MoonRock

2/15/13: Oscar was chasing me around on top of his cage for a nut. I was chasing Oscar around for a "step up". It was all rather playful as we kept switching the chaser/ chasee. I would reveal the nice, big fat nut and Oscar would quickly move forward to retrieve it. I would then present my (heavily fortified with jackets) arm and say "step up", at which point Oscar would retreat. We did this for ten minutes straight. I think we have matching gleams in our eyes. In the end, I placed the nut on top of the cage and allowed Oscar to come retrieve it, no step up required. "Victory", his expression said. Victory, indeed.

2/14/13 PM: Oscar has been very vocal tonight! The velOSCARaptor scream bore a hole through my eardrums, I think. I am unsure of the exact reason(s) Oscar seemed somewhat discontent, but I speculate it may be because I was distracted tonight while spending time with him. He would also scream whenever I left the room. He accepted a nut and stepped up onto a perch for me (not in that order, of course) . But what would make him so... out of sorts?

2/14/13 AM: HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY! We had a good morning, hanging out together (Oscar atop his cage, me sitting nearby) as I reread parts from Of Parrots and People. I read silently to myself as Oscar watched me intently, creeping closer now and then. Each new day Oscar seems to be growing more at ease in my presence. Oscar "stepped up" for me onto a perch in only three tries, and was successfully returned to his cage. I gave him a macadamia nut for his good work.

Pardon the poor quality of the photo, but I wanted to share! This is Oscar, my approximately 8 year old rescued CAG.

I need to own what just happened. Oscar flew from me, in spite of his partial blindness, and suffered a small abrasion. The good news is, I got a "step up" right before it happened. I was too eager and proceeded to take a few small steps away from the cage with Oscar on my arm. He panicked and shot away from me. Some of you may recall that I asked in another thread whether or not Oscar should have his wings clipped. Now I have no doubt I must do so, as he demonstrated tonight that he has no depth perception. What was a stupid mistake on my part could have lead to near-tragedy. I stepped away from the cage, Oscar's safe zone, while he was already anxious to be on my arm. Luckily Oscar is fine, even accepting a nut from me as an apology. I had to towel him to get him back into his cage, as I was unsure the extent of his injuries (again, just a small abrasion). I am learning every day how to better work with Oscar, and clearly I am enthusiastic. But the reality is, Oscar has been through a lot in his relatively short life and I owe it to him to adhere to my new motto: EASY DOES IT! I apologize if I let anyone down by my mistake, but I felt I needed to share it here to keep Oscar's training journal accurate and help others who are figuring out their own Grey training learning curve. And have no fear, as I write this Oscar is making happy sounds to himself. As upset as we both were by the fly-away and toweling incident, Oscar seems to be quick to forgive.

As I made my way up the steps to my apartment after work this evening, I heard Oscar make his "door opening sound". It was pretty cool Oscar seemed to be listening for me, as I was rather quiet on the stairs. I immediately said hello to Oscar, proceeded to take the dogs out and then came back in for some quality time with my grey guy. I have a full hour to give him, if he wants it. When I opened his cage to see if he wanted to come out, he came out rather quickly. Also, though he refuses to step up he does problem solve, it seems, to figure out how he could get his beloved nut without having to sit on my arm. I honestly feel he was using problem solving skills, because he would near my arm and the nut, take a step back, then come towards the nut at another angle. No arm, no nut. Haha! There was an awful lot of wing flapping while sitting atop the cage. Oscar seems very pleased, or is he just stretching his wings? I don't want to anthropomorphize any more than I am probably already doing. Check out Oscar's first online photo!

