Now I have been a CAG owner before, but this behavior is new to me, any explanations?

[brianL23]

Hello,

 

Well my name is Brian. My wife and I took in two rescue CAGs about 2 years ago. We believe one is male and that one is female. However, we have never had them sexed. The one we believe is male is named Frank, and the female is Honey. The names came with the birds. Over the last two years I have tried to handle Frank, however the only time he will perch on my hand without tearing into flesh is during bath time. Honey on the other hand is quite amicable when it comes to handling and could stand a few rubs before she was done. Recently however, Honey has become more friendly. And this is where the strange behavior begins. She will drop her wings, and wiggle her rump, while letting out little whimpers. Is this some type of mating dance?

 

I did say I have had a grey before, he would grab onto my hand and regurgitate and would even roll onto his back for some tummy rubs. But this behavior from honey is something I have never seen before. I would love someone to help me out with this one.

 

Thanks

Brian

[judygram]

It sounds like she is sexually aroused, the lowering of the wings while making those little whimpers is definitely signs she is sexually stimulated, do not rub her down the back, under the wings or anywhere near her tail area when she is like this and just tell her thank you but no thanks and walk away for a bit. You don't want to encourage this as she will only get frustrated and then may bite because she doesn't get any satisfaction from it, just keep the touching to the head and neck until she gets thru this phase.

[brianL23]

Thank you. I will be taking that advice.

[judygram]

My grey has done the same thing and she is 6 years old, it sounds like yours is old enough to be a mature grey.

[brianL23]

It is speculated that she may be at least 18 years old. And the male is much younger. They were rescued quite a while back from an abusive situation. No idea how long they were with the first owner. The second owner became to elderly to properly care for them so they were relinquished to a friend of mine who operates an exotic bird store that also specializes in re-homing rescues. They were with that gentlemen for 10 years prior to being a part of my family.

Frank shows the most signs from being at an abusive home. He is almost deathly afraid of hands, otherwise he is rock solid. Between all of his moves he hasn't plucked or stopped eating. He just doesn't like hands. It has been 2 years and a lot of scars with me and I am still trying to build up the trust with him.

[chezron]

Good job Brian!

[Mistyparrot]

I agree with Chezron. Thank goodness for people like Brian who are both prepared and able to re-home "difficult" parrots.

Does anyone know if the behaviour Brian described is gender specific? Could it be used as a way to sex Greys?

 

Steve N Misty.