CHILDHOOD DREAM COME TRUE
Okay so just a little background before starting any of this, I’m read countless posts in this forum aswell as many other informational sources about African greys and, I’m by no means an expert and I’m actually writing this for a place to discuss and possibly even get advice. I’m currently a 19 year old and I’ve been fascinated and obsessed with African grey’s since I was a young kid(10-11ish) when I read NEXT by Micheal Crichton. This novel for all of you who haven’t read has an African grey ( GERAD) who is rather witty and makes for an even more fun read. I truthfully never thought that I’d own my own African grey though, they seemed part too expensive and I thought that maybe it just wasn’t for me. Move forward all these years later and my mom is getting into birds and as a hobby and it started with canary’s and then budgies. Note I’m constantly telling my mom that these birds need to be taken care of properly and aren’t just decorations, which she isn’t the most receptive to and it doesn’t detour me from telling her off. A few months back she ends up bringing home a sun conure. Yes his name is mango… but this simple introduction sparked my interest back in wanting parrots and, I researched and researched in pursuit of being the best and most responsible bird owner I could be. I knew my mom wouldn’t be able to provide this for them since she works all day and she pretty much just saw Facebook videos of birds singing and deicided she wanted to make the commitment. Obviously not doing research of her own she had the poor guy on seeds, obviously I had to get him on a chop and harrisons high potency diet instead slowly transitioning and he’s adapting pretty well he does well with target training and he can do step up consistently, I started doing a snap before I say snap up and now whenever I snap and I’m a few feet out and put my hand out he’s able to fly to me. Obviously short training intervals and I make sure he’s stimulated with toys and other things. But I would still consider myself far below a novice and suddenly one random day I wake up to see a timneh African grey in my garage( GIZMO) my goodness she’s a beautiful bird and she might not be the specific bird of my dreams a Congo she’s slowly but surely changing that opinion. But I’m concerned about being able to provide her with what she needs I try my hardest and my parents pressure me a lot because they question why a TAG isnt as social as a sun conure. I.e she doesn’t step up at all she’s terrified she bites obviously when we breach her personal space. I respect all her warnings and everything but to my parents who are just basing their realities of these birds from Facebook reels, it’s so hard to keep up and then give me a deadline of two months to see progress with gizmo. I still try my hardest and she’s simmered down a lot since when she first arrives she would stay on her perch for hours not moving and only eat from her bowl and drink water. Now she moves around and chews on toys sometimes she climbs down from her cage but usually she’s perched on top of it, I want to know if anybody has advice. I’ve been trying to target train her and she’s somewhat receptive she doesn’t walk for it but she’ll reach her neck out. My parents force her to step up by making her fly off her cage to a lower point of the room and then she stands up, but I don’t think that’s healthy at all for her. One time I offered her a cardboard box and she loved it, she shredded it up. She plays and fidgets with her toys but as for training I’m worried I’m reaching a wall.
FYI: mango and gizmo are not housed together nor are they allowed near each other I’m always watching their interactions and make sure they don’t get too close. I essentially just let them eat together so gizmo can see how social and interactive mango is with me. I heard a monkey see monkey do kinda of effect happens