I did read that there were no more imports of wild-caught birds after 1992, and that open bands don't necessarily mean wild-caught anymore. But Oscar's band has the now defunct Louisiana quarantine station code (or so it seems) and three numbers, which I read indicates a wild-caught bird. But even if Oscar is older than his former owners knew, I doubt (as do you Dan) that he was born anywhere near 1992. Either way, we already know Oscar's previous homes were not appropriate (to put it nicely). Even as a domestic-bred he has been through a lot. Last night Oscar was very vocal, making his velOSCARaptor scream intermittently. As mentioned before, it seems to be an attention-seeking behavior and not due to him feeling particularly upset. However, the night was creeping by and I opted to cover the cage. I do understand that covering a loud bird's cage can ultimately reinforce the noise-making behavior, and may also lead to a neurotic bird. However, when used sparingly and appropriately (at night, really), I consider cage covering a tool in my bird training toolbox. I needed some sleep. 2/13/13 AM: The morning began with loud whistles and velOSCARaptor screams. Oscar simply wanted me to come to him, I believe. We have taken some giant strides forward with extinguishing the screams, but today we took a few steps back. And that is OK. When you consider that Oscar has been in my home for less than a week, we are making amazing progress together! So much so that I *almost* got a step up out of Oscar today. But admittedly in my eagerness to train him, I scared Oscar a little and for the first time in several days he gave me a brief but distinctive warning growl. I backed off, offered a softly spoken apology and left the room. Upon leaving, I heard the now unmistakable "door opening sound" Oscar makes (his "door closing sound" is different, which I discovered today). I went to Oscar and he seemed pleased he got his human to leave him alone when he was scared, and then come back when he was not (about five seconds later, haha). He got a nut and now he is playing (mostly) quietly on his own.

So much progress we have had today! When I arrived home at 3:30PM, I immediately went in to see Oscar. It was a quick hello and he seemed surprised to see me, as were the dogs. If this had been a work day for me, I would have been home 2 hours early. But why was Oscar surprised? I have only had him for five days now, he can't possibly understand my routine at this point. Or can he? Anyhow, I said hello, took the dogs out, and spent 5 minutes doing other things before I went in to talk to Oscar. Mostly I discussed Oscar's leg band with him. I apologized that he appeared to be wild-caught, given his band inscription (I am still unsure of this so any leads to band reading would be helpful- I mostly came up empty via Google and various links). I kept trying to read Oscar's band, apologize to him, and tell him how awesome and strong he was, when he got into the spirit of things and proceeded to do upside-down loops inside his cage. Cage wall, cage roof, cage door, perch. Cage wall, cage roof, cage door, perch... I have seen gleeful Greys do this before, but certainly not my velOSCARaptor. Indeed, when I offered my heavily fortified arm for a "step up" (just to get his baseline abilities or at least mood for the day), Oscar took my sweatshirt-layered arm and shoved it away. He also prefers the cage door closed in general, with him inside. But I am piquing his curiosity by doing something fun or silly while opening his cage briefly, and then closing it again quickly. He responds body language-wise as if to say, "Hey, wait, I might have wanted to come out!" Oscar is adamant that we become friends on his terms. I offered Oscar a couple of various nuts, which he gleefully gobbled. Cage wall, cage roof, cage door, perch. It is far too early to tell, but I think this *may* turn out to be a quieter day, if Oscar's patient waiting for me right now is any indication. I am about to go give him a very small bite of my lunch, yum.

Dan, as always I really appreciate your help with my training. Your input is invaluable. As a result of your response, I realized I could certainly say hello to Oscar before taking the dogs out. While the dogs wait for about 5 hours for me while I am at work, Oscar does too. Oscar needs to know he is a part of the family, too. 2/12/13 AM: I was quicker to attend to Oscar this morning, uncovering his cage and greeting him for the day very soon after I awoke. The non-avians waited patiently. Though I had to leave for an appointment fairly early and could not really squeeze in much quality time with Oscar, I do not work today and should be home by 3:30PM. That gives me plenty of time to interact with Oscar before bedtime. I already miss him right now. Something neat: Oscar not only played with one of his foraging toys overnight, as evidenced by the straw bits torn apart from the wooden block base, but he took part of the wood and placed it very close to where we hang out while he is on his perch. I know better than to think he had offered me a "present", but the placement of this half-chewed block was very interesting. In fact, when I noticed it there and laughed, Oscar looked at me, then at the block, and then at me again. Given that he is sighted in only one eye, it is generally very easy to know where Oscar is looking. Dan, what do you think? Could Oscar have been offering me part of his foraging toy or am I anthropomorphizing (again)?

Wow, what WONDERFUL news! You made me smile and you gave me hope for my own Oscar.

