Question...

[Peeko]

This is a small plea for help/question, on behalf of my sister's neglected CAG.
Please, bear in mind while reading this that there is legally nothing anyone can do, she's been given advice on how to better his life before, and she wont listen. I just... want to know how bad the situation is, in the opinion of AG owners.

That is my sister's bird. She's had him for 16 or 17 years. He hasn't been out of his cage in over 10 years.
As you can see, the cage isn't very clean. He's fed a diet of mostly peanuts, sunflower seeds, and pumpkin seeds. He gets Kaytee Exact Rainbow Fruity pellets and fruit for treats, about once a week, if she remembers or feels like it.

This bird is treated like a decoration. He's had the same 3 toys (1 ladder, 1 bell, 1 rubber/plastic thing he's never touched) for 12 years. I recently gave him a foraging toy I got for my conure that turned out to be too big for him, and my sister did put it in his cage, but she says it was too frustrating for him to figure out, so she doesn't put food in it anymore (she only did once). I convinced her to give him paper towel rolls to shred and she says he loves it, but she only gives them to him once in awhile. He's basically there for them to look at and talk to from across the house once in awhile.

He's extremely spooked by new things and is very aggressive towards anything new in his cage since he's only known the same 3 things for so long, but he will eventually accept new toys, like the foraging toy. He's also extremely aggressive towards everyone, and puffs up/lunges if anyone gets near his cage. My sister is absolutely terrified of him.

She's been told so many times by so many people that things need to change for her bird, but she insists that he's fine. I know my conure wouldn't be even close to fine under those conditions, but he's also used to lots of toys and interaction and hours of daily playtime out of his cage.

How bad is his situation, really? I know AGs have the intelligence of a small child and his situation just breaks my heart, and the worst part is knowing I cant help. She wont let anyone help, she thinks nothing is wrong. But is there anything small I could do, little things I could give him to stimulate him even a little?

Please don't get angry with me. So many people have gotten angry with me when I've asked similar things and talked about him on other sites, saying I'm doing nothing to help him and therefore I'm part of the problem and I should be ashamed. Its completely out of my control, and my sister is 40 and living on her own, so our parents cant just tell her what to do or anything...

 

[MikeyTN]

I don't get why people would get mad at you for asking such question. She's old enough, she's not your child and not your responsibility.

Perhaps try to give him more toys to play in. Will she be willing to just give him to you instead? Since she doesn't follow through with what you've told her to do, it will not be easy for you to visit on a daily basis either to just care for her bird.

 

[Peeko]

I don't know either, but people do :/

No, she wouldn't be willing to give him to anybody. Its been brought up before, suggested that she give him away. But even if she would, I don't feel confident enough in my ability to take on an aggressive bird. I don't personally have experience caring for any parrots other than my conure, who I've had for one year, and he's been an absolute angel thus far (dreading terrible twos, though). I have a feeling my sister's bird would be very hard to turn around, since he hasn't known anything different for 16-17 years, and someone with experience should do it, if anyone. But again, unfortunately, my sister wont give him up :/

 

[MikeyTN]

That's why I suggested you taking him in at least he would have a better diet, cleaner cage, more toys to play with, etc. Then you can try to slowly work with him, nothing can be accomplished over night as sometimes it can be just days, weeks, months, years, etc. She probably would accept you taking him then someone else instead. As she obviously doesn't care about his health and all....

 

[Peeko]

She's made it very clear that she wont accept anyone taking him. She's emotionally attached to the idea of having had him for so long and wanting to keep him, despite being terrified of him. Her boyfriend is backing her up, with being unwilling to find him a new home, even if the new home is with us, where they could see him anytime. He's the one that changes out his food and water, since my sister wont put her hands in his cage. Her boyfriend is the one person he tolerates the most, but I wouldn't say he's bonded to him, really. It really is more like toleration than adoration.

 

[MikeyTN]

Then you need to teach him how it is done like with proper diet and all.

