african grey - abu dhabi / dubai, UAE

[dubaighost]

Hi guys! I feel glad to discover this forum. This will be very helpful to my family in our quest to provode the BEST for our CAG.

 

we just got our lovely CAG last feb 17. We still dont know if its a male or female since we havent done dna testing. We already named our bird 'grey' (somebody is crazy with grey's anatomy). I hope you dont mind me sharing our adventure on the day we got 'grey'.

 

We were in a quest that day to find the 'right' CAG for our family. We checked out most of the petshops in abu dhabi, uae. We saw many CAGs but we did not feeel any connection with them. Most of the birds were cranky. Others were behaved but bites hard. Other growls like a monster the second your near their territory. We are looking for a 'spark' that will connect 3 human bodies with one bird. An initial magical bond that may seem impossible to find.

 

After hours of looking in abu dhabi, We were unsuccessful. We decided to drive to sharjah, one of the neighboring emirates. approximately 300km driving distance away (Not sure about the distance). It was approximately 3hrs++ of driving at 120kph.

 

Reached the bird market and saw enormous choices of CAGs. Checked all pet shops one by one. All CAGs were literally checked. Asked every shop owner to recommend the most lovely bird they have. They offered lots of option but all failed.

 

one CAG that was Quitely sitting on a perch caught our attention. The bird seems to be an outcast or a weakling because he//she was not part of the main group (the bird was not sick though). We approached the CAG and immediately felt the connection. The CAG bonded with us instanly. Its very hard to explain since not that much action happened. The CAG just quietely lets us approached, pet & talk to him/ her. Yes, we found the 'right' bird at last!

 

Unfortunately, the CAG doesnt hve any documents. The pet shop owner said that it is 4months old.

 

The past days/weeks was fun. 'grey' is very sociable. She loves to be out of her cage and hangs out at our shoulders. She tries to talk back whenever we talk to her. She gets excited when we enter the room (she stays with us inside the bedroom). She is very inteligent, she stops making noise when we go to bed.

 

appreciate if you can give me some tips on the following:

 

1. She diggs! She pushes her head in the corner of the cage as if she will slip through. I know this is an action saying "get me out of the cage and be with you!". It is actually cute but i dont want it to become a habbit.

 

2. We had 4-5 bath sessions (using a sprinkler) and it seems like shes not enjoying it. Is it because shes still too young? In regards with the aloe vera juice, is it the 'juice' that you can buy from the store/ supermarket?

 

3. I noticed that she eats very early in the morning and during night time. She only hve her snacks all through out the day & seems to be not that much interested to eat whenever we give her heavy foods.. Should we give her major meals (vegies & fruits) during morning & night time alone?

 

4. I find her underweight, so i decided to hand feed her with CAG baby food atleast one a day. Is that ok?

 

5. When we go to the living room, she always stay at her favorite spot... Infront of the mirror. Why?

 

6. If we take her with us outside the house by foot (store, petshop or park across the street) will she be stressed?

 

7. Cartons, tissue paper & card board... Is she trying to eat it? Or shes just shredding it?

 

8. Maintenance - we keep sheets of paper at the bottom of the cage to catch the poop and change it evryday. Is there another option of maintaining cleanliness in the cage?

 

9. If i have a fever / flu, will she get infected if i play with her?

 

10. Is there a way to find out her edact age. Yes, shes still a baby, but i want to know her exact age so we can atleast celebrate her bday every year!

 

11. Is there some sort of vaccination that i should ask the vet to give her? (vitamins, deworming, etc)

 

thank you for reading my message guys and thank you for your patience as well. I know youve bumped into the same questions hundreds of time.

 

Your comments and tips will helpfull to my family to provide the BEST of everything for 'grey'.

 

Attached is grey's photo during his 1st day (she havent showered in this pic).

 

Cheers!

[Luvparrots]

Very nice introduction to Grey, dubiaghost. He does look like a young African Grey and very handsome. What does the band on your grey say? Perhaps it can give you some idea for the breeder for your parrot or perhaps the shop owner can give you more information about where the bird came from so you can check it out on your own. Regardless your grey has a very long life ahead of it and years of enjoyment for all of you. I keep newspaper in my parrots cage and change it daily, I have no other solution for keeping the cage clean. My grey also likes to shred paper and they do not eat it. As long as the paper is clean and free of glue, it should be okay. Parrots do also like bells to play with because they love to make them ring. I look forward to hearing more about Grey. Welcome to the Grey family!!!!!

[Dave007]

1----That's something that many parrots do. Nature tells them to do it. It could be food that he imagines is there or he could be scraping the forest floor looking for different things they eat in the wild. Nothing you can do will change that habit but it doesn't last 24 hrs a day.

 

2---Most greys don't like bathing or spraying but it must be done periodically. The squaking and growling will stop as soon as the spraying is finished and doing that won't harm them. You need to do it no matter how your bird reacts.

