Java's place (red bellied parrot)

[katana600]

My family went to the big box pet store to get holiday stocking stuffers for our dog and cats for the first Christmas in our new home. We had lived apart waiting for our youngest to graduate from high school in Houston and were all coming back together in our new home in the northeastern suburbs of Atlanta. I refuse to go into the pet store because they were having an adoption and I knew I was weak.

 

After I finished in the department store I sat in the car in the cold and sent text messages for a half hour to plead with my family to come out with no new pets. Then came a cryptic text, "you have to see dad with this little bird". That was new, he loved our pets but he never ever sought out a new one.

 

Curiousity got the best of me. When I went into the glass enclosed bird room, this little grey bird was pressing her head against his finger that he was poking between the bars of her cage. When I say cage, that is all she had, no toys, no food or water, just a barren cage stacked under a few others. Her wings were brutally clipped, I have never seen anything like it and hope to never see such a thing the rest of my life. From the tip to the place her wing joined her body, it looked as if she only had an inch of feather, if that.

 

When we talked and decided we had to take her home, the manager said if you want her, you have to get her out yourself. They said she is vicious and no one can get near her. They gave us a little cardboard box and said if you can get her in it, you can take her. I just reached in and offered her a finger and she hopped right on it and then went into the box as if she knew she was going to a real home.

 

So, we traded in what was going to be our Christmas present of Chatterbox motorcycle helmet communications for a chatterbox of another sort. As much as I hate to admit this, the emotions of the time took all our common sense right out of our minds. She cost as much as an African grey from a breeder, but we knew nothing about parrots and off we went to learn.

[Luvparrots]

Wonderful story about Java's homecoming, I loved it!!! I knew you had some great stories about Java and I definitely want to hear more!!!!

[katana600]

We were told Java was about four months old. I have my suspicion she was older because her eyes had already changed from black to red. I haven't been able to confirm what age they might change in the red bellied parrot. While my husband and daughters set off to find a cage, I stayed home with her. When I took her out of her box, we were alone in a quiet room. I was still naive where parrots are concerned, I thought she might fly away. So, when she got on my shoulder, I covered my head with a fleece blanket and we both napped for a couple of hours. Then I started reading and trying to find out what to feed her and how to take care of her.

 

Lucky for me, I had read a billboard that a bird fair was coming to Atlanta. That is where I met some wonderful people who helped me set up a home for this little parrot. Once she settled in, she had attitude. She would get right on the floor and terrorize our Italian greyhound and both cats. She came after everyone but me and she was sassy to me too. She was a handful. It was soon evident that this little bird has a depth of intelligence we had never seen in a companion animal and we have had some clever critters.

 

We were in the den watching television and having junk food. Java made her way from my shoulder, across the sofa and down to my husband's shoulder. She wanted a french fry. She navigated down his arm and he let her have a piece of a french fry and I scolded him because I didn't think the salt and grease would be a good idea. So, he took the french fry from his right hand where she was trying to take it away to his left hand. Up his arm, across his shoulder and down the other arm she went. Just as she got there, he passed the fry to his right hand. She retraced her steps and got to his right hand and he did it again. She was determined to get to the french fry but this time she stopped on his shoulder. She grabbed the top of his ear and bent it down and all the joking was over at that point. He was yelling for help but she wasn't actually biting him, just holding on as ransom for a french fry, and she got one. Hahahahaa..

 

A few days later she was trying to get to my laptop as I was in a recliner with my feet up. I kept moving her to the backside of the laptop to my knee because she was intent to chew off the keys from my keyboard. I felt her rooting around between my knees and just waited to see what she was doing. She got on her back between my knees and she wriggled until she got to the front of the keyboard to find a path under the laptop! When she reached her goal of getting to the keyboard side, she found the little notch where the lid would latch when it closes and she promptly shut down my computer. From that time on, when she wanted attention she would quietly get closer and closer and when I wasn't vigilant she would shut off the computer and then coo and turn her head in the cutest way to get a scratch.

 

I glued some acrylic pieces together to make a little box I could set over my keyboard so I could still type and she couldn't get to the keys but she was very patient and all it would take was a phone call for me to get distracted and she would pull off ten keys and it would take me hours to get them put back on.

