Hello all

[dazdncnfusd]

Heya all. This is my first post here, so I'll give a bit of background. My wife kinda "force-adopted" her niece's African Grey. The niece is about to graduate high school, and doesn't have time to deal properly with the bird. So he/she (I'ma go with he, since that's how we refer to him...) lives with us. Here's a pic of him in his cage:

 

 

He's in his cage in the pic because he and I don't quite see eye to eye. The picture below is what happenned the first, and only time I handled him:

 

 

It's kinda hard to see, but the mark on the right is a scar about the size of a dime, and the one on the left is about 1/8 of an inch. Fear not, I didn't hurt him. I thought it odd, though, because I had him on my hand for at least 10 minutes before he did that. But, I got him to someone he trusts, and he was placed back into his cage.

 

So, today, I started looking at info on the internet, and quickly realized that he's gonna live a LONG time, so we should prolly come to terms. One of the links I got from Google led me here.

 

One thing we're seeing is that he favors my wife a lot more than me. We think this might be due to neglect or not the best treatment from the niece's father. So, I have to overcome that. So far, I'm using food and talking, as those are effective with most animals. He LOVES bananas. I mean, he will almost dent the cage when he sees one. Also on his list is anything from a fruit cup (like the DelMonte ones..) He likes popcorn and he loves grapes.

 

To be honest, I'm not much of a bird person yet, but in reading, it looks like it might be worth trying to get to know the one we have. From my reading, he looks to be a TAG. One question about them: Do they typically have muted tail feathers? I mean most of the shots I see, the birds had RED tail feathers. Jake's (that's his name, btw...) are a very subtle deep red. But, if you aren't looking, you'd almost never see the red.

 

I guess that's a good start for now. Hopefully, I can develop the relationship and love you guys seems to have.

 

Take care, thanks for any input, and please feel free to reply.

[judygram]

Hello Dazdncnfusd, and welcome to the forum. He looks like a Tag not a Cag, which means the tail feathers are not as bright as the Cags. Sorry you got bit but it doesn't look like he broke the skin just bruised you some. He could have taken a chunk out of you if he wished.

A lot of the greys will like women more than men and vice versa, so don't worry about that. Just don't react when he does bite or he will know that biting gets you to leave him alone. You will have to work on trying to gain his trust and it will take time so have lots of patience because you will need it. Use those things he likes as rewards for doing what you want him to do. Never punish him, they respond to positive reinforcement.

Do some reading on greys, a good book is "For the Love of Greys" by Bobbi Brinker. It has a lot of good information and will answer some of your questions. But feel free to ask us anything, if we don't have the answer maybe we can direct you to where you can find it. Good luck with your new friend and keep us informed of your progress.

[dazdncnfusd]

Heya. Thanks for the reply. Actually, what you see in the picture are scars, not bruises. In the larger one, the nerves are even dead. He latched on so hard my hand went numb. He held on for about 30 seconds on the larger one, and bit and released on the smaller one. This happenned about 3-4 months ago. Even still, I really do want to earn his trust, though, as I think it'd be neat to have him watch tv, and computer, and stuff with me. We're in kind of a transient situation now, but I'm already looking at improving his quality of life once we settle down. Bigger cage, strategically located, all that stuff. And, the reading I'm doing so far has really surprised me with how interesting it's been.

 

Thanks again for the reply, and the advice.

 

Take care!

[Caspersmum]

Hi,

 

I think Judy's given you some great advice, and there's not much to add, but another book that I found really useful is a guide to taming and gentling your parrot by Sally Blanchard - it gives particularly useful advice for birds who've been 'pre-owned' and/or neglected. It gives really sensible advice on different strategies to try, and helps you inderstand what's going on inside their little parroty heads!

 

Julia

[Guest Monique]

Judy & Julia give great advice. The book JudyGram mentions is one I just got and absolutely love. I'm only through the first half so far. Some greys do prefer one sex over the other or one person over the other. Do not be offended by your birds choice. Ideally he should be socialized to tolerate being handled by anyone (and not biting as hard as he did you) but it is not uncommon and is not a sign of mistreatment or anything.

