I think I'm in trouble

[Elle]

I am going to visit an African Grey after supper. A 15 year old boy who needs a good home due to life style changes. The woman doesn't have the time to spend with him that he deserves.

He comes with the cage stand accessories etc.

My husband said go for it. I was hoping he would talk me out of it but he's talking me INTO it

[LauraO]

:eek: :eek: :eek: :eek:YIKES!!!! Be forewarned, bringing a grey into your life is a permanent lifestyle change. I got Mijo in November of last year, and my life has not been the same nor will it ever be again. He takes up ALOT of my time. He is smart and needs to be with someone HOURS a day. He also has a wicked sense of humor and can get moody, which makes reading him and his body language a constant necessity. That's the easy part, the toys he has get boring easy or he destroys them. In fact, most things his beak investigates ends up damaged or destroyed:x :x . So I am forever trying to get him new toys or make him new things to play with. In one of his adventurous moments, he totally destroyed our whole shade system in our bedroom, whjich will cost us hundreds of dollars to fix. Mijo also HATES lovebirds. I can't have him near them and this is the most frustrating thing of all for me as I love my lovebirds and my meyer's parrots dearly but have sacraficed a huge chunk of my free time with them to be with Mijo. I used to think it was safe if he was like 3 inches from me while the lovebirds were out: NOT!!! One day Won Ton landed too close to him and he picked Won Ton up by the neck:eek: :eek: . That was the last day he was allowed in the same room with the lovies. I realized breaking Won Ton's neck would be as easy as breaking open a peanut for him. That's also why we keep his cage in our bedroom cause he'll attack anything that gets close to his cage and he's quick for a big bird. Oh, and don't forget if you were to bring this bird into your home and he could end up only bonding to you or your husband and can become a danger to the other. Mijo is bonded to me, but tolerates my husband, but he will try and bite me if I'm giving him scritches and my husband comes in the room. Like I said, I have to be on guard every minute I'm with him cause any lapse in judgment can mean permanent damage to my person:x .

I am not saying having a grey isn't the coolest thing ever. I love Mijo and have a blast with him. He cracks me up and loves me bunches, but knowing what I know now I'm not so sure I would have brought him into my life. None of the reading I did or the stories I heard prepared me for the reality of owning a grey. If you and your husband do decide to bring this guy into your life, good luck to all of you and I hope to hear bunches of stories: in the new grey thread of course:D .

[bird_luver24]

Elle,
If I were you and I had the time, money, and Space then I would definately go for it. But, I dont know your situation so, it is hard for me to say what I would really do. Sounds like a wonderful deal but, only you can make that decision. I wouldnt mind myself seeing African Grey pics around here!! :D

[Elle]

:eek: :eek: :eek: :eek:YIKES!!!! Be forewarned, bringing a grey into your life is a permanent lifestyle change. I got Mijo in November of last year, and my life has not been the same nor will it ever be again. He takes up ALOT of my time. He is smart and needs to be with someone HOURS a day. He also has a wicked sense of humor and can get moody, which makes reading him and his body language a constant necessity. That's the easy part, the toys he has get boring easy or he destroys them. In fact, most things his beak investigates ends up damaged or destroyed:x :x . So I am forever trying to get him new toys or make him new things to play with. In one of his adventurous moments, he totally destroyed our whole shade system in our bedroom, whjich will cost us hundreds of dollars to fix. Mijo also HATES lovebirds. I can't have him near them and this is the most frustrating thing of all for me as I love my lovebirds and my meyer's parrots dearly but have sacraficed a huge chunk of my free time with them to be with Mijo. I used to think it was safe if he was like 3 inches from me while the lovebirds were out: NOT!!! One day Won Ton landed too close to him and he picked Won Ton up by the neck:eek: :eek: . That was the last day he was allowed in the same room with the lovies. I realized breaking Won Ton's neck would be as easy as breaking open a peanut for him. That's also why we keep his cage in our bedroom cause he'll attack anything that gets close to his cage and he's quick for a big bird. Oh, and don't forget if you were to bring this bird into your home and he could end up only bonding to you or your husband and can become a danger to the other. Mijo is bonded to me, but tolerates my husband, but he will try and bite me if I'm giving him scritches and my husband comes in the room. Like I said, I have to be on guard every minute I'm with him cause any lapse in judgment can mean permanent damage to my person:x .