 

[Peeko]

People have tried, I've tried. Just on Thanksgiving, in fact, I recommended a different pellet food, but they said he "likes the kind they get him just fine". When I said he should be fed less seeds, they said "but its what he likes the best". Etc. They believe they're doing everything right because the one time they took him to the vet (the particular vet they took him to didn't know much about birds, I've been to him before and he's mostly a dog/cat vet but he'll look at anything you bring in, whether he knows much about it or not, basically) the vet did a physical exam (no blood tests or anything, though) and said he was perfectly healthy. Its made them a bit... well, pigheaded about it.
My question was more along the lines of what could I do to improve his life even a little when I do get to go visit him? Any kind of foraging toys I could put together myself out of stuff around the house, etc (I don't know much about what would and wouldn't work for AGs)? I offered him veggies when I was there for Christmas dinner and he wouldn't have any of it. I brought some of my conure's dried fruit treats and he did eat some of those though, so I left the rest of the bag there for him. Here's hoping they give it to him :/

 

[MikeyTN]

You just get the medium sized bird toys and wood toys that he could chew up and destroy. To do or not to do is up to them if they won't accept anything your telling them. It's sad but we can't do a darn thing....

 

[Peeko]

I've tried the making blunt suggestions thing, it just doesn't work. So I'm thinking maybe if I give him toys and such as gifts, instead of a "you're doing it wrong", maybe it would have better results. Next time I'm at the pet store, I'll look at the toys and such for larger birds and see if they have anything that might stimulate him more than a bell and a stick...

 

[MikeyTN]

Good luck, I wish they would see it as a sign maybe they should do better.

 

[SandyBee]

You should also point out that being in a cage that's rusted and dirty will end up with him getting very sick. Vet bills are expensive and the better a birds surrounding there is a chance he would become less aggressive.

 

[Betrisher]

I'd take the softly, softly approach. No one likes being criticised, especially older sisters (and I know, 'cause I'm one! LOL!) The thing is, your sister has asked questions of the authority she knows (the dog/cat vet) and is satisfied with his response. If you keep harping that she's doing badly by her bird, she'll get completely pissed off and will stop listening to you. Try letting her know how lucky she is to have such an intelligent bird and show her the videos of Mishka on YouTube. Explain that spending a bit of time with the bird each day could result in similar results (of course there could never be another Mishka, but she could forge a better relationship with her bird and even enjoy it). See if you can find some good links for her to see that our knowledge of birds and their needs is improving all the time and that her bird would enjoy a richer life.

If she doesn't really feel like interacting with it every day, perhaps she'd let you try? What if you asked to borrow it for a sleepover to see if you can tame it a bit for her? Tell her you know of people here at Parrot Forums who have tamed birds and you'd like to try their methods. If you do your research and use a stick for step-up training, you needn't fear being bitten. Even if you could teach the bird to step up, that would prove to your sister that you're on the right track. And of course, if you have problems, you can always ask here.

I guess what I'm trying to say is, why don't you try to get your sister on side and say 'why don't we try to give the bird a bit more fun than he's having?' In that way, you'd have done your best by the poor bird and, hopefully, not made an enemy of your sister.

Best of luck with it! I hope the birdie does manage to enjoy a better life than being kept in solitary like that. Let us know how you get on, won't you?

 

[punkindave]

Sad.. Sounds likre the "hoarder" mentality of having a possession. Or perhaps it's a stubborn control issue because you've been critical of her. Who knows. It's sad, but all you can do is keep trying.
Post videos of happy Greys, enjoying life where she'll see them. Maybe if they see how awesome these animals CAN be, perhaps they'll be swayed to change or at least see that the poor creature would be better off elsewhere.

 

[Peeko]

