Novagrey8
Moving in
- Joined
- 8/29/18
- Messages
- 10
Hello, I am new to these forms and am hoping that you all can help me with my recent rescue. I am a African Grey owner and have had a Grey for the past twelve years. Both my current Grey and my previous Grey, who passed away, were purchased as a baby from breeders. Three days ago I rescued a male adult African Grey and I am requesting some guidance on how to deal with his behavior and taming him.
The household I got him from were first time parrot owners that got him from a pet shop as a birthday present for one of the family members. He is reportedly two years old; but I believe that he is older based on his eyes and the skin around his eyes and nose. They only had him for three months. He was never bathed, had a nail trim or given any type of fresh food except for grapes in this home. He was being feed a seed mix full of sunflower seeds.
Upon bringing him home I offered him some of the pellets that my Grey eats ( tropimix ) and fed him chop twice a day when feeding my other Grey. He does eat some vegetables and prefered the pellets to the seed he was eating. He left all of the sunflower seeds in his bowl untouched and ate all of the pellets and other seeds. The people I got him from did not want to get rid of the cage that he was in so he is currently in a smaller parrot cage that I already had stored. I would have rather keep him in the cage he knew. He will be getting a bigger cage soon as I can get him one.
The problem is that he is not hand tame and will not come out of the cage by himself. Only one of the family members in the other household were reported to be able to hold him but I did not see this happen. I was told that he was hand tame before going to meet him but that changed once I was there. The rest of the family seemed to be scared of him. Since the night I got him I have left the cage door open and ignored him while my other Grey was out on her stand in his view and he will not come out. I understand that it will take time for him to trust me but I don’t want him to be cagebound until I can hold him. How do I gain his trust? How do I get him out of the cage?
He is going to the vets tomorrow for blood tests and a majorly needed nail trim. I am concerned that he may be sick due to his excessive sneezing and thirst. I can not tell his body condition since I can not touch him but he appears to be thinner than I would like. I also want to ensure that he is not contagious in any way before I stop washing my hands after touching anything to do with him. In order to get him in the crate I am going to need to towel him which is bound to make him even more scared of me than he already is. Any advice?
The household I got him from were first time parrot owners that got him from a pet shop as a birthday present for one of the family members. He is reportedly two years old; but I believe that he is older based on his eyes and the skin around his eyes and nose. They only had him for three months. He was never bathed, had a nail trim or given any type of fresh food except for grapes in this home. He was being feed a seed mix full of sunflower seeds.
Upon bringing him home I offered him some of the pellets that my Grey eats ( tropimix ) and fed him chop twice a day when feeding my other Grey. He does eat some vegetables and prefered the pellets to the seed he was eating. He left all of the sunflower seeds in his bowl untouched and ate all of the pellets and other seeds. The people I got him from did not want to get rid of the cage that he was in so he is currently in a smaller parrot cage that I already had stored. I would have rather keep him in the cage he knew. He will be getting a bigger cage soon as I can get him one.
The problem is that he is not hand tame and will not come out of the cage by himself. Only one of the family members in the other household were reported to be able to hold him but I did not see this happen. I was told that he was hand tame before going to meet him but that changed once I was there. The rest of the family seemed to be scared of him. Since the night I got him I have left the cage door open and ignored him while my other Grey was out on her stand in his view and he will not come out. I understand that it will take time for him to trust me but I don’t want him to be cagebound until I can hold him. How do I gain his trust? How do I get him out of the cage?
He is going to the vets tomorrow for blood tests and a majorly needed nail trim. I am concerned that he may be sick due to his excessive sneezing and thirst. I can not tell his body condition since I can not touch him but he appears to be thinner than I would like. I also want to ensure that he is not contagious in any way before I stop washing my hands after touching anything to do with him. In order to get him in the crate I am going to need to towel him which is bound to make him even more scared of me than he already is. Any advice?