chelsearv

Wow, I can't believe two years have passed already and I forgot all about this forum. Thank you to everybody for your comments and for being active on this forum. I wish every person who was interested in adopting a parrot knew about this - and read through it to learn the behind-the-scenes business to having a bird in the family. Thanks again, you all are much appreciated. Fred update - we've moved around quite a bit over the past few years. The routine has changed A LOT. Fred has done great. He and Brian have developed an acceptance of each other. Fred and I are very good pals and he LOVES Sydney, the Australian Shepherd featured in one of the videos we posted awhile back. And by 'LOVES', I mean he loves to taunt her and fake bite through the cage. They do that back and forth for an unbelievably long time. We are in the process of building a tiny house with 17' tall ceilings (small footprint but big vertical space). The purpose - Storage space for human stuff, climbing rope space for human fun and all sorts of vertical flight and play room for the feathered family member. We'll be sure to post pics/videos when it's all done.

Well, I'm not sure they're his silliest but they are the funniest that I've managed to capture on camera. Now that Fred has been with us for over a year, he will take a bath in front of us (even though we disrupt him initially to steal his water dish and replace it with a proper bathtub - a casserole dish). He also enjoys vigorous head 'dancing' to reflect happiness, defend his cage, or dance along with me. Enjoy! Fun with Fred - Bath Time! Fred's head-swinging dance

I'm moving soon and have to downsize my book collection, including all my african grey stuff. I have four books - African Grey Parrots (Complete Pet Owner's Manual) by Margaret Wright The African Grey (Happy Healthy Pet) by Julie Rach and Julie Dach Guide to Companion Parrot Behavior by Mattie Sue Athan Guide to a Well-Behaved Parrot by Mattie Sue Athan They're all 'like new' and incredibly helpful. They were perfect for me when I was first starting out with Fred. I'd like to sell them for $28, which includes shipping them to you. Let me know if you're interested!

Fred, the 13 TAG has now been in our home for about 3 months. His comfort with and acceptance of us has increased and his personality has definitely started to come out. After doing a lot of research on the forum, speaking to the pet store people at our parrot store and reading The Beak Book, we have made a lot of progress with Fred wanting to attack Brian. Steps we have taken - *Fred now has his 'day cage' in Brian's office, so Brian can talk to him throughout the day. *Fred also has a big play stand in the main room (where I spend my non-work hours) and a night cage in our bedroom. The idea behind this 'expanded territory' being that if he has more space, he might guard each one a little less viciously. *Brian offers the best snacks and he is the transport 'vehicle' to take Fred to from his night cage to his perch, from perch to day cage, etc. *All cages/perches have been modified so that Fred cannot be taller than us. *Fred has a regular supply of destructible toys, climbing space and bath time to make sure his energy has an outlet. So here's the problem - Brian is the transport vehicle so Fred knows Brian is the access to fun. Fred has even started lifting his food when Brian approaches and he'll step up after a few attempts (you can probably imagine how huge this is!). However, after 5 seconds on his hand, he goes in for repeated bites. With my rescue dog, if she has a spaz-out moment, we stop - she can't advance on the walk, training game, etc until she is under control again (for her, it's barking her head off). Is this the right approach for Fred? Should he be delivered back to his point of origin and then approached again for another attempt? Because we are currently following the advice that Fred should be moved by Brian, Brian just wears gloves and takes the biting the whole way to the next place. But is this correct? Does it encourage biting? Should he put him on the floor (in a safe space obviously), put him back on the perch, wobble his hand (we've read this leads to distrust) or not be involved at all? I'm happy to do everything Fred related, but Brian is patient and interested in helping. Thank you for any advice!

Update to the bedtime routine: Fred is still pretty annoyed with the idea that humans get to decide when it's time to go in the cage, regardless of the time of day. And he is so aware of our sneaky snack attempts (we make a very obvious demonstration of dropping a beloved snack item in the food dish only to receive a haughty stare in return) that it isn't even funny. How we have changed things: We started making several 'back to cage' attempts during the day when the stakes were lower. If he started to exhibit nervous or aggressive body language, we retreated and just stood still and spoke softly to him. We would often break up failed attempts with another activity so that the next attempt would be a 'restart'. With frequent snacks and repetition, we started being able to get him in the cage during the day. Night time has still been tricky, but we start much earlier now. Much too early for his bedtime, we make our first attempt. If he goes in for a bite or a rapid assent up the arm, we retreat and return to other activity. Time passes....next attempt....etc. What has ended up happening is he ends up in bed within an hour early/late of what we'd like to be his bedtime (based on when we'd like to go to bed). So it's working! Fewer interrupted sleep cycles for dear, super smart Fred.

