New African Owner Need Advice

[jencrane63]

 

Hi my name is Jenny and I just recently becoame the proud mother of a three year old grey whose name is CoCo.

 

CoCo came from a man that was getting a divorce. The problem is that CoCo was bonded with the wife. CoCo has had a rough four months shuffled from one home to another before coming to mine. So we have some major trust issues and hopefully we can overcome them.

 

Every time I go near the cage he growls and sometimes squawks. I talk to him and try to reassure him while I am changing outr his food and water bowls. I try not put my hands in the cage any more thatn I need to.

 

I put his cage in the livingroom and when no one is in there he will talk up a storm. Sometimes occassionally he will talk just a bit if we are but seldom. I constantly talk to him.

 

At the moment I have my daughters dog so I do not let him out of his cage but the dog is leaving in about 5 days and then I will let him out. The one time I did let him out the dog starting barkind ans throwing a fit so I jsut thought I would leave taht go until she is gone. The other problem was that he would not go back into the cage and when I tried to get him to step up "he does know what that means" he started screaming and ended up falling to the floor. I let him go and then put a ladder bu the cage door and eventually he climbed into the cage.

 

Any advice on how to move forward with CoCo. I just want to take the best approach and traumatize him further.

 

Thanks

Jenny<br><br>Post edited by: jencrane63, at: 2008/07/01 17:13

[danmcq]

Welcome Jenny and Coco!!

 

It's GreYt that you have rescued Coco and are providing him with a good loving home committed to make his life a long and happy one in stable home.

 

Your doing the right thing by letting Coco have his privacy in his Cage while getting used to the new surroundings and protected from a wild animal (he views as such) the Dog. :-)

 

You bet he knows what step up means!!! You can't blame a guy for not wanting to go back into "Lock Down" after just gaining his freedom. ;-) He is a very intelligent sentient being and it seems wanted to get himself in the cage (if he HAD to go back) on his own power.

 

Time and patience will reward you with a well mannered Grey as you continue to gently show him attention, good food and nonthreatening appearances or requests. he will and probably does yearn for up-close and personal attention. But, he must first "Trust" you.

 

There is a TON of information here on this Forum regarding the rescue and care of a Grey and we have several members that have done so very successfully more than once.

 

Looking forward to hearing more from you.

[harley280308]

welcome to the site jenny,

it is always nice to hear that people have re-homed a grey good for you!!

It is TIME & PATIENCE take everything one step at a time him.try not to rush him into anything as that may frighten him further if you have only just got him it takes time for them to settle into a new enviroment, but am sure he will be fine eventually.

Conerning the dog do you not have somewhere you can put the dog so that he can get at least an hour or two out of his cage???? i have three dogs two of them love my harley one hates him and the feeling is very mutual as far as my harley is concerned but they go out for an hour in the morning/lunch time and for two hours in the evening so that harley can come out and do as he pleases

you will get loads of fantastic advise from other users on here when they sign in later on many have rehomed and taken on unwanted greys and will help you no end

enjoy your time with us

tonja & harley{Nature-00020095}

[jencrane63]

I did put the dog in another room while CoCo was out but the whole time she was barking a throwing a fit and it still was a distraction. I could do that but what if I cannot get CoCo to go back in his cage. What am I to do with the dog? I don't want to stress the bird by trying to make him go into cage either. i just thought if I waited until the dog was gone then if it took all day for CoCo to go back into his cage that would be fine.

[judygram]

Hello Jenny and welcome to the family, so glad you decided to join us and we look forward to hearing more about you and Coco.

 

I am so proud of you for adopting this grey, the poor thing got kicked aside because his family got a divorce and I guess neither one of them wanted him, says a lot about those two but enough about that.

 

If he has been shuffled around to several people in the meantime before you got him it is going to take some time and lots of patience to win him over but it can be done. It may not happen in months but a year or more, a lot of damage has been done and his trust in humans is not forthcoming right now.

 

Continue to talk to him and spend some time with him even if it is only sitting beside his cage and chatting with him and maybe offering him treats.

 

That was a smart idea to put a ladder up for him to go back into his cage by himself, he does need some out of cage time but I would keep the dog away from him until he is gone since he is leaving in 5 days anyway.

 

He is going to growl at you especially if he thinks you are going to come inside his cage, that is his safe territory right now but don't take it personally, he will warm up to you but it may take a long time so be very, very patient with him.

 

For some excellent advice, read thru the many threads for lots of useful information and do ask questions you may have and we will do our best to find you some answers and help you in any way we can.

 

If you have any pictures of Coco you would like to share with us we would love to see him.

[jencrane63]

Thanks to all of you for the advice and I will ask questions beleive me! I know that patience is what is needed and I have plenty of that I think. LOL.

Jenny

[lovemyGreys]

Hi Jenny & Welcome to the forum,we look forward to any questions you may have & following coco's progress with you

[slmclean]

hi jenny welcome to the forum hope you enjoy it here i'm sure you will, there is alot of people here that can give you good advice when you need it welcome again.

[Talon]

Hi Jenny and Welcome to our family!

[kittykittykitty]

Hi, Jenny, I'll be looking for your updates with CoCo.

He's lucky you have him now. kitykittykitty:)

[Guest]

Jenny welcome to the forum

[jencrane63]

CoCo didn't squawk yeaterday when I approached the cage just growled a little bit. He did take a peanut calmly from me. Before that he would jerk them out of my hand and hurry to the back of the cage and now he will take it and just sit and eat it. I fixed him some chicken and wild rice with black beans last night and he seemed to like it. I am trying to offer a wide variety of foods. The peanuts I use as treats since he can't have too many and he loves them. I ordered me some of the Harrisons organic food to try. He was mostly on a seed diet before I got him. I also give him fruit and veggies. It has been an enjoyable time with him and I hope I can continue to gain his trust.

[judygram]

You will Jen with time and lots of patience, remember small steps but you are doing great, keep up the good work.