A few questions....

[Thowraa]

I wanted to get some advice before I bring home my new baby, though I still have quite a while to get prepared, obveously I need a cage but there are a few things I am uncertain on.

1. I dont cover my tiels in the night because Bree often has night frights and goes crazy so I like her to have a little bit of light to see, I know cockatiels often have these but do african greys have them? Do you cover your cages at night, anyone ever had any problems?

2. Food. This is proving to be a bit of a tricky one for me. I know I'll be offering daily fresh veggies allong with beak apetite but I'm having trouble deciding what type of pellets to put my baby on. At the moment it is a toss up between Harrisons and Zupreme Natural. I was going to offer some of the Avian Aintrees mixes as well and sort of rotate them for a variety of flavors. I have my tiels on fruit blend but I want my CAG to be really healthy and am going to try to cut down on as much of the artificial rubbish as possible.

3. FS Lighting. I think I was told once that for my tiels 2 hours of FS light a day would be good, how many hours should my CAG get, or, how many hours of REAL sunlight a day would be equivilent to this?

4. Microchipping. What age is the minimum reccomended for having them chipped, should I wait a few months after bringing him/her home, or have it done asap?

Other than cage, food, playstand and toys, is there anything else I should get before my baby comes home? I have a long list of things to spoil the baby with, but am worried I may have missed something.

Also does anyone have any specific toy reccomendations for a CAG. I've only had tiels before and I dont have any idea what kind of toys a CAG would like.

Thanks guys.

[cfulhage]

1. I cover Ollie every night, mainly because she is in the living room where there isn't always 10 hours of quiet time for her to sleep at a time. Covering her allows her a little more darkness and seclusion. I often don't wait up until 8:30 to get her up, and by then the sun is already coming up. If she weren't covered, she would wake up too early. She has never had night frights that I know of. However, I do leave a little slit open in the cage cover, and a little night light shines in somewhat just in case.

2. I feed Ollie Zupreem fruit blend. She loves it, and won't eat any other kind. I had no success whatsoever getting her to try the Harrison's sample packets that I got. I want my parrot to actually like the staple diet I feed her. Fresh veggies and fruits are a must, and she also has some of whatever I'm eating for almost every meal. She also loves hamburger, chicken bones, and egg.

3. It seems that nobody can agree on what is the "correct" time for FS light to be on. Some say no more than 6, some say a full 12 hours. Ollie gets about 9.

4. I don't know much about microchipping. But I would definitely say to wait awhile before having it done- you don't want to stress the baby out too much in the beginning.

I would suggest having some comfort/weaning foods around when the baby comes home. Many of them regress when going to a new home. Ollie weaned thanks to Zupreem Primate Biscuits. She still gets one every single morning for breakfast. I soak one in warm water for about 10 minutes, then cut it up into bite size pieces.

Ollie likes all toys. CAGs as a general rule tend to be wary of new things. DEFINITELY introduce your baby to as MANY things as possible when he/she is young. Because I am young and in college, Ollie has been traveling with me, meeting tons of new people and has been around a variety of different situations from 8 weeks of age. As a result, she is very adaptable- nothing phases her. Ollie loves her big bullet proof bell, things she can tear apart like those pinata toys and other shredders, wood blocks, plastic beads, paper, you name it- she'll play with it.

After having tiels, you will be amazed at how fast they go through toys. I've starting making my own toys just to keep up, and because buying them was getting expensive! I buy toy parts online, and its great because I can customize to what I know she likes.

Basically you will just have to see what YOUR baby likes. Experiment!

[greyburd]

Congrats on bringing your new baby home (even if it isn't for a little bit, yet).

I really don't have too much to add to what Camille has stated. My guys get 3 different pellets (Harrison's, Roudybush and Zupreem Garden Goodness). Roudybush is usually mixed in with their breakfast (when I remember to do it) and the other 2 get mixed in with their dinner. I soak the Zupreem in warm water before I feed it to them. They seem to like it that way best. On their menu for breakfast they get scrambled eggs (with the shell), a dried veggie mixture (corn, carrots, peppers and peas), diced mangos and almonds. I'm going to try mixing some dried cranberries in every now and then as well. I also give them roasted soy nuts and cedar nuts. For dinner, they get Lissa's Kitchen Sink Rise and Beans ( Lissa's Kitchen Sink Rice and Beans - this is the recipe). With that I mix dried carrots or cranberry seed (excellent source of calcium), my CAG gets Macadamia nuts, they both get Pistacio nuts, sometimes sweet potatoes or yellow squash. Basically (I spoil them way too much).... but, I like to give them a good variety so they don't end up being picky eaters. They're both pretty good eaters!!!

As far as toys go....... They both like to shred (Spencer more than Tristan), Tristan really like to chew up wood. Spencer will chew on it, but not as much as Tristan. They both like chewing up little plastic toys. Right now, they have a bunch of plastic dinosaurs that they dig into. They both love foot toys (those that can be destroyed and those that can't). You won't really know what they like until you try different types of toys out on them. But, their most favorite toys of all is me!!

As far as FS lighting goes..... the lights are on for 12 hours, but they're not in their cages for that entire time. I do feel if you can't get them out to get direct sun light... FS lighting is very important.

I don't cover their cages. And I haven't had any problems yet (know on wood).

Good luck with everything.... you know we're here if you need us!!!