Chris288

I have an african grey (congo) and a white bellied caique, my mom has an african grey (timneh).

I had originally said that yes what everyone was saying was absolutely true, but it depended on the type of bird. Now I see thats its a grey, and they can be a handful.

They are one or two person birds ONLY, they become attached and thats it, other people may be able to pet their heads and that about it. African greys go through seasons and a VERY MOODY, you have to read their body language, I know well in advance if my grey is going to be aggressive. A grey is NOT a good first bird for the inexperienced.

On the other hand, my caique, loves people and if there are 30 people in the room, he will go to eveyone of them and get all the attention he can, he is playful, loves to do tricks and VERY noisy.

It also depends on the bird, most birds if you work with them long enough, you can gain their trust, its hard and take a lot of patience, but it can be done....

Alot of people go out and buy birds not realizing that they need a lot of attention, can live between 30 and 90 years, are noisy and are messy. Thats why you will see a lot of ads in the pennysaver of people willing to rescue birds. People put them in dark rooms, never pay attention to them, they become very mean and its a total shame, they are beautiful, should be flying free and living a happy life, not left in a corner and forgotten...

Rob if you decide to give it a try, I commend you and wish you the best of luck...

cobra marty

Oh yea, had to build a shelf off the side of the cage for a small color TV for the bird to watch. It helped for awhile and then it learned how to turn it on and off and how to adjust it and turn it on at night at full volume. Oops. Very intelligent and very immature at the same time.

PJA

My Wife And I Have A Parrot Most Everything That You Have Read Is True. They Are Like Having Kids That Never Grow Up And Always Need Attention. We Are Luky Enough To Be Able To Take Ours To Our Shop Every Day. The Plus Side To It Is They Are Alot Of Fun And Ours Loves The Sound When We Fire The Boat Up. If We Could Take Him Racing With We Would

enticer

If you get .... you can always take it for a "fly".....you know let stretch it's wings once in awhile

MitchStellin

They will wake you up early, make a mess every day, and generally make you want to buy a cat to eat the bird. Then buy a dog and it will eat the cat.

jackbequick

Greetings,

I just joined the boards here and wanted to say hi to everyone

I have a blue and gold Macaw that is actually a pretty good bird.
As long as he is covered up we can sleep as late as we want. His name is Willy and he is alot of fun and very trainable. He likes to sit on the arm of my chair and get scratched while I do other things. He also like to chase the cats

But, as everyone else said; he needs alot of attention or he starts destroying things. Plus, he likes me and gets very jealous of my wife.

For the most part, I like having him though.


JQuick

VinMan

I'd advise against it. I own an African grey. Hes a great bird, and i wouldnt trade him for anything, but they need alot of attention. They need to be handled constantly. The main reason i say to stay away is the fact that the bird is from a previous owner that had kids that abused it. Once a bird develops a certain dispostion they keep it forever. also a African grey is a one or two person bird, which only feels comfortable with certain few people in a household.
Just my opinion , but if i were you i wouldnt take it unless you are ready for the challenge.

Contagious

Email Barretta in the slammer, He may be able to share some advice!! Sorry-- Had to do it:

My sister had one! Wow that was allot of work for her.. She had no choice but to give it away when she had her baby..
THEY ARE ALLOT OF WORK!!

NIT2WIN

Way back in my younger days I use to be in the exotic animal business and owned a bird breeding farm in Tampa. Everyone that has posted has given you pretty good advice. African Grey's are GREAT talkers and can be excellent pets if you get them when there young or handfed. You can tell if he/she is young by the color of their iris. The younger the greyer the older the more yellow. African Grey's are not screechers like the macaws or cockatoos but the do mimick quite frequently whenever they want. If this is an older grey you won't be able to tame him unless you have alot of patience and experience. If you travel alot you can pretty much forget having a pet that you can do much more than stare at. My suggestion to you is to start off with something smaller and handfed when you slow down with your career trust me it will be a much better experience for you.

Chris288

The african grey calls the cat over so he can get him..

P.S. if you have a nextel,,, dont get an african grey.... LOL....