4 Month Old Congo Help!

[DrewH]

Thanks for all the useful info.

I continue my regular visits to see Leo. He has his good days and bad days. Some days he can be really relaxed. His most stressed and nippy days are when there have been a lot of people in and out of the store.

On his nippiest days he'll stick his head between the bars of the cage when I am leaving and give me the saddest look while wanting one last head stroking. I am convinced it is not so much of a personality issue as it is a nervous issue. This bird never flies on his own even though he is still partially flighted. Our Ekkie, would do endless laps around the store. I find that Leo is extremely clingy, always wanting to be on a shoulder and will stop at nothing to be on my shoulder. I know putting Greys on your shoulder is often asking for trouble but he is so persistent and will constantly try to climb my arm to get there. Very odd bird this is. As soon as that bird knows I am in the store, he chirps for me and practically rips his bars apart to get to me. However, he can turn 180 degrees once out of the cage and strike me pretty good.

I'm going to work with him. My GF won't have anything to do with him on her own. I have to be there with her and even then she's too timid to really do much with him. One bite too many with that girl.

Our plan is to bring him home here, where it's quiet and not so scary, and see how he does. If he doesn't end up being a good fit for the family, we will seek to rehome him. However, I am going to do EVERYTHING in my power to make sure that doesn't have to happen. I'll snap some pictures of the little devil during my next trip to the store.

 

[brianlinkles]

drewh, it sounds like he is very fond of you and just very frightened. I am going to keep my fingers crossed that when he gets home with you that he is happier/calmer. I totally understand your girlfriends hesitation, it's to sad that she was the one that wanted him and now is afraid. My husband is much more hesitant to handle our amazon (she is a rescue from a bad situation) she can be sweet one minute and send me out to find the nearest band aid the next. Maybe once you get Leo home, your girlfriend can start handing him his favorite snacks, sit in front of the cage and read or talk to him. This is how we built up trust with our amazon. We spent hours just sitting quietly in front of the open cage reading talking handing snacks out. Ours was 15 when we brought her home, yours is a baby, I'm hoping he will catch on quickly!

 

[GiosMom]

I went to the bird show in sarasota,fla a couple of weeks ago and at one of the stands they had 2 young goffins who were adorable and very tame. I did not dare ask the price but I can see why you both want one, they were so cute and soft looking with big round innocent looking eyes and I was thinking they could never possibly do anything wrong. Let me knoe in a couple of years if my impressions are right. please Alison and sweetie pie

Alliray I love all things Goffin! Even pesky little ones. It's so weird to say this but I get this sense of excitement yet calm in the presence of a Goffin. My dad has referred to me as obsessed with the cockatoos but bigger Too's actually intimidate me. Goffins though are such a natural fit for me. I could stay home with them all day long!

 

[lene1949]

I wonder how they feed him... I know a lot of breeders cropfeed, which means they use a crop needle, and push in the required amount of food for that feed... These birds might be 'handfed', but they're not hand raised... The baby needs handling, and if he's not being handled, he'll be afraid of humans... But... at 4 months old you should easily be able to turn that around...

I have 'finished' a few birds... my most recent one, a male eclectus... The breeder said he was more than 8 weeks old, but he was more likely just 5 weeks old...

The responses 'flight or fight': To baby birds it'll always be 'fight', as they have little opportunity for 'flight'..

I honestly think Leo will be fine, if he came home with you... You should be able to give him a 'comfort' feed at night... Your breeder should be able to advise you on that...

 

[Wulfgeist]

Interesting. I have an almost 7 month old (11/29/11 hatch date)CAG "Greycie", DNA female. I brought her home at age 4 months, fully weaned. I too visited often before I brought her home. She was also very nippy and would bite. A lady was there quite often as well visiting her CAG that she was going to bring home once weaned. Her grey would bite her and draw blood!!! I was shocked. I thought hand raised/fed baby parrots were suppose to be use to humans. Anyway, she visited her baby more than I. But when we happen to be at the pet store at the same time she would always have bloody battle scars. I mostly sat near my baby while she was on a perch and talked to her, occasionally petting her if she allowed it. I'm not in favor of getting bit up like that lady did! But I will say towards the last weeks of visiting my baby you could notice a remarkable improvement in her behavior and "that lady's" baby too. She could now handle hers without getting bit. I could too but not as well as her. Our birds constantly would jump from our fingers and unfortunately their wings were clipped. Store policy! My whole point to this novel is........I was skeptical too. My baby was nippy and bitey! BUT when I took her home.....besides her "freaking out" with her new cage ( that's another story) she was a different bird!! I kid you not! I could actually handle her WITHOUT getting as much as a nip!! She nibbles but NEVER has bitten me since I got her home. I was prepared for some intense training to stop her biting. She is growing into a beautiful, intelligent parrot, that they're known to be.
Since you can't get your money back, take your baby home and see what happens. She's so young I would think any behavior could be modified if not eliminated all together.
Oh and by the way the pet store owners and workers could handle the babies without getting bit. So I knew it was possible!!
Good luck with your new baby and let us know how it goes once you get her/him.
Alan.

Alan! Um..did your baby come from Jo's Exotics?? Ummm..that's ME you're talking about!! LOL

Yeah I was going to reply exactly that. I had to take bandaids with me and some of the others members here probably are familiar with my tales of woe. I too said I have made a commitment to this bird and I'm going to do my best to give it a chance first.

Well guess what? Jasper was still biting for a while after I brought him home. Now? He willingly lowers his head for scritches and if he doesn't want to be messed with he grabs my finger and pushes it away. I respect that and leave him be.

I kept saying *no* when he bit and left him alone for a while. The very last time he bit me it was only like 7 in the evening. He bit me, he went straight to bed with the cover on his cage. That was the last time he ever did that. I think he finally learned that bad behavior=no more fun for him. I'm not sure what happened but he has turned into a pretty sweet guy.

I wish you the absolute best of luck for you, your gf and the bird, whatever path you wind up on.

 

[keepsmiling]

A 4 mo old bird that bites to draw blood is a bird that has not been properly socialized. Are you certain you are not mistaking the bird wanting to grab on to climb up, for a bite? Because if the bird goes to grab, you pull away, the bird is going to bite harder.
General nippiness is just a baby thing they will grow out of with proper teaching.

 

[wildwest]

so a breeder sold a pet store a unweened baby grey and there are behavior issues? na you dont say.

as one other persn in this thread mentioned, the bird needs to be hand raised. my breeder spent a LOT of time holding luna and it shows. she is a awesome bird and at 4 months all she wanted was to be held and be near people. heck she is still that way, when i get home from works she goes nuts in her cage until i go over and play with her for a bit, then she settles down and is a happy little grey.