Another good day with my Jellybean

[DanielaWelborn]

I did not let him out of his cage until later in the afternoon today.

He hung out for a couple of hours as I was cooking.

Then I fixed the doggies dinner and he just couldn't wait. He flew over and landed on the kitchen counter where I was at and tried to eat the dog food.

After an "emergency" peanut I got him back on top of his cage. Just enough time for me to feed my dogs. Then he flew right back over to the counter and "helped" me prepare his dinner.

He is now on Nutri-berries as opposed to seeds. How does everyone feel about those?

But mostly fresh; he loves beans and sweet potatoes, sprouts and other stuff. I try to go easy on the fruit.

 

The I locked him up as I was frying, let him out again and showed him our bedroom where we hang out at night a lot, because we have a sitting area and TV in there.

 

I am pretty happy for now.

[Timbersmom]

I'm in the same position with the nutriberries. I've tried every other pellet (or at least the recommended ones) but Timber won't eat them. So, nutriberries it is. At least they have pellet/seed mix, which is better than straight seed in my mind. He eats a bit of fresh stuff too (not as much as I'd like). Sometimes you just have to do the best you can! It's great that Jellybean is eating the mostly fresh. That is real progress

[Ray P]

Its always great to hear when some one is having a good day with their new compaion.

When ever you are trying new foods don`t give up when they turn it down. Keep offering it in small amounts and one day they will try it again and they just might end up loving the new stuff.

Our greys are like kids and you have to treat them like kids and in that way they become family.

[Greywings]

Well put Ray they do become family. and like any family the veggies are always a struggle with the kids.

[Timbersmom]

Very true, and I'm doing that. I fill his skewer up every morning with fresh veggies, and have at least three items in his fresh food bowl. I can tell he picks at some of the stuff a bit, and keep hoping for that magical moment when he'll think "wow, I like this!" Meanwhile, some is better than none, so I let him pick away. He does like chicken wings, so I can put an X in one of my "healthy" columns. At any rate, he looks much better than he did when I brought him home. His feathers look better, the colors are brighter and he has gained about 20 grams (still on the small side, but not bony looking). I'd rather have him eating primarily fresh and supplementing with Harrison's, but maybe someday... Like you say, he is childlike. If I stand there and hold the spoon, he will eat some sweet potato etc. Put it in the bowl and he barely nibbles at it. In other words, if mama hold the spoon and gives him her undivided attention, he eats it. Otherwise, no thanks.

[DanielaWelborn]

Timbersmom

my thought too. Some is better than nothing.

We had a setback this afternoon as he bit me while i held the stick to get him out of his cage.

He drew some blood and then tried to "take over" my kitchen counter by flying on it and checking things out. I had to draw the line, because I am the kitchen queen here:)

So all in all, back in your cage if your are misbehaving.

As someone said yesterday; two steps forward one step back.

Am I correct?

[Timbersmom]

In my opinion you are correct. Have you read the threads that talk about body language? A lot of times, there are warning signs that precede a bite. Not always though, or if there are I miss it. Not everything in a kitchen is safe for him, so I'd say putting him back in the cage was the right thing to do. The past few days, I've had to use "time-outs" (cage time) with Timber a couple of times. I try to let him make as many decisions and do his thing as much as possible, but there are things I don't allow, and when he crosses that line he goes in the cage. I also do that if he bites without a good reason, which happened the other day. My belief is that his bite was just because he didn't get his way, and like with my children, I won't tolerate that. If it was from fear it would be a different story since that is instinct and not misbehavior. I can tell you that it is a real learning experience! I discover new facets of his personality all the time. I think the recent set-to we have had about his desire to be on the floor (I have 4 free roaming cats so that is a no-no) is because his comfort and trust levels have increased to the point where he is pushing harder to get his way. In other words, now that he trusts me enough to know I'm not going to hurt him, he's going to test his boundaries. I've had him since June, so it has taken almost 5 months to get to that point. If you haven't read Katana's thread about Gilbert, you should. It will give you a lot of insight on "grey time" and a lot of good information. It is also encouraging to see how, regardless of age and circumstances, greys are never to old to learn and to trust again. Also check out Jay's rescue (Joe). That is another amazing story.