[katana600]

So, six years ago, moving to a new home, both daughters off in college, I had way too much time on my hands. Java and Bella spent a lot of time in my sewing room which was in an upstairs bedroom. I decided to train a new act. My daughter had a knee brace she had long discarded so I made a makeshift saddle for our Italian greyhound. It was a poor decision. When they say "Don't try this at home," from this day forward I will listen. Day after day, we had training sessions and the dog and bird were my willing accomplices. Finally, I was going to reveal my clever plan to my husband. I opened the bedroom door and told Bella to find daddy. Well. In my defense, every day, Bella would walk gingerly around the small room, Java would have a ride in a closely supervised manner and they both enjoyed it. When that door opened, Bella saw her chance to escape. I was reminded that they race greyhounds for a reason. Java held on for a second or two, but Bella took off like a rocket and thankfully we had a carpeted floor for Java to land before they hit the stairsteps. We retired from the trick training and although Java and Bella are still closely supervised friends, once she regained her flight ability, she stays up high and Bella stays down low.

[Ray P]

Until I read your post on Java I did not know anthing about Red Bellied parrots and that goes for alot of other parrots too.

As I find out about Java and the other parrot members on this forum I now know not to try and out smart a parrot of any kind because I will not win.

[katana600]

Thanks Ray, until I met Java, I had never heard of a red bellied parrot either. Since bringing her home, I have only seen one breeder at the bird fair and I go about four times a year. There is minimal information out there. I do find the information on the African grey to be very similar to handling this little hen. One of the first books I bought was called the Parrot Problem Solver and it was instrumental in learning how to avoid creating life long problems for the parrot because of what we might be inclined to do with a baby bird that they will expect for a lifetime and we can't sustain that kind of attention forever. She had to be taught to play independently even though she was so cute and I just wanted to put her in my pocket and keep her with me all day long.

 

She is a resilient little bird. She has been quarantined from new birds in the house four times for up to sixty days each time. I would divide my time and give her the first attention so I could shower and go to bed before coming to her again in the morning to avoid any cross contamination. She weathers every storm and gets along with our entire family and all our other animals. At first she was a little tyrant. She tried to drive everyone away and keep me all to herself. We had to work really hard to keep her from getting on the floor to attack the cats. She has big big attitude for such a tiny little bird. She weighs 136 grams but you would think she was a territorial adult silverback gorilla the way she strikes fear in any adversary. She has a particular stance she takes as she goes after a newcomer. My husband calls it the bull rush. She puts her head down, beak on the floor or table and her little legs are a blur she comes with such a flurry. It took a year for her feathers to grow in so she could fly and she has been flight since then. She was much more argumentative and defensive before she could fly.

 

Early on, I read they will tend to be one person birds unless you work to help them accept others. Since she was technically my husband's bird, I was intent to make sure he could handle her. I would always have him give her treats and do the bed time routine. Our girls were in college at the time so they would come and go. The first day she would be relentless. It took a lot of time and effort to help them learn how to call her bluff and be permitted flock status by her royal highness. All the hard work payed off because when I had to be gone for four months last summer, my husband and girls were able to take care of her and she happily accepted me back home when I returned.

[katana600]

Java was about two years old before I heard her speak. We were living in the south and had a rare snowstorm. It had been nearly ten years since I had seen snow falling in the great big flakes that stack up about four inches in an hour. I was enthralled. I called to my daughter to come see and she was on the computer and sighed "Mom, I have seen snow before." She wouldn't even come to look. Second daughter ditto. Devoted hubby was in the attic putting down a floor. He would not come see the snow either. So, I took Java to the window and we watched the snow. I was making a point to all my family and said "See the snow Java, isn't it beautiful?" She stook up straight and stretched her neck and said "Boy oh boy!" Her voice sounded a little like one of the three stooges, high and excited. Later when my family was gathered together I was telling them how she talked and I could tell they didn't believe me and were rolling their eyes about my snow excitement. Then Java piped up and said "Boy oh boy" again and we were all laughing and she kept saying it over and over again. That was the last day she said it and we didn't hear her speak again for almost a year.

[katana600]

Java uses her words sparingly. A few years back, our aging Siamese cat was having issues with spinal neuropathy and it would prevent her from walking intermittently. Java was relentless about chasing her. I would go to bring Java up off the floor to protect KittKatt and Java would do her bull rush trying to scare me off. I would tap the floor with my finger and command for her to "come here". The day after KittKatt passed, my daughter Rachel went upstairs to her room. Java went to the bottom step, on the floor and she tapped the floor with her beak and commanded "Rachel, come here. Come here!" It was one of those shocking moments. Her words were clear and her meaning was clear as well, and she had the right name for the right person. Again, she has never repeated those words. She has picked up a few words from Gilbert. He calls her pretty girl and she does her best to repeat it in the same tone and deep voice he uses. Last week my husband and I were in the living room early in the morning pecking away on our respective laptops when we heard her repeat another word of Gilbert's. She said sh*t, just the way he was doing a few weeks ago. We looked at each other, pretended not to notice and she laughed. She has a plethora of laughs, chuckles, giggles and so forth. She is a jokester and she knows it.

