My new African grey

[judygram]

You must be a very patient person if you want to win your grey's trust and it must be earned so take your time and be patient as this could take months or even years for it to happen. Try talking to him in a soothing voice and don't come close enough to the cage that he growls, you want him to associate pleasant experiences with your presence, don't try to force him to accept you before he is ready. This will be a long slow process but so worth it when it happens.

[Mark527]

Okay Dave thanks for the advice

[Mark527]

Judygram okay =) will do thanks

[katana600]

Hi and welcome to the forum. The first time with a rehomed grey is scary and exciting at once. Before long you will be sharing advice with a newcomer and helping someone else through the adjustment period. Greys are very subtle parrots so if yours is growling she is stressed to the max. Other than feeding times, see how close you can be before she starts growling. Then stay back behind that point and talk, read, sing, whistle , talk on the phone and interact with anyone else in your home. Let her observe you from a distance without trying to interact with her. Soon she will give you a cue that you can come a little closer or address her more directly. I think the hardest thing for me during the adjustment phase was learning to do "nothing". It's natural to be so excited about your hopes and dreams for sharing a wonderful life with your new friend that makes us want to welcome and soothe her and show her love. In her food, offer her almonds in and out of the shell. If you know any of her favorite foods, leave them in a dish for her and move away. Sometimes talking gently with the lights dimmed low might help so she isn't so overstimulated and overwhelmed by your presence. Congratulations on your new friendship, it gets better and better. What is your parrot's name?

[Mark527]

Thanks for the great advice Katana and my parrots name is Ed =)

[katana600]

Take your time with Ed, he will relax and recognize you are a safe human in his own time frame based on previous experience. You are building trust even when you feel frustrated and wanting to help him more. We didn't know Miss Gilbert's gender for about three years because I didn't think it really mattered. When the opportunity arose fir the vet to require bloodwork we asked to run DNA and discovered then he was actually a she. Hopefully Ed will soon realize you are not going to pounce on him and devour him and he will calm down from the transition to your home enough to get curious and watch you from a little distance to analyze your intentions and accept you as a friendly companion. If you think you are being patient, be ten times more patient. Don't ignore him completely, just approach to his level of tolerance and stay there until you get a sign that you can come an inch closer. Of course you have to feed him and take care of his cage. Try to do that with a predictable schedule and as quickly and efficiently as possible. If you can close off the room where he is caged to keep him safe, then open the main door where he can get out to the cage top while you reach in and do scary stuff, that might help. He will most likely want to retreat to the safety of his cage when you step away. Another technique I used with Miss Gilbert was to put a small plastic tray above my hand so she didn't see my scary mitts when I reached in to replace food and water dishes. Ed will cue off your emotions when you approach him. Try to visualize what you are going to do, have everything ready and then gently tell him what you are going to do.

[Mark527]

Thanks Katana for the advice! The last 2 days where so good with Ed he keeps on making noises in front of us like whistling and he does lots of cat and dog sounds but no talking, he didn't do that before and he's becoming more and more comfortable every day he never ate in front of us now he does almost everything like playing around the cage and today was the first time he didn't get scared while i was refilling his food and water. Another thing is that i feed him food especially for parrots and he really really like them he finishes all of them in a day so he's eating alot there's a big difference on day 1 he was so thin now he became healthy and eating ALOT is that a bad thing? All n all the growling is still happening whenever someone comes closer to him but his growling isn't like before its not loud as last week so everything is becoming better and i hope soon enough when the growling 100% stops I'll try to give him treats from my hand so he knows that i wanna take care of him and love him =) thanks everyone

[Acappella]

I wouldn't expect you to be able to feed him treats from your hand any time soon, at least not and expect to keep your fingers! Lol. You could aim for being able to put treats in his food dish without him growling. Just keep up the good patient work letting him observe you and his new household and settling in. It sounds like things are moving in the right direction. Welcome to the forum Ed!

[Mark527]

Thanks Acappla everyday there's progress and Ed is becoming more and more comfortable everyday