aw poor Eric

[younger]

I went to visit one of my bird keeping friends today. In the house he has a large moluccan cockatoo and an african grey . All the others, macaws and such are out in the barn. Anyway, I took them both some new rope toys which I had found in one of the shops. I was showing the toy to the cockatoo and talking to him as he is sometimes a little timid of new brightly coloured things when from the other cage comes a little voice which says "I`m here too" . Apparently he was taught to say that bevause everyone goes over to the big pink bird and poor Eric was getting ignored, so now whenever someone talks to Toto, Eric reminds you that he needs talking to aswell. Cute eh?? Also when Toto starts to scream, Eric will say "Oh shut up Toto" lol. Too sweet for words.

[shirleytemple]

That is TOO cute, Molly!! Does the cockatoo and the african grey get along well?? Also, is the african grey timid of new stuff, too?? I only have the one bird (and that`s all I intend on having), but I`ve heard that CAG`s aren`t receptive to other birds in their territory.

Joey large moluccan cockatoo and an african grey . All the others, macaws and such are out in the barn. Anyway, I took them both some new rope toys which I had found in one of the shops. I was showing the toy to the cockatoo and talking to him as he is sometimes a little timid of new brightly coloured things when from the other cage comes a little voice which says "I`m here too" . Apparently he was taught to say that bevause everyone goes over to the big pink bird and poor Eric was getting ignored, so now whenever someone talks to Toto, Eric reminds you that he needs talking to aswell. Cute eh?? Also when Toto starts to scream, Eric will say "Oh shut up Toto" lol. Too sweet for words.

[MattSacks]

If grey`s only got along with other grey`s - i`d have some pretty unhappy birds in my house! (so, oldmolly, what kind of toy DID poor Eric get?) :-)

My bare-eyed cockatoo gets NO brightly-colored toys anymore.

One morning (not long after i got him) - i went to his cage - early morning and he was covered in red - wings, chest, feet, etc. I thought he was bleeding to death! Nope! He had dipped his nice new red (with rope!) toy into his water dish and played and played. Then one day he dyed himself green. The last straw was the `blue toy`. He dyed his head! crest and all. I would take him out and people would ask about it (like all his other `rainbow` colors!) - then one particular day and someone saw Django and exlaimed "You have a blue-fronted cockatoo!".....You (I) had to laugh at that one! His head was blue for a little more than 6 months.

He now only gets `undyed wood toys` (with rope!) - so now he is kind of `brown and dingy` looking. dirty. hm....next toy??? as for rope, leather, - anything seemingly `long` he can manage to make a loop and knot it - i have to watch him very carefully - he may hang himself one day.

What he has done - repeatedly! - is - while swinging on his swing from the ceiling he would wrap rope around his little ankle and someone pull it through the band on his leg - TWICE - yup! pulls like a little loop through the band. That`s hard to get out!

There is no end to his shenanigans.

Thankfully the Grey`s are more intelligent :-) leicarose www.tobynet.com see django play basketball! it`s all in fun

[younger]

well?? Also, is the african grey timid of new stuff, too?? I only have the one bird (and that`s all I intend on having), but I`ve heard that CAG`s aren`t receptive to other birds in their territory.

Their cages are at opposite sides of the room. Male cockatoos are very unpredictable and my friend would not even try to socialise them. Eric is not at all timid, and wants to see what I have for him when I visit. I usually take something. My greys are fine about the other birds in the house. It all depends on the bird. I would not trust my umbrella cockatoo with any of the other birds in my house,yet the bfa, red masked conure and patagonian all get along fine,and when I had the quakers in, so did they.

[younger]

So far, both toys are still intact although somewhat worn and that is good going for a moluccan. I also took a rope with a knobbly rubber ball on the end but Charlie is saving that for when they have eaten the present ones. The rope toys over here must be made of different dye as I wash mine and no colour comes off at all. All my birds have the same rope toys. Another great find was cotton mop heads. Normal white ones as used for mopping the floor. They were less than a pound each and hung up in the cages helps stop birds over preening.I could buy a similar thing in the bird shop, not as large, for 5 pounds. the splits with one leg on each rope toy, he swings upside down, then up again, then grabs his bell and goes into a ding dong frenzy. He likes to impress me, and loves it when I say in an admiring voice, "oh my goodness, you are a *dangerous* boy".

[shirleytemple]

Good idea about the mop heads ......... but did you cut them to make them shorter? I`d be afraid Chloe would get it wound around her neck or something!!

Joey So far, both toys are still intact although somewhat worn and that is good going for a moluccan. I also took a rope with a knobbly rubber ball on the end but Charlie is saving that for when they have eaten the present ones. The rope toys over here must be made of different dye as I wash mine and no colour comes off at all. All my birds have the same rope toys. Another great find was cotton mop heads. Normal white ones as used for mopping the floor. They were less than a pound each and hung up in the cages helps stop birds over preening.I could buy a similar thing in the bird shop, not as large, for 5 pounds. the splits with one leg on each rope toy, he swings upside down, then up again, then grabs his bell and goes into a ding dong frenzy. He likes to impress me, and loves it when I say in an admiring voice, "oh my goodness, you are a *dangerous* boy".

[younger]

shorter? I`d be afraid Chloe would get it wound around her neck or something!!

Joey

I left them intact. Just used 2 of the mop strands to tie it to the top of the cage. Eric, and Toto have one. Well Toto *had* one lol. All my birds have them too and nobody has ever managed to get anything wrapped around anything. The red masked conure likes to sit right under hers so all you can see is 2 little feet and her tail. She sits in there and sings to herself, stopping occasionally to preen it which is brill as it means she leaves her feathers alone (she plucks). MAke sure you use the proper old fashioned cotton mop head. The strands over here are about 6 inches long.

[MattSacks]

Oldmolly - around here the toys i buy (my dad makes a lot of them)- they say are dyed with `koolaid`....if it stains the cockatoo like that (and for so long!) - i wonder what koolaid is doing to our insides? :-)

[younger]

water to?? Nasty stuff full of additives. I don`t stain any of the wooden toys I make them, and the coloured cotton rope toys are colour fast. The mop heads of course are white. Heck over her people refuse to buy `sunny delight` because it contains sugar and stuff.

[shirleytemple]

Chloe LOVES rope toys, so I`ll try this! Most mop heads here are probably 10 inches long or better ...... at least what I`ve seen. If I can FIND an old fashioned cotton one, I`ll just cut it to about 6 inches. THANKS, Molly!!

Joey shorter? I`d be afraid Chloe would get it wound around her neck or something!!

Joey

I left them intact. Just used 2 of the mop strands to tie it to the top of the cage. Eric, and Toto have one. Well Toto *had* one lol. All my birds have them too and nobody has ever managed to get anything wrapped around anything. The red masked conure likes to sit right under hers so all you can see is 2 little feet and her tail. She sits in there and sings to herself, stopping occasionally to preen it which is brill as it means she leaves her feathers alone (she plucks). MAke sure you use the proper old fashioned cotton mop head. The strands over here are about 6 inches long.