old) would out live her. Syrah is very sweet, a little strange (when compared to Jager anyway), but sweet. I was told that she was never kept in a cage until she came to the store. Instead the elderly lady kept her on one of those perch play stands. I know that birds like to have their own cages for security purposes, but I was told that she only sits at the bottom of the cage looking confused/scared. After bringing her home, I saw that this was mostly true, unless you gave her the option to sit on top of the outside of the cage. My question is, should I just let this be a special case and not use a cage? I was also told that if I used a cage she would probably be more comfortable in a smaller one, since she doesn't really understand it to begin with. Though, I feel odd putting a bird that needs the same cage requirements as a grey in a cage that would be more conure-sized. All and any help is greatly appreciated!!!

Just wanted to step in and say that Jager is already improving! Listened to the treat advice and the one-on-one time. I also made it a point to watch very closely how my boyfriend was approaching Jager, and I noticed that a lot of the problem was this. He was moving too quick and without Jager seeing his hand first. Once I told him to go a lot slower and let Jager know his hand is coming in for a scratch, Jager actually started bending his head in anticipation of the scratch! There's definitely still room for improvement, but accepting scratches and treats instead of responding by screaming and lunging for me is much better!

LOL! Thank you. I will keep in mind that right now he's just a baby, and will be changing a lot.

We will give that a try. Thank you!

I have a pet african grey named Jagermeister. He will be a year old early this July. I love him dearly and he gives me no trouble, but he cannot stand my boyfriend. I've been looking around online and I've found that this is a common problem. We've tried setting him on the floor with only my boyfriend around to offer him a lift, he accepts it but growls the entire time and god forbid my boyfriend reaches to try and scratch Jager's head. We've tried using treats to reinforce positive behavior, but my grey really just wants nothing to do with my boyfriend. He wont even accept the treats, not even his favorite, peanuts. When my boyfriend even comes near the cage Jager starts to scream, and Jager actually sounds like he's literally being strangled or tortured if my boyfriend tried to give him a treat through the cage bars let alone try to take him out of the cage. I've even taken multiple trips to Nevada, leaving Jager in my boyfriend's care, thinking that maybe the time away from me would help them to bond; I was wrong. I read that this often stems from lack of socialization, but we're a young couple, we often have people over and multiple things going on around the house. Jager was well socialized from the very beginning, but then all of sudden he wanted nothing to do with hardly anyone but myself. The same way he treats my boyfriend, he treats all males. He isn't nearly as bad with girls, but still a little moody. It doesn't really matter to me if Jager likes or dislikes guests that come visit, but his absolute disdain toward my boyfriend is starting to cause problems. He wants us to "start over" with a friendlier bird, which of course, I refuse to do. I know my boyfriend would be content if he could just hold Jager without him trying to draw blood. Is there any way to make this happen?