 

The main other advice I have besides doing more reading and research is make sure his life is enriched ... some things you already mentioned

- Adequate sized cage

- Play area outside his cage which he gets an average of at least 3 hours out to each day

- Lots of different toys, paper, leather, wood, plastic, things that make noise (bells)

- Lots of different foods along with pellets or seed (whatever you are feeding him) fresh fruits, veggies, oatmeal, brown rice, wheat pasta (avoid avacado and chocolate these are dangerous to him). He should have something fresh/home-cooked once a day

All these things together will give him good places to put his energy, make him better adjusted, and in general that will make him more amicable. If any of these items would be completely new for him be gentle in introducing them as Greys, as I'm sure you have already seen ... can be quite sensitive to change.

[judygram]

Monique has added some fine advice that I didn't think of, just be patient it takes time to earn trust.

[dazdncnfusd]

Well.....

 

I just realized it's been over 2 years since I posted here, and I figured I'd give an update. We still have Jake, and I still don't handle him. I do give him treats almost every day, and he and I talk a decent bit. (He screeches, and I yell "CHEEP!" back at him...lol.) As you'll see from the pics below, I kept to my word, and upgraded his living conditions. When we got him, he was in a cockatiel cage, and could barely stand upright on his perches. Now, he has a nice, big parrot cage, several toys he plays with, and sits next to the window, in the corner of our living room. He doesn't get as much outside the cage time as we'd like, because of the "great striped hunter" (our orange tabby, Rufus, who honestly prolly can't catch his own shadow....LOL), but we did have a scare with the bird, so he stays up when the cat is about. (Bird was out, got spooked and flew to the floor. Cat almost pounced, but was scared off by all of us reacting to Jake's dive....) He also managed to exit the house once, and we were very lucky to get him back. So, because of those things, his freedom of movement is limited. But, we try to give him attention by talking to him, and my wife reaches in to scratch and interact with him often. I honestly haven't tried to handle him, other than trying to pick him up from the floor, which has caused him to dart under furniture. But, I'm ok with it if he doesn't want to trust me. We have plenty of time to work it out.

 

The new house:

 

His goofy body chowing on shredded mild cheddar. He loves the stuff:

 

As I noted in another post, we discovered that the largest parrot rescue in the US is located less than 10 miles from our house here, and we've gone there several times with fresh fruit and veggies in tow to feed the birds. They currently have 600+ in residence. The birds like the treats, the staff likes the help, and we enjoy the interaction, so everybody wins. B) I'm set to start volunteering there, so I can help out, and learn more. The link in my signature will take you to the Rescue's homepage, if anyone is interested. We also had a Parrotlet living with us for a bit, and she was a super neat bird to watch.

 

Well, I suppose that's about it from then till now. Take care all, and feel free to reply.

 

Jay

[Guest jamalbirdbiz]

grate job on keeping a bird u cant handle. I have 1 that gets like that, but i wouldnt trade her for the world. when she getz bitey i just ware gloves. its an unconditional love thing i guess. sum people R not capable of that i guess so they keep giving away there bitey birdz. :evil: not me and evidently not u either. keep up the grate work.

[jessdecutie18]

I'm glad her living conditions have improved somewhat... I'm sorry she doesn't get much time out of her cage or that you haven't dared to take her out yourself. That's great about the volunteering, but don't forget your baby, and if I was you I'd try to spend one on one time with her getting her outta that cage and onto your fingers! I know bites suck but in the end you and your bird will be much happier with the freedom to interact without fear from either of you being together. It will make you guys understand each other better

 

Good job on keeping a difficult bird though, and good luck to you!

[Luvparrots]

Great to hear from you dazdncnfusd. Thanks for the update on Jake.

[kittykittykitty]

Glad you've kept Jake. It can be very challenging.