Hello

[louiselaw]

Hi,

 

I'm Louise and i have recently purchased a 16 year old African Grey who we have named Casper, He has been in a pet shop for all his life so he is a bit shy at the moment. We have had casper for 3 weeks, and we have not had him out of his cage yet, the lady at the pet shop told us it will be a couple of months to a year before we can let him out of his cage, is this true?? I really don't like keeping him in the cage but we were told he will attack us until he gets used to us.

I talk to him all the time so he gets used to me (he does talk apparently he speaks English and German but has not spoken to us yet)and he is picking up different whistles but when i try to get close to him he just backs away and growls. Does any one have any advise on how to get him to trust me this would be helpfully,

 

We also have 2 Lovebirds and a Dog

 

Louise

[judygram]

Hello Louise and welcome to the forum, so glad you could join us and we look forward to hearing more about you and Casper.

 

This is great that you could give this grey a home, imagine having to spend the first 16 years of your life in a pet shop and no wonder he is a bit shy at the moment.

 

I am no expert but I think it would be a good idea to open his cage door and see if he would come out, being in that cage all the time is not good for him and he may surprise you and really like being out.

 

Being 16 years old he is set in his ways and it is hard to tell what kind of baggage he carries with him but with much patience and plenty of time he may come to trust you.

 

If you open his cage door and leave all his food and water on the inside of his cage he will have to go back in at some point to eat or drink, you can close his door with him inside then that way you do not have to handle him.

 

I think the lady at the pet shop might be right, he may bite you at this point but he will gradually get more used to having you around but he does need some time out of that cage, it might be months or maybe a year before he learns to trust you and that is way too long to keep him caged.

 

We do have some very knowledgeable members who will be able to give you some better advice than I can but at least I gave you something to think about.

 

Please do read thru the many threads for lots of useful information and do not hesitate to ask any and all questions you may have and we will help you in any way we can.

 

If you can manage to get us some pictures of Casper we would love to see them.

[she]

Hi Louise.Congratulations on re homing Casper. I too think time out of the cage would do the bird good.Will he take treats from your hands? this is the first way to gain his trust apart from talking to him and looking after him. It is going to take a long time for him to adapt from a pet shop to a home environment.Take it slow with him and let him show you when he is ready to move to the next stage. Does he have a favourite treat? this can be used to tempt him back in his cage.Was he handled in the pet shop? if so how much. More questions than answeres I know but it is a case of take it as it comes and accept Casper may take a while to trust.

[Luvparrots]

Hi Louise, welcome to the family. Casper is very lucky to have such a loving owner. Karma to you for taking in an older grey. I am a baby grey owner, so I have no knowledge about re-homing greys. If Casper is backing away and growling I can only assume he is still leery of his situation. I do like the idea of trying to handfeed him his favor treat and talking to him. I too would leave the cage door open to see if he will come out. Since he has been in a cage for 16 years I don't think he can fly very well and if he is in a closed area he can't go far. Patience is the key. If you have any pictures, we would love to see them.

[LisaM]

Hello Louise and Casper!

 

I agree with the idea of opening the cage door and seeing if he'll come out on his own. I would put a comfy chair next to the cage and spend some time just sitting there reading something out loud in a nice, soft voice. You can periodically stop and talk to him, not looking directly at him but kind of turn your head a little to the side and look at him with soft eyes (kind of like flirting :laugh: ), and do some slow blinking, keeping your eyes closed for a second or two...that's supposed to be calming and a "trust building" behavior and I find it works well with all of mine if they're revved up about something.

 

I wouldn't push him too fast though. As Miss Sandra wisely says, Parrot Time is Endless...things almost always take longer than we'd like. She also gave some great advice to another poster...to start a journal of your time so you can note and appreciate the small things as you progress in the relationship.

 

good luck to you. And it will be well worth your time and patience! Keep posting and coming here to read through others' questions as you go!

 

Lisa

[louiselaw]

Thanks for your Advice,

 

I bought a playstand for him for when he comes out of the cage i will be setting it up today and i will put it near his cage so he can see it before i open the door, i don't want to scare him more than he is already. I wasn't at the pet shop when my husband bought him, he went looking for one as i was already buying a baby but i was scammed so he spent most of the day on the 23rd Dec to find me one, the last pet shop he found Casper He was looked after quite well and last year was the only year they decided to sell him, i have all his health paperwork and hatching Certificare. My husband said he was in a big cage where he could fly around but as far as handling him i don't know if they did, when they went into his cage they had a towel so he was trying to get away from them.

I have tried quite a few fruits and other things, he doesn't seem too like Carrots that much he just throws them on the floor when i put them in the cage, but he does love Apples and sprey millet as soon as you put these in his cage he will take them straight away, We have tried to give them by hand but he was growling when we were getting too close, but last night my husband tried with the Spray millet and he was going for it but changed him mind.

