Radio Free Blue & Gold: All Gus, all the time.

[Kentuckienne]

So Gus picked a big scab off his back where the cream was applied. Horrid and fascinating. Almost an inch long, with two holes in it from feather shafts, and shaped like his hump! His back skin is nearly healed up. Back to the drawing board.

On the plus side, he has been allowing me to not only take him to the poop tree, but return him to his cage. And he asked and asked to be picked up from inside the cage yesterday which usually I don’t do because IT’S A TRAP! But he was asking so intensely that I risked my arm, and he only gave me a halfhearted pinch. Enough to make a bruise but more of a hold-your-arm-closer-and-stop-quivering pinch. Then he let go and stepped up. I Ubered him over to his spot, set him on the branch, and he immediately turned to beak at me like I was planning an attack. Dude...if I was going to eat you, wouldn’t I have done it on the way to the tree?

Don’t know what goes on in that little head, but I imagine it’s a combination of ouch-ouch-ouch-my-back-hurts and memories of a world where humans were not friends. Will just keep piling up nuts and treats and sweet talk and love. We may not be able to fix the physical hurt, but I hope time will fade any bad memories.

 

[wrench13]

You know Gus's thread is one that I ALWAYS read the updates on. Thank you.

 

[Anansi]

You know Gus's thread is one that I ALWAYS read the updates on. Thank you.

You're not the only one, Al. Always glad to hear updates on the Gus man and his impressively determined mama.

So glad the raw patch on his back is almost healed. Poor guy.

 

[Kentuckienne]

I am now a macaw special education teacher! Gus has never figured out how to forage inside of wrapped paper for treats. So ... I saved a tiny paper bag. Made sure I had his attention. Dropped a whole almond (in shell) and a pistachio into the bag, twisted the top shut, and offered it. He grabbed it, held it down with a foot, and ripped a couple chunks out. Then got .... distracted. Started watching us - we were cleaning house, so there were EVIL BROOMS deployed. I poked at the bag, he lunged me off and ripped another piece, looked as if he were trying to remember something, then went back to showing his wings to the broom. I snatched the bag back, opened the hole he'd ripped, made a big show of dropping the nuts back in, then tossed it back up on top his cage. This time he tore into it and found the nuts. Yippee! I don't know if he will remember, but maybe a couple more rounds of this will get him "Hooked on Phorage" and we can have a lot more fun with toys.

 

[Anansi]

Nice! Once he has gotten the hang of it from watching you, he'll probably really get into the fun of it.... You know, as long as there aren't any evil broom monsters about.

 

[GaleriaGila]

I like that idea. Gonna try it with the Rb, who is most definitely in need of remedial foraging!!!!!!!! Thank you!

Me, too: I love Gus's story. You know, when I do a portrait of a bird, I claim like, 2% of ownership; they're part of me. Ask our forum members. With Terry, since there were two birds in the portrsit, I levied a surcharge: she had to accept 2% of the Rickeybrd.

Team Gus, go!
Radio Free B&G, broadcast on!

 

[LeaKP]

Me too! Nigel has had to learn to play and forage! He hated the foraging wheel and destroyed it by unscrewing it from the cage and watching it drop to the floor several times. He attacked it each time i rehung it until finally he beat the wheel.

RIP wry expensive useless toy.


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[Kentuckienne]

Gus is still in remedial foraging class. I put the nut in the bag, he looks at me funny, rips a hole, looks at me again like "what was I doing again?" so I put the nut in and laid the bag flat. He put his head in partway and quit. Took a few tries of making a big show of dropping in the nut before he was willing to go fish it out. He's also getting very slightly less afraid of letting me carry him to the bathroom.

I stopped at the vet's to discuss the failure of the pain cream. While googling, I ran across some studies where a similar ointment or steroid cream caused allergic dermatitis in humans, and it turns out the guilty component is propylene glycol, an ingredient in the carrier. Some people are very allergic, and it seems Gus is one of them. So we have a prescription for Meloxicam for a month, and I am to find some plain lidocaine gel at a local pharmacy for short-term relief. Will reconnoiter with Dr. Vaughn in a month to explore next steps - possible gabapentin. If Gus were human, he would get surgery, but that isn't a good option for him.

Oh! Some sort of good news! The vet says Gus didn't develop his spinal problem from bad nutrition - he was hatched that way. He says the cause was probably "malpositioning" in the egg. He said when he first examined young Gus and felt the spine for the first time, he shuddered. Knowing that, I feel less bad about being a human, and better for Gus. I imagine a lot of people would have had him put down at once, or got what they could out of him as a breeder. He's a luckier bird than I thought.

 

[Tami2]

Sometimes I put Levi's favorite treats or just leave some greens in the plastic containers that the organic greens come in. He can see them, hear them and pick up the container toss it around for a while before he eventually gets the top off or bites wholes through the plastic. It does keep him busy for awhile.

 

[GaleriaGila]

I believe Gus *IS* a lucky bird. He has you for a parront and us for a community, and himself as a shredder!