I am not saying having a grey isn't the coolest thing ever. I love Mijo and have a blast with him. He cracks me up and loves me bunches, but knowing what I know now I'm not so sure I would have brought him into my life. None of the reading I did or the stories I heard prepared me for the reality of owning a grey. If you and your husband do decide to bring this guy into your life, good luck to all of you and I hope to hear bunches of stories: in the new grey thread of course:D .

Thank you Laura. I appreaciate your honest opinion about Greys :) I am still unsure of what we will be doing at this time. I understand that having a Grey is not the same as having lovebirds. ****! It's not the same as having an eternal two year old either. I also understand the statment you made that reading about it and hearing stories did not prepare you for this.
We still have a lot of thoughts to put into this. Who knows. The parrot might not even like me when I meet him.

[Janie]

Elle, good luck with your decision! It's a big one and while a Grey has always been my "wish" bird, I know it's not one that I could add to my existing flock. No doubt that Laura's honesty helped me figure that out! ;) It is better to know ahead of time and being a bird person, you'll figure out what's best! :)

[Susan27]

Good luck Elle. I hope when you meet him your decision will be easier.;)

[Elle]

Well, we went see Max and spend roughly two hours with him. He is a very sweet boy with a great sense of humour. I was trying to play peek a boo with him. It's not a game he knows how to play. He was looking at me with a funny eye. Once I gave up, he stared at me and told me "Get a doctor".
I though Dan was going to hit the floor he was laughing so hard!:rofl:

We are not making any rushed decision. We are going back later this week and see how it goes. Both the owner and I want everyone to be comfortable with each other before we make a decision.

[LauraO]

Elle: YEP! greys are very funny and have a great sense of humor. I bust up regularly when Mijo says something so clear and random like what you heard. I've been thinking a lot about greys and their talking ability. A lot of what Mijo says is random jabbering, but some is within context but not like we think. For awhile whenever I left the room and Mijo wanted me to come back he would yell "Hey Rick!" While this may sound random, he was imitating my husband calling my brother in law when he wanted my brother in law to come over to him to talk with him. So Mijo saw that everytime my husband yelled "Hey Rick!" someone would come to him:p :p .

Good luck, it sounds as if your first visit went well. I think it's cool that he's a teenage grey cause he's been through a lot of the hormonal stuff already:x .

Keep us updated on your next visit:D

[Elle]

He is histerical and seems to really like Dan. He has a contagious laugh too. You can tell that at one point someone spend a lot of time with him and you can see where the lack of attention lately is hurting him.

After spending some time with him you can see he is very intelligent. The stuff that he mumbles is amazing. But when he wants to be heard, there is no doubt about what he is saying.

He's a man's bird. He's spend the first few years of his life with 4 man. Susan spend a lot of time with him when she got married and has been the only woman in his life. He seems to have a great relationship with her. He even regurgitates for her. But again, you can see where he is hurting from the lack of attention.

Nothing is done yet. But I know he won Dan's heart by telling me to get a doctor. The two of them really clicked. I want to make sure Dan would be ready in the case that Max decides he's Dan's bird.

I look forward to my next visit and I will be taking some treats with me this time :)

[linda040899]

Hi Elle,
It's a good thing that you are taking your time and making sure that this is really what you want to do! I have 2 African Greys and I adore them both. My experiences with them are a bit different but so is the background on both of mine.

Ginger (CAG) is wild caught. She's the remaining half of a breeder pair of Greys that I have turned into a companion. She's not hand tame but she's great at interaction. She also doesn't talk but she vocalizes a lot. She does lions, tigers, monkeys, the local fire siren, the Nextel "beep," just to mention a few. Her wolf whistle will make your ears ring!! She's destructive if I allow her to be by not keeping on eye on what she's doing. If she's somewhere she doesn't belong, I've trained her to return to her cage on command. If I need to lock her in her cage, she goes in on command.

