I adopted a parrot

Bryce

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Sep 26, 2017
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Ruby, Psittacus erithacus, 17 y/o f.
I had been planning to wait a while longer before getting one, but I had definitely made up my mind to do so and an excellent opportunity suddenly arose.

Anyway, I got a 16 year old female CAG, Ruby. Her previous owners bought her as a baby from a pet store.

Currently she is on a seed mix diet, which she mostly picks the seeds out of. So that's going to have to change. I've got some parrot pellets to gradually transition her to, and some fresh fruits and veg to try.

I'm going to keep learning about African Greys. I'd been reading about them some since they were on my species shortlist (at the top, as of last Saturday), but there's a lot more to learn.

So far she's been great... she made just enough noise during the trip home that I didn't worry she'd died or something. Mostly smartphone beeps, and she has already learned the beep my GPS makes!

The books had prepared me for a rough time getting her out of the carrier and into her cage, but no, she took like forty seconds to come out without any encouragement beyond opening the door. She then said, clear as day, "Hello!"

Within minutes she was exploring her cage, climbing on all the nice natural tree branches I put in there for her and eating the treats I'd stashed around. (Side note: you know you've cultivated a reputation for eccentricity when people see you loading tree branches into the oven and don't question it.) She made occasional beeping sounds but has otherwise been quiet, and seems to have gone to sleep when I turned the lights out.

I know it won't always be this smooth sailing, but here's hoping for many decades to come with Ruby. :)
 

Billdore

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Welcome to grey land it's pretty awesome. Would love to see some pics of ruby once you guys have settled in for a bit.
 

clark_conure

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The bird has obviously been brought up well, and the previous owners probably were hit with hard times or something to give him up. Sounds like you found a wonderful bird and I hope you have him completely bonded soon. Seems like it might be by the end of the day.
 

bigfellasdad

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Firstly, welcome on board you two :)

Im very new to CAGs myself after only recently adopting Enzo, a 12yr old female. Enzo is also well mannered and very tame just as Ruby appears to be so I hope you two get along as well as we are.
With sounds and speech, Enzo took a few days to start sharing and even now she is coming out with sounds that I have never heard her do, her repertoire is enormous, I cant keep up with it all! She seems to practice most when she is perched in the shower room as I shower in the morning or when she is out of sight around the house.
Enzo was always thought to be a boy but after 4 weeks he laid 2 eggs, she had never done this before hence her previous owner was as surprised as I. Obviously it can be dangerous times laying eggs both physically and mentally and I probably have some blame myself for this. Keep an eye out when you are bonding with her, avoid stroking her back and keeping mainly to touching her head/neck area. Enzo also wanted to go to higher up and darker areas, on top of kitchen cupboards etc, she was looking for nesting places. She would also do a strange dance on my shoulder, clucking and with her wings out from her body and very low to my shoulder, try and discourage that by showing her something new to distract her, its all very cute though ;)
Im not sure if this is your first bird or not but something you may want to consider is potty training or you will find you are walking around your house with baby wipes in your pockets.

Best of luck you two, and i think you have come to the right place as ive learned so much here from reading earlier posts and also from the current and very nice crowd.
 
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Carl_Power

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Hi Bryce.

When I got my Parrot I had no information really except he was on some cheap pet shop Parrot mix but I found out he loved apples a lot so I mashed them into his pellets and he started eating them.

Then I just added less apple every day and now he eats the pellets as they are so I don't know if that will help transition you Parrot to pellets but it worked for me.

Best pellets are Zupreem, Harrisons, Roudybush from my research.

Good luck with your new Parrot :) and go at her pace and everything should be fine my friend x
 
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wrench13

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the problem with potty training, is that the bird will only poop when you tell im to, or only in the designated area(s). Its not good for parrots to hold their poops, like we might or a dog might. stepping up is a great first lesson, after that , if he is flighted start on recall training, whic will be mush more useful.
 
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Bryce

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Ruby, Psittacus erithacus, 17 y/o f.
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Ruby's first night here was uneventful. She didn't make any noise at sunrise beyond her normal awake sounds, she vocalized a little when she saw me coming to feed her but that's it. I wonder why she's so quiet, I hope that's just her personality. Or maybe parrots also know how to manage first impressions. ("I'll hold off on the morning screaming until week 2.")

I saw her eat some broccoli.
 

bigfellasdad

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Enzo - adopted Female CAG circa 2004. A truly amazing young lady!
Just give her time, its all new at the moment with both surroundings and you.

For veg, I found Enzo wouldnt eat much of the frozen veg but she loves it when i steam veg in the morning for her. I buy a salad/bean stir fry mix every 3 to 4 days and do her a handful in the morning. She seems to like brocolli, cabbage stalks and cauliflower the most. I dont find Enzo screams very much and when she sings/speaks etc it is generally at 'normal human levels' so dont worry about volume. Screaming would suggest she needs something, attention etc.
 

bigfellasdad

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the problem with potty training, is that the bird will only poop when you tell im to, or only in the designated area(s). Its not good for parrots to hold their poops
I didnt realise, ive been making a fuss in a positive manner when she poops on safe places.
 

Scott

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RIP Gandalf and Big Bird, you are missed.
Congratulations Bryce, you hit the jackpot with Ruby!