[katana600]

One of Java's favorite places to hang out is the top of the refrigerator. When I am getting breakfast for the furry and feathered family, she will ask me what I am doing. A while ago, I told her what I was doing and asked her what she was doing. She said "I'm working". Another time her response was "I'm busy". Maybe it is because she is so selective about talking that when she says something, I am so delighted that I laugh, but whenever she does talk, she will laugh at herself. She really is a gleeful little thing. She also loves to play tricks and get into mischief. Once she took the empty water bottle the dog was playing with. The sofa is along a walkthrough path through our living room. I didn't notice that she took the bottle behind the sofa and when I got up to leave the room, I stepped on it and it scared the beejeebers out of me. She mocked my yell and then laughed and laughed as if she had intentionally put it there. Another time, we were in the den and she picked up a shotglass from the display shelf. She attempted to fly with it and it weighed as much as she does. She got far enough though to drop it right on my head and then she laughed and went so far as to say whoo hoo hoo. She is very energetic and gets into things so if she is out, she has to have constant supervision. One evening in the den my husband and daughters were with her when the all noticed at once she had been quiet for a long time. There was a jar of peanut butter that they left open when they fed the dog her evening treat in the kong. Java had climbed completely inside the jar and was covered with peanut butter. She was very possessive of that peanutbutter mother lode and they had a devil of a time getting her out of the big jar.

[Ray P]

OH but Java sounds like a fun bird.

We buy Jiff peanutbutter in the large can because of my son and one day it was on the kitchen table and it was almost empty and the plastic cover was on it.

Well Cricket my sweet little zon took the cover off and had the can on its side and was inside. OK as you said the mother lode.

She had peanutbutter all over her from head to tail and she would not let us clean her off. She enjoyed cleaning peanutbutter from her feathers for days. She would sit on her perch and preen her peanutbutter feathers.

I know how you enjoyed watching Java as we did with Cricket.

Cricket would not leave her cage for days intil all the peanutbutter was gone from her feathers.

 

Cricket loves peanutbutter tost

Edited May 31, 2012 by Ray P

[katana600]

When our girls were little they had music by Joe Scruggs that we all enjoyed. One of the songs was about peanut butter. "My oh my, I sure love peanut butter. It tastes so good to me, it's awfully hard to beat, peanut butter..." We sing this song when we give the dogs a little peanut butter treat in the kong. Bella is an Italian greyhound and she is the biggest peanut butter hound. When the jar is scraped to the bottom, we hand it over to her. I thought you might like to see a picture of her with her mother lode. LOL. Our vet said it is fine to give the dogs a teaspoon every day but not to go overboard with the parrots because they live long enough to have hardening of the arteries. It is hard to resist but we save it for special treats. I have been giving both our parrots a little piece of toast with peanut butter on weekends and they are ever so excited. We have to be very careful when the dogs have the kong and give the parrots an almond and keep the cages closed or we would have mayhem here.

[katana600]

Bella is not much on sharing.

Edited June 2, 2012 by katana600

[katana600]

I took that reply to Google translate where it says it is Russian and means: Is it harmful to the shrimp to the stomach, liver? if not often used ... Oh, and I forgot to include the "title" so in full it shows "Bad for credit &

Is it harmful to the shrimp to the stomach, liver? if not often used ..."

Edited October 31, 2012 by katana600
adding more

[katana600]

In the past couple of years, we have had to curtail Java's activity with quarantines for new parrots and to give Gilbert time to find his way. We always found a way to give her time out of her cage and with family but it was with careful supervision. In the last few weeks, we are giving her more freedom and she is making up for lost time. Java is not a prolific talker, but she always seems to get a word in here and there to make her wishes known. She is learning some things from Gilbert, good things mostly. As we were having a lay about weekend morning about 7:30 Saturday, Gilbert was chatting sweetly trying to coax us to come out when she made a few of her grumblings and her famous game show buzzer sound. I called out that I loved her too and she made a big kiss. Then, much to my surprise, she gave us a Gilbert phrase "gotta cracker?" It was so funny. As Gilbert gains confidence, she is showing more interest in him too. Unfortunately it is usually to heckle him or bother him. We are letting them work it out as much as possible but yesterday she tried a new tactic to irritate him. While he was in the center of his play stand minding his own business, she did a few flyovers and had him worked up a little. Then she stirred the pot with her crooked little wicked stick and went into his cage and ate his food. He was running back and forth on his play stand but he didn't try going in after her. I did take the initiative to remove her back to her own cage top and she was being a little demon seed. So much is changing as Gilbert is feeling so good and getting out and about. Java just needs some air time in her own right. She is still the reigning queen here.

