My African Grey!

[KathiQuacks]

Not sure why I’ve never posted here. Hello! I’m Kathi, and I own an African Grey Her name’s Ruby, and she’s about 11 years old. Some of her favorite activities include,
1. Attacking sticks / tin foil
2. Shredding cardboard
3. Exploring on and under furniture
4. Hanging upside down, and most importantly,
5. Giving me a big chomp (not really.. she’s just mouthing).
She also says things like, “AhWOO” and “Hello!” and especially, “What?”
She’s a lovely bird

By the way.. I’m aware her plumage is a bit patchy, but we’re working on it!

 

[N F C]

Ruby is beautiful, thanks for sharing pictures of her!

 

[theoldchick]

She is a lovely bird! African Greys are like human toddlers. Always into something and have to stay busy.

 

[karenjeanjohnson]

Not sure why I’ve never posted here. Hello! I’m Kathi, and I own an African Grey Her name’s Ruby, and she’s about 11 years old. Some of her favorite activities include,
1. Attacking sticks / tin foil
2. Shredding cardboard
3. Exploring on and under furniture
4. Hanging upside down, and most importantly,
5. Giving me a big chomp (not really.. she’s just mouthing).
She also says things like, “AhWOO” and “Hello!” and especially, “What?”
She’s a lovely bird
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By the way.. I’m aware her plumage is a bit patchy, but we’re working on it!

 

[karenjeanjohnson]

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hi ruby is lovely, I have tinmeh which is part of the grey family, he is called frankie, he is 7 years old and we had him from very young, I wish we could handle him but he jus won’t stop biting and very territorial.

 

[KathiQuacks]

hi ruby is lovely, I have tinmeh which is part of the grey family, he is called frankie, he is 7 years old and we had him from very young, I wish we could handle him but he jus won’t stop biting and very territorial.

Oh, he’s so handsome!

I had a problem with my Ruby biting, too. I could only get her to step up on my hand if she was scared / lost in the house. Otherwise, she’d bite.

I realized if I wanted her to like me, I’d have to really work with her everyday. I wore a glove to protect from her bites, and eventually got her to step up on my hand. I talked to her and told her what I was doing every time for word-association. I hand fed her favorite snacks and continued testing her boundaries, trying to pet her head, touch her feet, and respecting whenever she said no. Eventually the glove came off, and she stepped up no problem..

There was still some biting afterwards, of course.. but I’m happy to say now I couldn’t tell you the last time I was bit on purpose.

I taught her the mouthing so she would learn what an acceptable amount of biting is. Now, if she accidentally bites too hard, I can say, “Hey!” and she’ll try again until I give her a, “Good bird.”

What’s really great is, from working with me, she’s gotten better interacting with new people, too!