In his current state, I would lose a finger or two before he would let me get close enough with a stick to ask him to step up. I'm not exaggerating (unless AGs cant actually sever fingers... It certainly looks like he could) I've tried that before and he goes straight to lunge at your hand after briefly puffing up at the stick. My sister's boyfriend tried that once and the bird walked up the stick to bite his hand.
I actually did successfully get my sister to let him have a sleepover here once, but he was incredibly stressed and even more aggressive than normal the entire time, and I couldn't even get to the point of him taking a treat from my hands (he wanted my fingers, even over his favorite treat). After that, she wont allow it to happen again, saying it was too stressful for her poor baby (and being locked up in solitary confinement 24/7 isn't?).
I'm not sure why they no longer clean the bars of his cage, that's a new thing as of a couple years ago. They got a bunch of new cats and all of their attention started going to them, and I think they just kindof got more lazy with the bird. While I was there for Christmas, I made an offhand joking comment that you can tell where he has been rubbing beak/food debris on the bars because it had built up, and they said it was fine and it 'gets dirty again in a week anyway' (I hate that mindset...) so I think its mostly laziness, really. It could also be his aggression, too, that makes them feel less inclined to risk getting that close for that long. In order to change his food/water my sister has to distract him from the other side of the cage so that her boyfriend can be fast enough to get the bowls in/out through the feeder doors before he notices and/or makes it back over there. :/
She almost took one of my suggestions in that I was talking about pellets (the healthiest ones) and she asked what pellets she should be feeding him. I told her Harrisons and Roudybush are supposed to be the best (I feed Zupreem natural) but she didn't take the advice to heart and kept with the Kaytee as treats. Judging from the bottom of his cage, he picks out the pieces of dried fruit and tosses the pellets. Which would mean his diet is primarily dried fruit, peanuts, sunflower seeds, and pumpkin seeds :/
I would give them links of happy AGs and caresheets and such, but they don't have internet access or any devices that could use the internet. I think my mom might have a copy of the book "Alex & Me" somewhere, and if she does, I might offer to let my sister borrow it, though I'm not sure if she would read it, or if my mom would let me have my sister borrow it. My parents said the other day that my effort is wasted and my sister and her boyfriend aren't going to change how they are with their bird :/ I honestly think they're right, but I wouldn't feel right if I didn't at least try.
Overall, I'm very surprised he doesn't pluck. I've heard that AGs are very prone to it in stressful situations.

 

[Peeko]

(Hopefully this worked) Here's an older photo of his cage. He doesn't use the swing, or that plastic toy with the multicolored rings on it. And since she said she doesn't fill the foraging toy, he probably has little interest in that one, too.

 

[thekarens]

If he can get to you with the stick you need a longer stick and lure him onto it with a treat if there's something he really likes. He probably couldn't sever your finger, but he sure as heck could require stitches/surgery if he got a good grip on you.

 

[Peeko]

I meant he walks sideways up the stick until he can reach people to bite them. Its like 'seek and destroy' is his default mindset towards people. Is there a method of taming that could be used as a first step with an extremely aggressive bird that doesn't involve putting any part of your body in the danger zone? I'm so lucky my bird is so friendly, I would be completely at a loss of what to do if he was like my sister's bird (obviously, which is why I came here for help)

 

[Freespin]

Poor little guy. Sounds as though it's all he knows and he has learned to cope pretty well luckily but it's very sad. Is she close enough to visit regularly? Sounds like working with her rather than against her is the way to go. Say you saw some cool stuff on YouTube you would like to try with a bigger bird and see if you can do some target training. You can start with him safely inside his cage =) if you were to try this it would also help to limit his food intake so he is looking forward to a training session and time with you (because you mean food!). If your sister shows any interest get her involved and show her how she can do it too just in case she decides it could be worth a go.

 

[getwozzy]

This just breaks my heart that poor little guy

I think what you'll need to do is visit your sister's regularly and take it upon yourself to initiate the changes you'd like to make. If she doesn't have internet, then maybe print out some stuff for her to read and leave it at her house. like Trish said- try not to make her out to be the bad guy because she will most likely shut you out and get defensive, and then you'll lose whatever chance you had to help him.

when you're at her house, spend some time with him- sit by his cage, read a book to him, talk to him with happy tones, and drop some treats into his bowl so you don't get bit. When you get him new toys, it'll be best to hang them within his sight but not in his cage- let him get used to the presence of the new item. and each visit move it closer and closer, eventually hanging it on the outside of his cage. and then finally put it IN his cage...this process will allow him to get used to the new toy without the traumatizing event of all of a sudden there's a big scary new thing in my cage

as far as diet goes- maybe you should just buy her the things she needs to feed him and write on the bag how much and how often she needs to feed him that specific item. That might go over better than just telling her.

what do you think? are those suggestions do-able for you?

 

[Carmalita]

instead of telling her what to do. find a movie about Alex the grey or movies on youtube about africans. maybe if she came to conclusions on her own she would feel better about changing them. people fear change and being wrong. i also really like marc marone. his videos are really sweet and he sooooo not intimidating.