independant playtime

[Guest briansmum]

well we've finally accomplished it i had made the mistake of having brian out of his cage too much and he saw it as a place he got left alone when we went out, he only seemed to play when out of his cage.

 

i have slowly changed it so he has a little more in cage time. and i'm sat watching him swinging, playing and chatting to himself in his cage instead of throwing himself about and attacking his toys in a mad freny wanting to come out. it's really nice to see.

 

just thought i would share another milestone with everyone and enforce the "don't spend any more time with your baby than you will be able to the rest of their lives rule", if you want your baby to enjoy independant play time encourage it immediately, that's my advice. he seems much happier in there and it makes me feel better about leaving him alone

[danmcq]

Thanks or the advice and update.

 

I will need to do this with Dayo from the onset, instead of having him out the entire time I'm home :-)

[Guest briansmum]

it's completely your own choice, but i think it is much healthier than brian sees his cage as a place he can have fun rather than just somewhere he gets on his own in and that he learns to play by himself instead of clinging to me.. which as much as i love him was getting to be very annoying

[judygram]

So very true, don't spend any more time with them than you can keep up for the rest of their lives. They have to keep themselves entertained some of the time and most are independent enough to do just that.

[Guest briansmum]

i had imagined he would grow out of it eventually anyway, but i wasn't prepared to put up with his infant tantrums whenever i took him to his cage :lol:

[Talon]

Interesting, I have always allowed Talon to be out of her cage as much as possible, when someone is home. She rarely spends time in her cage, unless I have to go out. There have been days when she's been in it most of the entire day. She seems very easy going about it, and doesn't mind being putin her cage, or left there. She has fun playing with her toys, and even will venture in when we are home to play. I can put her on the top if I want so I can have my time without her, she's fine just hanging out.

[Guest briansmum]

i'm sure a lot of birds are, and brian most likely will be when he gets older. but for now he was getting to be a pain in the butt. this new arrangement is much better. it relly upset me to see that he seemed to hate his cage. i just wanted to warn people with young babies that the same could happen if they're not careful.

[danmcq]

I think Beccy's example shoes me I need to put Dayo in the Cage on and off through the day.

 

The reason I say this, is when we had to go to a Birthday party on Saturday @ 4, he did not want to go int the cage.

 

I had to hold his toes clamped down to set him in it and then close the door real quick before he could climb back out :woohoo:

 

I am taking 2 weeks vacation starting next Monday, so I will be home ALL the time. I think I will let him out, play for an hour or so and then back in the Cage for an hour etc.

 

What do you all think?

 

Kind of like raising your first born and not having any experience :side:

[Guest briansmum]

an hour or so at a time sounds good if you're then going to be out of the house at work. im at home all day so i let him out between breakfast and lunch and then back out for a few hours in the afternoon. in total he gets 6 hours out of cage time, as apposed to 12 or so before whereby he just wouldn't leave me alone. encouraging him to play in his cage seems to have encouarged his independant play in general.

[judygram]

You did the smart thing, Beccy, they need some time to be just a bird, play by themselves, they tend to be more independent anyway and you never know when you may have to be away and they have to spend some time alone.

[Guest briansmum]

yes, it seemed to make more sense to teach him now, that wait for him to hopefully grow out of it, which was the point i hoped to make to other baby grey owners who, and i understand wholeheartedly, just want to spend every waking moment cuddling their baby.

 

this soon turns into your baby wanting to spend every waking moment on your head, swinging from your hair, chewing your buttons, jumping on your hands, and generally trying to get into anything and everything you do. which most of us don't want. easier to nip it in the bud than change the behaviour later

[judygram]

That is so true, Beccy, because it could cause all kinds of problems that you don't want to deal with.

[Talon]

I have to say that I totally disagree with you Beccy. I've had Talon since she was 8 1/2 weeks old, and never had a problem with her being too dependent on me. I believe it really depends on their personality. AS I said previously, I've never had a problem with Talon not wanting to be in her cage. In fact, I feel badly when she IS in her cage for more than 3 hours!

 

Sure there has been an occasion where she did what Dan said, and not wanted to go in her cage, trying to get out before her door is closed, but that's where she learns that I'm in charge, not her. After a minute, she goes off playing.

