Paco2
New member
Hi, we just got an CAG, ZaZu, about 6 weeks ago. He is about 4 or 5 years old and we got him from a pet store specializing in just birds. The story was ZaZu had been a breeder bird, but that he never took to breeding as he was more of a family pet...
ZaZu quickly took to my 13 year old son (he tolerates the rest of us), and a week or two in ZaZu started like a bobbing mating dance thing, tongue clicking, drooling and regurgitating his food, etc., definitely hormonal behavior and only with my son. I make sure my son only pets ZaZu on the head, although initially he did pet him on the back like our cat. ZaZu used to go right up to his shoulder, but I've told my son not to let him on his shoulder anymore, but really that means my son has to do constant step up to get ZaZu from climbing up to his shoulder. When ZaZu starts acting hormonal I have my son put him down, however, ZaZu pretty much acts hormonal every time he sees my son because I only have my son 50% of the time and most of the time my son is doing 13 year old stuff, so my son isn't constantly around. Do I keep my son from interacting with ZaZu?? Will the hormonal behavior stop after spring? I read African greys are prone to this year round?
What I am really worried about though is the plucking. ZaZu has started plucking his chest feathers and he has a plucked patch on his one wing as well. I could barely figure out how to post (assuming this posts) so unfortunately I doubt I'd be able to figure out how to post pictures, but to me it looks pretty bad. You can still see downy white feathers, but there are swatches of grey feathers gone, across the whole top of his chest and other spots. I see him pulling his feathers out too as I'm with him almost all day long now that I am at home, although sometimes it's hard to tell if he is just preening or plucking. What do I do when I see him plucking? Usually I go over there and start talking to him and he'll stop.
When we first go ZaZu I took him to the vet about a week in just for a wellness check up, no tests, and according to the vet, ZaZu seemed healthy. ZaZu had already plucked a few feathers, but the vet said she wasn't concerned as there were no patches (just here and there) and thought he was probably a little stressed being in new surroundings, etc., however, it for sure now has gotten worrisome and I'm not sure what to do. I was a little suspicious of the pet store because when I first got ZaZu I texted the guy telling him I was going to bring ZaZu to the vet, he called me and said that I should only do a wellness check, that they test all their birds and they are all very healthy, hmmm...., but the vet also didn't think any tests were necessary.
Apologies for the SUPER long post, but here are a few extra details in the event you are still readying. ZaZu came trained with step up and is a very good talker. We kept him on his same diet and feed him mostly pellets with some seeds (less than 1/4) plus fruit, he doesn't like veggies, and when we have dinner I give him rice or pasta, although I read that warm foods are prime to regurgitate, so I've cut back on that. ZaZu is out of his cage most of the day. He has a large java wood tree, plus a large cage with a play top all in our living room right in the middle of the action (but his cage is against a wall) and he climbs between his tree, into his cage and onto the cage top, but otherwise he doesn't really play with any of his toys (I even took a few out thinking he was scared of them), the only thing he will do is tear up cardboard, tip over his water on occasion and put food in his water. In fact, it seems odd to me that he just sits in one place for long periods of time.
He has a separate "sleeping" cage in a quite room and goes to bed around 8:00 pm and gets up around 7:00 am - he will start talking when he wakes up and wants to be let out of his sleeping cage and put in the living room where he immediately takes a giant poop, so I don't know if he was somewhat potty trained even since he doesn't typically go bathroom in his sleeping cage. He also has a UV light that the vet suggested, which I leave on a good portion of the day since he walks around and isn't always under it. I give him a spray bath every morning, he really enjoys it and says "Woo hoo." He is flighted, but he isn't very good at it and usually runs into a window.
He seems more fearful of me and my daughter and not my two sons, although I'm not sure I would describe him as overly fearful. He has bitten me a couple of times when doing step up. Normally if he doesn't want to step up I'll leave him be, but I do have to put him in his cage at night and sometime if I leave. I think I've solved that by giving him a treat when I do step up, but he did lunge at me today when I was putting a cardboard toy in his cage, and then I just leave the room and don't react.
We've tried to get the whole family involved so that ZaZu thinks he is part of a flock versus a mate, but not sure what else to do there. I'm alone with him 50% of the time and he is usually in the room with me; if I leave briefly, he calls out with a string of words and noises, etc., but he shakes when I get close to him, so I will sing him a song and then he will stop. He won't let me pet his head or anything. He put his head down and kinda twisted it yesterday and I thought it was an invitation to pet his head, but I only got in a couple pets before he snipped at me, so I got that message wrong! He does let me feed him by hand. I feed him grapes, his pasta and seeds by hand and he doesn't try to bite me then, but for whatever reason he is frightened me, so I am trying to take it slow and not doing anything he doesn't want to do.