Harley (TAG) is my jabberbeak. He's more into talking and playing than Ginger and he's also less destructive. He's content to play with toys instead of actively seeking things to chew up. Harley came from a family who were getting divorced and no one had time for him. He had a horrible wing clip and he had chewed most of his feathers back to down. I felt bad when I took him from his CAG companion when I bought him at the show, but I didn't have enough money to buy both of them.

Neither of these two really bother much with the lovebirds. Occasionally, one of the lovies will fly near them and they don't even flinch. They accept the fact that these little flighted things are part of the flock and that's a good thing. Single African Greys have been known to form bonds with lovebirds. I had several people purchase tame ones for companions.

One thing I will warn you about. What you see at his current home may remain the same with you, if you opt to take him, or you may see a behavior change. Until Harley got to know Ginger, he was very clingy with me. I must remind him of someone in his past because he took to me almost instantly when he saw me at the show.

[Z28Taxman]

Single African Greys have been known to form bonds with lovebirds

Hmmmm......:whistle:

[Kathryn]

Dave,
You might be willing to share Ditto..but...is he ready to share YOU with another bird?

I know, I'm playing devil's advocate here.;)

[Z28Taxman]

Dave,
You might be willing to share Ditto..but...is he ready to share YOU with another bird?

I know, I'm playing devil's advocate here.;)

He won't even share me with another person! :lol

[Elle]

Well, I thought I'd give an update to the Max situation.

First, I want to thank Laura and Linda for their input about life with an African Grey.

Dan and I discussed the possibility of adopting Max. We put every reason not to on the table and for each one, we found two good reason why we should do it. We understand that nothing can prepare us for what is comming. But we're up for the challenge. We do believe that we can provide him a good home. :)

I called the owner again and told her we want to adopt him. She is happy about that and seems to think we will provide him with good care. She wants us to meet her husband. It's his baby after all. We also want to make sure Max is comfortable with us. We do have an agreement that if for any reason, this doesn't work out, we are not to sell Max or give him away but to contact them and they will take him back which is something I like to hear for Max own good.

So I guess the next update with picture will bein the African Grey section. In the mean time, we are trying to soften our fall into the dark side. Dan and I agreed that this is the last bird we are getting. No more after that. :lol

[LauraO]

Elle: It's really great to hear you and your husband have given a lot of thought to bringing Max into your home. I really feel there's a better chance of success with larger parrots when serious thought and discussions are involved. I also agree that you guys will make a great home for Max. It sounds like you are getting a great bird and that his current owners really care about him. I hope all works out and thanks for keeping us involved:D .

[jknezek]

Good luck. I love african greys. I will say, though, that having a larger parrot is a lot different from having lovies. The need, the attention, the damage... wow, it's hard to be prepared for.

But it is so rewarding the first time they do something on command or speak in context or just show a real and determined affection for you. You can actually watch them learn. And not like a dog learns tricks, but literally puzzle something out in their minds and problem solve like a human would. Of course, the result isn't always what we want, but it is amazing to watch it happen.

I hope it works out for you and Max. You are certainly taking all the right steps and thinking about this the right way. Good lucks and I can't wait to hear how it works out for you.

[Janie]

Elle, congratulations and best of luck to you, your hubby and Max! :D I think that the fact that you both want this bird makes all the difference in how things will work out. I'm sure that team work will help. Keep us posted! :)

[linda040899]

I have 5 larger parrots and the thing I find that works the best with them is flock. No one has a specific time with me. Instead, I interact with whoever is closest at the time and this will rotate all day long. Contact calls are abundant so that everyone knows where everyone else is. I have to keep an eye out so that I know who is where and who is doing what. If not, they can get into trouble real quick and I have no one to blame but myself!

[Elle]

I have 5 larger parrots and the thing I find that works the best with them is flock. No one has a specific time with me. Instead, I interact with whoever is closest at the time and this will rotate all day long. Contact calls are abundant so that everyone knows where everyone else is. I have to keep an eye out so that I know who is where and who is doing what. If not, they can get into trouble real quick and I have no one to blame but myself!

