If you've got a minute, looking for some CAG info

[Otis]

Hello everyone. My wife and I recently suffered the loss of our 3-year old Quaker, Lex. As I'm sure most of you know, it's pretty tough, but one thing we brought out of our time with him is that we're bird people now.

We're seriously considering bringing a CAG into our home, and have done some research online, including this very helpful forum. We've talked to a couple owners, and plan on attending a local bird show tomorrow, here on Long Island, but I figured I'd ask for some anecdotal input from some of you.

1. Diet. My wife found a site that recommended a lot of safe "people food". I've seen some conlicting info, myself. What's the prevailing wisdom among the owners here?

2. Petting/cuddling. We were both fairly hands-on with Lex. We could flip him onto his back and give him belly rubs , is that an example of a sacrifice we're going to have to make in owning a CAG?

3. Being that we both are hands-on, can we be confident that we have a fair chance in avoiding he/she becoming a one-person bird?

4. We've read that CAGs require a farily regular routine. Is it something we need to be aware of if we take in an occasional overnight trip, or stay out a little late when having dinner at a friends house, or sleeping in on a Sunday?

Thanks in advance. Just trying to shore up some concerns as we try to find the perfect companion for us.

[Rav]

My question about diet is whether the food should be primarily pellet vs. real food. We gave Lex mostly seeds and real food pretty frequently, but as a treat. Our vet advised us to switch to pelleted food with real food treats. However, I read an article about greys that recommended a mostly real food diet and advised against pellets.

[Tom Lawless]

Hello. I'm sorry about the loss of your Quaker. These losses are not easy.

I can't say enough good things about my CAG. He is eight months old. I've had him since June and every day gets better (if not messier). I preface all of my comments by saying that he is young so I am not basing my answers on years of experience but months plus information I've picked up along the way.

Bing, my Grey, is given a diet of pellets (Zupreem natural/Roudybush mixed) and I supplement it with different things at different times. There are a lot of good people foods they can eat especially fruits, grains, whole wheat pastas, vegetables, cooked bean mixes, etc. I even give them a little seed every now and then and other little bird treats. I don't make it a lot of work. Sometimes it is based on what is in the refrigerator and what is leftover from an earlier dinner.

Bing will let me flip him over and pet him. Some days he is more tolerant of it than others. He loves to be with me but he doesn't attach himself like velcro the way my little Hahn's Macaw does. He is more adventurous and using me as home base ventures forth with frequent returns. Some nights he is content to be sitting on my hand or chest while I'm watching t.v. without a lot of petting. I think this is why people say they aren't cuddly. Bing may be less in need of constant petting but he does like to be around me as much as possible and gets pretty excited and drops whatever he is doing when I walk into the room. He is a very sweet little guy (parrot sweet).

I've seen Greys in families where everyone is able to handle them. Some will say the Timneh is better at this. I can't say since I live alone and my little guy is still young. I will say when I am not around he goes easily to other people.

My routine is fairly regular but not heavily regimented. There are many nights I have meetings or go out to dinner and return late as well as the more normal when we watch t.v. I try to give them a little time earlier in the day if I am going out to make up for it but sometimes that's not possible. I have also gone away on vacation for a week and gone to out-of-town meetings for a couple of nights. I have friends that take care of them and all goes well. I think the separation bothers me more than it bothers them.

I hope that helps. There is a forum connected with this that is dedicated strictly to African Greys. Have you looked at it? There are some really helpful members out there. It is at www.africangreyforum.com

Good luck. Let us know how it all works out.

[spankmescuba]

wow seems like you got alot on your plate.

[Otis]

Originally Posted by Tom Lawless

Hello. I'm sorry about the loss of your Quaker. These losses are not easy.

I can't say enough good things about my CAG. He is eight months old. I've had him since June and every day gets better (if not messier). I preface all of my comments by saying that he is young so I am not basing my answers on years of experience but months plus information I've picked up along the way.

