Our new baby

[Lusya]

Hello everyone!

I am new to the forum and I have lots of questions regarding our new baby. We got our Congo African Grey on Sunday. She is about 4.5 months old. The seller believed it is a girl, so we didn’t sex her. We named her Izzie.

The first day she was very shy, she would not step up, she barely ate. Yesterday she would step up on my hand and on hand of my husband after some time. She ate very well. However, I didn’t see her drink any water. How can I convince her to drink water? Are there any tricks? She would step up on the bowl, but wouldn’t drink. I tried to clean the bowl and change the water often, but she still refuses.

 

My other concern is her sitting on top of her cage all day long. She doesn’t want to sit on my laps or on my hands. She would step up but then she wants to go back. We bought her some toys for the cage but she only sleeps in her cage. What toys you will recommend for the top of the cage? (She has a little playtop with 2 bowls, perch and 2 ladders).

 

When she comes to sit on my hands she tries to climb to my shoulder (sometimes head) and then she tries to jump out. I don’t want her to get hurt, how can I teach her to stop?

 

I do talk to her a lot, she seems to listen, she turns her head, sometimes makes some noises. She stretches a lot. She seems to be healthy baby (tomorrow our first vet appointment).

 

I would really appreciate any help and suggestions.

[Hannah_Rae]

Don't worry to much, she is just adjusting to her new surroundings. I don't know any tricks to make her drink, but my guess is that she will drink when she is ready, and possibly already is when you aren't looking.

Also, if you are interested in what gender she really is, I would get the sexing done. It's not expensive and it's the only true way to know.

 

Blessings on the new baby,

 

Hannah

[Lusya]

Hannah, thanks for replying.

I hope our baby drinks when we are not looking. But I am trying to spend a lot of time with her.

 

I didn’t want to sex her because I though it is stressful. I think we might get it done when we will trim her nails or clip her wings.

[danmcq]

Hannah made good comments.

 

They actually drink very little water, so it would be easy to miss a quick drink.

 

Toys are a hit and miss, just try simple non-expensive toys to get a feel for what types of toys your Grey likes. At such a young age, she will explore them (once the initial possible screaming is over).

 

Try something you have like an empty toilet paper cardboard roll. They seem to love these and also a small round acrylic ball with holes and a bell in it. They also love to shred paper. :-)

 

I would not be too concerned with her jumping down,unless her wings are clipped so mush she cannot gently flap down to the floor at a 45 degree angle. As long as the descent is gentle, let her go and watch her explore.

 

Aren't Grey's GreYt!!

[Lusya]

I would try to get some toys for her. It seems she is not interested in anything yet. She likes to eat and she spends lots of time next her bowl with food.

 

Do they like ropes?

 

Thanks!!

[judygram]

Yes they do and you should get one of those things they call a boing, its a rope like thing with a metal wire thru the middle that shapes it into a spiral and it hangs from the top of the cage, Josey uses one all the time, in fact I think she sleeps on it.

[Lusya]

Our baby seems to be not interested in any toys. Is it normal? Is it most likely because everything is new to her?

[Dave007]

More than likely, she won't like anything you give her right away. First, they have to check it out from every angle. They eventually touch it to see if it's hard or soft. Next, they lightly touch it to see if it bites or gets angry. Eventually, they'll take to the toys BUT not every toy which is normal. Even if she doesn't take to a particular toy, leave it in the cage. It becomes part of their *wallpaper* in the cage. With greys, especially CAGs, all of this getting used to things might take a few weeks, sometimes longer.<br><br>Post edited by: MrSpock, at: 2007/10/31 01:34

[Lusya]

Thanks for an advise!

Izzie spends all day long on top of her cage. She would step up on my hand when I take her out of the cage. But it takes a while before she steps up to go back into the cage.

 

So, for now should I just get different toys to see which one she likes? I don't want her to get bored on top of her cage. I try to spend as much time as I could talking to her and playing with her, but she refuses to stay on my laps or arms for a long time.

 

I hope this is an adaptation to new environment and eventually she will play with us and her toys.

 

I just wanted to say thank you all for your help. I spend the entire day today reading through posts and I found lots of interesting and useful information!

[scrohan]

Just wanted to say that Sparky only recently started to drink much water and he is 6 months old now. I guess he must have been getting enough water in his formula.

 

Also, I found that wrapping those ladders on the play top with cotton or sisel rope makes it much easier for them to climb around them as the diameter of the rungs are so small that it makes it difficult for them to utilize them. Sparky wouldn't climb on the ladders at all because he seemed very clumsy on them until I wrapped them. Now he climbs all over them.

Climbing is a very good way for them to gain some confidence during play time.

 

I just noticed you are in my neck of the woods. I live in the north side of St. Augustine. Welcome to the forum.

