Your experience with adopting baby grey

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I wish you well, I am posting this for the benefit of others!
FYI, this is illegal in the state of California (but so are most things!)
HMIS: NFPA: Special Hazard OSHA Regulatory Status: This material is classified as hazardous under OSHA regulations.
Potential Health Effects Inhalation Acute Exposure Effects:
(Acute and Chronic): Vapor concentration may cause headache, dizziness, irritation of the respiratory tract, eye irritation, stupor, depression of the central nervous system, watering of the eyes, weakness, nausea, muscle twitches, and kidney effects. Aspiration into lungs may cause pneumonia or death. Severe overexposure may cause convulsions, unconsciousness, and death.
 
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  • #23
I wish you well, I am posting this for the benefit of others!
FYI, this is illegal in the state of California (but so are most things!)
HMIS: NFPA: Special Hazard OSHA Regulatory Status: This material is classified as hazardous under OSHA regulations.
Potential Health Effects Inhalation Acute Exposure Effects:
(Acute and Chronic): Vapor concentration may cause headache, dizziness, irritation of the respiratory tract, eye irritation, stupor, depression of the central nervous system, watering of the eyes, weakness, nausea, muscle twitches, and kidney effects. Aspiration into lungs may cause pneumonia or death. Severe overexposure may cause convulsions, unconsciousness, and death.

Thanks. Yes it can be terrible to put it right up under a bird's beak I'm sure but it emits no fumes or odors and I even paint with my windows open. It is the safe alternative to turpentine. I have always painted and it has never been an issue to any birds I've had living with me. :) It's not half as bad as febreezing a room that a bird lives in or cooking with teflon.
 
Eisterunicorn, I realize you don't know me, but please know I would never be intentionally mean to anyone. It's hard to read tone online. Everything I say is said with positive thought. Please take care. :)
 
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Eisterunicorn, I realize you don't know me, but please know I would never be intentionally mean to anyone. It's hard to read tone online. Everything I say is said with positive thought. Please take care. :)

Oh thank you very much for posting this . I immediately feel a rush of relief and less anxiety from this post. I know everyone here has good intentions. I guess it's just me coupled with my disorder with people. I am trying to understand because I want a grey so bad but I want it to be right and I hate feeling like I am not enough or things will work out badly for me... thank you for your thoughtfulness it makes my day
 
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This is a bit awkward but I am only posting this really quick to reply to Flboy's kind private message as I cannot reply to PMs until I have 20 posts and I only have 19! haha :)

Any more info / experiences about the baby grey thing :)

I am seeing this breeder on Sunday and am not planning on putting a deposit down but I want to have some thoughts of what some others have gone through before I go and hold the baby.... Negative experiences okay too. I am not trying the "rose colored glasses" :)
 
The reason you will hear objections to the safety of "odorless mineral spirits" is because of the nature of avian resperatory systems. Birds fly, and all their physiology is evolved to support that. This means the efficient delivery of oxygen and removal of waste products from the muscles used in flight. So they don't have lungs like ours, which only make incomplete exchanges of air. They have long structures of air sacs, with much more surface area exposed to the air than ours, which allows them to wring all possible oxygen from the air. It means they also absorb contaminants and toxins from the air. Contaminants which are not at all harmful to us will kill a bird. I know someone whose bird died when the family used nontoxic latex paint to paint a room, and another member on this forum who's parrot died when they ran the self cleaning cycle on their oven - though they had run that cycle several times without incident.

Things are as they are, whether or not we like what they are. None of the suggestions here have been directed towards you or critical of you personally. Many, many people here had their parrots attacked and killed by pets they had lived safely with for years. People have lost parrots to very minor and seemingly harmless environmental factors. Parrots have died from flying into washing machines when the owner's back was turned for an instant, when someone else opened a door at the same time the bird was spooked, have flown into pots of boiling water, eaten medicine/drugs dropped on the floor....it's like having a two year old child for fifty years.

I'm something of a loner myself. When you say that you don't have many human friends and don't want any, it sounds like you're looking for an intelligent parrot to be a decent substitute, interaction without human expectations or demands. The thing is, you don't know how the parrot will be. They are individuals. They have their own personalities from birth. They might have fearful natures, and never lose that timidity. They might have any quirk, and unlike a human they may never outgrow it. You have to take them as they are. If you buy a baby grey, and it grows up to be a neurotic fearful bird no matter how well you treat it, you are responsible for caring for this neurotic fearful creature for all its life, fifty years maybe. It would cause even more harm to the bird if you decide you don't want a neurotic fearful bird for fifty years and decide to sell it, return it, or give it away.

That's one good reason to adopt a rescue parrot. They are older, and their personalities are known. Sure, maybe they have baggage, but don't you? Don't we all? Maybe their baggage and your baggage are a perfect fit.

Maybe there's an easier way. Buying a baby bird and hoping things are perfect is like rolling the dice. There's a way to stack the odds in your favor. Find a local rescue operation and help take care of the birds. This might mean changing cage paper, cleaning poop, fixing food, etc. it's like having your own personal harem of birds. You can see them all, interact with them all, see their personalities- and give the birds a chance to check YOU out. One may fall in love with you, and you may be just as thunderstruck by them. Love at first sight. There's no better chance of long term happiness than to let the bird choose you.

