Interacted with a CAG for the first time

[Dutchie1984]

Hi everyone,
I am going to spill my exitement here because I know y'all probably understand how awesome I feel, lol.

I love parrots but until yesterday I had never interacted with anything bigger than a cockatiel. I decided to pay a visit to a petstore where I hadn't been in 10 years, and to my surprise they have a great assortment of bird products AND a CAG living in the store. I asked if I could interact with him through the cage bars and the guy said 'sure, go ahead but be careful cause she doesn't like anyone'. To be honest, I was kinda nervous (BIG beak! Wowzers!) But with the tips I read in this forum in the back of my mind I went ahead and approached her. She was kind of hesitant at first but then seemed to relax and started to make these cute (purring?) sounds and I could toch and pet her beak and head.

It was magical.

So yeah. I'm in love 😅

It was wonderful and I was so exited so I just had to share.

Do you remember your first interaction/first meeting with a parrot? How was it? Curious about stories!!

 

[henpecked]

To be honest, no i don't remember. But that's me in my avatars, i grew up with parrots and have never lost my love of them. I think it's great when others discover them. So when you going to bring the little fella home?

 

[JerseyWendy]

I vividly remember my first encounter with a 'bigger' parrot.

It was 1988, we were living in Oklahoma, and I visited a nearby pet shop that had a 'bird room'. There was this gorgeous Red Lored Amazon among finches, budgies, conures and cockatiels, safely tucked in a cage. I talked to her, and she seemed really sweet and friendly, so I opened her cage door and put my hand inside. WHAM! She instantly latched onto the soft, fleshy part of my thumb, and was firmly attached as I pulled my hand out. It seemed like an eternity before the store owner realized I was in a little 'dilemma'. It took 2 people to pry her off of me. Yup, it was love at first sight. :54: No kidding, despite having a gashing, bleeding wound, I fell in love. It was my stupidity, not the bird's fault. My mind was made up that one day I would be owned by an Amazon. I had to wait a little while, but my dream came true in 1999.

 

[OOwl]

Oh gosh I'm going to love this thread. I love reading all the "first contact" stories of people discovering the larger parrots. I grew up with birds, too, first a budgie and then a cockatiel. As a young adult, I still had my cockatiel so thought I was pretty bird savvy. My first encounter was also with a Grey, a wild-caught, quite grumpy one at that, that belonged to a friend of mine. When I stroked his head one day, he bit me, nearly to the bone (I still wear the scar). I spent the next 20 years terrified of Greys (how silly, right?). Now, I have the most gentle one on the planet. He goes out of his way not to scare me. He's so smart, he seems to know I have "issues" with his kind. ;-)

 

[Kiwibird]

How nice that your first big bird interaction was a good one Are you considering buying him?

I grew up with parrots, and had parrots hanging out on my crib as a baby. The first distinct memory I have is of my dads cockatoo, hanging off my face and me running around screaming for my parents. I was about 3. Yes, they still have the cockatoo, and yes I did grow up loving parrots even after being 'traumatized' by that cockatoo (a number of times, Alfie is a devil bird!) as a kid! I actually have a lot of good memories of the amazons, they were both so very patient with me and the female definitely thought I was HER baby.

My first real interaction with a bird not my parents was Kiwi when I was 19. After we had finally lured him out of his travel cage and into his permanent cage, we made ourselves dinner after an incredibly long day. He got excited over us eating pasta. I offered him a noodle through the bars. He took the noodle with his foot and latched onto my finger with his beak:11: I knew right then he was going to be...difficult (and so he was):20:

 

[Dutchie1984]

Hahaha, I am loving the stories of your first encounters. Seems there is a thing with parrots called 'Love at first bite', Lol.

The owner of the store said that unfortunately she is not for sale. She is 30+ years old and lives in the store (IMO in a too small & quite boring cage). I asked him if he ever came out or sat on a java tree, wich he responded with 'she doesn't want that, goes to her cage anyway'.

I felt kinda sorry for her, even though I probably didn't have to. You know... her living conditions are what you would call 'ok', but for me that just wouldnt be good enough. Also I am quite new at this so don't want to be too quick to judge.

