EllieMae

Hi Nancy, Things are still changing around he and Jack says that I have become the preferred one. I'm not sure I agree with that. She does follow me around the house and she has become much more inclined to let me love her but I believe that has everything to do with the fact that I am home all day with her and Daddy is only home two days a week and how much time in the evenings he has is varied due to his work schedule. It's like she picks who she wants on different days and it's rarely both of us in any given period. She does not like to share her affection. The stepping up is coming along nicely I think for such a short period but she definitely lets you know when she does not want to do so.

The last eleven days since bringing home Sassy has been both amazing and nerve-racking all at the same time. I feel like I did almost twenty years ago when I brought home my second child. I know that probably sounds stupid but it's kind of the same concept because my first son was only 18 months old when I had my second and I was still feeling that I had so much to learn and here I had a brand new one to care for. I've only had Leo for almost 5 months and still learning how to be a good parent to him and now I've brought home Sassy. LOL. and like my children these two are total opposites. This house has been a funhouse since she got here. Leo has calmed down from those first couple of days, he's no longer regurgitating or trying frantically to get her attention but he is still very interested in her and how she is interacting with us. He watches everything. For two days I left Leos cage door closed and didn't give him the option of coming out. I'm notorious for my sink or swim mentality so I just had to see how they both would react giving him this option. So I opened his door. At first he didn't come out but Sassy went in. I was very nervous, after all, the first time my oldest son laid eye on his baby brother he smacked him right dead in the face. Everything actually went very smoothly. I had twenty minutes of pure pleasure watching the two of them. Sassy cautiously checking out Leos digs and Leo cautiously watching this hot new chick checking him out. Leo took a shot and tried to give her his toy three times but she just wanted the treasure in his food bowl so he sat back let her have his prized peanut. Leo has two waffle balls hanging on a stretchy string and they both played with that for awhile and the Leo decided he wanted a snack but when he dipped into his bowl Sassy snapped at him which earned her a loud squawk. She stepped back really fast sat there for a moment staring at him and then she just made this loud farting noise and climbed out of his cage. I laughed til I cried.. she actually gave him a raspberry!! My first thought was "and so it begins" Later that day Leo finally ventured out of his cage and by evening I very anxious as he had decided that he was happy and cozy in Sassys cage and did not want to come out. So for the second time in his time here we were forced to use a towel to pick him up and return him to his cage. I was really upset because he has only been out once before and we had to towel him to get him back and he had not left his cage in the last four months since then until Sassy's arrival and I was afraid that this would be another set back. I seem to have been wrong again. The next morning when I uncovered and opened Sassy door Leo was sitting at his front perch going back and forth ready for me to open his. He has been out each day but we have to use a towel and get much screeching to get him in at night but I'm hoping that he will get to the point that he will go back on his own. He took a bite of something from my hand for the first time and he has said his first word. "What" and I'm hearing him do quite a bit of mumbling. I still can't get him to eat fruits and veggies but he watches Sassy and she eats anything. I'm noticing that while Leo still throws the good stuff to the floor I'm at least finding chucks out of them now so he's at least tasting. Sassy is something else. She is my hellion. If I blow in her face for biting she blows back at me. If I scold her she gives me raspberries and when I put her in the cage for biting first she hisses at me and gives me a raspberry. Then resorts to her loud screech and when I still don't go get her.. she starts the kissing and Jack taught her I love you so she throws that one in as well. After all the toys I have bought these birds her two favorite things to play with are my keys and a shoebox. (Just like my kids) I'm lovin life and my babies but if anyone has any ideas how I can work with Leo so that back to the cage doesn't have the dramatics, I'd be very grateful. The one thing that I was doing was trying to get him to step up on a perch every hour or so and that was working. I finally got him to step up on it and I could lift him up an ince, but then I guess I got him too close to me and he screeched flew back in the cage and starts growling when he see me coming towards him with it now. Thanks everybody, I know was long but I'm so happy and excited and I don't want to regress.

Nancy, I believe they can all get along as well. I also believe that my dogs have to adjust to my birds existence just as the birds have to adjust to my existence when I bring them home. Sabrina is not confined to the living-room, she has full run of the house and she can leave when ever she chooses. My birds however, cannot. I honestly believe this has become a game between them because that little dog has no problem leaving any room when she wants to. But in any case I'd be really interested in how you think it should be handled. Getting rid of any of my Babies it out of the question.

I read this forum aloud to mine. If nothing else, it's give us all quiet time. Leo my male takes this time to tuck his head and sleep. I for one love this site and all the great advise I've read.

It's just the whistles and sounds they make. Especially when Leo does the bomb drop whistle.. Little Bre hates that one.

LOL.. Oh my.. that is exactly where my Leo ended up on his one and only day out of the cage. But my guy does not want to be touched period. I ended up having to towel him and he was pretty mad at me for two days but after that all was back to normal. But he still has not come back out of the cage.

Aww.. He's so cute

Do they like uncooked and cooked or just cooked?