 

[Kentuckienne]

Gus still hasn’t talked, but the last couple days he has made some new sounds. He almost says “Hello” - he says two syllables with the right intonation. And he said a version of “hi” that’s closer to a word. Most interesting is not a word, just a noise, a falling-rising-falling tone with a “hi sailer” feel to it. That is a sound that his predecessor Oliver used to use saying his name when he was really begging for attention, and we said it back to him, and I guess We used the same intonation with Gus. I know the chances of him ever saying recognizable words is almost nil, it wouldn’t it be cool?

 

[SailBoat]

Gus still hasn’t talked, but the last couple days he has made some new sounds. He almost says “Hello” - he says two syllables with the right intonation. And he said a version of “hi” that’s closer to a word. Most interesting is not a word, just a noise, a falling-rising-falling tone with a “hi sailer” feel to it. That is a sound that his predecessor Oliver used to use saying his name when he was really begging for attention, and we said it back to him, and I guess We used the same intonation with Gus. I know the chances of him ever saying recognizable words is almost nil, it wouldn’t it be cool?

It's never too late!!!

Learning is a lifetime ability that only requires simulation (a reason). Remember the strong emotional ties that they use to link to us. They are hardwired to want to belong! You may never get an evenings discussion, but there is no question that you can build-on and use the sounds he uses now as a foundation. After all, there is nothing wrong in bring Gus's sounds into the foundation of a discussion!

 

[GaleriaGila]

Those are the very stages the Rb usually goes through when learning new stuff. The very fact that Gus is vocalizing shows he's changing. I'm excited. C'mon, Gus-ster!

 

[wrench13]

It would indeed be very cool if Gus started talking. Does the 'beloved one' ever try to teach him anything?

 

[Kentuckienne]

It would indeed be very cool if Gus started talking. Does the 'beloved one' ever try to teach him anything?

Not that I know of. He teaches him to eat junk food. I would prefer he teach him not to bite me, but looks like I’m signed up for that one. Gus is much better at letting me pick him up when he asks.

It’s possible to read a lot into his vocalizations. The other day we had a couple of friends over and they were between Gus and us. He started doing the anxiety dance and squawk that usually means he needs to poop somewhere else. I went over and he hopped right up, got on the poop perch and made the tiniest poop you ever saw come out of a macaw, then begged to be picked up again. He didn’t want to go to the cage. Didn’t want to go walkabout. I guessed that he was just anxious because people were between him and his beloved, so I walked him back the long way around to hand him over. That was exactly what he wanted. It must be frustrating for them, when they try so intently to communicate to us and we don’t get it.

 

[Anansi]

Couldn't agree more about it never being too late for him to learn.

And that story you told about him wanting you to get him over to his "beloved" so aptly demonstrates why we sometimes frustrate the living daylights out of our parrots. They are just so much better at reading each other's body language than we are, and they've got to wonder at times where our "disconnect" is. Even the best of us at reading a bird's body language don't come close to what they can do.

I find it fascinating that he pretty much problem solved by dropping an obligatory poop so that you would pick him back up and get him to his true goal. And your attentiveness to his body language and openness to the possibility that you were missing something allowed you to grasp what he really wanted.

I just really find the complexities and subtleties of communication with our parrots intriguing. Thanks for sharing.

 

[Kentuckienne]

I'm the caretaker of His Gussitude this week, and as part of my duties offered an arm in response to a requested pick-up. He stepped to my arm but something went weird during the step ... he almost fell but steadied himself. He didn't bite to hold on, that's good ... but both his legs were trembline, as if he were afraid. He was wobbly for a few seconds and seems fine now. Gonna keep an eye on this.

 

[LeaKP]

Oh so glad Sir Gus and you are both good.


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[Anansi]

I'm the caretaker of His Gussitude this week, and as part of my duties offered an arm in response to a requested pick-up. He stepped to my arm but something went weird during the step ... he almost fell but steadied himself. He didn't bite to hold on, that's good ... but both his legs were trembline, as if he were afraid. He was wobbly for a few seconds and seems fine now. Gonna keep an eye on this.

Was his grip as tight as usual?

 

[Kentuckienne]

I'm the caretaker of His Gussitude this week, and as part of my duties offered an arm in response to a requested pick-up. He stepped to my arm but something went weird during the step ... he almost fell but steadied himself. He didn't bite to hold on, that's good ... but both his legs were trembline, as if he were afraid. He was wobbly for a few seconds and seems fine now. Gonna keep an eye on this.

Was his grip as tight as usual?

You beat me to the post! I was about to ask how hard other macaws grip. Gus doesn't really grip my arm at all. It's more like he stands on it. If my sleeve is a bit loose, the fabric might twist under him and he almost falls off. I've taken to holding the edge taught with my hand so it doesn't slide around, and if I have enough notice I wrap an ace bandage around my arm under the sleeve. But it's hardly a grip at all. The amazon held on much more tightly to my finger than Gus does to my arm. He really just kind of sits there, as if it were a perch.