I am hoping to attend an upcoming basic bird care class through Mickaboo Companion Bird Rescue near the end of this month. While my experience goes beyond the basic, there are always new things for us to learn about our birds, yes? If I can learn one new thing which benefits my birds (4 American 'keets and my CAG Oscar), then it will be worth going. Furthermore, I might want to volunteer with Mickaboo in the future, so I really ought to see what it is all about. Are there any Mickaboo folks out there?

Oscar's really testing me tonight. There has been a lot of his famous velOSCARaptor screaming, though he doesn't seem particularly agitated. I truly think Oscar wants to find out if I am serious that 1. I want to give him attention and affection and 2. I withhold those things when he screams. Once again, Oscar made the door opening sound after I left the room, haha.

I did in fact say to Oscar, "I'm going to work, OK?" Oscar said "Yaw" ("yeah") but I doubt he knew what I meant. Then I said "I'll see you later!" and he said something that sounded like "Hello!" Upon arriving home, Oscar was quiet as I took out my first dog to go potty, but was obviously impatient while I was leashing up my second dog because he screamed. It seemed like an attention-getting scream, as opposed to what I now consider his scream of terror in his old home. It is hard to explain the difference between the screams, except that when he screams in my home it seems he wants me to notice him in some way. In fact, while screaming he perches very close to where I sit when I am near his cage. His screams in his former home were much longer, louder, and accompanied by him backing up. Of course, I am teaching Oscar that screams of any kind hardly get my attention, and that clicks, soft calls, and the like are much more effective. Still, Oscar seems to be testing me. When I went to his cage after walking the second dog, he took a few moments to size me up (or so it seemed) and then he screamed again. I left the room. The screaming stopped immediately, and after a minute or two Oscar made his alarm clock sound, followed by my favored "call click".

2/11/13 Midday: This morning upon hearing me move about and feeding the other animals before uncovering his cage, Oscar made an alarm clock sound. When I continued to take my sweet time starting the day, I swear I also heard Oscar make a door knocking sound. Clearly, Oscar wanted his day to start, too. When I went in to uncover Oscar's cage, I announced "Good morning, Oscar!" and he responded, "Yaw!" (his way of saying "yeah"). Oscar did not touch overnight the crumpled ball with the treat inside, so I made a new one with a better treat (an almond). Very quickly Oscar proceeded downward to the bottom of the cage, where I put the new "foraging toy". I don't know how much credit I should give the almond for being so darn tasty, but I am very happy Oscar now feels pretty comfortable hanging out on the bottom of his cage when I am in the room. He is also more willing to turn his bad eye towards me, meaning he cannot see me momentarily. He will also turn his back towards me on occasion, and while I am so tempted to reach out and pet his gorgeous feathers, I know better than to do that. One bite (okay, well two) is plenty. Trust takes time to build. I am essentially Oscar's fourth home. I work today and I have an ill guinea pig, two things which will distract me from Oscar. However, I will spend some time reading to him and generally working with him before I leave today. Luckily I will only be gone about 5 hours.

I think I may HAVE to clip Oscar's wings, much as I would strongly prefer not to. Oscar is only sighted in his left eye, and I worry about his depth perception upon being allowed to fly. Furthermore, his former owners indicated Oscar had a tendency to bump into things in an panic upon escaping his cage. Now, granted, Oscar's former owners clearly didn't spend the time to socialize him and allow him to learn "adaptive flying" in spite of his disability. I am willing to put in the work necessary to teach a partially blind Grey to fly. But is this even possible? Would he be eaten in the wild, unable to fly? Google came up with nothing so I honestly don't know the answer.