Thank you for your input. At this time, this is the preferred approach as the alternative involves intense biting. His previous family never put him in his cage, not at night nor during the day when they left for work. As he learns to trust us, we will transition to a better routine. Because this has only been the method for 5 or less of the 10 days he's been with us, I think we'll all switch smoothly to a better system when the time is right

Thank you for asking. It's much better! I posted a more descriptive response at http://www.greyforums.net/forums/showthread.php?198383-Biting-attacks We are currently employing a rather odd routine to get him in the cage at night. I hope to modify it soon to allow him for more UN-interrupted sleep. We put him on his cage around 8pm and shut off all the lights near his room. He quickly falls asleep on top of the cage. Then, around 9:30, we come in and turn on all the lights. He thinks it is morning, saying 'good morning' and stretching. We then take out a bunch of crunchy food and start to make a big show of eating. He immediately climbs into his cage to examine the contents of his food bowl. I then close his cage door and offer him a great snack as a thank you for going to bed. Lights go out again. It sounds silly but it's working for now. Hopefully soon he'll go right in when it's bedtime.

Thank you for the advice. We've created a barrier to the office chair that he likes to attack and have eliminated shoulder rights. Fred has had quite the turnaround since his first chaotic week. He's been with us for nearly two weeks now and he's pulling out all the stops. He's so confident and smart that I feel like I stole him from the circus. (We adopted him from a home that wanted him to have more attention and we didn't pay anything.) Despite his history of lack of attention, lack of toys (he was only ever given a dog rope toy), poor nutrition (only fed sunflower seeds) and lack of training, he is really quite an amazing bird (which he hid from us until recently). He is so adventurous! ---He tastes anything I offer him - I had no trouble switching him to a pellet diet supplemented with fresh fruits and veggies. ---He plays with the toys I make (what a compliment to me!) - he destroys, he rings the bell, he throws things. ---He DANCES - bobbing his head, swinging his neck around in the most painful-looking way possible, shifting his weight and sidestepping. ---He has been open minded about clicker training - he steps up a large percentage of the time and is starting to understand the target stick. ---He talks with COMMUNICATION in mind - he says 'good morning' in the mornings, 'come here' when he wants us to come to him, 'step up' if he wants us to offer a finger and he laughs, makes farting/burping sounds, and does his own version of singing all for the sake of our joyful reaction. He doesn't really enjoy Brian yet but we're working on it. Brian's hands need to heal first because they're a mess from the previous incident. He is getting involved very slowly - offering favorite foods and visiting for very brief, non-threatening periods of time. Fred rubbed his head and neck on my hand yesterday. I didn't move, my heart started racing and I thought he was going to take a chunk out of me. But he didn't. He just gave back to me. I never would have thought he would be so generous with his trust so fast and so loving about it. To anyone else considering an adult bird - please be open minded. Babies must be wonderful as well, but there is something very special about opening up your life to an adult creature that accepts you into HIS flock. I feel very lucky to have Fred. Pictures & videos will be posted soon.