We also are in the process of purchasing a new cage, when i was in the process of buying the baby Grey this was the only cage we could find in shops around us, as you will see in the pictures the bars are not right for him but Casper can get around the cage no problem, i have found a Parrot cage on the Internet that will be ideal for him.

 

Thanks again for you advice i will keep you updated

[louiselaw]

SOme Pictures Hopefully they will post

 

 

Post edited by: louiselaw, at: 2009/01/11 10:29

 

<br><br>Post edited by: louiselaw, at: 2009/01/11 10:51

[danmcq]

Welcome Louise and Casper!!!

 

It's GreYt having you here. The photos of Casper show he is one nice looking Grey.

 

Looking at the cage in the photos shows it is very lightly constructed and not made for even a small conure sized parrots beak. Casper can bend and break those bars anytime he decides. This could lead to a serious injury to him as the bent/broken bars become sharp spears that can easily pierce his body. It's good to hear you are searching for a more appropriate cage made for parrots.

 

The others have given good advice as did the pet shop owner. A 16 year old Grey that has not really interacted with any human on a close hand held, stepup command level will definitely take a lot of patience and time to trust the new environment and people.

 

As the others have said, just sitting close to the cage, reading, talking and offering treats will SLOWLY build a next level of trust. You could open the cage door and see if he comes out on his own. However, unless he goes back in on his own, you and Casper will then have to go through a horrifying experience. You will be trying to towel him. He will be fleeing for his life from a scary threat and any trust you may have built will be gone and you will need to start over.

 

If he is growling at you. That is the lowest baseline wild animal instinct that lies at the very core of his being. This means it is coming from a fear of you and the closeness at that time and you need to back off, not provoke. When any critter is in that mode, they will bite and do so to inflict as much flesh ripping damage they can to make that threat go away.

 

So just play it slow and pay very close attention to his body language through his eyes pinning, posture and sounds he is making. You will soon be able to read when you have crossed the comfort zone.

 

Looking forward to hearing more from. :-)

[BaxtersMom]

Hello and welcome to the forum. Congradulations on getting your grey. I think you will find this community very helpful with all the knowledgable members here. I think it's great that you rehomed an older bird and hopefully in time will come to love and trust you. I'm he will, it will just take time like the others have said. I'm sure you 2 will have a wonderful relationship in time. LisaM gave some good advice about keeping a journal. I took in a couple older birds with some issues and did keep a journal. I always thought things were taking so long with mine but when I go back and read the entries it our progress was quicker than I thought or realized and its just fun to look back on. I do hope you keep us posted on your progress.

[louiselaw]

Casper finally came out of his cage today :woohoo: only for a couple of seconds but he did it.

 

We have kept his door open with the play stand close to him since Sunday. We have been putting his fav treats on the steps of his playstand and yesterday he managed to get the sprey millet without leaving the cage, today i moved it further away so he had to come out of the cage to get the treat, he got the treat but went back in the cage to eat the millet, Later on he climbed onto the outside of the cage and stood on the bottom part of his play stand, within a minute he was back in his cage. Slowly he is getting there

 

I have tried to hand feed him his fav treats, he took the millet from me but when i try with the apple or nuts he backs away and growls still, i think it's because they are closer to my fingers than the millet was,

 

I'm so happy he is coming out of his cage, hopefully tomorrow he will try to stay out a little longer.

[louiselaw]

haven't been on for a while thought i would let you know caspers progress.

 

Casper is coming along nicely he comes in and out of his cage when he likes, he is taking food off us and he has started to let us touch his beak. he still growls especially at Chris (my Husband).

 

I have tried to see if he will let me touch his belly but he just backs off, so we still have some work to do before he will step up.

 

I have added some pictures of Casper in the photography room, in one of the pictures you will see Casper sat on the Love birds cage, he decided to open up there cage and let them fly around :ohmy: , this was the first time they were all out together wasn't sure if he would attack them but he just sat in their cage with them. :laugh:

 

He now has his new cage with stronger bars

<br><br>Post edited by: louiselaw, at: 2009/02/01 00:34

[judygram]

Thanks for the update on Casper and it does sound like he is doing just fine.

 

Give him some time and he may stop growling at Chris, he may never come to like him like he does you but that is the way of the grey.

[Luvparrots]

Hi Louise, glad to hear from you. Sounds like Casper is slowly coming along. In no time he will be more comfortable. Now don't neglect your family again, please keep in touch! We love to hear about Casper.

[MazyAK]

Louise: As you may know greys may favor one person over any other. My grey Mazy is 16 and only recognizes me as anyone in the flock who has more seniority than her. She does accept the others in the house but they are definitely below her on the pecking order. Sounds like Casper is coming along nicely but remember take his progress at his pace not yours. Good on you to free this bird to a good life and nice pics. We'll see you out here.

Bruce & Mazy