There is always a period of acclimation, sort of a honeymoon. Parrots and Greys in particular are extraordinarily keen observers of their environment.

Diet is essential, particularly for Greys. In addition to the excellent threads linked by Tami2, these may help you wean her from a seed-majority diet:

http://www.parrotforums.com/parrot-...7-converting-parrots-healthier-diet-tips.html
http://www.parrotforums.com/parrot-...afe-fresh-foods-toxic-food-lists-sprouts.html

Ruby may readily adopt a better diet, but if not many here can share some tips to assist transition.
 

Inger

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the problem with potty training, is that the bird will only poop when you tell im to, or only in the designated area(s). Its not good for parrots to hold their poops, like we might or a dog might. stepping up is a great first lesson, after that , if he is flighted start on recall training, whic will be mush more useful.



I think this depends on how you manage the training. With Bumble (my Parrotlet) I have determined that she poops every 13-15 minutes (small bird). So when she comes out, I put her on her play gym and ask her to poop right away. She usually doesn’t, so I have to wait and pay attention for her to do the first one, wherever it lands. Then I set a timer for 13 minutes and set her on the perch and say “go poop.” If she doesn’t, I just set one minute timers and keep asking until she goes. So there’s no holding it, and fairly often she poops wherever she wants anyway, but SOMETIMES she even takes herself to her perch and does her business. [emoji2] I will say though that tiny bird=tiny poop so I don’t care as much if she doesn’t go where I want her to.


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LordTriggs

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Rio (Yellow sided conure) sadly no longer with us
I seem to be a strange person when it comes to the poop. I just learnt to live with it, couple poop-off wipes and the mess is cleared. Only bird poo I know of to stain is when they've been eating berries. I'd prefer they go in the cage but of course if I were to change the cage it could become an issue
 
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Bryce

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Ruby, Psittacus erithacus, 17 y/o f.
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Thanks for the advice. I had checked out that CAG 101 thread before deciding to adopt Ruby, good stuff, thank you.

Here is a picture of Ruby:
http://www.ferazelhosting.net/~bryce/ruby_first_day.jpg

Just to be clear, I plan to get a bigger cage for her built when I start my upstairs remodel project. I'd originally planned to do this before getting any parrot, but someone pointed out to me that I really didn't know in practical terms what my particular needs were in a cage and what the bird's particular needs were, and wouldn't really until I had spent some time with the individual bird. (Also, more relevantly, Ruby needed her new home now, not in four or five months when I have finished the remodel project.) So hopefully her ultimate cage will be much better for having to spend a few months in a smaller cage (though still a slightly larger one than the one she'd been in for the last 16 years or so.) I put lots of (sanitized) branches in there for her to climb because the cage has mostly vertical bars, and she really likes climbing on her cage (probably because her old cage only had a couple plain, horizontal perches).
 
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AmyMyBlueFront

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And a Normal Grey Cockatiel named BB who came home with me on 5/20/2016.
Congrats and best of luck with Ruby and welcome to a great forum,you will learn a lot of stuff here.

It took Amy ( Blue Front) to come home with me before Smokey (TAG) learned that real food was a lot better than seed. Once she saw Amy eating veggies and fruits and occasional people food she rarely touched seed..maybe as a treat or if I was too slow :rolleyes: in giving her her nummy bowl.

Smokes never screamed..on occasion she'd do an ear piercing head hammering "chirp" that went right thru me to get my attention!

Give Ruby time to settle in...but it sounds like you are off to a good start already :D


Jim
 

Inger

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Awww Ruby! You’re beautiful


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GaleriaGila

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Welcome!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I am so happy for you.
And you're another one of our heroes for adopting a mature bird.
Glad you found us!
 
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Bryce

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Ruby, Psittacus erithacus, 17 y/o f.
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She took a piece of rambutan (flesh only, no pit) from me and ate it, and I saw her eating the broccoli again. I also saw her eat a pellet from her new pellets. So hopefully transitioning her off the seed diet won't be too hard.

She continues to be pretty quiet and make cellphone noises. Sometimes she whistles. No talking yet today.

Edit: She made a bit more noise around "evening" (when I turned off the lights) than yesterday, including an objectionably loud beep, but only once. She otherwise seemed to be working through her repertoire of beeps and sound effects at a modest volume. She also distinctly said "Ruby." She is pretty quiet now, except from some late-night snacking sounds.
 
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Bryce

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Ruby, Psittacus erithacus, 17 y/o f.
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Another uneventful morning. Ruby is definitely eating her new pellets so I'm going to try tapering down the seed. I gave her some corn on the cob to try today, hopefully that will be interesting for her. She didn't go for the bell pepper with a peanut hidden inside, and she doesn't seem keen on the foraging toy I got for her. I hope she will play with her toys more as she gets more settled in.

She's talking more. I heard "'sup Ruby?", "Ruby" (in two different voices), "It's [unintelligible]" and "Hello" besides lots more beeping.

No signs of cage territoriality, she lets me put my hands in the cage pretty freely, and takes treats offered inside her cage, not just through the bars. She has figured out pistachios and eats them unfailingly, so hopefully pieces of pistachio will be good training rewards latter on to replace the peanuts.
 

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