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Blair

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Good morning all. Just found this forum and hope to better understand my African Grey. Amadeus is approximately 10 years old, male, (had him DNA tested last January). 2 previous owners, and he was given to me a little over a years ago. I had to work thru some issues with him upon first getting him. He loves to bite, lol. He has gotten used to me and my traveling lifestyle. I travel the country in a fifth wheel trailer for work. I also visit my house in Nashville occassionally, lol. He has a big cage in the trailer, and I have a smaller cage he travels in that fits in the back seat of my truck. He's not happy when we travel, but he has gotten somewhat used to it.

 

I really didn't know what to think of the regurgitating in my hand until I started researching it. I found that he has mated with me.

 

I decided that I didn't wish to restrict him by clipping his wings, but after chasing him down after a rather long flight thru a couple of fields, I probably need a leash to let him stretch out. He loves to fly, but he is restricted to short bursts in the trailer, and longer bursts in my house, which result is a rather amusing bump into whatever stops him. He is a jealous bird when I have company over. He will fly over to me to get in between me and my company.

 

The biting of me has stopped, or rather he just nibbles while he is affectionately playing with me. I think he was abused somewhat in his previous life. I did notice that in the beginning of ownership, I decided to wear some welding gloves to try and handle him. That was a mistake as he went crazy when he saw them. He knows what the gloves are for and he doesn't like them.

 

I guess I just need to read thru the forum to learn what I can.

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Welcome to you both. Glad to hear the aggression has lessened and you have an interesting life style for a Grey. I would suggest using a harness and leash for sure knowing how quickly a Hawk can end his life. Enjoy the reading we have lots of great information on behavior, food and building trust. Love the name Amadeus!

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i didn't know what I was getting into when I received the bird. From what i have read, my lifestyle is not a desireable one for a grey. He has adapted fairly well. He is left alone all day when I am working, and I let him out to roam and stretch when I get home. He now dictates my schedule when I am off work as I can not fly to wherever I wish to go.

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Welcome, Blair and Amadeus. So glad that you found us. Yes, living with a parrot is a life changer, but they really are more adaptable than most give them credit for. Good nutrition, bonding, a relaxed attitude, exercise, and attention go a looooong way in ensuring a healthy and happy bird. Many people are not aware that our own wings can become a bit clipped when we take on the responsibility of these marvelous companions, as you have discovered by not being able to fly off when you've got down time. They do bring their own kind of fun along with them, though.

 

Since it sounds like you are on the road a lot, you might want to look at the avian vet thread in the health section here. Check out vets in areas that you will be, and then depending on where you are when you have time off, you could think about boarding Amadeus with one. Or if you are home in Nashville and need a break, you could call your local vet to see if you could hire a vet tech to take care of Amadeus while you are away.

 

Enjoy reading through the threads here, there is a ton of great info. We never get bored hearing updates, and we love photos

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I don't know how much of an adventure it is, as I hate to drive for long periods of time, but it is part of my work. I have limo-tinted windows in the truck, and when I stop for fuel, restroom breaks, I roll the window down next to the cage and I get a lot of lookyloos staring at him.

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Good morning all. Just found this forum and hope to better understand my African Grey. Amadeus is approximately 10 years old, male, (had him DNA tested last January). 2 previous owners, and he was given to me a little over a years ago. I had to work thru some issues with him upon first getting him. He loves to bite, lol. He has gotten used to me and my traveling lifestyle. I travel the country in a fifth wheel trailer for work. I also visit my house in Nashville occassionally, lol. He has a big cage in the trailer, and I have a smaller cage he travels in that fits in the back seat of my truck. He's not happy when we travel, but he has gotten somewhat used to it.

 

I really didn't know what to think of the regurgitating in my hand until I started researching it. I found that he has mated with me.

