Overwhelmed by this weird new creature!

[Birdiemom]

Hey everyone! I posted a while ago about my very aggressive green cheek and am happy to report that target training has greatly mellowed him out. He's still an angry lil' beast but he no longer swoop attacks and is a lot calmer. He hangs out with us a lot outside the cage and I've gotten so much better at reading his cues. We are the best of buds now and I couldn't be happier!

I felt I could control him better so I finally decided to take the plunge and bring home a baby grey!! Loki is a 3.5-month-old Congo Grey. It's been a dream of mine to share my home with a grey ever since I was a little girl. We brought him home last night and I feel a little overwhelmed because he's like an alien to me. haha I can't tell what he wants! And I'm terrified of doing everything wrong. He's been out of his cage all day today, hanging out on top of the playstand. Yesterday he was exploring the bunch of toys we got him and laid out on the ground. He was very cuddly and seemed to want me to pet his head a lot.

Today, whenever I approach and reach out to get him to step up or pet his head, he makes little quacking/grunting noises and grabs my finger and seems to try to eat it. It's hard to explain. He's not biting hard at all, but I'm wondering if I'm upsetting him? His body language is so different from my conure that I'm a bit perplexed.

He's eating pellets, but seems to prefer when I feed them to him than going into his bowl himself (but he did go eat from his bowl several times today). The breeder said that he loves to play but I'm not quite sure how to play with him. My conure is phobic of hands (because of past trauma with a previous owner) so our interactions consist of me showing him a foot toy and him taking it and throwing it on the ground (playing fetch with human is his favorite game). I want to be a good mom to our new flock member so any tips are appreciated!!

Editing to add: Here's a link to a video of the behaviour: [ame="https://youtu.be/W75dR48ON84"]https://youtu.be/W75dR48ON84[/ame]

 

[Laurasea]

This is a very young grey. Its possible nit fully weaned, or will revert to needing hand feeding support. Thus often happens to newly weaned birds when tgey go to a new home. Please read up on that, and have hand feeding formula available. Extra warmth is probably a good idea to support transition. Greys stay with parents and get support , and guidance for a year I think .
Make sure you Weigh him daily fir next few weeks.

 

[SailBoat]

Yup, fully agree with my good friend above!

Very young baby, and you need to have the seller teach you how to feed your very recently weened baby. Grey's are slow coming off feeding by their parents and you should have been taught how to feed your baby or the breeder should have kept the baby longer (preferred).

Commonly two weeks or more on solid food with the the likelihood of a slipping backwards. I'm guessing the breeder never told you or prepared you for this likelihood.

 

[fiddlejen]

Awww.

Along with what Laura & Sailboat said -- to me, that also kinda looks like baby using his beak to check-it-out. "Oh, what's this?" Remember, birds don't have hands, they use their beak like hands. Bird is using beak to find out about your hand.

This is a good opportunity for gentle beak-play, beak-rubs etc. Which is a good starting point for bite-pressure-training. (Gentle beak rubs, allowing your finger to be used gently as a toy... then, when bite gets a little too rough, you take that "toy" away saying, "Be Gentle." Then present fingers again; again take away if bite is too hard, always saying "be gentle," with the finger removal.) My Sunny is not a Grey, of course, but she LOVES gentle beak rubs.

 

[Laurasea]

I just saw video, this us a baby begging fir foid!!! You must get hand feeding formula, read up on it. Temperature is everything, timing is everything, cleanliness is everything. Yiu bird can go down hill fast,
Wing flies abd wing flaps are begging for food, as well as vocalization

 

[bug_n_flock]

Yes, definitely a baby looking for a feed.

 

[Squeekmouse]

My husband and I were in the same boat a couple of years ago, we brought him a baby (not yet weaned) Grey to be baby brother to our Green Cheek Yoda. Perhaps some of our experiences and questions (and the advice we got) could help you.

http://www.parrotforums.com/congo-timneh-greys/78155-yoda-s-new-brother-trigger.html
http://www.parrotforums.com/congo-timneh-greys/78678-need-some-advice-about-trigger.html
http://www.parrotforums.com/congo-timneh-greys/81042-questions-about-greys.html

Good luck! You're new baby is adorable!!!

 

[Birdiemom]

Appreciate the insight everyone! I got in touch with the breeder (he’s awesome and actually messages me a lot to check on things) he told me that he’s been eating on his own for two weeks but in his new environment he’s regressing which is normal. When I went to uncover my birdies this morning he was munching away. He’s currently hanging out on his play stand and munching away at this pellets and hasn’t been begging at all. I think he’s even getting the hang of stepping up. He really loves chewing through his toys. It’s so funny how different he is from my conure.

