African Grey

[Talithahorse]

I have an Timneh named Walter that has been with me since 1984. He/she is a wonderful friend. He went to college with me, moved all over the country, and has helped raise my two children (who are teens now). I fully expect that he will go to college again with my daughter in the near future. They are wonderful birds but are definitely a LONG term commitment.

 

[ShrekDawg]

I have an Timneh named Walter that has been with me since 1984. He/she is a wonderful friend. He went to college with me, moved all over the country, and has helped raise my two children (who are teens now). I fully expect that he will go to college again with my daughter in the near future. They are wonderful birds but are definitely a LONG term commitment.

Wow that is awesome and what a wonderful bond you probably have! But wow, that definitely is a long life!

 

[Talithahorse]

We are close and what is funny is that Walter was smart enough that he taught the kids to bring him treats starting about the time they could reach the bottom of the cage (3-4 years). He would crawl down to the bottom of his cage (which is on a table which overlooks the kitchen and living room), and call to the kids with friendly sounds "I wuv you" "kissy kiss", "meow". It amazed me how fast that he conned them out of whatever treats he could.... Cherios at first, then apples, benanas, chips, green beans (anything else from their plate that they didn't want to eat! IE most of the veggies). Heck he even conned my husband, who bought him a nice big flight cage within the first month of us dating (which I guess maybe one of the reasons I married him). Smart bird....

 

[ShrekDawg]

Wow that is hilarious but also amazing! And good of your husband to do that for him is he a pretty friendly bird or more a one person bird? I know their temperaments can vary and some can be mean to strangers? aha maybe not greys, maybe another parrot aha

 

[Talithahorse]

Walter is surprisingly friendly to most people although he definitely has his preferences. I think it is because he I was so young when I got him that he got lots of early socialization because as a teenager you tend to "show off". Also in college I had different room mates plus he even spent a summer at Girl Scout camp as I was a counselor there. Combine that with the occasional long term stay with various friends and he gets along with most people. As he has aged, he has mellowed out considerably although he still gets very excited when you put Star Wars on (he loves the blaster sounds).
The one downfall to Walter is he only speaks a few words. Meow, I wuv you, good juice, hello, and that is about it. Not for my lack of trying but he prefers to make sounds. He makes just about every sound you can hear in the house, phone, fire alarm, microwave, stove, cats meow, even a sort of a bark and he loves good sound effects in the movies.

 

[Parront]

The smoke alarm! Dylan knows that gets an immediate response, real hard to ignore. She only says "Hello" when the phone is ringing, because she knows that's the only time we say it. She does not say something just to say it. She says "Come here" when she wants me to come to her! So, who is training who? When she gets up, I take her to the bathroom, and she poops in the toilet from my hand, she learned this very quickly. She hates to have to poop in her cage, she goes out on the open door and poops the floor. So, I put papers there in a flat box from Costco, and pick them up daily. Almost no poop in her cage unless we leave for the day and she has to stay in the cage all day. Her post is on the perch on top of the cage most of the time. She will say my name, which she learned pretty quickly, but she makes the microwave sound for my husband, she knows he is the one making microwave popcorn every evening!

 

[Talithahorse]

That's so cool. Dylan sounds like a fun bird. Walter's favorite perch is the one where he can look into the kitchen and down in the living room at the same time.

 

[Parront]

That's so cool. Dylan sounds like a fun bird. Walter's favorite perch is the one where he can look into the kitchen and down in the living room at the same time.

They like to keep an eye on the whole flock. They will take over the house, Dylan has a sleeping cage in the bedroom walk-in closet, a main cage in the sunroom whith the computer and TV, an a small cage in the dining room/living room for before bed-time TV news watching with us. It helps to be retired if you have a Grey! I have a harness, we are working on our "let's go" put the harness on and go on walks with the humans, like a dog. She barks at dogs.

 

[Parront]

They learn lots of things besides words.