I will return to the store once in a while to see her again, I need to go to a petstore anyway. Maybe in time the owner will change his mind about selling her, and then I will definately consider buying this beautiful lady [emoji4]

 

[Dutchie1984]

Soooo I've been back a few times to this sweet CAG.

And I so feel for her.... her cage is small and boring, she doesn't get to come out, no foraging toys or something like that. The owner is friendly, says I can come visit, but doesn't want to sell the bird. (He says, she's old, used to it the way it is etc)

But I'm not letting it rest, haha. This beautiful CAG deserves so much better.

I am planning on visiting once or twice a week, and working on my 'relationship' with the owner.... hopefully I can work towards getting to take her out of that cage once in a while.

The owner is not that bad of a guy so I really hope I can, in time, convince him to surrender/sell the CAG to me.

Do you guys have any ideas or tips how I can make the owner see that this bird deserves better? How can I sweet talk him into fixing this (lol)?

I would already be stoked if he just upgraded her living conditions in the store she is in now!

Thanks in advance

 

[wrench13]

My first parrot, Schyler, who was a red spectacled Amazon - was amazing. He stepped right up and offered his head for a scratch the first time I met him. Never had anything larger then a canary before, and that was my Moms. I had Schyler for 6 months and he was sooo gentle and quiet, even my ex-wife loved him. He would sit on her hip while she was laying down to watch TV and just hang out, getting scratches from us both. No drama, no screaming. He and I would go out and do food shopping and go to the laundrymat ( this is all in NYC). But like an idiot and un-experienced bird person, I had let his wings grow out with out realizing he was flighted, and one day, on our way to the store, a truck hitting its air brakes scared him and he flew off, never to be seen again. Posters and flyers around the neighborhood, and local pet shops - nada, and this was well prior to any Internet. I like to think that someone found him and gave him a good home, he was sooo friendly. I've had a few parrots in the ensuing 32 years, but I will always have a soft spot fro Schyler. I had even considered getting another red spectacled Amazon, when my little Maxie passed, but they are not popular and cant be imprted anymore. I think sometimes you just know that a bird will be yours , the first time you meet. Schyler was like that. Max was like that too. My YNA, Winston, I had to work hard to gain his trust, and Salty continues to challenge the rest of my family ( me, he trusts completely now and dare I say it, the Amazon love is there), but when there is that instant bond on first meeting, it is AWESOME. Maxie was like that - I put my hand into a cage full of canary wing parrots, Max jumped onto my finger, and looked into my face and gave me a wolf whistle. SOLD !

 

[OOwl]

Dutchie, I think we all have friends, associates, coworkers, neighbors or just acquaintances that don't treat their animals the same way we would, do, or feel like they should be treated. Depending on the severity of the problem, I have done things like bring toys and treats over, like foraging toys I seem to have collected that mine don't care for or homemade toys. Once the person sees how much his/her bird enjoys the items, he/she will usually ask where she can order that type of thing. I've also made goodie bags for friends' pets (sprouts and birdy bread for birds; dog cookies for dogs). You could also keep your eye on CL and nab a great used cage and disinfect well and donate to the person. Sometimes, I will divert my charitable contributions to something like this that I can control, to fill a real need I see. If your person balks at a gift like that, just wave it off like, "Oh, I got it for almost nothing and I thought of you and your bird and thought you could use it. . . . " Sometimes it's possible to really affect the quality of life of someone's animal without being adversarial about it at all (and you already said this is a pretty nice guy, just uninformed about how to treat his parrot). Good luck with your mission. I hope you report back.

 

[Aquila]

My mother's side has always had birds, my grandmother used to breed cockatiels (to the family's dismay)

My first real interaction with a bird was my aunt's cockatiel when I was around 10 years old, when I lived down in South Carolina. Her bird was definitely loved, was out all day, hopped around the couches, and was super sweet.

My uncle's family (her brother) lived not far with the wife and kids, and my cousin had a cockatiel as well, who wasn't definitely not treated as well. His wife didn't exactly treat the kids well so I'm not surprised, but I played with it when I was there, it would fly over to me and stand on my finger, I was so excited!

Beyond that, I often went with my dad on jobs (handyman on the side) and got to see some people's birds but never really interacted with them, I was always fascinated. I don't remember having any kind of fear either, with any animal, and I still don't, even when people say it's mean or bitey!