 

[Laurasea]

I'm glad you have a resource in your breeder. And it's wonderful to have a new baby. Please keep in mind, is a baby and needs extra support, thus will set your bird up for life.

Please get a scale, and start daily weights. I woukd encourage you to get hand free formula and offer see if it is rejected. There are many recommendations to continuing offer warm feeding before bedtime . This can promote confidence and security. Also babies may be eating food, during weaning process, but still take and need hand feeding formula. Please read up all the information you can. Weaning and post weaning are the most critical times in a parrot life.

 

[chris-md]

Congratulations on the new bird! Though I’ll admit I’m a bit concerned, if you’re having a hard time with your conure, was this really the wisest thing to get a bird that can outwit a human adult easily?

 

[Birdiemom]

Laurasea: oh yes! I forgot to mention I weighed him yesterday and will continue to do so. He was weighed the day he left the breeder (Tuesday) and on Wednesday he had already gained weight so seems like a good sign!

Chris: I had the conure for over 3 years now and have worked very hard to get to where we are. It took extreme patience and love to take him in and deal with his aggression and phobias. He was mistreated by his first owner. His second home couldn’t handle him and so I took on the task. After a year of progress I absolutely felt ready to take on another bird. I work from home so I think I’m in a pretty ideal situation. But I do appreciate the concern! I think dealing with aggression has primed me well. When you have a bird who just doesn’t like you, that takes a lot of patience. Many people would just give up. Nope. We are his forever home. Not happening.

 

[Birdiemom]

Okay, we changed his name to Gizmo! Loki wasn't rolling off the tongue and his little noises sound like a mogwai so this name seems like a better fit.

He's doing really well. I'm amazed that he already mostly understands "up" and "down".

He's very content to sit on one of his play stands and munch away at a toy, groom himself, or fall asleep. I'm wondering what the best way to play with him is. When he's getting individual attention all he seems to want to do is climb onto me and snuggle. Are there playful things I should be trying? I set out a bunch of toys on the floor and he kind of ignores them and makes a bee line for me.

 

[wrench13]

A small safe rolly ball, maybe with a bell inside can start a game of catch or fetch. Start getting him used to being toweled by placing a neutral color towel on the floor or bed and incrementally day by day bring the corners of the towel in until he is comfy being covered and play peek a boo. Never too early to start color training with soft rubber child building blocks. He;s a grey , jeez Alex was speaking in sentences and had shape, color and number differentiation abilities! You got the chance to change the world with this little young one!

 

[nightfly]

First, congratulations on your new birdy!
I don't see anyone else mentioning this, but baby birds may be ravenous, eating almost constantly, so be prepared for that. My gray was like this for his young years, we got him just weaned at 11 weeks old. As soon as we brought him to our house, he started eating us out of house and home. The store had been giving him ABBA 1600 (or 1500, basically lots of seeds, we got him off of that really quick) and some pellets. Once home, we also started giving him everything he went for, as I usually had him with me while I ate; so he got bits of omelets, scrambled eggs, sandwiches, hot dogs, potatoes, burgers, chicken, pizza, pasta, all sorts of bread, soups, juices, fruits, even jello, well pretty much everything I ate, he wanted some, so I gave it to him. End result, for the past 30 years he's eaten what we eat, has dry bird food (all the different nutraberries and a rotating variety of pellets) in his cage bowls for when he's hungry in between regular people meal times.
One advantage of a 'people food' eating bird, is saving a small fortune on bird food. And you never run out of 'bird food'.
Down side, if I'm eating and don't give him some of what i have, he gets mad and makes a racket until I give him a piece of whatever I have.

 

[Saash]

Haha, yes - all of the above.

My baby eclectus is still weaning now, and since she's discovered 'food' she can get quite horried to see me pick things up with my fingers and disappear forever down my throat!! Possibly why she has taken to me feeding her foodthings from my fingers, and now she doesn't bother shredding them, she swallow whole peas, sweetcorn, chopped carrots, lentils, berries etc.

But your baby is eating now so will surely be ok.

Being a young bird, maybe not started playing much yet. My baby has 3 minutes in the morning where she stalks and charges things in her weaning cage, and occasionally she likes to attack a scrunched up ball of newspaper, but cuddling and snoozing is mostly what young babies like to do.