Sam, a serious Grey

[wbaradio]

We've had Sam the 17 year old Grey about a month and a half. We've put quite a few interesting toys and a nice swing in his large cage, but Sam seems content either sitting watching us in the kitchen or pacing and climbing around his cage. I thought Greys liked to play and chew on toys, but Sam doesn't seem very interested. Does age affect their playfulness? Is there anything I can do to stimulate his interest in playing with his toys?

[judygram]

Sam is not going to be as interested in playing with toys at his age, like you said he is content just watching you do things around the house and climbing around his cage. Do you provide any foraging toys or items for him to have to work at to get to the treat inside?

[lovethatgrey]

At Sam's age, it is quite common for him to be less interested in his toys and more interested in just hanging out and watching what is going on around him. Continue to have toys available to him.....but if he seems content enough to just observe... then that's OK too.

[Luvparrots]

Hi wbaradio, I would love to hear more about Sam, does he talk a lot and enjoy coming out of his cage? Please tell us more about Sam.

[BaxtersMom]

Do you know if Sam got to play with toys before you had him? He may not know what they are or what they are for. I too had a "serious" grey named Baxter. He came to us last summer and when was 12 years old. He had no interest in toys either and many of the members told me I had to show him how to play with the toys. In other words you have to play with them in front of him and make them look exciting and fun:woohoo: Then put them in his cage and play with them inside the cage for awhile. Just let him watch you and eventually start including him in the fun. It might feel kind of silly but that's what I did and I did feel silly too:side: :silly: but little by little he did start playing with them. I would catch Baxter playing with the toys when he didn't think I was looking:whistle: . When he seen me he would stop playing like he was embarrassed:blush: or caught but he does play with his toys now. You might have to show him how though. It might take some time but it's worth a try. Baxter loves his toys now.

[SamsDad]

My last TAG Nelson rarely played with toys. He did like to chew those rope knots, and he LOVED shredding paper. Stick a empty toilet paper roll in his bars and he'd chew and chew and chew till it was little teeny, weeny shreds. In the past couple years before he passed, I purchased a toy that you can fill with a treat roll. It had slots in the sides so he had to work at it to get to his yummy treats. He'd spend a LOT of time working the toy. Same goes with hard nuts like walnuts. I'd slightly crack the nut to get him started then let him go to town. Of course this couldn't be a daily event or he'd end up weighing 10lbs!

 

Other than that, he too was content just being with me. I got a simple playstand and would take him into the room with me. He like being in the kitchen when I was preparing things because he'd get to "taste". I moved him away when it was time to fire up the stove - didn't need him getting cooked too by accident! He was often my "TV watching buddy" sitting next to my chair in his stand (when I wasn't holding him). He'd just preen, rest, and keep an eye on us, and watch TV. I think he just liked being with the flock. If we were lounging he was happy to lounge too.

 

If he seems happy and content he's doing well. Baxtersmom's suggestion is great too. If nothing else, you playing with toys around him could be quality time together for you two.

[ZivaDiva]

I've been dealing with something very similar. I adopted a 6 year old CAG just over a month ago and she doesn't play with toys except for some baby links and she only beaks those for a few seconds.

 

She had a shopping cart full of toys when I adopted her and I was told this past weekend that all of her hanging toys had been kept on the bottom of her cage. I will try that in the next few days but I'm concerned about the mess.

 

I play with toys in front of her and have bought a zillion toys for her but she's still not interested. She does like to throw balls at me when I hand them to her.

 

It was suggested here to buy her a large bell and I did that and she is still getting used to it. It is outside of her cage and she doesn't like new stuff.

 

I also learned from replies that older greys don't always like toys. I'm going to keep a bunch of them for her and give her the option, but she seems to keep herself occupied with looking out the window at the wild birds and traffic and talking to my other birds. When I'm home, she's out but I have been concerned about her keeping herself occupied when I'm gone.

[wbaradio]

Thanks for all the replies, It appears from the forum members' posts, I shouldn't be too concerned about Sam's serious nature. Sam will occasionally bop his bells hanging in the cage, but he is most interested in our family members. His previous owners use to keep him in the kitchen. When they got home from work, they would let him and his fellow conure out of the cage, close the kitchen doors, and let them roam the kitchen unsupervised while they watched TV in another room. The reason for the closed doors was due to their five cats that roamed the house. Sam and the conure took revenge in the kitchen by chewing up the kitchen wood moldings.

Fortunately, my wife suggested we keep him in our breakfast nook in our open kitchen which is the "center" of our house where he sees everyone passing through or hanging out in the living room or sunroom. When no one is in the kitchen and out of sight, but he hears someone in another room, he begins his litany of vocal expressions to get our attention. This includes "hello," "uh-huh", micro-wave beep, etc. I hope I can get him to increase his vocabulary.

We do have a very small table stand that came with Sam and we now can get him in and out of the cage without wearing the oven mit the previous owners gave us to place him on the stand. He seems to be doing his best to fit in, though we still haven't figured out his moods and body langquage. We use our other birds, cockatiels and indian ringneck parakeet, and pet and scratch them in from of him, so he'll learn to be less fearful. My wife can now stroke Sam's beak when he sticks it through the cage as he has seen her do the same to the ringneck.

I'm going to try the toilet rolls as I've collected a few for use in my radio restoration activities.

Britt

wbaradio

[SamsDad]

Britt,

 

From the sounds of your last post you guys are actually doing quite well. It already appears you've made progress. Sometimes things will progress with sudden leaps and bounds, and other times it will feel it is taking forever. I think the biggest thing you've done right is to have Sam join the flock's activities. I think over time you'll see that baby steps can add up into big changes, but it can take time. If he's trying to get your attention, you are on your way - sounds like he WANTS to be part of your family/flock. NICE!

 

Losing the oven mit is awesome! Many many years ago when I was a new bird owner I'd use gloves for clipping and trimming. I quickly realized the gloves just made it worse because they terrified my bird. I swtiched to using a towel for quite some time but even that bothered me. It left Nelson a wreck after I was done. One day I decided to risk using just my hands with him ON the towel on my lap, and sure enough he was much better. He nipped a bit but mostly would grab the clippers and push them away or he would chew on the towel a bit. I kept calm and I think this reassured him and he mostly just protested with some soft growls. Because of the lower stress he was back to normal in minutes especially if we finished up with a scratch and some more soft talk. I bet not using your oven mitt will help build trust. Just don't be surprised if now and then he give you a nip or a bite. I think giving a little blood now and then is part of grey ownership :ohmy:

 

With time come familiarity for both you and Sam, he'll learn to read you and you him. You'll still be faced with ups and downs.

 

As for grey body language - one big one is how they are holding thier feathers. When relaxed thier neck feathers will be slightly puffed out when startled or axious, they suck thier feather's down tight. They'll actually look tense. This isn't a hard and fast rule because they can pull thier feather's in while excited too but usually they get more animated. You'll find greys have quite expressive eyes too. My last bird Nelson would click his beak as a warning when he was getting annoyed. My new bird Sam clucks when nervous or when a stranger gets too close. He'll also grab the bottom of his beak with a foot and kinda beak his toenails when he's a little apprehensive. I chuckle because it reminds me of a person chewing thier fingernails when under stress. He's not really chewing, just being figety with his foot. SWo each brids cues are a little different.

 

You guys are doing exaclty as you should - in my opinion (free and worth evey penny you paid for it). You are trying things out, trying to get to know Sam, and are trying to build trust. Sounds like he's in good hands! Remember, babysteps are good.

 

Good luck and enjoy all Sam has to offer.

 

Tom