Bing, my Grey, is given a diet of pellets (Zupreem natural/Roudybush mixed) and I supplement it with different things at different times. There are a lot of good people foods they can eat especially fruits, grains, whole wheat pastas, vegetables, cooked bean mixes, etc. I even give them a little seed every now and then and other little bird treats. I don't make it a lot of work. Sometimes it is based on what is in the refrigerator and what is leftover from an earlier dinner.

Bing will let me flip him over and pet him. Some days he is more tolerant of it than others. He loves to be with me but he doesn't attach himself like velcro the way my little Hahn's Macaw does. He is more adventurous and using me as home base ventures forth with frequent returns. Some nights he is content to be sitting on my hand or chest while I'm watching t.v. without a lot of petting. I think this is why people say they aren't cuddly. Bing may be less in need of constant petting but he does like to be around me as much as possible and gets pretty excited and drops whatever he is doing when I walk into the room. He is a very sweet little guy (parrot sweet).

I've seen Greys in families where everyone is able to handle them. Some will say the Timneh is better at this. I can't say since I live alone and my little guy is still young. I will say when I am not around he goes easily to other people.

My routine is fairly regular but not heavily regimented. There are many nights I have meetings or go out to dinner and return late as well as the more normal when we watch t.v. I try to give them a little time earlier in the day if I am going out to make up for it but sometimes that's not possible. I have also gone away on vacation for a week and gone to out-of-town meetings for a couple of nights. I have friends that take care of them and all goes well. I think the separation bothers me more than it bothers them.

I hope that helps. There is a forum connected with this that is dedicated strictly to African Greys. Have you looked at it? There are some really helpful members out there. It is at www.africangreyforum.com

Good luck. Let us know how it all works out.

Thanks for the kind words and help, Tom.

I'll try cross-posting this over there, thanks for the heads up.

[pippy]

So sorry you lost your little Quaker

But a CAG! Oh lovely!

I'm fairly new to being owned by parrots but have learnt so much from this forum and another based here in the UK.

Diet. My two are given a huge amount of fresh food, they eat far more healthily than I do! In addition to this I feed them a premium parrot seed mix which contains only a small amount of sunflower seeds and absolutely NO peanuts.

I don't give them peanuts either in or out of the shell due to the risk of ASPERGILLOSIS.

I give them walnuts and almonds, both high in calcium.

Chillis, peppers, green beans, soaked and cooked pulses, grapes, oranges, apples (no pips), cucumber, tomatoes (no leaves), cooked potato and sweet potato, cooked/raw carrots, peas, sweetcorn (on and off the cob) and their absolute favourite.....pomegranate!

There are probably lots of things I've missed off that list but it's safe to say my parrots are fed more fresh fruit/veg than any the type of food.

You can see pics of them eating all sorts of things HERE!

I sometimes go and stay at my boyfriend's house (he has a parrot, a Yellow Crowned Amazon called Charlie) and I take Mojo and Shinda with me. They have the use of Charlie's spare cage while we're there and they've not shown any ill-effects from their travels! They're used to going in their travel cage as I take them out on their harnesses regularly.

I think so long as they are used to travelling about a bit that you wouldn't have a problem taking them elsewhere, so long as you're with them they should be fine.

Looking forward to hearing what you decide!

[alwaysontimneh]

Sorry about your Quaker.

I have a Timneh and I have not had him for very long but everything has been great I have had him home about as long as Pippy has had her Congos home.

Mr. has not shown a real preference to either me or my husband and when people come over he is really interested in them and will go and investigate them. The only thing I have found is he is not a fan of small children I think it is because they move to fast or something not sure.

As far as diet goes he eats fresh cut up fruit/veggies mixed with some pellet in the morning. A afternoon snack things like granola, nuts, pasta, etc. Then for dinner he gets birdie bread with more pellets. In his cage I leave a seed and pellet mix for him when we are not home.

The cuddly factor will vary from bird to bird it just depends on their personality. Mine is very cuddly in the evening.

Routine I think is important but I feel that it is also important to mix things up a little bit so that way if you are of schedule then you bird will not freak out. I have had to go out of town and so has my husband on different occasions and it really as far as I can see has not bothered Mr.