I will definitely keep that in mind. I think it will do Max some good to be around other birds. I know lovebirds and budgies are a lot smaller and outside time out of the cage will not occur at the same time or in the same room but I have a hunch that Max will enjoy the company. The owner felt that way too. Max is pretty good and very patient with her little boys.

As far as the damage a bigger parrot can do, we are aware of that. It's one thing that Danny checked out while we visited Max. I had warned him about that. He discussed it with the owner, Susan. She said he is not very destructive. He likes his toys and he likes chewing on them but doesn't touch things outside of his cage or his stand. Dan had a look around the room trying to find signs of destruction but could not see any.

Blu is very destructive by herself. I don't think I have one door that the top corner is not rounded now. We will need to replace a few things in the house when we move. She has a lot of things to play with and chew on but apparently, there is nothing like the top of a door or a window sill. :lol


Now, about quarantine.... I have two budgies in quarantine waiting to go to the vet. Blu and Phoebe have a clean bill of health. Max is healthy and has not been in contact with other birds in 13 years. Is it safe to put him in the same room then the lovebirds or do I have to send one of the kids to a hotel for a month?

And thank you everyone for your continious support. I love this board :D

[LauraKGN]

Congratulations! I can't wait to hear more! I agree with everyone's advice and I think you've done your research! :)

I think you'll have lots of fun with this guy!

"Get a doctor!" That's too funny!!! :lol

[linda040899]

Elle,
If Max has been the only bird at his current home, he's been in quarantine for 13 yrs so I, personally, don't think another 30 days is necessary!! :lol However, the Budgies must be kept where they are until they see the vet and their quarantine is over. Nope, don't send any of the kids to a hotel...

[Elle]

Elle,
If Max has been the only bird at his current home, he's been in quarantine for 13 yrs so I, personally, don't think another 30 days is necessary!! :lol However, the Budgies must be kept where they are until they see the vet and their quarantine is over. Nope, don't send any of the kids to a hotel...

Thank you. I didn't think he needed to be quarantined. The budgies however might end up in qurantine more then 30 days. Dan really likes having them in the bedroom and loves their little chirping when the light goes off at night. The lovies are getting used to the idea that the bedroom is off limit :(.

[ddargenio]

Congratulations Elle and family and Max! I had posted yesterday that I have the opportunity to adopt Blue Front Amanzon "Paco" (although now we think Paco is a girl). I went to visit with Paco yesterday and things went well - Paco prefers woman and came right to me - he's been with his current owner for 12 yrs. He is moving to Florida after a divorce and an empty nest now that the kids are grown. My daughter was good friends with his daughter all through school - she remembers Paco. I'm nervous but I am taking him home this weekend. I just hope he enjoys being with other birds after being by himself for 12 years. It's scary but rewarding in the end (if it all works out!) Good luck Max sounds like a real riot!!!!

[Elle]

Congratulations Elle and family and Max! I had posted yesterday that I have the opportunity to adopt Blue Front Amanzon "Paco" (although now we think Paco is a girl). I went to visit with Paco yesterday and things went well - Paco prefers woman and came right to me - he's been with his current owner for 12 yrs. He is moving to Florida after a divorce and an empty nest now that the kids are grown. My daughter was good friends with his daughter all through school - she remembers Paco. I'm nervous but I am taking him home this weekend. I just hope he enjoys being with other birds after being by himself for 12 years. It's scary but rewarding in the end (if it all works out!) Good luck Max sounds like a real riot!!!!

And congratulation to you Denise. I read yourpost and it reminded me of our story. I hope all goes well for you and look forward hearing about it. I'm sure we'll learn from each other and the life of big parrots :)

[ddargenio]

Well... I already have three cockatoos a Bare eyed, Goffins and Ducorps along with my little lovies and others! My biggest worry is how the Cockatoos are going to accept Paco - Especially my Bare eyed, Fester he's my bud and we cuddle alot - but I figure I'll just stretch myself a little more - so far I assume I'm doing ok lol. Everyone seems to be happy with "mom" and they all get their special attention at some point of the day - As long as there's enough LOVE to go around!!!! One thing Paco is going to need is a new cage the one he has is pretty beat up and old (seems before Paco a Macaw was in the cage) and he pretty much chewed the powder coating off most of the cage. (amazing!)