[Guest briansmum]

talon, i wasn't suggesting that it is the same for everyone, i envy your well behaved bird :laugh: but for me it was getting unbearable, i couldn't move with out being flew on! and he HATED being put back in his cage because he knew it meant he was going to be alone. which i see as my mistake for having him out too much. so i corrected it and we're both much happier.

 

i just wanted to offer up my experience, im sure lots of people have their greys out all the time and have no problems at all i did say up there "it's completely your own choice" and i stand by that, we all raise our birds differently.

 

I wish Brian was like Talon, I don't like putting him in his cage, but he's just a little monkey. you are lucky you have such a relaxed bird.. maybe its a CAG/TAG thing

[danmcq]

Beccy and Talon - Thanks for your experiences and thoughts on this.

 

I can see, just as children, not two Greys are alike.

 

I will experiment with Dayo's time out and time in the Cage and see how he acclimates to it.

 

Maybe he just didn't want to go in the Cage because presently he is in a cage for 20 - 22 hours a day at the breeders and figures he is OWED more time out right now :-)

 

I'll see how it goes. I just can't wait until Saturday comes!

 

It's hard to put and leave them in the cage when they "Pant" like a nursing baby looking for the (ahem) nipple. I just love that sound :-)

 

So again, thanks for all this input!

[Guest briansmum]

aww 20-22 hours cage time.. poor thing, bet he can't wait to come home.

 

do what is best for you and your bird dan, i know you're gonna be great parents

[Ice]

You couldn't be more right.

 

Roxy was out the whole for the last few months. She hated her cage because of that, and that is also SO dangerous. Last week, she shewed my brother's laptop cord, right THROUGH!!! Luckily the plug was switched off.

 

You never think of these hazards.

 

Thanks! :cheer:

[Guest briansmum]

yes i think it is very important they like their cage. i suppose that's what it comes down to, if you have your grey out nearly all the time and it still likes it's cage then thats great, if you have it out a lot and it hates it's cage you need to encourage it to have fun in there.

[danmcq]

Oh My God Ice!!

 

I would have never thought of them chewing through something like that.

 

That is scary, I can see they need to be watched at all times in that case.:ohmy:

 

I guess the motto here is - evrything is a potential chew toy!!

[Guest briansmum]

oh yes, Brian loves wires, i have stopped him a good few times from chewing on them. EVERYTHING is a toy to them till they are taught otherwise

[Talon]

Talon has chewed through more wires on my desk, than I can count. Luckily, she was fine, mostly I catch her just as she has chewed the rubber/plastic coating on them, but on occasion, she has chewed and broken the wires. It's hard to watch her when I'm working every second. I've replaced SO many cords. I just bought cord covers, and black duct tape, and spent Saturday covering everything with both, so I can catch her before she does any real damage. :evil: :evil:

[danmcq]

Oh Boy, Now I have another project to do!

 

I'll bet it doesn't take long for them to bite through a cord either with those power Beaks.

 

Guess we will just have to be responsible Parents AGAIN

[Talon]

ONE BITE! Is all it takes, she breaks my phone adapter in one chomp before I can get her away from it. I've gone through 4 telephone answering machine adapters, before I finally got smart and taped and wrapped them all together. You might say, why do I let her near it?? Well, she loves to walk all over my desk, I have toys everywhere for her on it, and she walks on my answering machine and reaches over for the cord before I catch her!:evil: :evil:

[judygram]

Josey has yet to chew on a cord on anything, I don't allow her on my desk, I guess that is why. She is usually on one of her playstands, now Sunny is the one who gets on the pullout keyboard tray and gets in behind it and has chewed a little on the cord for the mouse, so I had to tape it.:blink: :blink:

[danmcq]

Oh great, Ive got Two Routers, DSL Modem, Voip Work Phone, House Phone\Answering machine and countless other devices with wires everywhere....UGH

 

Guess I will need to train Dayo to just leave them alone because they are EVIL...everytime he touches one, a mysterious shot of water hits him from no where or something unpleasant that he won't see coming :evil:

 

I am going to have to watch and consider how he is around these items....

 

Thanks for the heads up!!