[katana600]

When Gil chased Java off her cage top, she went looking for an easier target.

Doesn't she look sweet and innocent?

I covered the boys with a blanket and she wasn't ready to give up yet. She was trying to lift the blanket and go in after them. It was all in fun and no little furry critters were harmed in our photo op.

[JeffNOK]

Great thread Katana. I've always been curious about POIs. Java seems like a fearless adventurer. I look forward to learning more.

[katana600]

Thanks Jeff. Java is a fearless adventurer from her first day with us she has never backed down to any creature, ever. She was my first love and introduced me to what a parrot means to our lives. When she first came to us, I could swear she looked in the mirror and saw a silverback gorilla in her mind. She once picked up a small glass, flew and bombed me on the head with it. I am sure she just dropped it because it got too heavy... but coincidentally it landed right on my head. She is just as loving as she is fearless. She will go to anyone, but not just anyone has permissions to rub her head. She isn't a bully... well, she could be, but we have trained everyone to hold their ground and once her bluff is over, she accepts newcomers. She will lie on her back in my hand, tip her head back to have scratches in the little hollow spot under her lower beak. She is the reason I was drawn to this forum to read about greys because I couldn't find much information about the red bellied parrot but her behavior is very similar to a grey other than the verbalizations. She is funny, mischievious, brave and adventurous, sometimes sweet, always headstrong and she made me want to know more about parrots in order to meet the challenges she brought to my quiet house right when our kids were leaving for college.

[SRSeedBurners]

POIs are special. We're still looking for another sweety Jardines. I accidentally came across a video of me feeding our Raven yesterday. Still very hard to watch.

[katana600]

I went looking for pictures of Jardine's, they are beautiful. I think the POIs have great big personalities. I have had Java for seven years, she speaks very little but communicates in many different ways. Would you believe that once I posted her new photos and talked about her, this morning she started talking and went on for twenty minutes saying the sweetest things. I couldn't move because it was so magical and I didn't want it to end. I am glad you have the videos of Raven. It may still be hard to watch but someday the pain will ebb away and you will watch and feel only the joy you had in your heart for this delightful little soul.

[katana600]

We let both parrots out early Saturday morning. We got our coffee and were within 3 feet on either side of the two cages. Swiftly and silently in less than 30 seconds, Gil came out of her cage, scaled the stairs and came down to Java's cage. We had no idea until Java screamed. The little thug Gilgirl had Java pinned in a corner and had bitten her face. Gil was determined to stand her ground and was so arrogant as to eat Java's food while she looked me in the eye challenging me to move her. I reached past her and scooped Java to safety and it wasn't for a half hour that we noticed her sneezing and saw the blood. I watched her carefully and did not put anything on it because it is on her nostril and I was afraid she would breath it in. She is just fine now but we can see just how close we were to a tragedy. We are moving the room around and separating Gilbert from any access to Java. Poor little mite didn't deserve that. Gilbert was hostile all day and made hissing noises at all of us that sounded like something from an exorcist movie. Today they are both back to normal, thank goodness.

[Timbersmom]

Sure glad Java is OK!

[Acappella]

I'd bet you'd love to get into that little grey head even more than usual and ask her what That was about. I guess there are bound to be a few bad consequences of Miss Gilbert getting her confidence. Glad Java is going to be ok.

[Greywings]

The picture looks like Java has a bit of damage to her upper mandible, do keep an eye on that it may affect the way that beak grows.

[neoow]

Oof glad poor little Java is ok! I wonder what suddenly got into Miss Gilbert. Glad both of them calmed down after a while. Hopefully Java heals well!

[katana600]

My sister is a fan of Miss Gilbert and when I told her she said to imagine how long Gil has been thinking of doing that before she got the nerve. Java has a vet visit coming up so I will have her mandible checked. The picture was taken while it was fresh. There is a little crease across her nostril. I am so grateful that it wasn't worse. After Gil's attitude that day, it was a sobering reality check that indeed she is an unpredictable wild animal. We have to be vigilant and set her up for success in the future and not give her the opportunity to get close to Java again, even when we are right there beside her.