 

[Scott]

I didn't grow up with birds and had little association other than observing small parrots at other people's homes.

One day my Mom was visiting a large bird store near her work and was captivated by a Military Macaw. Several visits later he was sold, but a BFA eagerly beckoned her attention. "Gonzo" was purchased about 33 years ago, likely as a young adult, and was the sweetest buddy for a few years. And then he became a vicious biter, luring the hopeful hand and lunging for the kill. He has since became a bit more manageable, but never ceases to amaze with his clear talking ability.

From then, MBS kicked in; I cannot envision life without at least several parrots!

 

[Dutchie1984]

Thank you Oowl for your advise! I will definately use it in another situation.

But for this one, you won't believe it.... She is actually IN a petstore ON TOP of the isle where the birdtoys etc are. I can't grasp the ignorance.

I already tried to get some toys in there by saying 'you should promote and showcase those beautiful toys you have by hanging some in the cage'.

Oh and of course, her diet is horrible from what I could see. Mostly seedmix with sunflower seeds. Ugh.

I'm going back soon so let's see if he changed anything.

I LOVE the stories of the first contacts with parrots!! So touching (and funny sometimes) to hear what started you guys' love for the fids.

 

[Dutchie1984]

Is there a way to separate the threads btw? I would love to have a separate thread full of first-parrot-meeting-stories (and then it won't be 'spoiled' with my questions about the CAG)

 

[Birdman666]

That would be Venezuela, when I was a little kid. My parents had five amazons, and two macaws... and I couldn't get near any of them.

It's actually a tad curious that I ended up such a parrot person, because I was NOT a fan as a kid.

 

[Dinosrawr]

My first interaction with any kind of bird was when I was about 10, and per norm around that age it was a budgie. I knew very little about them, and all I really did was interact with it because it was a friend's. A few years later my family went to Disney Land and Universal Studios, and during a big pirate live-action show I saw a beautiful B&G macaw... they've been my favourite ever since. It never sparked a desire to own one, I just always thought they were spectacular birds to look at. I didn't consider becoming owned by parrots until later in university when I missed animal companionship, and lo-and-behold I met my ever so spunky Avery! Annnddd now I've spiralled down the path of MBS and will (hopefully) only ever be owned by my two birds now and two macaws in the future.

I've interacted with quite a few larger birds over the years (eclectus, AG's, amazons, cherry headed conures, umbrella 'toos), but I've never really reacted to any the way I do a macaw. My heart beats fast, I get an adrenaline rush, and I just want to sit and stare for hours if I'm unable to interact. It's always love at first sight for me!

 

[Dopey]

I remember as a child that I wanted a bird but my mom said they were dirty and carried diseases. Then when I was married I had several in the 80s - a budgie, cockatiel, and some zebras. I went a couple of decades without any and that was okay. Then a couple of years ago I got MBS. I love the macaws and the toos but the ekkies are stealing my heart right now. And the greys and the ... and the... Sorry - I just think so many of them are really pretty and need to be in my home with me.

 

[JerseyWendy]

Is there a way to separate the threads btw? I would love to have a separate thread full of first-parrot-meeting-stories (and then it won't be 'spoiled' with my questions about the CAG)

Are you talking about separating this??

......Do you guys have any ideas or tips how I can make the owner see that this bird deserves better? How can I sweet talk him into fixing this (lol)?

I would already be stoked if he just upgraded her living conditions in the store she is in now!

Thanks in advance

You could always start a new thread in one of our sub-forums with species specific questions or even general questions.

 

[Anansi]

Yup. What Wendy said. Not that your questions would "spoil" the thread. That's the beauty of being the OP (original poster). Within reason, the thread's direction is determined by you.

 

[chris-md]

That would be Parker back in July. I only ever had budgies growing up, then a conure. Parker was the first larger bird I've dealt with.

Oddly I want scared or intimidated by him at all despite having handled nothing larger than a sun conure. I immediately started manipulating him to test his temperment.. But at a bird store near me, a VERY LARGE green wing macaw was showing some interest in me. I was curious and we are allowed to handle the birds, but this gigantic bird climbing DOWN from a large play area was a bit much for my nerves and I backed away. I realized I didn't understand his body language so didn't want to risk a bone fracture :-S