Let us know what you decide!

[babypiggy]

Originally Posted by Otis

Hello everyone. My wife and I recently suffered the loss of our 3-year old Quaker, Lex. As I'm sure most of you know, it's pretty tough, but one thing we brought out of our time with him is that we're bird people now.

We're seriously considering bringing a CAG into our home, and have done some research online, including this very helpful forum. We've talked to a couple owners, and plan on attending a local bird show tomorrow, here on Long Island, but I figured I'd ask for some anecdotal input from some of you.

1. Diet. My wife found a site that recommended a lot of safe "people food". I've seen some conlicting info, myself. What's the prevailing wisdom among the owners here?

2. Petting/cuddling. We were both fairly hands-on with Lex. We could flip him onto his back and give him belly rubs , is that an example of a sacrifice we're going to have to make in owning a CAG?

3. Being that we both are hands-on, can we be confident that we have a fair chance in avoiding he/she becoming a one-person bird?

4. We've read that CAGs require a farily regular routine. Is it something we need to be aware of if we take in an occasional overnight trip, or stay out a little late when having dinner at a friends house, or sleeping in on a Sunday?

Thanks in advance. Just trying to shore up some concerns as we try to find the perfect companion for us.

HI there,
I'm very sorry that you had lost your quaker, Lex.

I will keep my reply as short as i can as i'm in the middle of packing.


intro
we have a 17 month old CAG named Ajax.
He is missing 5/8 of his claws and some toe tips are missing as well. He was sold to us as "perfectly healthy and weaned". the breeder did not meantion anyhting about his toes with the 2 weeks of e-mailing back and forth. when he came to us only one toe had no nail and half of that toe was missing....

we let him stay at home to let him adjust to his new home for a week
then we booked an appointment to see a certified avian vet.
there were many many issues concerning his health and well being.
1. his toe and infection/pain
2. his breeder's band was on too tight
3. really underweight (the vet said if he lost 10 more grams he would have to stay at the vet's over night till he is at a good weight)

later on that day another nail fell off.. over time more and more nails and toe tips fell off...

we've had ajax since he was 12 weeks old.. so i havn't had a grey for that long, but i have however worked with birds tiny-large for about 6 years, tho it's different working with them than actually having one at home.

answers to your questions
1.food
we feed ajax mostly fresh foods. a varied diet is very important. he gets fresh foods for breakfast and dinner and has pellets available to him at all times
a lot of owners love the harrison's pellets, but the issue is WILL your CAG like them?LOL
we have tried over a dozen different types of pellets
but have stuck with 6 different kidns.. i liek to vary his pellets just to give him a bit of variety.
currently feeding (zupreem natural and fruit and spicy, hagen lifetime granuals,roudy bush,pretty bird)
it's good to know what foods are not meant for your CAG.
I will list a few but i am really brian dead atm...when u decide u want a CAG and bring him/her home it doens't hurt to double check on this forum to see if it's safe...

ajax is fed a WIDE variety of foods... andit's always different
u dont' have to worry "oh i bought greapes.. does that mena they will be wasted if i can only feed him grapes a couple of times b4 they go bad"
u can use whatever u have.. jsut mix it up and give variety.. anything u have in your fridge/shelf

food to stay away from:
- dairy products (hard cheese is ok but very very little in one sitting..... probably as a super duper treat)
- onions, and anything in that family
-alcohol
-caffine
-salty foods
-sweet foods
-chocolate
-avacado

2. petting..
petting and cuddling is a good thing
humann contact and affection will be mentally relaxing for them.
it;s ok to be able to touch the CAG in ALL places of the body...
i was told that it's ok to pet a CAG all over and stroke them form head to tail, BUT when they are older it's not recomended to stroke them on the back as their sexual organs are located in that general area.. and petting that area stimulates it (i may be mis informed but it made common sense to me)
3. one person bird
this is somewhat true....
but in the wild greys live in flocks.
they will choose ONE person as their "partner/mate"
and will choose other ppl in the family for different levels of relationship.