[Lusya]

Thank you! Izzie seems to like climbing on the ladder. However, I feel she still not stable enough to play on top of the cage.

 

Today, while I stepped out of the room for couple minutes, Izzie jumped (flew) from her cage and ended up in the corner. I don't know how to control it and prevent her from getting hurt. Her wings are clipped and we decided to keep them that way. Is it normal for them to try to jump out or maybe her wings are not clipped correctly?

 

I am talking to our baby in Russian, since my husband and I speak Russian at home. Now I am curious if it's confusing for our baby because her "breeder" talked English with her.

 

scrohan, I was looking for a bird in our area and ended up buying our baby at the Bird Show in Orlando.

[BMustee]

No your bird will be fine, it will pick up on the Russian. I have heard of a couple bilingual birds.

 

Do you live in Russia? I love everything Russian; my mother’s side of the family is all from there…they left while Stalin was in power. I’ve been trying to learn Russian myself but it’s pretty hard because there is no one that speaks or teaches it anywhere around me.

[BMustee]

Duhhh....it would help if I read everything on your post. It looks like you live in FL, did you come from Russia?

[Lusya]

Hi!

I was born in Russia, at age 15 I moved to US with my parents. I do visit my relatives and friends pretty often, but I consider Florida to be my home now

[judygram]

Well welcome to the good ole USA, we love having you here, but just be patient with Izzie, she is still settling in. Karma for you for reading thru a lot of the posts, see I told you that you will find a lot of helpful information there. Keep us informed as to how Izzie settles in.

[BMustee]

That's cool, how often do you get to go over there? I was born and raised here in Fort Myers FL and plan on one day going to Moscow for vacation.

[BMustee]

As for the flying, all you can really do is pick him up and put him back where he was. Over time he will learn that he isn't allowed to jump off the cage.

[Lusya]

I hope our baby would not get hurt. But she is smart and I believe soon she will realize she cannot jump.

 

I go to Russia about once a year. However, this year we went to Ukraine instead (to visit my husband's family).

 

Now I have another question about vet checks. The breeder (seller) assured me the bird is in good condition, I checked her eyes and nose, her skin and everything looks fine. When I called different animal clinics they told me they do not treat birds. Then I found one clinic that does care for birds. However, then I found out that we have a avian vet near. I already made an appointment to see regular vet. Should I cancel it and go to the avian vet or should I go now to see how it goes and then if needed visit an avian?

[BMustee]

Yeah...cancel the normal vet. Avian vets are the only ones that should do check-ups, normal vets don't really know what they are doing.

 

Now if there was an emergency and you couldn't get him to an avian vet soon enough then take him to a normal vet to start some kind of treatment till you could get to the avian vet.

[BMustee]

You are soooo lucky. I've never been out of the country...heck, I've only been out of the state twice. My sister got to go to Germany to meet her husbands family a few years ago.

[Lusya]

I guess I would need to go to the regular vet anyways, because I have to tell the seller that I did check the bird by the end of the day today and avian is not available today

 

I've visited Germany last March, I went on a business trip. I like US better :laugh:

[BMustee]

I did a regular vet check by a non avian vet before for the same reason. B)

 

I guess she went to some really small town there...it was like the size of maybe two USA malls in area. She was saying that everyone walks everywhere and eat Chocolate cake every day…bastards!

[Lusya]

Now I am just hoping the vet will do a normal check.

 

I've been in Russia, Ukraine, Germany, Norway, Finland and Sweden so far. I like to travel and to see different places but I still think that US is the best place to live. I don't think we will be able to travel as often as we use to due to new job of my husband and our new baby.

 

She is so funny! She plays with a lock I have for ger travel cage. I was hoping to get her in her travel cage way before we go to the vet so she gets comfotrtable playing in it. Unfortunately, she will climb on top and stays there

[BMustee]

The vet should. The one I went to did a visual check of the usual body parts...eyes, vent, stuff like that...and did a fecal exam.

 

Man, you've got to see a lot. I mainly want to see my family home lands...Russian, Hungry, and Turkey. I really want to go to South Africa and go on a Safari.

 

I would imagine that the US would be one of the best places to live...so many people flock over here from so many countries that we must have something better than them.:laugh: Although I'm sure the UK is very nice...had to cover my butt with all the UK members there :laugh: :laugh: :laugh:

[Lusya]

Well, I have not visited UK yet. Maybe I would love it

 

The visit to the vet was good. He examined her. He seems to know what he is talking about, so now I am relieved.

 

Now back to the flying problem.

I don't mind if she tries to fly out of her travel cage or my hand while I am sitting. But she seems to be interested in flying out of top of her cage. Is there any way to stop it? Should I put her back to the top of the cage or maybe even inside?