Step up African Grey Parrot

[Pajarita]

Yes, sounds as if the breeder was a female but Wolf is right, it's better that he continues to associate a female in the parental role because, once he hits puberty, he will reject that person and look to bond with somebody else.

[blackscell]

The owners were actually both male female, I actually asked before buying the Grey if they were more loving to males or females, she said they were attached to both.

And when I did the bonding process, the male breeder came in and she flew towards him. She also stepped up on my finger and on my dads finger without flinching or pushing her belly.

When I transported her I used a cage which was not covered, so she saw me and my dad the whole trip. Maybe this is why she is kinda scared? No clue.

My mom actually does nothing with the bird, I do all the cleaning feeding etc and my mother does nothing and she still likes her. I hope it will be better in the future, when do they reach puberty?

[Pajarita]

When they are around two years of age if fed right and kept at a strict solar schedule. Sometimes, it's not so much the gender of the person but the manner. Greys seem to prefer quiet people and people who don't ask them for anything so I am thinking that the fact that your mom doesn't really do anything with her is the reason for her preference. Contrary birds, aren't they?

[blackscell]

I've made great progress with the clickertraining, I can get her fly to me if I have food with me, and I can make her step up.

However, he is very dusty and I don't think he's had a shower for a long time. He is very dusty, I brought him to the bathroom and let him eat some snacks. When he was calmed down I would spray the mist bottle in the air, he did not like it and flew towards me.

I stopped and tried again a half hour later, same thing. He did shower with the previous owners.

Any idea how I can make him enjoy showering? I've also used a small bat which was filled till his feet, he drank from it a few times and then left it.

Also, what can I do with the target training stick? I've managed to learn him if he touches the target stick he'll get a reward and I can do this everywhere. But how do I proceed, what should I teach him first?

[Wolf]

Greys are dusty as they have special feathers to make this dust by crumbleing and the dust is used to waterproof their feathers. I suggest that you have a good air purifier running in the room that you have him in, it does not eliminate the dust problem but it does help with it. I mist my Grey in her cage. I do this not because she doesn't like it, because she does but she moves about a lot while being misted, opening her wings and closing them twisting and turning to get this or that spot wet as well as moving in and out of the mist a lot so it is easier when she has a more limited space. I also have the largest stainless steel water dish that I could find in her cage for her to bathe in as she uses her water dish for it and can only get her feet wet in it. At the same time she is very picky with the size, shape, depth and the material of the bathing dish, if it is not right she will not use it al all.

Target training is most often used to train a bird to go from one point to another so I would work on getting her to move from point A to point B or c. I would establish random patterns of such movement and then as the bird progresses use it to do flight recall or to teach them to fly from one point to another. Then you could branch off into various trick training such as go and pick up this object and bring it here and put it in this thing.

[Pajarita]

Most grays are not good bathers. Mine bathe on their own but they make a big project of it just to end up with a wet face If yours likes misting, you can do it but don't if she doesn't like it. I hate it when people force the birds to accept a bath they don't want to. Birds are naturally very clean animals and they don't need a whole lot of bathing anyway.

[Wolf]

I never mist my Grey until she starts trying to bathe in her water dish and so she has always enjoyed it and will continue to try to bathe in the dish until I have misted her enough to make her satisfied. So she lets me know both when she wants a bath and when she has had enough.

[Navre]

My grey would bath herself whenever the vacuum cleaner was run.

[Wolf]

Worth a try. I do remember reading from several different sources that some birds will take a bath when they hear a vacuum cleaner running. Mine do not. I am curious now that you have mentioned it, Navre, if the type of vacuum cleaner makes any difference. What type of vacuum do you have? Mine is a canister type, a wet/dry shop vac.

[Navre]

Worth a try. I do remember reading from several different sources that some birds will take a bath when they hear a vacuum cleaner running. Mine do not. I am curious now that you have mentioned it, Navre, if the type of vacuum cleaner makes any difference. What type of vacuum do you have? Mine is a canister type, a wet/dry shop vac.

I think it happened with both a canister and an upright.