SirEdwin89
New member
- Mar 5, 2016
- 834
- 10
- Parrots
- Confetti (9y/o CAG), Ely (5 y/o Citron SC2), Barney (3 y/o MSC2), Baby (21 y/o Senegal), Peaches (16 y/o M2)
Conan (26 y/o Harlequin Macaw)
Hello all! I just wanted to stop in and introduce myself, and my new birdy story. A little background, my name is Chris, I'm located out of Richmond, VA where I live with my wife and 2 beautiful daughters (4, and 8). I've been an animal enthusiast my entire life (much to the chagrin of my parents when i started bringing crazy things home i'm sure!!) I recently acquired a CAG however through, well, slightly unusual (and very much unexpected) means. Rewind to last week, and I get a letter in the mail informing me that I have been named in a will (of a person I've never heard of mind you) and am inheriting her African Grey Confetti (somewhere between 6-9 the attorney and family wasn't sure). I've been doing animal rehabilitation work for about 10 years, and keeping all manner of exotics for about 18. And, while I do all my work privately and through word of mouth, apparently she heard of me from someone who was sure her baby would get a good home coming to me. Here comes the minor catch. About the only animals as a whole I have very little experience with are birds. That said, if someone who didn't know me cared enough about their animal to have me named in their will, it's my obligation to make sure that faith wasn't misplaced. Confetti (our new CAG) however had very little socialization. The owner took what seems like the best care she could of the bird in her old age, however the woman didn't like other people so outside of her, Confetti got almost no other human interaction, and i've got the scars to prove it now haha. So, here come some of my questions. I was hoping someone could help me in locating a source to learn a bit more about grey body language. I know they are naturally incredibly cautious birds, and often tend to distrust new things, and I can only imagine what she is going through emotionally after losing her human, but boy does she send me what seems like mixed signals. For example, when I come to her cage and ask her if she would like to step up, she will pick up one foot, and stretch it toward my hand and kind of shake it. However, the second i move my hand close enough it's a 50/50 shot if she is actually going to step up, or put one foot on my hand and then latch on with her beak (and not "hey it's my 3rd hand" latching on, but "im taking flesh" latching on). And I'm having a hell of a time noticing any difference in her mood or language to differentiate which result is going to happen, and while I'm willing to suffer a great deal of pain for my animals, my hand is *really* starting to hurt heh. And then last night, she was the sweetest bird i've ever seen (not that i've interacted with a huge number). I'd taken her out and was sitting in my chair, and she climbed down from my shoulder on to my chest, and nuzzled up in my neck and started making these funny cooing noises (it almost reminded me of a puppy whining for attention) and INSISTED that I constantly pet her. The second I stopped scratching her head, she would take my finger in her beak gently as could be, and move my finger up to her head, and then nuzzle back in to my neck. She repeated this constantly until I started petting her again, and she ended up laying down sleeping on my chest and cooing for about an hour and a half. Then of course, this morning when I went to get her out, she bit me so hard I lost feeling in my thumb for about half an hour. I've already fallen in love with her, but I've been around long enough to know when I'm a bit out of my depth so i'm absolutely happy to take any advice, pointers, tips and tricks, absolutely anything you think I should know, ESPECIALLY if it is more obscure information. The basics are easy enough to find, but as any animal lover knows, the basics don't get you very far. Certainly not with animals this intelligent. I was also wondering if anyone else was from the greater richmond VA area and could recommend a good avian vet so I can get her in sooner than later, as I'm worried she may be suffering from some form of Respiratory infection (I can't tell if she is mimicking someone else breathing heavy, or if she is breathing heavy herself, because she doesn't do it all the time). Anyway, I've gotten a ton of information just reading through the forums the last few days, and clearly this is a place where people love the critters in their care as much as I do. So, once again it's fantastic to meet you all, and thanks for any advice you may have. I'll do my best to get some pictures up this evening when I finish up at work. Sincerely, Chris.