 

3--Solid food has to be left in the cage 24 hrs a day. Veggies can be given but they must be removed because they go bad after a few hrs. There's no such thing as breakfast, lunch or dinner to a parrot. They eat when they want, as much as they want or don't eat much at all.

 

4---Your vet can give you a professional opinion on weight. Your bird may be small boned and the weight will be less on a small boned bird. There isn't any way we can give you a perfect answer to that. Some baby food is fine as long as he eats it. If he doesn't want it, he can't be forced to take it.

 

5---The mirror is what appeals to her. Nothing wrong with that. Other greys don't like mirrors and some greys don't care if it's there. If the mirror bothers you, remove it.

 

6---Again, there's no way to answer that. Some like it outside and others don't. You'll need to find that out by yourself. All greys react in different ways to outdoor elements

 

7-----shredding it. Greys don't eat those types of things

 

8---That's one of the best ways of doing it. Some people use newspaper.

 

9----No, as long as your saliva doesn't get on the bird's face. Don't sneeze in your bird's face.

 

10---The bird looks like he could be between 3 mts to 5 mts of age (approx number)

 

11---Normally vaccines aren't given to a bird. Birds are usually checked for internal diseases and external skin disorders once a year. Parrots don't get worms. BUT in your country, vets may deal with parrots in a different way. We wouldn't have any idea about what a vet does there. Liquid vitamins mess up a bird's drinking water. Proper green vegies and other types of natural fgoods give greys all the vitamins they need.

[Fleafish]

Wow, Dave, answered a few questions that I never thought to ask and great questions, dubaighost!! Thanks, from newbie....err...I mean....new parronts.....LOL

[judygram]

Hello Dubaighost and welcome to our family, so glad you finally found the one for you and your family.

Grey looks to be a very young Cag as Dave said and he pretty much answered your questions as he can be very thorough.

For more information do read thru the many threads here and ask all the questions you may have and we will help you in any way we can.

Thanks for including a picture of your grey in your intro post.

[dubaighost]

thank you for the warm welcome judygram, luvparrots & fleafish.

 

thank you for the detailed answers Dave007. Follow up question >>> "Liquid vitamins mess up a bird's drinking water" >>> please explain. i just got liquid vitamins for 'grey'.

 

Cheers!

[Dave007]

Follow up question >>> "Liquid vitamins mess up a bird's drinking water" >>> please explain. i just got liquid vitamins for 'grey'.

 

There's been bird vitamins sold for years for all sorts of parrots of all sizes from tiny budgies all the way up to huge Macaws which are all hookbills and also for canaries/finches( softbills). The small softbills will drink more water during the day because of their extreme constant activity. Rarely do they stay still plus they're constantly breeding. Vitamins are also given to softbills to enhance their feather color ( ex--American Flyer--very red bird) Just about every vitamin has to be mixed with water. All parrots don't drink much water during the day and evening. Like food, it's a bit here and a bit there. Liquid vitamins sit in the water and mess up the water during the day. Basically, they're useless. All species of parrots have particular needs for their bodies. The most important vitamins/minerals for a grey are VIT A, VIT E and calcium. All greys need calcium as well as the other vitamins. All different proper food items supply these things but with some greys, they also need extra items like red palm oil which supplies the vitamins. It's not put in fluid. It's put on food of all types and some greys like eating it in solid form.

Again, I don't know if it's available in your country but a bird who's eating a varied diet can live without it.

Don't think you're being cheated when you buy liquid vitamins in your country. The pet stores here sell loads of it but people need to understand what they're buying and who they're buying it for ( their pets). All pet shops will sell anything, good or bad as soon as they find out that people will buy it. That also includes stupid, ridiculous products for dogs and cats and rodents and various pet bunnies.

[rajnair]

dear friends, i am glad, u got ur tight CAG, but i have something to inform you, take her/him to a vet immediately, i understand the bird is new, so i will suggest to do the vaccinations immediately, I purchased birds, (i dont like to call them birds though) i call (called) "mittu", 3 weeks back i purchased her, and she managed to get her position at my home, with children in hours!! and i turned our whole balcony as her home, with all the nestings, branching and toys.. with humidifier, and u name it.. next morning i saw her dead on the floor...

i didnt want to hurt children, i bought another one, and pretended its the same (kids went to school and couldnt identify the difference), and the new guy, trust me, she literrally made me reach home 2 hrs earlier home everyday.. and we were soo happy for 3 weeks, and suddenly, it started to be silent..(even she started to make noises,like whisling, ringing the bell and so on..

2nd day i took her to the vet, they gave 2 injections and said the chances are few, as they all are having a kind of virus, at these shops which might start to affect in 4 weeks time, and the 3rd day she is too gone........

i tried to explain children that i send her to a vet to get her cured.. i dont know what to write more. take ur CAG to vet, give all the vaccines..

 

i bought both from sharjah bird and animal market..

 

raj@smartsolutionsae.com