My downstairs neighbor is horrid. I never say this about anyone, but she is truly a bad person. Not only does she hurt her own kids (I had occasion to call Child Protective Services, and my roommate has called the police), but she lied. In court. Defending the man who raped me. Yes, this woman deserves her impending eviction. So much stress will be lifted off my shoulders when she is gone! Honestly, and I feel I can admit this here, my timing was horrible for adopting my new CAG Oscar. This woman is looking for any reason to make things difficult for me. And while she seems to be too stupid to tell that there is a bird making noise somewhere nearby, and it's mine, she will soon figure it out. I don't know what I will do at that point, but I will say this: Oscar didn't deserve all the bad stuff he's been through, and I am glad I rescued him from that situation as soon as I could. I know apartment life is not always very well suited to owning a Grey, but in the sweet silence of the night, with my feathered friend asleep on his perch, I can't help but wonder what the big deal is. Many kids make more noise than a parrot. Anyhow, pardon my rambling post. I suppose I should be fast asleep, like Oscar.

Hi Nancy! I wouldn't typically recommend an African Grey as a first bird, but some folks do just fine. Before I got my first Grey, my largest and only other bird had been a budgie (American parakeet). However, while my Calypso was a feather plucker before I got her, she was well-socialized and willing to be handled. I would not recommend a rescued Grey as a first bird (though I am big into bird rescue, don't get me wrong). Rescued birds almost always come with more issues than your standard, hand-fed baby CAG. What are your 2 and 3 year old children like? I have opted not to adopt a child at this time, partly because I worried my Grey might bite him, or he could hurt the bird. The boy I was matched with is 11 years old and autistic, though a child of any age could accidentally hurt an animal, whether they are autistic or not. I love children so this was a hard choice for me to make, but that's how serious I am about caring for Oscar to the best of my abilities. Please think long and hard about how your children would behave around a fragile animal like a baby CAG. Even when older, Greys could get hurt easily. It may prove too tempting for your boys not to stick their fingers in the bird's cage, which could be a huge problem. Supposedly Greys' beaks can clamp down with 500 pounds of pressure (or so I've heard).

I sneaked up on Oscar as he was about to explore the crumpled paper, and when he caught me looking he climbed up to his perch. I figured it would be a good idea to read to him, since he has yet to hear much of my voice. As I settled in near his cage to read from Of Parrots and People (I figured the subject matter was relevant, LOL) he quieted down and listened intently to my voice. After a while, though, Oscar became a little bored and proceeded to whistle to himself. I instinctively said "You're being rude!" and immediately Oscar "laughed". I don't know what to make of this exchange but it was really funny.

What a vocal bird! Oscar is trying out all of his sounds today: cat meow, broken smoke detector, alarm clock, a lot of random whistles, a kiss-like sound, and a few screams here and there. For the most part he seems to be entertaining himself with these vocalizations, and occasionally gets annoyed when I go to his cage to say hello to him. However, he seems to almost miss me at times and call out. I am not sure when, perhaps overnight, Oscar shredded a wood link toy I gave him. He seemed afraid of it at first, so finding evidence that it was well-loved (or at least played with) is awesome. Just now I crumpled a sheet of paper around a treat. Oscar didn't want it, and in fact scooted to the end of the perch when I presented it to him, but he allowed me to put it on the cage floor. I will give it a half hour before checking his progress. He seems to be enjoying his solitude for the moment.

No blood gushing, but bite received. I put my arm up to the outside of the cage and playfully said "Step up!" Yeah, I know. Very stupid. Oscar bit my wrist, and didn't want to let go. Luckily he seemed to be feeling almost playful. Lesson learned.

2/10/13 Late morning: I was very slow to rise this morning, and Oscar stayed quiet in his cage. While I appreciate that he did not scream at the rising sun, I recognize I need to have more of a schedule to accommodate Oscar's needs. It is great that he remains quiet in a covered cage, but I cannot expect him to be happy with 14 hours of dark. Tomorrow is Monday and I will be sure to get right to a predictable routine. I must admit, I did something stupid. In my eagerness to connect with Oscar, I playfully put my arm up to the cage and said "Step up!" I am not sure what I was expecting, especially because my arm was not inside the cage at the time. If you think about it, it is almost as though I was teasing Oscar. Oscar proceeded to clamp down on the fleshy part of my wrist, and it took several moments of saying "Gentle..." to get Oscar to let go. He didn't seem angry, just mildly frustrated and then, amused? While the skin was broken, I certainly don't need sutures. And of course, I don't hold my stupidity over Oscar. I did leave the room after the bite, but only to make sure I was OK. I will be going back to Oscar's cage to work with him some more very soon. danmcq, what's funny is that the door closing sound Oscar makes is not the sound my actual door makes. So I absolutely agree with you that perhaps this association he seems to be making between a door closing and being left alone came about before he came to my home. The home he was in previously sure had squeaky doors.