The more pressure you feel to do something NOW, to get a bird right away, the more important it is that the choice go well. Taking a little bit of time to get to know some parrots means putting off, for a little while, the pleasure of having one as a companion. But it makes it much more likely that when you do bring your companion home, you have a chance to find the love and companionship that you desire.
 
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The reason you will hear objections to the safety of "odorless mineral spirits" is because of the nature of avian resperatory systems. Birds fly, and all their physiology is evolved to support that. This means the efficient delivery of oxygen and removal of waste products from the muscles used in flight. So they don't have lungs like ours, which only make incomplete exchanges of air. They have long structures of air sacs, with much more surface area exposed to the air than ours, which allows them to wring all possible oxygen from the air. It means they also absorb contaminants and toxins from the air. Contaminants which are not at all harmful to us will kill a bird. I know someone whose bird died when the family used nontoxic latex paint to paint a room, and another member on this forum who's parrot died when they ran the self cleaning cycle on their oven - though they had run that cycle several times without incident.

Things are as they are, whether or not we like what they are. None of the suggestions here have been directed towards you or critical of you personally. Many, many people here had their parrots attacked and killed by pets they had lived safely with for years. People have lost parrots to very minor and seemingly harmless environmental factors. Parrots have died from flying into washing machines when the owner's back was turned for an instant, when someone else opened a door at the same time the bird was spooked, have flown into pots of boiling water, eaten medicine/drugs dropped on the floor....it's like having a two year old child for fifty years.

I'm something of a loner myself. When you say that you don't have many human friends and don't want any, it sounds like you're looking for an intelligent parrot to be a decent substitute, interaction without human expectations or demands. The thing is, you don't know how the parrot will be. They are individuals. They have their own personalities from birth. They might have fearful natures, and never lose that timidity. They might have any quirk, and unlike a human they may never outgrow it. You have to take them as they are. If you buy a baby grey, and it grows up to be a neurotic fearful bird no matter how well you treat it, you are responsible for caring for this neurotic fearful creature for all its life, fifty years maybe. It would cause even more harm to the bird if you decide you don't want a neurotic fearful bird for fifty years and decide to sell it, return it, or give it away.

That's one good reason to adopt a rescue parrot. They are older, and their personalities are known. Sure, maybe they have baggage, but don't you? Don't we all? Maybe their baggage and your baggage are a perfect fit.

Maybe there's an easier way. Buying a baby bird and hoping things are perfect is like rolling the dice. There's a way to stack the odds in your favor. Find a local rescue operation and help take care of the birds. This might mean changing cage paper, cleaning poop, fixing food, etc. it's like having your own personal harem of birds. You can see them all, interact with them all, see their personalities- and give the birds a chance to check YOU out. One may fall in love with you, and you may be just as thunderstruck by them. Love at first sight. There's no better chance of long term happiness than to let the bird choose you.

The more pressure you feel to do something NOW, to get a bird right away, the more important it is that the choice go well. Taking a little bit of time to get to know some parrots means putting off, for a little while, the pleasure of having one as a companion. But it makes it much more likely that when you do bring your companion home, you have a chance to find the love and companionship that you desire.


No more about my painting... it is truly not dangerous to have a cup of odorless mineral spirits out while I paint and only while I paint, with windows open. No more harmless than having vodka out for an hour.
I know your intentions are good but this post overwhelmed me and did not help me at all. I know you care about parrots. I'm sure others will say thank you to this post as it is lengthy and good intentioned and have lots of informations but it is too much for me to drink in and therefore will not help whatever decision or parrot comes to me.... I only end up feeling judged and scolded like you are my parent. It is hard for me to even be interactive with people because I am strongly on the schizo typal personality trait... You cannot tap into my mind and understand that I do not try to be "loner" , it is just in my brain and my bones to have a closer companionship with animals. This is one reason why I desire a grey.... baggage by the way is the last thing I need from a bird as I want to completely start from scratch understanding it in and out. I would only get a rescue as a guilt thing from people on these forums and that would never work out well... so I am sorry to say this but this post did not help me. :( I can only ask that they be more gentle and sensitive or please do not reply to me at all. Thank you for maybe trying to understand....
 
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  • #29
The purpose of this thread, once again, is ONLY for some experiences of people who have raised a grey. Not to try and influence me or warn me of parrot keeping or teach me. That is okay for another type of thread but I just got away from lots of that info on another thread and I needed a break from all the doom and gloom and just wanted some experience.

Please if this can be the purpose here then I would love to hear your stories and encouragement but if I will keep getting this strong opinions to me then I cannot handle it... :'( please close the thread if this keeps happening someone
 
Everyone here is giving you sound advice. Just like on the other board.
 
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Everyone here is giving you sound advice. Just like on the other board.

I am not asking for advice here, as I was on the other board. I am asking for personal experience of someone raising a grey. That is it. Stop it.
 
It's all part of everyone's experiences with raising a grey.
 
