Hello everyone rocki is finally getting better

[Kassandra1994]

It’s been a while since I’ve posted but I’ve been working with my African gray and he’s finally allowing petting and he’s still biting here and there but I think that’s just his traits. Now we are having an issue with him eating our fridge. Is there anyone here who can suggest something that would help him focus on something other than eating the lining of my fridge we are going to build him a perch to try and stop him from chewing on things. I’ve bought him lots of toys but he’s not interested in any of them, so I’m looking for some thing that would help him stop chewing our expensive things like our fridges and cabinets. Also and lastly, I’m looking for a way to try to get him to talk to us. He will talk to us when he is in a separate room but he won’t talk straight to me face-to-face. Is there a way to train him to talk to us to our faces rather than me being in the living room and him being in the kitchen and talking I’m looking for training methods

 

[zERo]

It’s good to hear you’re making progress!

I think the best way to stop him from chewing your things would be to not let him have free rein of your home.
Building a tree stand will help too I think.

 

[saxguy64]

Not sure about training, so just my personal experience. All of mine much prefer to talk, whistle, and jabber when humans are not in the room, or at least not paying attention to them. They do however, get very talkative in the car when I take them for rides. I've been taking them with me to the local refuge when I go for supplies, and the activity and hearing all the other birds seems to prompt more vocalizing as well.

As far as chewing up your house, I agree with zERo above. Limit the access, and do what you can do bird proof where he's allowed. My recently acquired grey found the magic of cardboard boxes. He's not hormonal, and doesn't appear to be building a nest or anything, he just spends hours shredding them into tiny pieces. I mean... HOURS. I can't even let him see the new box during morning feed/play/cage cleaning time. He gets so excited over them that he won't pay attention to anything else. "Yeah, yeah, dad. Just put me back so I can get to my box!" He's been a plucker for literally decades, and while he still does some, it's waaaaay less since he has his boxes to occupy his time. I also put a cup holder/carrier thing in the box most days as well, or paper towel tubes, just for extra shred material. Biggest thing for me is keeping a steady supply of small/medium sized boxes for him since he needs a new one every single day. 🙄 Perks of having a small business... Lots of inventory arrives in boxes. Thank goodness!

 

[DonnaBudgie]

It’s been a while since I’ve posted but I’ve been working with my African gray and he’s finally allowing petting and he’s still biting here and there but I think that’s just his traits. Now we are having an issue with him eating our fridge. Is there anyone here who can suggest something that would help him focus on something other than eating the lining of my fridge we are going to build him a perch to try and stop him from chewing on things. I’ve bought him lots of toys but he’s not interested in any of them, so I’m looking for some thing that would help him stop chewing our expensive things like our fridges and cabinets. Also and lastly, I’m looking for a way to try to get him to talk to us. He will talk to us when he is in a separate room but he won’t talk straight to me face-to-face. Is there a way to train him to talk to us to our faces rather than me being in the living room and him being in the kitchen and talking I’m looking for training methods

Larger parrots can be very destructive. I know people that have had to replace woodwork, doors and door frames because their parrot chewed up the wood. It's what they do naturally so you must keep them away from things you care about and usually that means keeping them in a large cage or aviary when unsupervised.