A few more questions!

[Gorndt]

Hi guys!

 

You've all been so helpful so far for Leto and me. I was wondering if you can maybe answer some more questions! (Leto is 4 months old and I've had him for about a week)

 

1. Leto uses the cage a lot to scrape his beak against. I understand this is him cleaning his beak, but I'm worried he's gonna damage it. Is this a realistic worry? Are there any alternatives to avoid it?

 

2. Leto loves oatmeal but I'm having a hard time introducing new foods to him, even when mixed in with oatmeal. Are there any foods that greys love and are good for them that I can use to sorta balance out his diet?

 

3. What are realistic expectations for getting Leto to step up? I'd love to be able to spend more time with him but it's hard when I have to wrassle with him to get him off his cage.

 

4. Leto is super receptive to whistling and picks up tunes I whistle for him very quickly. I'm worried he'll think whistling is a replacement for speaking and never learn to speak. He already uses whistles to greet us and ask us to come back to him. Any thoughts on this?

 

Sorry to be such a bug but I'm so interested in this little guy!

[Dave007]

As far as the whistling goes, don't you do it. Greys are known as one of the best natural whistlers in the parrot world and they don't need any outside encouragement. Replace it with constant talking. Most 4 mt old greys are far from the human talk stage. There's some that do but they're in the minority. Just talk to your bird as you would your friend. Just don't expect him to answer your questions or have long conversations with you concerning the state of the world.

 

Stepping up-----At the top of this page you'll see

 

SEARCH FORUM----type in Stepping Up and you'll see hundreds of posts concerning that subject.

 

Scraping the beak. If you haven't gotten one yet, purchase a concrete perch from a pet shop. If a bird likes it, he'll file, clean and scrape the beak on it. He may even keep his claws trimmed and blunt. Can you make him stop scraping the bars of the cage? No. Will he damage his beak? No, unless the bird is a very nervous neurotic type and constantly rubs the beak non stop. That usually happens on the walls of the cage and a neurotic bird will do this type of thing 30 minutes at a time. Up and down, up and down and only the sides of the beak are damaged.

 

Oatmeal is used as a treat. Foods aren't introduced by being mixed in with oatmeal. Greys eat a variety of fruits, veggies, parrot mix and some human foods.

 

It's a trial and error period. Yopu have to try different things and see what he likes and no oatmeal should be present when doing this.

 

Also, a 4 mt old grey is still in the post weaning age and will take time to get used to different foods.

[Gorndt]

Thanks! That'll all be very helpful!

[Mistyparrot]

Just to add to what Dave said. Greys are social eaters. I found with Misty the best way to get him to try new foods is to eat them with him. We generally share all our meal times. Even though he always has food available he lets me know if he thinks i am late with our meals. I sometimes hang carrots , half apples or half corncobs on cords. He enjoys pulling up the cords and chewing on the veggies. If I just put them down for him or chop them up he ignores them. They love a challenge and opportunities to forage.

 

My 2c

 

Steve n Misty

[Jayd]

"TIME" That's the key...It all takes time, Step-up, try a perch, just be patient. Food, try every thing, with all our fids, no two eat the same thing, we do "Abundant Feeding" put a little of a lot of different types of food in his cage, not just for one day but for a week, then try something different...Example: one week try a little zucchini, collard greens, lightly steamed carrot, one type of pellet, (each couple of weeks try a different brand of pellets) birdie muffin (Jiffy corn muffin mix, 2 egg's and shells, peanut butter, crushed pellets, 2 jars of organic baby food such as carrot, apple, no milk.) and a couple pieces of fruit like sliced apple, cantaloupe, nectarine, orange, apricot, pears etc, or warm or cold Smash. All our Grey's, Amazon's and Conure's love it.(baked soft sweet potato, organic peanut butter. mashed banana, or pears.)We serve this each morning warm. You can get you baby to step up and perch when you feed him Smash. It takes time,