Potty Mouthed Parrot

[Dawne]

Hi All

My husband and I have been asked to foster and possibly adopt a 20 year old male CAG. This little guy is at our local rescue. He is not and will not be put up for adoption unless we take him. The rescue has selected us to try to rehabilitate this little man. I am honoured and flattered but also concerned.

Baby Grey has plucked himself almost bald. The avian vet says he has high uric acid which is to be managed by diet. Although his plucking could be caused by his medical condition it is more likely caused by his life experiences. He was rescued from a breeder who had lost control of her aviary to the point where an intervention was required.

My concern is not his health or his nakedness but his language. Apparently when he gets excited and plays with his toy(s) he says “heck* Off Nancy”. Nancy is the name of the breeder he came from. Let me tell you, Baby Grey is justified in saying this if he is a result of the care Nancy gave him - lol. But what I don’t want is my other 43 year old CAG Victor, my quaker and my Parrotlet to pick up this bad language from the foster kid lol. All three of my current parrots are talkers so it’s likely possible. Given that Baby Grey plucks and obviously has anxiety I think it will be important that he has at least some interaction/connection to the flock so I don’t want to isolate him as I think part of his rehab will be that connectedness we all feel when we are eating together or just hanging out in close proximity to one another.

Any suggestions ?

I have attached a picture of Baby Grey - he is very timid but has a very sweet disposition. I have already partly fallen in love with him. I believe we can bring him back from the edge.

 

[Hankmacaw]

Almost any bird can be brought back from the brink. My Hank (18/19 year old GW male) had been terribly abused for ten years before I got him. It took 5 years before we became buddies, but he was my best friend until he died 15 years later in 2012.

Your CAG could very well have a communicable disease, so he MUST be quarantined for 60 - 90 days, or your entire flock could be at risk. This quarantine will give you a chance to make friends with him and work on his language. 90 days is a very short time for a parrot, so the quarantine won't hurt him at all.

I've never had a "potty mouth" bird , but I do understand that the best way to deal with it is to not react to the bad words and give him different words to use.

 

[DQTimnehs]

Yes, quarantine!
And most importantly for the bad language is don't react! This means nobody can react so if you have company keep them away from him for awhile. One laugh will set you back and you know birdless visitors are going to react! Hopefully he will learn new pleasant things to say!

He is adorable btw and looks like a sweetheart!

 

[Dawne]

Thank you to you both ! I'm so sorry to hear about Hank but he was clearly blessed to have you for the last part of his life. I know that this little guy has had extensive blood work and has been under the care of a vet for some time now. He is out of quarantin at the rescue so given this do you think a quarantine at my house is still necessary?

 

[DQTimnehs]

I would still quarantine as he is with other birds and lots of things can go unnoticed.

 

[Hankmacaw]

Yep - they took him out of quarantine and put him in with other birds. Quaratine is a good thing.

 

[BirdGuy21]

I also recommend quarantine, you can never be too sure and birds are great at hiding signs of illness. As Hankmacaw and DQTimneh said, try not to react to the swearing. The more of a reaction you give the more he will want to say it. Try to praise him for words or phrases you want him to say.

 

[iamwhoiam]

One of my red-bellies was at the vet's for 2 weeks. Their African Grey said the word s*** a lot. I was very shocked when my rb returned home and started saying that word. It is possible that your birds will learn to cuss but if you quarantine Baby Grey for 90 days and ignore the cussing it's possible that this will stop and then you won't have to worry about it. If the cussing doesn't stop, it's also possible that they won't start copying the words that Baby Grey says. All of my birds except my 'tiels talk and they don't all say the same things so they haven't necessarily picked up words or phrases from each other. It's important that you don't make a big deal out of any of Baby Grey's cussing. If the other birds see him getting attention for doing it then there is a greater likelihood that they will copy him.
Thank you for considering taking the grey into your home.
Agree with others re: quarantine.

 

[Dawne]

Thanks all. So is a totally separate room and through hand washing before and after each interaction adequate for quarantine? How far apart do they need to be?

 

[iamwhoiam]

Thanks all. So is a totally separate room and through hand washing before and after each interaction adequate for quarantine? How far apart do they need to be?

