LauraO
01-11-2006, 09:36 AM
As many of you know I brought home Mijo, a 3 1/2 year old Congo African Grey two months ago. He had been in a petstore for like 6 months and everyone there called him the "mean" bird and were frightened of him. Well after much thought and consideration, and husband approval, I brought him hom and LIFE WILL NEVER BE THE SAME:rofl: :rofl: .
Mijo is one crazy bird and I mean crazy in a fun and wild way. He is much more playful than either of my Meyer's parrots. He is also very bitey and destructive. There have been some bumps in the road but Mijo is adjusting well to living with us. I am his prefered person, but he is finally warming up to my husband and my husband keeps working at being Mijo's friend despite the puncture wounds he keeps getting.
Mijo has this funny strut where he puffs up really big, moves his head up and down and walks a little sideways and with a little hop in his step :lol . His favorite thing to do during the day, besides rip our sheets to shreds and bite holes in the screens and on the walls, is to scream at the people in the neighborhood. It's too funny because he lives on the second floor and people walking by are always looking up to see who's screaming/whistling/ringing at them:rolleyes: . Mijo has also picked up the annoying habit of yelling at the neighbors dog in the neighbors voice. It's annoying because I'm already tired of hearing the neighbor call his dog without having it in my own bedroom. I ignore all the talking and screaming I don't like because I don't want him to keep doing it. I have to admit though, he's a jabberjaw that I still crack up any time he starts in when I'm around. It's funny because he still only talks when I'm around and my husband is awed and skeptical when I talk about Mijo's antics8) .
Mijo has the worst balance of any bird imagineable. I'm assuming this is 1) because he never learned to fly and 2) he has spent little to NO time out of his cage in his 3 1/2 years. He is forever falling off the bed, couch, stick, my shoulder. He refuses to sleep in his cage cause we try to cover him so he's taken to sleeping on the window seal and regularly falls off that and onto my head in the middle of the night:eek: .
He has gotten better at stepping up on my arm and on the stick. He's very finicky about where and when this will happen. I didn't share this but about a month ago I forced him on the stick and downstairs. He freaked out and was flying around his cage. I finally got him on the stick and downstairs. He seemed fine, but when I brought him upstairs to his cage, we were giving kisses (something we do often) and on the third kiss he straight attacked my face hard and bloodied up my nose:eek: . He's a smart bird and was letting me know I overstepped my bounds. I was in shock and pain and I just walked away, cried cause my feelings were hurt and went in awhile later and explained to him that biting was not okay and he hurt me. He hasn't done it since, and we give kisses a lot. I'm still cautious though and I make sure he comes to me for the kisses and his neck is outstretched so he won't have much power or balance if he tries to attack me again.
Mijo has been biting less. He does like to nibble on my hands and body like the lovies. It's very trying at times because he's got a HUGE AND POWERFUL beak. We've been working on trust and I am more comfortable letting him nibble on me and he is letting me get closer to him too. He's so sly and knows I'm scared of his beak and tries to get what he wants by being intimidating. I'm starting to be able to deal with this behavior and realize most times his bark is worse than his bite. The other day I was working on the bed and he spent the whole two hours I was there tormenting me and trying to get the things I was working on. I had a small oriental table I was working on on the bed and when he couldn't get what he wanted he would go and bite on my toes gently :x . And when he would try to get into my work I would grab his beak gently or take the stuff I needed out of his beak and he was pretty okay with it:D .
There are a bazillion Mijo antics I could share if I had time. He's not mean at all. He is a great bird and he's becoming a fast friend and member of our family. I will say that I now understand why larger parrots are not for everyone. They are a huge joy BUT even a bigger challenge and they take a lot of care and understanding :D .
Mijo is one crazy bird and I mean crazy in a fun and wild way. He is much more playful than either of my Meyer's parrots. He is also very bitey and destructive. There have been some bumps in the road but Mijo is adjusting well to living with us. I am his prefered person, but he is finally warming up to my husband and my husband keeps working at being Mijo's friend despite the puncture wounds he keeps getting.
Mijo has this funny strut where he puffs up really big, moves his head up and down and walks a little sideways and with a little hop in his step :lol . His favorite thing to do during the day, besides rip our sheets to shreds and bite holes in the screens and on the walls, is to scream at the people in the neighborhood. It's too funny because he lives on the second floor and people walking by are always looking up to see who's screaming/whistling/ringing at them:rolleyes: . Mijo has also picked up the annoying habit of yelling at the neighbors dog in the neighbors voice. It's annoying because I'm already tired of hearing the neighbor call his dog without having it in my own bedroom. I ignore all the talking and screaming I don't like because I don't want him to keep doing it. I have to admit though, he's a jabberjaw that I still crack up any time he starts in when I'm around. It's funny because he still only talks when I'm around and my husband is awed and skeptical when I talk about Mijo's antics8) .
Mijo has the worst balance of any bird imagineable. I'm assuming this is 1) because he never learned to fly and 2) he has spent little to NO time out of his cage in his 3 1/2 years. He is forever falling off the bed, couch, stick, my shoulder. He refuses to sleep in his cage cause we try to cover him so he's taken to sleeping on the window seal and regularly falls off that and onto my head in the middle of the night:eek: .
He has gotten better at stepping up on my arm and on the stick. He's very finicky about where and when this will happen. I didn't share this but about a month ago I forced him on the stick and downstairs. He freaked out and was flying around his cage. I finally got him on the stick and downstairs. He seemed fine, but when I brought him upstairs to his cage, we were giving kisses (something we do often) and on the third kiss he straight attacked my face hard and bloodied up my nose:eek: . He's a smart bird and was letting me know I overstepped my bounds. I was in shock and pain and I just walked away, cried cause my feelings were hurt and went in awhile later and explained to him that biting was not okay and he hurt me. He hasn't done it since, and we give kisses a lot. I'm still cautious though and I make sure he comes to me for the kisses and his neck is outstretched so he won't have much power or balance if he tries to attack me again.
Mijo has been biting less. He does like to nibble on my hands and body like the lovies. It's very trying at times because he's got a HUGE AND POWERFUL beak. We've been working on trust and I am more comfortable letting him nibble on me and he is letting me get closer to him too. He's so sly and knows I'm scared of his beak and tries to get what he wants by being intimidating. I'm starting to be able to deal with this behavior and realize most times his bark is worse than his bite. The other day I was working on the bed and he spent the whole two hours I was there tormenting me and trying to get the things I was working on. I had a small oriental table I was working on on the bed and when he couldn't get what he wanted he would go and bite on my toes gently :x . And when he would try to get into my work I would grab his beak gently or take the stuff I needed out of his beak and he was pretty okay with it:D .
There are a bazillion Mijo antics I could share if I had time. He's not mean at all. He is a great bird and he's becoming a fast friend and member of our family. I will say that I now understand why larger parrots are not for everyone. They are a huge joy BUT even a bigger challenge and they take a lot of care and understanding :D .