OK, I think that's it. Thanks for reading!
ZaZu quickly took to my 13 year old son (he tolerates the rest of us), and a week or two in ZaZu started like a bobbing mating dance thing, tongue clicking, drooling and regurgitating his food, etc., definitely hormonal behavior and only with my son. I make sure my son only pets ZaZu on the head, although initially he did pet him on the back like our cat. ZaZu used to go right up to his shoulder, but I've told my son not to let him on his shoulder anymore, but really that means my son has to do constant step up to get ZaZu from climbing up to his shoulder. When ZaZu starts acting hormonal I have my son put him down, however, ZaZu pretty much acts hormonal every time he sees my son because I only have my son 50% of the time and most of the time my son is doing 13 year old stuff, so my son isn't constantly around. Do I keep my son from interacting with ZaZu?? Will the hormonal behavior stop after spring? I read African greys are prone to this year round?
What I am really worried about though is the plucking. ZaZu has started plucking his chest feathers and he has a plucked patch on his one wing as well. I could barely figure out how to post (assuming this posts) so unfortunately I doubt I'd be able to figure out how to post pictures, but to me it looks pretty bad. You can still see downy white feathers, but there are swatches of grey feathers gone, across the whole top of his chest and other spots. I see him pulling his feathers out too as I'm with him almost all day long now that I am at home, although sometimes it's hard to tell if he is just preening or plucking. What do I do when I see him plucking? Usually I go over there and start talking to him and he'll stop.
When we first go ZaZu I took him to the vet about a week in just for a wellness check up, no tests, and according to the vet, ZaZu seemed healthy. ZaZu had already plucked a few feathers, but the vet said she wasn't concerned as there were no patches (just here and there) and thought he was probably a little stressed being in new surroundings, etc., however, it for sure now has gotten worrisome and I'm not sure what to do. I was a little suspicious of the pet store because when I first got ZaZu I texted the guy telling him I was going to bring ZaZu to the vet, he called me and said that I should only do a wellness check, that they test all their birds and they are all very healthy, hmmm...., but the vet also didn't think any tests were necessary.
Apologies for the SUPER long post, but here are a few extra details in the event you are still readying. ZaZu came trained with step up and is a very good talker. We kept him on his same diet and feed him mostly pellets with some seeds (less than 1/4) plus fruit, he doesn't like veggies, and when we have dinner I give him rice or pasta, although I read that warm foods are prime to regurgitate, so I've cut back on that. ZaZu is out of his cage most of the day. He has a large java wood tree, plus a large cage with a play top all in our living room right in the middle of the action (but his cage is against a wall) and he climbs between his tree, into his cage and onto the cage top, but otherwise he doesn't really play with any of his toys (I even took a few out thinking he was scared of them), the only thing he will do is tear up cardboard, tip over his water on occasion and put food in his water. In fact, it seems odd to me that he just sits in one place for long periods of time.
He has a separate "sleeping" cage in a quite room and goes to bed around 8:00 pm and gets up around 7:00 am - he will start talking when he wakes up and wants to be let out of his sleeping cage and put in the living room where he immediately takes a giant poop, so I don't know if he was somewhat potty trained even since he doesn't typically go bathroom in his sleeping cage. He also has a UV light that the vet suggested, which I leave on a good portion of the day since he walks around and isn't always under it. I give him a spray bath every morning, he really enjoys it and says "Woo hoo." He is flighted, but he isn't very good at it and usually runs into a window.
He seems more fearful of me and my daughter and not my two sons, although I'm not sure I would describe him as overly fearful. He has bitten me a couple of times when doing step up. Normally if he doesn't want to step up I'll leave him be, but I do have to put him in his cage at night and sometime if I leave. I think I've solved that by giving him a treat when I do step up, but he did lunge at me today when I was putting a cardboard toy in his cage, and then I just leave the room and don't react.
We've tried to get the whole family involved so that ZaZu thinks he is part of a flock versus a mate, but not sure what else to do there. I'm alone with him 50% of the time and he is usually in the room with me; if I leave briefly, he calls out with a string of words and noises, etc., but he shakes when I get close to him, so I will sing him a song and then he will stop. He won't let me pet his head or anything. He put his head down and kinda twisted it yesterday and I thought it was an invitation to pet his head, but I only got in a couple pets before he snipped at me, so I got that message wrong! He does let me feed him by hand. I feed him grapes, his pasta and seeds by hand and he doesn't try to bite me then, but for whatever reason he is frightened me, so I am trying to take it slow and not doing anything he doesn't want to do.
OK, I think that's it. Thanks for reading!