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  • #33
It's all part of everyone's experiences with raising a grey.

You know that's not what I am saying or what I mean. I was clear in what I wanted from this thread and I am really upset with all of this. Please just stop you are not helping me here at all. I am so upset with all of this stuff :'(
 
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This thread is just sad and not happy like I wanted it to be. I just wanted it to be a fun thread with individual experiences but I only got one and it was from Birdman(thank you Birdman :) ) So please if this can get closed :( :( :( sorry for being a pain here. I don't fit in.
 
Ok. Here's my experience with my baby. I got my guy 5 years ago after spending a lot of time researching, etc. Found a great person who let me visit my baby whenever I'd like until he was weaned.

After my baby had refused formula feedings for 3 days, I was allowed to take him home. The breeder taught me how to feed him should he happen to regress. He did. I ended up formula feeding him for another 6 weeks until he let me know that he was completely through.

I was the primary caregiver of my grey, with my kids occasionally interacting with him. One of my sons would say 'hi' to him whenever he walked by. My guy's first word was 'hi' in his voice. He started talking around 6 months of age. To this day he prefers the phrases my sons say over anything I say to him.

I am the one who feeds, cleans his cage and mostly the one who plays with him. He. as well as my other 9 birds, is flighted.

When my guy turned 18 months of age, he changed from being a cuddly baby to one that prefers to be independent. Nippiness started, and that lasted for around 6 months. For whatever reason, he has bonded primarily with my son who only occasionally interacts with him. But that's okay, because he still enjoys my company. One of my sons he does not care for. Greys are very sensitive to other people's feelings. If my son became angry, he'd try to dive bomb him.

My guy loves to fly and harass the other birds. It's a game for him. He loves stainless steel toys and anything he can swing on: orbitals; swinging perches, and even from dangling plastic chains. He'll grab onto the side of the bar to pull his swing forward and lets go to keep him swinging on and on and on. He loves the homemade birdie bread I make for him as well as his wide assortment of veggies and fruit. Sunflower seeds are used for training treats only.

My guy isn't cuddly now, but he loves to perch on my shoulder or hand. He blows kisses to me all the time.
 
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Ok. Here's my experience with my baby. I got my guy 5 years ago after spending a lot of time researching, etc. Found a great person who let me visit my baby whenever I'd like until he was weaned.

After my baby had refused formula feedings for 3 days, I was allowed to take him home. The breeder taught me how to feed him should he happen to regress. He did. I ended up formula feeding him for another 6 weeks until he let me know that he was completely through.

I was the primary caregiver of my grey, with my kids occasionally interacting with him. One of my sons would say 'hi' to him whenever he walked by. My guy's first word was 'hi' in his voice. He started talking around 6 months of age. To this day he prefers the phrases my sons say over anything I say to him.

I am the one who feeds, cleans his cage and mostly the one who plays with him. He. as well as my other 9 birds, is flighted.

When my guy turned 18 months of age, he changed from being a cuddly baby to one that prefers to be independent. Nippiness started, and that lasted for around 6 months. For whatever reason, he has bonded primarily with my son who only occasionally interacts with him. But that's okay, because he still enjoys my company. One of my sons he does not care for. Greys are very sensitive to other people's feelings. If my son became angry, he'd try to dive bomb him.

My guy loves to fly and harass the other birds. It's a game for him. He loves stainless steel toys and anything he can swing on: orbitals; swinging perches, and even from dangling plastic chains. He'll grab onto the side of the bar to pull his swing forward and lets go to keep him swinging on and on and on. He loves the homemade birdie bread I make for him as well as his wide assortment of veggies and fruit. Sunflower seeds are used for training treats only.

My guy isn't cuddly now, but he loves to perch on my shoulder or hand. He blows kisses to me all the time.

that is a very sweet story. thank you for sharing.
 
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I'm thinking I will go ahead and ask for this thread to be closed... thanks for the stories and experiences, and thank you for the well intentioned advice. I just don't think I can handle the forums. wish me luck. I am going to listen to my gut from now on... I wish you all a good day:)
 
I know the pressures of joining an unknown forum. I was new here once as well and on the fringes of acceptance. I didn't get a baby but my Timneh was about 1 and 1/2 when I got her, so still not mature anyhow. almost a baby. Don't feel to pressured to respond to every person you can just give them a thanks if you feel they helped and reputation if they really helped wink wink. I've learned a ton of dos and don'ts from here invaluable information on how to save raise a happy healthy parrot. Its so exciting to be thinking about a new parrot I hope you share your experiences with all of us here. As I too would love to see a baby grey growing. My Timneh had quite a few different voices when I got her but they all faded out pretty quickly actually I was surprised. Timneh gets a bit jealous of my little 11 year old puggle and has nipped the poor girl. Timneh was on my shoulder Bella my puggle jumped up on the couch and quick as lightning Timneh gave her a pinch. Bella is scared of Timneh and avoids that can opener on Timnehs face. I wish you the best of luck with everything hopefully you give the forums a chance. Parrots are amazing and once you are owned by one you become a little protective of them all. Stick around and become part of the family, whatfamily doesn't disagree sometimes.
 

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