Need some Advice!

[Coldbreeze]

Hey my fellow friends! It's been a while but I haven't forgotten about this wonderful website!

As you know back in Oct 2020 I rescued a 16 year old TAG named Max.



Max here is such a sweet boy! He REALLY bonded with me quite quickly for a rescued 16 year old. I had to clip his wings within a month of ownership because he would fly attack my female friends (especially if they had their hair in a bun or ponytail). Now I know greys can pick up on lots of sounds and while he mumbles a bunch he really only says "BYYYYEEE" when someone leaves and if you tell him to keep it down he rudely tells you to "Shut up". Max came this way. Max also came to be plucking! As you can see by the most recent photo I have worked on his mental health and it appears he is feeling a lot better!

The most *annoying* thing (not yo me but to the household.. (non parrot people) is he does the notorious broken fire alarm BEEP!. I explained to my boyfriend and his father that as annoying as it may be we must ignore him.. well that part is not working out well because my BFs father from what I can tell.. whenever Max beeps on repeat at 7 or 8am he simply GOES to him and places him on the tree stand in my room and he shuts up. To me that is only a temporary fix for that day and in reality he is just rewarding Max and giving into this bad behavior.

What others things can I try to get Max to maybe forget the BEEP and move on to something more pleasant? I know his favorite treat is sunflower seeds. Luckily for me Max is REALLY food driven so basically anything that isn't his daily food he will do anything for.

 

[Mizzely]

My Jardine's does that beep too. And the microwave.

Try to introduce him to a sound you like better, especially if you know his "trigger" for why or when he does that sound. Mine was whistling like Cinderella when she's calling to the birds He mostly did the beep when I left the room so I would beat him to the punch and start whistling instead. So now he'll whistle when he wants my attention.

Or he'll ring like an old Nokia. Because I can't stop laughing when he does it

 

[Coldbreeze]

Ahhh, see I didn't think to beat him to the punch because I figured if he does the BEEP I have to act invisible until he stops for a moment then I say call out to him or reenter the room. A friend of mine suggested I take time every day, about 10 minutes and let him know I have a handful of yummy treats and just sit with him and talk. If he reacts positively give reward. If he beeps, no reward. Work on a new phrase for 2 weeks and then the next 2 weeks work on another phrase.

 

[Mizzely]

It's so easy to inadvertently reward sounds while trying to ignore them that I just gave up

Ripley also does a car alarm and I just respond with a different sound and get him to talk back and forth with better noises. If I like his noise I'll repeat it back to the best of my ability, but if I don't I try to "change the subject" as it were.

Your mileage may vary!

 

[Coldbreeze]

Wow. Another cool idea is to try to get a back and forth going. Max really just.. makes that noise. For a grey he is awfully quiet... perhaps because I am a quiet person myself. Hahaha. He gets a loud voice if my boyfriends father comes in the room to chat. He's full Italian and is loud. So Max feeds off his vibe and is also loud to join in.

 

[MnGuy]

Create a more pleasant contact call, which itself is still noise! My CAG and I have a two-tone whistle. Using a phrase like, "Hello," might be less grating for some people. Use it and then give your grey a treat. When he repeats it, give him a treat, too.

Good luck.

 

[Ira]

Archie does a crow, but thankfully, only for short periods two or three times a day. There doesn’t seem to be any reason why or when he does it.

What drives me crazy but not really...it’s hysterical...is that he’ll talk gibberish to himself nonstop, like two people having a conversation, for 30 minutes to an hour. Impossible to hear the TV!

 

[saroj12]

My grey has picked up the ninja foodi beep!

 

[SumitaSinh]

Archie does a crow, but thankfully, only for short periods two or three times a day. There doesn’t seem to be any reason why or when he does it.

What drives me crazy but not really...it’s hysterical...is that he’ll talk gibberish to himself nonstop, like two people having a conversation, for 30 minutes to an hour. Impossible to hear the TV!

Inca does that crow also, it's fine with me but other family members gets pissed off..

 

[LovieLouie]

My lovebird did that low battery smoke detector beep too!! I can only blame myself because sometimes we didn’t have new batteries to replace it lol!! She did it very randomly and so good that at times I was looking all over the house trying to figure out which smoke detector it was this went on for years as I didn’t know how to stop it. But she didn’t do it all the time. It was just one of her quirks . No helpful advice here but know that you are not alone lol!!