Today I have all cage doors open. I did move my teil cage a few inches more away from Sassys. She prefers to climb to where she wants to go so if she really wants on their cage she'll have stretch a bit or fly. I was a little nervous this morning because Sassy decided that she would go check out Leo's cage and toys and introduce herself. It actually went very well..It looked like Leo was trying to give her one of the ropes of his toy and they played tug of war with a ball for a while. She sampled his food bowl, broke his mirror and went back to her own cage. Leo just looked interested but didn't look as if he felt threatened at all. There was one point when Sassy touched her beak to him and he squawked at her once and she backed off. My only concern now is if she should decide to enter the little ones cage...I'll be watching closely

Hi everyone I'm having a hard time getting Leo to eat fruits and veggies. When I got him his diet was whatever wildbird food was on sale at Tractor Supply. When I brought him home I switched his food to a blend of ZuPreem nutblend, Lafeber's pellets and a seed,nut,biscuit blend. He made the switch well and at first would eat all of it. I also try to give him fruits and fresh veggies daily but he wants nothing to do with them. The only exception to this is he loves the niblet corn cobbs and has even been coaxed out of his cage with one. I've seen him eat a couple of grapes but they too hit the cage floor now. I brought home Sassy almost a week ago and she eats very well. If I give it to her she eats it. The good news is Leo is watching her and seems curious. I've noticed that at least now the chunks of food in the bottom of the cage have bites out of them. Yesterday I gave them each a plate of warm veggies in their cages and Sassy started devouring hers...I saw Leo going from perch to perch watching her in her cage and then looking down at his plate. He finally went to the perch above the plate and was giving it some serious eyeballing. I was tickled..I just knew he was going to go down and take a taste. WRONG... He looked at me squawked positioned himself over the plate, wiggled his tail and dropped a bomb right in the middle of it. Then he climbed back up his cage to his favorite perch. How can I get this stubborn boy to eat veggies other than corn?

Dan, the first time it happened I just had Leo. I was in the shower and I heard him vocalizing periodically but then I heard Sabrina howling. At that point Leo got louder and faster. Then I hear Sabrina scratching on the bathroom door and whining. When I came out I found her in my bed under my pillow. At this point sometime she leaves and sometimes she just howls. Judy, That was Sabrina howling. I am sure however that Sassy will soon pick that up as well.

I think I mentioned that Leo liked to make Sabrina my chihuahua whine when I wasn't in the room, Well Sassy has picked up on the game. I know it's wrong but it cracks me up every time. There is nothing to see in the video as they only do it when I go to another room or outside but the sounds are there So, this is my birds torturing a poor lil chi

LOL.. Sabrina my chihuahua doesn't know what to make of the birds.. she's always sniffing at them if she gets the chance (usually when they are in the cage and get low enough for her to sniff) Well yesterday Sassy was on my arm and Sabrina took her shot to sniff and Sassy pecked her. The dog yelped in fear and went to the other end of the couch and whined every time she looked at her. I'm pretty sure she'll leave they Greys alone now

Thank you everyone for your insight. I love all my babies and I just don't want to have anything happen to any of them. The teils are just too mischievous for their own good

I was told that Sassy was 5 yrs old. I look at her eyes and I believe that if she was 5 her eyes would be yellow. Am I correct in this. Does anyone have any clue of what her approx age would be? Sorry about the pic being sideways.. I forgot to flip it first in my pic program

I have 7 teils and the two greys. With Leo there were really no worries about the safety of my little ones (once I put the tray on top of his cage) because he has only left his cage once and had no desire to venture over to theirs, but Sassy on the other had is very active and curious about everything. I can't let the little ones and her be out at the same time. At first it was the little one flying around her and her trying to catch them in flight and then she ventured over to the top of their cage and chased them off trying to bite them. So my question is how do you all handle having more than one bird. Do you have to alternate out of cage times? Do you think I'll be able to let them all out at once in the future?

Oh my goodness....I almost spewed my coffee!! I was thinking..... 1..2..3...4...I'm not peeking, I swear..5...

Oh yeah I agree, but I'm finding that the time out thing may become an issue. She now knows when I'm going to put her in the cage and she goes in the other direction and tries to bite when I get close. I'm looking at this as an adventure.. wish me luck

LOL... I'm with Dan... I like the a-hole better. It would fit

She wants to check everything out. She is going to be a handful...I see it coming

Thanks Everyone She is definitely living up to her name already. I banished her to her cage last night after biting me and then went on the front porch to smoke. I leave the door open with only the storm door closed so that I can watch them while I'm out there. Well Jack had come to the cage and was talking to her and she kept raising her foot to him and hanging her head for him to scratch her through the bars. He was talking to her saying things like oh no..dont come begging to daddy when your being mean to mommy and Sorry little girl, I can't let you out. Mommy put you in there and I have to sleep with her. Now the part that had both of us almost to the point of wetting ourselves was that she would look up at him and give the little cluck she make when she wants scratches and hang her head and then when Daddy would tell her no that she had to be nice to Mommy, she would move to the end of the perch look in the direction of the front door where I was standing, hunch over and flare her wings and hiss at me. It was almost like she understood what he was saying and why she was not getting her scratch This little girl is going to be a pill....I see it coming

I love this picture... he looks so intense

We are getting a good bit of snow here in Northern Va so I decided to see how my babies react to snow. Sassy is curious as ever The bowl is now in Leos cage but he has no interest at all..lol

Thanks. She's already stolen our hearts.

Hi Everyone Jack finally came up with a name for our new girl. Sassy She likes Jack much better than me and gets extremely nippy if I try to interfere. I took a video of her getting love from daddy. The quality isn't very good and it's dark but viewable. Please let me know if there are any issues trying to view. Thanks Hope