Arecibo's Mum

Thanks, guys. It's early days yet, but I'm thinking she's going to turn out to be like some cats I've known... "I want to be close to you and I want to you pay attention to me, but don't touch me unless I darn well ask you to." Which is fine.

Our little 7 month old is funny... she's gotten much more outgoing in the 6 weeks we've had her. She even dive-bombed us in bed the other day from her play perch. Just jumped right over and landed on my pillow before walking across our heads and taking a stroll around the duvet. lol She is stepping up really well most of the time, to myself, my significant other, and his son. But she's got a bit of a cranky side and doesn't seem at all interested in having her feathers scritched or really being touched. Think this is something she might warm up to, or do some greys just never develop an appreciation for "house pet" type physical contact?

So we are completely flabbergasted. Our 7 month old CAG was asked by my other half this morning "How are you?" Apparently she responded "Pretty good (although it could have been "pretty girl")... how are you?" We're totally blown away, I didn't think they really got to talking till they were older. Sometimes she will just babble away, sounding vaguely human (definitely not bird noises) but for the life of us we can't pick out what she's saying. Other times she'll clear as a bell say "hello" or "I love you". lol... funny girl.

Our grey came to us from a breeder who also breeds chihuahuas. Cibo "barks" like one, and apparently used to chuck food at them for fun. lol

Hi Nancy, I'm new here... Could you tell me why a bird should never be on top of its cage? Ours seems to get a kick out of climbing up and down her dome-top.

Thanks everyone! Judygram, this is our first grey, though I did have a Quaker conure as a young child. Looking forward to the adventure!

Thanks all for your encouragement! Today she let me touch her beak and her foot, while she was "examining" my other fingers with her beak. Lol She's showing more curiosity, and she's playing lots with a bell toy that originally was imagined to be a bird-eating villain. We've also found her weakness... Grapes! She's gaga for them. Even had her stepping toward me for one. Trying to associate delicious treats with a "C'mere!" command. Not stepping up, but still fun.

Hi there, New parent here! We brought our 6-month old baby grey girl home on Thursday, and she has been settling in. The breeder says she knows how to step up, and she has done it a couple of times for me but only when she really needed to -- one time she was on the floor and didn't have anything else to climb up on, one time she was on the bed in the same predicament. She's a bit timid, but has progressed from growling to taking food from our fingers. Currently when she's in or on her cage, I'm praising her for allowing me to move my hand closer to her in "step up"position without her backing away. Is this ok? Should I be more insistent on getting her to step up? She didn't seem to be all that cooperative with the breeder, who more often than not would end up picking her up and pinning her toes so she wouldn't flap away off her hand. Any advice on the best way forward from here would be much appreciated. I've seen the note to take them to a neutral room, but tough to do that if they won't step up on you to get off their cage.

We picked up our little grey girl, Cibo, on Thursday. This forum appears to have a wealth of good information -- looking forward to learning from all these experienced grey parents! Here's a picture of her at the breeder's place, if I can get it to work... http://s1298.photobucket.com/albums/ag52/AreciboTheGrey/?action=view¤t=D3307A5C-45BF-4761-B9ED-C05A1A4C213C-795-000001BB599402F5.jpg&evt=user_media_share