Oscar is settling in very well but loudly. Please feel free to follow my thread, "Oscar's training journal" in the training section of the forum, if you would like to know how everything is turning out.

I wanted to extend a friendly greeting to anyone else on the forum who is on a tight budget. While there are some things about owning a Grey that will inevitably cost a lot of money, such as emergency avian veterinarian visits, there is no reason that you cannot find a few ways to make general bird keeping less costly. My first tip is to plan ahead. For everything! Before you need that emergency avian veterinarian visit, search around for an experienced but well-priced animal hospital in your area. Make sure the hospital you choose sees birds regularly, and not just now and then. You will likely get a better price from a hospital comfortable with handling parrots, and your bird will get more experienced care. Be sure to ask who would be recommended in case of an overnight emergency. If your new "home base" hospital is available 24 hours a day, even better! And please remember, in a dire emergency there are veterinarians who accept payment plans. Ask, before you need one, if it is ever allowed to sign a promisory note/ financial agreement. And of course, put away as much as you can towards your healthy bird fund. Buy quality bird food in bulk. It tends to be cheaper. There are also online stores that offer free shipping or other goodies, so be sure to look around. Make your own bird toys whenever possible. If you saw the DVD Captive Foraging, you were probably as amused as I was by the commentary: "Missy (cockatoo) is a slow learner, but even she learned all about captive foraging!" No offense to the 'too owners out there (I do love those cuddly white birds), but Greys are just in a league all their own. Many of them figure out captive foraging and tricky toys very fast, so while you might want to invest in a few store-bought toys, you can certainly make some of your own. Missy might have been confused by a simple sheet of paper over her food bowl, but I suspect my Oscar would get into one of those advanced tube-typed toys very quickly. Captive foraging gets bonus points for helping some birds to decrease feather plucking behavior. I wish I had some links to share about making bird toys, so if you know of any please add them to this thread! Get your talon/ wing/ beak trims at a parrot store, rather than a veterinary hospital. If you find a good parrot store, they tend to do way more trims than your average veterinarian and are also much cheaper. Parrot stores are also a good place to pick up bulk food, foot toys, untreated wood and leather strips for making your own toys. Find a parrot sitter long before you need one. While I love the fact that my favorite parrot store boards birds, I worry that Oscar and my 'keets could become nervous in such a loud, parrot-filled environment for days on end. I think it is fine to go with a cheaply priced teenager as long as they have bird experience, you feel you can trust him/ her in your home, and he/ she knows what to do in an emergency. Again, a little planning ahead will help a lot. Have your chosen bird sitter come over a few times to interact with your bird(s) while you watch, so that you get to know his/ her handling style. This is also a good chance to chat casually so that you can discover any red flags well before you get on that cruise ship (we can all dream, can't we)? As always, feel free to add your own input! I want this to be a really helpful thread.

Today is becoming a loud one! Oscar is enjoying making very audible vocalizations. Most of them sound "positive"- whistles, clicks, meows, fake sneezes. Occasionally he screams, but only for brief periods and only when I seem to be invading his space. One time, upon hearing him scream, I said my usual "Too loud!" and calmly walked out of the room. I swear Oscar made a door opening sound after I left, which I had never heard before. The same thing happened again and I knew I wasn't crazy. He seems to be linking his "naughty" sounds to me leaving the room.

I am pleased you added, "NEVER sound off to him/ her!" I live in an apartment so tend to be very noise averse, which has only gotten more entrenched because I have a horrid neighbor who finds any reason she can to make trouble for me. So as you can imagine, a screaming Grey causes me a lot of stress. However, I refuse to beak-tap, spray water, or yell over Oscar. Granted, I have only had him for two days, but I am working hard on "extinguishing behavior" (ignoring/ walking away from screaming). I let him know what the accepted sounds and behaviors are by giving him more attention when he's "good", and less attention when he is "bad".