I quarantined birds in a separate room and generally closed the door. I would put something over my clothes when I took care of the new bird and then remove that when I was finished. Sometimes I would change clothes. Not really 100% quarantine because the birds are in the same house but at least it's something.

 

[jmfleish]

What a total cutie! We took in a grey about five or six years ago who spent the first 16 years of his life with a bachelor and he swears like a sailor. We tried so hard to get him to stop and failed miserably so just gave up. He says the same word your Baby Grey does along with a whole slew of other ones. We have five other greys in the house along with three chatty RB2s and some Amazons who aren't the greatest talkers and no one picked up his salty language...they all seem to say the same word that iamwhoiam's Red Belly knows though, although the greys are the ones who seem to like to say it under their breathe!

 

[Clueless]

I thought I read somewhere to say a word similar to curse word in the hope that the bird would change its' language.

 

[jmfleish]

I thought I read somewhere to say a word similar to curse word in the hope that the bird would change its' language.

Yeah, we tried that and Aspen was having none of it! He loves to say his nasties and they just roll right off his tongue! Since we don't have kids we don't care so much. God help him if he ever needs to find a new home!

 

[iamwhoiam]

Yeah, we tried that and Aspen was having none of it! He loves to say his nasties and they just roll right off his tongue! Since we don't have kids we don't care so much. God help him if he ever needs to find a new home!

I tried that, too, and it didn't work. Sadly my cussing rb passed in 2008. However my sparrow, Spee, has taken over in the cussing department. One of his favorite words is his name but his other favorite word is "S***". The "replace the naughty word with something similar that is not naughty" trick has not worked with him either.

 

[DQTimnehs]

Sparrows talk? I had no idea!

 

[Dawne]

Haaaa you guys are great ! Thanks for all of the advise, encouragement and information. I am not a prude and I have been known to talk a bit like a sailor myself but I have actually considered not taking Baby because of this. But then I think that I should not deny this little naked soul a chance because of stupid actions on behalf of some other human. These babies are in this horrible predicament because of humans. It’s a hard decision for sure. perhaps I need to chill and become more laid back. It seems you can’t watch a tv show or go out for a meal at even decent restaurants without being bombarded with it. It has become so commonplace. It’s sad really. It’s funny because I don’t even watch tv with my birds around it’s always after they have done to bed and the door to their room is shut.

PS - Yeah - do sparrows actually talk. I rehabbed on for almost a year and she didn’t warm up to us in the least

 

[datlamb]

thank you so much for taking in this sweet darling.

i don't have any real advice but i wish you goodluck!!!

 

[jmfleish]

Haaaa you guys are great ! Thanks for all of the advise, encouragement and information. I am not a prude and I have been known to talk a bit like a sailor myself but I have actually considered not taking Baby because of this. But then I think that I should not deny this little naked soul a chance because of stupid actions on behalf of some other human. These babies are in this horrible predicament because of humans. It’s a hard decision for sure. perhaps I need to chill and become more laid back. It seems you can’t watch a tv show or go out for a meal at even decent restaurants without being bombarded with it. It has become so commonplace. It’s sad really. It’s funny because I don’t even watch tv with my birds around it’s always after they have done to bed and the door to their room is shut.

PS - Yeah - do sparrows actually talk. I rehabbed on for almost a year and she didn’t warm up to us in the least

We didn't know that Aspen CAG was such a potty mouth when we took him in. As a matter of fact, he didn't get comfortable talking in our home for almost a year and then it all just started falling out of his beak at once. I have to admit, we were a little stunned at first and then it was kind of comical and then it got old. He doesn't do it as much now but still does it on occasion. We swear all the time and I'm surprised that all the birds don't do more of it. My main concern is that if something were to ever happen to us that he might be hard to place, otherwise, it doesn't bother us all that much. He's an absolute joy to have around.

 

[BirdGuy21]

My TAG Harley talks on occasion. I have only heard him swear once, he called my girlfriend (whom he hates) an a**hole as she walked away. I have to admit I had the totally wrong reaction of laughing up a storm, haha. I haven't heard him say it again though.

 

[iamwhoiam]

It was a surprise when Spee started talking but I also found a youtube of a Japanese sparrow who talks. I've posted this before but I'll post it again: