African Gray parrot

D

DexterMorgan

A Smooth-Skin
Hey all, I just got me one of these birds a week or so ago. Saw it in a pet-shop, went home to get money and brought it home. I always wanted to have one and am quite good with animals.

Now, the bird has not been hand-reared so it's rather wild. I've already got it to eat out of my hand if I extend the food to him. He won't come to get it yet. He growls when I get too close and tries to nip. I'm taking it slowly, one step at a time. I've tamed animals before so I know that patience is the key. However, if there is someone here who's done these things before I'd appreciate tips. Parrot anecdotes are also welcome :)

Also, it's a Timneh, not the more common Congo variety.
 
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4vuW6tQ0218
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I prefer the Norwegian Blue myself, beautiful plummage.


Have you given it a name? Theres a beautiful parrot at the local pet store, hes the store pet I believe. People used to be able to feed him but I think he probably nipped somebody, quite a talkative fellow.
 
I love parrots. They're awesome and one of the few kinds of birds that I don't hate and wish to shoot, burn, devour, or otherwise destroy. Good luck with it, and take good care of that thing. From what little I know, parrots can be very high maintenance.

Crni Vuk said:
alec said:
I used to have a cockatiel.
He died from loneliness (true).
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Omg! Thats soooo sad D: !
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It was probably better off. alec likely just got it because it had "cock" in the name.
 
African Grays are very intelligent and extremely social birds. They tend to closely bond with their owner and tend to become extremely attached and territorial - which may cause significant issues in the future. They require constant stimulation, very rich diet and plenty of exercise and “out of the cage time”. Quite often if those needs are not being met, Grays tend to develop numerous behavioral problems such as feather plucking screaming and biting.

For those reasons they are not recommended for inexperienced bird owners.

Many people procure pets simply out of impulse or thinking that having an exotic pet would “cool”. Unfortunately, most of those pets later become neglected or even abandoned when the novelty of having it wears off.

For your parrots’ sake, I hope you’re in it for the long run and not just until you get bored and give the poor bird away.
 
Wooz said:
Hey, it's Sovz! Any news from Romania?
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Doctors' unions in Romania have criticised a decision to make a surgeon pay £100,000 in damages after he lost his temper and hacked off a patient's penis during surgery. Surgeon Naum Ciomu, who had been suffering from stress at the time, had been operating on patient Nelu Radonescu, 36, to correct a testicular malformation when he suddenly lost his temper. Grabbing a scalpel, he sliced off the penis in front of shocked nursing staff, and then placed it on the operating table where he chopped it into small pieces before storming out of the operating theatre at Bucharest hospital.

A Romanian court has now awarded Radonescu £20,000 costs – to pay for the operation to rebuild his ruined penis using tissue from his arm – as well as 100,000 pounds in damages. The medical costs will be paid by the hospital's insurer, but doctors' unions have criticised the decision that the money for the damages has to be paid by the doctor. They say the move sets a dangerous precedent and that Professor Ciomu, a urologist and lecturer in anatomy, has already been punished enough after having his medical licence suspended. They said he had been under stress and had lost his temper after he accidentally cut the man's urinary channel and 'overreacted' to the situation. He told the court it was a temporary loss of judgement due to personal problems. Vice-president of the Romanian Doctors Union, Vasile Astarastoae, said: 'Ciomu's case is a dangerous precedent for all Romanian doctors. In future doctors may have to think very carefully about what work they undertake.' Because obviously, the last thing you want is a doctor thinking carefully about the work they're doing. The director of the ophthalmology hospital in Bucharest, Dr Monica Pop (yes, actually her name), agreed saying that doctors would in future avoid any cases where they could end up in court having to pay damages. She added: 'Doctors in Romanian earn too little to be able to pay amounts like this. As a result it will be entirely fair if they only accept cases where they cannot make mistakes. The only way this can be avoided is if the insurance companies cover all the risk.'
 
That is just horrible. Seems equally horrible that the doctors' unions seem to be concerned for the wrong reasons. Who cuts off a random person's penis? Social faux pas to say the least.

Ah well, the patient could always star in "Frankenpenis 2: Bride of Frankenpenis".
 
I would have found out where that doctor lived and tortured the fucker to death.


On the topic of birds, I used to have a parakeet. Horrible, horrible bird. It would shit constantly and flick its food outside the cage.
 
PBF175-Boss.jpg
 
alec said:
I used to have a cockatiel.
He died from loneliness (true).
Click to expand...

I watched a program on PBS' Scientific American Frontiers that was delving into the intelligence of animals. It told how many of the more intelligent birds pull their own feathers out in fits of depressions when they are left alone in their cage for too long without any outside stimulation. On the program they showed a device that was supposed to remedy this. It was in effect just a couple of buttons hooked up to a computer dedicated to just playing video clips of such things as other birds or the bird's owner. I'm not sure how effective it really would be, but if you have a bird and you leave it in a small cage for long periods of time while you have work/school, then you might do well to think of some kind of toys, entertainment, etc. to keep the bird from getting lonely.
 
Yeah, feather pulling is a major problem with very intelligent species of parrots, like the gray. Which is why I've already stocked his cage with toys. Once I have my own apartment I'm gonna build him a bigger cage with a jungle gym and more room for random toys. Heck, I may even build a device you're mentioning too, sounds like a good idea. :)

In other news, he learned how to open his cage on his own. No big surprise there, parrots are notorious escape artists. Fixed it with some locks. I do let him get out when I'm at home though, and he's being very good, doesn't fly away when I approach him. He does posture and growl a bit when I put my hands too close but I allowed him to nip me a few times (being very very careful, that beak can do some damage), and unlike my lovebird pre-taming, he seems to have some reserve, ie he doesn't bite hard at all.
 
I'd love to have a parrot, they're beautiful and seem like good company. but they also seem to be a lot of work and I couldn't with good conciense get one when I have all these other hobbies too.
 
Do not underestimate the dangers of solitude. These 'higher' birds are pretty damn smart, when they feel bad, they will really feel bad. They don't have your average 4-second goldfish memory. If you can't entertain them often enough, then give them a friend, seriously. It's the same with gerbils. Lots of animals just can't satnd solitude. Canaries can, and coldblooded animals usually can, but most birds like company. That's why old ladies and parrots are a match made in heaven. If you have the time to entertain your bird, to keep it company, to be its friend, even the most retarded winged creature will start to do stuff you wouldn't have thought possible. Birds are ncredibly intelligent. An uncle of mine, who is now dead, had a parakeet who could fetch him a new cigarette. I'm not kidding. The bird had learned how to get a cigarette from the package on the kitchen table and fly it back to his sofa in the living room.
I love birds to death, when I had one or two I even felt bad about keeping them locked up just to admire them, but if you want to enjoy them to the fullest, they are definitely high maintenance creatures.
 
alec said:
Birds are ncredibly intelligent. An uncle of mine, who is now dead, had a parakeet who could fetch him a new cigarette. I'm not kidding. The bird had learned how to get a cigarette from the package on the kitchen table and fly it back to his sofa in the living room
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You know you have a point here. Crows or Raves (I dont know the difference at the moment) are some of the smartest creatures for example, by just considering their size. One has just to look for the many youtube videos about those birds to see what they really are capable to do!

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1JiJzqXxgxo[/youtube]
A cat and crow are friends? No way! Here they are. THough one should consider that neither the crow nor the cat have been raised by "humans" to say that. So they really just stayed together without any influence by humans.
 
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