Sorta like a kid in kinigarden. bestest freind,best friend, friend #1, friend #2, etc etc

so the one person theory is true in that sense as they will always prefer the person who is chosen to be their mate over anybody else... then goes down that prioity list of ppl

4. greys vary from one another (like kids)
some really love a routine to the T some don't like routines at all and some like a in-between-ie

for ajax he sorta have a routine.. but it's not to a T
we sleep till whenever (but we make sure he has at least 10 hours of sleep if he cannot get 12 hours

we wake up
uncover his cage, turn on his uV lite
say good morning give him a very short kiss and cuddle
put him on his shower perch (stuck on the side of our tank) for his big morning poo

prepare his breakfast

and feed him on the playtop
then if we have to go to work we explain to him that we will be back in 8/10 hours (fiancee works 8 hour days i work 10 hour days) and that we love him and put him in his cage

if it's a weekend or our days off (i get sunday to tues off) he stays on his DIY playgym the entire time

ajax is quite unique as he's not a velcrow grey what so ever.
he is happy with being in his cage/playstand even when we are home

so time for lunch
he either doens't get lunch if we are working
or if we are home he has whatever we have (before the salt)

late evening we have time together for cuddles and games for about 1-2 hours

then dinner time, he has fresh food (whatever we are eating or something i baked especially for him like birdie bread with veggies or something) his fave is noodles... LOL he flings it around but doens't let go of it.. sometimes i think he's tryign to slap himself with a noodle..


then he returns to his playstand for the rest of the night

bed time we give him a kiss.. tell him it's nite nite time and turn off his lights and cover hsi cage

ajax doens't have his routine in a way that things are happenign at SPECIFIC times of the day

he just have a "general" routine i guess


OOPS i just realized how long my reply was
i'm rambling on (or so i think i am...)

anywho greys are great to be a part of your family (but i'm biased)

but keep things in mind
that one grey is different from another grey
they all have different personalities,preferences,and temperments

i've only had ajax for a short time
but i can tell that my boy is a very good natuered grey
as i know someone with a TAG that can be a deviled bratt (hehe i think he's hilarious tho)
ajax loves going out with us, going to new places
he steps up to just about anyone (tho stroking him he's a bit wery)
he VERY VERY rarely bites to break skin (we have trained him to understand what "gentle" and "be nice" means)

ajax doens't freak out when we move things around,add new things to the room/place.

u can also find greys to have the opposite reaction as to what ajax's reaction would be

;)

i dunno what else to say
*blank face with blinking*

i hope this helps anyways
;)


ps

there are loads of ppl here who have a lot of knowledge
and sorry for the really long winded, lots of typo, probably not easily understood reply

hehehe

[wallygrey]

what a good reply! this helped me to see what others do as well.
I was told not to cover sader from the breeder and this seems to work for us, he isn't verbal at all in the morning (thus far) she said don't cover cause of the fact they like to see what is going on and if you cover them, they fear the noises and movement they cant see, I have 3 dogs, and this made sense.
he doesn't like the pellets that much I counted thirty pellets (the ones that look like fruit loops) did this for 3 days and not one touched til the 4th day and 4 were missing, one on the bottom of the cage.
he likes the seed mix, peanuts removed, and seems to only eat the pumpkin seeds,
he loves asparagus, brussel sprouts, ice cream cones, strawberries, ritz pb crackers (as treats)
seems to be a very picky eater.
he seems to love me.... but will tolerate the others still with a macaw squeal.
cant say how happy I am that I decided on the grey, since I never owned a large bird prior to sader, and (after Lisa talked me off the bridge) thanx Lisa
i'm still not over the hump im sure but they truly are great (still adjusting)............ I love mine dearly, he is awesome.
very happy i have him
good luck on u'r descision, keep us posted
tammy

[lorilazerson]

Hi, I'm so sorry for your loss!

You will not be sorry with a CAG! We've had Emani a little over a month now and he's an absolute joy. He goes to everyone in the family, but, is very attached to my husband and myself. He loves to lay on his back in my hands while I pet his tummy and back of his neck.

Good luck with your decision and keep us posted.

lori