Some advice for a new CAG owner..

[Sarah_Vee]

Hey everyone, I'm new here, bought an African Grey a week ago today, Lenny, hes 13 weeks old and hes great. He seems to be settling in well, the only thing is my uncle comes to visit my house a lot, and my parrot has taken a real shine to him. When my uncle comes to visit, Lenny will squeak, become really excited and will allow my uncle to hold, scratch and snuggle with him. This is great except he doesn't seem to want to do this with me.

I know it takes a lot of patience and time for them to earn your trust, and I know I've only had him for a week, so I have been sitting by the cage, talking to him etc. and he will step on and off my hand on command, but this is as far as it goes as then he will fly away, or if my uncle is here, he will fly straight to him to be snuggled.

My uncle hasn't really done anything to warrant such attention from Lenny, he just flew to him the day we got him.

I'd just like to know if I give Lenny time to earn my trust will he eventually treat me like he does my uncle, or has he chosen my uncle?

Is there anything I can do to shift Lenny's attention towards me? Should I prevent my uncle from visiting until Lenny trusts me more?

Any help would be greatly appreciated! Thanks

[danmcq]

Welcome Sarah_Vee!

 

It sounds like, for whatever reason, your new baby grey likes your uncle as his favorite.

 

It may sound harsh, but I would ask the uncle to quit coming over or move your Grey to another room before you let you uncle in the house. If this continues, your Uncle will be the favored and you will be 2nd banana. You can never predict whom a Grey will chose as their most loved. It does not matter if your the one their 24-7 and feed, take care of etc. the bird.

 

Just keep being patient and loving as you are and hopefully your new Grey will become more friendly to you.

[Sarah_Vee]

Thanks, I had a word with my uncle tonight about it and hes fine with leaving him alone, I was just worried that depriving Lenny of someone he cared about would cause him distress. I had him on my arm tonight and was feeding him some treats, I can see some improvements so I'll just take it slow with him and build up trust between me and him.

Thanks for your advice!

[lovethatgrey]

I agree that you should ask your Uncle to not come around for a while so that you and Lenny can get to know each other ALOT more and feel comfortable with each other. Continue to be kind, gentle, loving and consistent with Lenny. He will come around in time.{Feel-good-00020114}

[Luvparrots]

Hi Sarah, I hope Lenny learns to love you. Please keep us posted on how things go. He looks like a very handsome grey.