 

I decided that I didn't wish to restrict him by clipping his wings, but after chasing him down after a rather long flight thru a couple of fields, I probably need a leash to let him stretch out. He loves to fly, but he is restricted to short bursts in the trailer, and longer bursts in my house, which result is a rather amusing bump into whatever stops him. He is a jealous bird when I have company over. He will fly over to me to get in between me and my company.

 

The biting of me has stopped, or rather he just nibbles while he is affectionately playing with me. I think he was abused somewhat in his previous life. I did notice that in the beginning of ownership, I decided to wear some welding gloves to try and handle him. That was a mistake as he went crazy when he saw them. He knows what the gloves are for and he doesn't like them.

 

I guess I just need to read thru the forum to learn what I can.

 

 

A long time ago we had a member that was doing the same thing as you're doing. He was a long haul / distance driver who traveled to many states all week long. He had similar problems concerning flight when he stopped at truck rest stops. He had his bird with him all the time.

I recommended this product which allows a bird to fly to different distances. The harness is adjustable. It's the only type that has these features. He got it and his problems were solved.

This is the product and it can be purchased at many pet stores or online. Buying online saves you some money===it's about $34 in pet stores but online it can be gotten for about $28 or $30 approx. If you look it up, there's videos of how it works.

For a congo grey, the size is MEDIUM.

 

http://www.amazon.com/s?ie=UTF8&page=1&rh=i%3Aaps%2Ck%3Aaviator%20harness

Edited by Dave007
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I've actually been thinking about buying the aviator harness for about 6 months. I was leary about it before as Amadeus was going from being a biter to a loving companion. He still has issues but the trust is coming out in him. I'll probably get bitten a few times trying to get him used to it. I just ordered it, should be here next wednesday. Hopefully I can get him trained with it before I head back to PA. He has an awesome yard to play in there.

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How exciting for the two of you, all the travel and adventures! Welcome, I am glad you found us here!

The harnesses are great but they do take time. We have been working for over a year now with trying to get Gabby to wear one, it is now a play toy for her. The closest we got was getting it over her head and then she laid down the law, no way no how this ain't gunna happen! The big boys and girls took right to them though.

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We'll see how it goes with the harness. He had no idea he could actually fly up until I went to PA back in February. Previous outdoor walks were around trailer parks on my shoulder walking around and talking to neighbors. If he got spooked by someone he would glide down and I would let him step back on my hand and then back to my shoulder. I'm assuming he led a caged life previous to me. He definitely loves long flights, as I had to grab him by the neck out of the bushes on his multi-field flight a few months ago. He put a dent in my "bird finger", lol, when I was being nice to him, and that brought the no BS neck grab from me. The predators in the area are what really concerned me.

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Yes, and I can say that I nearly lost my Bongo that way. It was a few years back and I have told this story before but will tell it again so more will be aware. We were standing out front of our house and my niece was over and a neighbor, My niece was holding Bongo as we stood in a circle of sorts talking and a hawk flew right in between us to get Bongo, we were very lucky he didn't get him as it all happened so quickly there would have been nothing I could have done if he had. That was the last time he has been outside without protection. I urge everyone to be very careful when out with their birds when they are not in a carrier. Even in aviaries we have to be careful as our guys like to hang on the sides and a hawk will get what they can and then fly away. A friend of ours lost a few that way. If your guy is spooked and flies downward right now and you can pick him up, your lucky. When he finds his wings and flies up into a tree when spooked, it will be very hard to get him back as they don't fly downward from high places very well unless trained too, instinct tells them to fly higher so please be very careful.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Hi Blair, welcome to the forum to you and Amadeus. We travel between Ga, Tx and Pa with our girl Miss Gilbert. Something that made her much more at ease and comfortable on the road is the Booda Comfy Cross perch. It's a rope perch and it can be configured to stretch across the cage in 2 to 4 directions. That way, depending on the rocking motion of the vehicle for wind, or braking she sways and is able to hold on and brace herself easier than on a rigid perch that bounces. She also falls off sometimes and the rope is much more forgiving. Your cage is very nice for travel. I bet Amadeus is a great travel buddy.

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