flowerchik

I just brought home my 4mth old CAG Zeke. What are your opinions on bonding with a CAG? I tend to be more of a hands off let the animal come to me when they are comfortable kind of pet owner, but parrots seem to be on a different level and are more than a pet. The breeder told me I need to just gently grab him up and not give him any options, even if he growls at me. I am not so sure about that. It seems like a major intrusion on his personal space. I am not sure how that would foster trust in me. My method of letting the pet choose when to give love has worked well with all of my other pets, except for my mean rooster, we occasionally have to play king of the roost. I have worked with my parakeets some. They will eat out of my hands and perch on me in their cage. They seem comfortable with that. I never try to force them to do it though. That's about as much physical interaction as I get with them. I don't really think the parakeets look to me for anything more than food, water, treats, toys and free time out of the cage to fly, they have strongly bonded with each other and seem to be a very happy family. I hope for more one on one interaction with Zeke.

Thanks, I had all kinds of crazy scary reasons going through my head about that little area.

Zeke is four months old. He has a bare area (between 1/2 to 3/4 inch) in his lower mandible and chin area. It starts right where the mandible meets the skin You can only see it when he lifts his head straight up. Is this normal for young Greys? I have tried to find pics of young greys' chins and necks on the internet, to compare it to, but am not having any luck.

Thanks for the warm welcome. I will post pictures when I figure out how to. Zeke is right at 4 months old. He is not weaned, something I am very uncomfortable with. Something my husband and the breeder insist is going to be fine. I have lurked and read enough to know there are dangers for birds with inexperienced hand feeders. I feel sick if I think about it too much. I have become obsessed with thermometers. The breeder has been breeding parrots since the 70s. I hope she is right. I will be looking for guidance along the way, not just with feeding but all things African Grey. Now on to happy thoughts...... Zeke is a VERY messy cutie. He loves to play in his food and bird formula. He slings it everywhere. I hope he will like birdie showers, because at this rate he will have to become accustomed to them. He is just like a baby he hates his mouth wiped. He doesn't spend much time in his cage. He has a big one coming fed ex today, hopefully he will like that one better than the one he has now. He will also have a sleeping cage in another area of the house because things stay busy until the wee hours sometimes. He seems comfortable around the parakeets and bunny. The cat took one look at him, Zeke screeched and the cat ran for his life and hid in the bedroom. Not to worry the cat and him will not be alone together. He doesn't seem to like being held. My husband has been working with him and can officially join the "bite me" club now. I give scritches carefully and am avoiding joining that club, but know it is coming. He makes some really funny sounds. The funniest one is his "ughhhh" like something smells or tastes bad. It cracks me up. Oh yeah and he seems to like for me to read Dr Suess to him lol! I appreciate that there is a place to go to for help. Hopefully folks won't be too hard on me. From lurking other forums as well as this one I know many folks disagree with buying instead of rescuing a bird and that purchasing an unweaned bird is looked upon badly. I completely understand the reasoning behind that, but hope that will not deter folks from giving me some words of wisdom from time to time.

Hi, I have lurked this forum for almost 7 months while deciding whether or not we wanted to make the big leap of adding another family member to our already busy household. We brought our CAG Zeke home this weekend and are very excited, not to mention a little nervous. We have four parakeets and a whole slew of finned, feathered and furred family members. Oh yeah and five teenage and adult aged children.