Fred seems to have settled in with us pretty well. He's an adult 13 year old TAG and he's been with us for 5 days. He confidently explores his old cage and new cage, eats everything and is even playing with some of the new toys. However, a few incidents happened recently that have demonstrated we need some help. He does not like to come off his cage and he doesn't desperately want to hang out with us. That's fine. However, he does occasionally indicate he wants to move with us from room to room, so we ask him to step up and we take him to a perch in a different room. So far so good... He jumped onto my shoulder the other day and I didn't want him there. My boyfriend, Brian, tried to get him to step up so we could remove him and Fred bit him really hard - blood, big cut, the whole 9 yards. We understand Fred may have been guarding me and we know we should have attempted to remove him some other way (not sure how). Today he flew from his perch onto Brian's chair, climbed onto his shoulder and then hung out for a few minutes. Suddenly, he grabbed onto his ear and wouldn't let go. He only released his ear when Brian gently shook his shoulder while leaning toward his play stand. Alright, that was traumatic... We wanted to put him back in his cage for a short timeout, but his body language indicated he would have refused the step up command and would have bitten us. We left him alone. A few moments later, he again flew to the chair, which prompted Brian to stand up. Fred then started talking and lifting his foot, a clear sign he wanted to step up. He gladly stepped up onto Brian, who began to carry him toward his cage. As soon as he leaned over to put him in his cage, Fred started viciously biting - several hard, unrelenting bites. He wouldn't get off Brian's hand and he wouldn't stopped biting. Brian's hand it all torn up. I don't know what to do - I am now scared to request the step up if it is going to result in an attack. We know he comes with an inclination toward females, but he willing went to Brian today, twice. In retrospect, it almost seems malicious. I want to offer him to option to be with us in other rooms, but I don't fully understand how to manage this behavior. We have done a few step up training sessions with a clicker and his favorite food - the sessions were quite successful. But when he doesn't want to come, he bites and we then respond by letting him do whatever he was doing (thereby enabling and encouraging the biting). Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you for your response. Fred is 13 years old and he is a new bird to us. I had a conure growing up and understand positive reinforcement, routine, patience and including him in our 'flock' activities. The immediate problem is how to help him adjust right now with the appropriate amount of out-of-cage time and getting him back in when we need to leave/sleep. If I go to pick him up, he is going to bite me (based on his body language), which I can handle. I think you are spot on with the point about food outside of the cage. When we picked Fred up last night, he was eating on top of his cage and he successfully avoided every single attempt his owners made to get him to step up. He hasn't had food outside of his cage for several hours now. I guess I'll give him another hour or so to go in on his own. If not, I'll pick him up.

We brought Fred home last night and set his cage up in the center of activity. When I opened the cage door, he immediately came out and looked around. He accepted food from our hands, preened, ate, drank and napped. He would NOT step up to be put in the cage for bedtime. We couldn't leave him out, so we eventually had to use a towel to guide him toward the opening. I didn't like using the thing he feared most on his first night, but we had to move him. We woke this morning and opened the cage. Because he is eager and animated, we have assumed that letting him be on top of his cage was the best plan for helping him settle in and enjoy his surroundings. But again, we cannot get him to step up for anything - snacks, attention, praise and most of all, going back into the cage. I see a trend starting where he gets to dictate whether or not he steps up and I don't want to reinforce that. Should he be left in his cage for a few days and mostly ignored (while being in the room and talking softly)?

Thank you for the update. I am about to adopt a 15 or 16 year old TAG named Fred. His description from the adoption middle-woman is "beautifully feathered, very curious, and animated". In spite of such favorable characteristics, I'm preparing myself for a patient, long-term transition period. Your story is inspiring and I'd be interested in hearing how your relationship unfolds with VelOSCARaptor the cat-bird.

Thank you for the advice! Much relieved to hear you both have similar setups.

Hello everybody, I will soon be bringing home a 16 year old TAG (Fred) and I am looking for advice on cage placement. He comes with a big cage and a small cage. We have a quiet room in mind for the small cage that will be used as his sleeping place. The place where my boyfriend and I spend most of our time is our office. There isn't enough room for a cage, but we just built a big play stand with branches and decorated it with toys. We are hoping that when we are home, he'll enjoy hanging out on the play stand in the office with us. When we are both gone for work, we'd like to put him in his big cage where he can receive maximum entertainment from nearby window activity and lots of toys. However, the only place suitable to place the cage (considering temperature and space needs) is the dining room, which is 10 feet from the stove. The stove would obviously not be in use when we are gone from the house. However, if we are cooking, then he'll be off the office play stand and on the big cage near the kitchen. I've read mixed advice about how safe this is. We do not have teflon pans, cook mainly on the weekends and eat microwave leftovers most of the time. Is it safe to put his cage so close to the stove? Thanks in advance for your advice!