Taking in a African Grey

[Jessica M]

If you has a chance to get a free African Grey would you bring it home?

One of my mom's friends rescues animals and brings them into her home because she doesn't want to see them starve,if people left them at vets offices and the owners never came back,or any other reasons and she rehabilitates them tries to find them loving homes and she does it all for free she doesn't charge you money for the animal but she doesn't just give them to anyone,but since my mom knows her i have an advantage.She has an African Grey that she is trying to find a home for,now i don't know if she will give the bird to me or not it's her choice and im not about to impose.


I know African Grey's take a LOT of work,their not the type of bird you can just leave in the cage all day long now of course it's not all my decision it's up to my parents as well if she offers the bird to me.

So if you where given this opportunity would you take it?

[zazanomore]

I know I'd be tempted. But I would have to decline. I don't have the means to take care of such an advanced bird.

I think adopting a Grey would be like adopting a child. We already have a 5 year old in the house, and I know how much work he is, and he's only my brother! I can't imagine the time it would take to properly care for a Grey.

[captwest]

Hey Jessica, we need to make these type of decisions with our head and not with our hearts, you said in an earlier post that you ruled out a CAG because of time needed for such a dird, well, a rescue bird is liable to need even more TLC and as a newbie to large parrots i hate for you to have a bad experience with a rescue bird. I don't know much about your social/school constraint ates but maybe volunteering to help with your friends rescue would give you some insight the needs of rehoming a large parrot, All this being said there are many success stories out there about newbies rehoming older birds but a lot of these people have a lot of time to dedicate to their projects. I would worry about you biting off a bit more than you can chew. It can be done , i started with my first amazon at age 14 but had a lot of help from my family. Good Luck and let us know if can help. PS i had to stop in the middle of this to love on my amazon of 40yrs, a larger parrot can be forever.Richard

[Jessica M]

Yea i would volunteer except that it's 3 hours away from my house,i think im going to stick with my original plan and try to find a Quaker Parrot,i have wanted one since i was in 2nd grade.

[Kathleen]

Is there a closer bird rescue/sanctuary where you could volunteer at instead? I read in your profile that you want to become an avian vet in the future and helping out at a place like that could give you some great experience.

Getting an African Grey is a big commitment. You could always consider getting a Grey in the future when you are more sure that you would be able to handle it.

If I could get a Grey for free, I might consider it but probably wouldn't because I don't think I would have enough time to spend with it.

[karcar]

What do YOU want to do? That is one of the most important questions to answer a re-homed bird comes with lots of baggage. It would not be something I would take lightly or take just because it is free. As far as an african grey goes they are one of my favorite birds, I have 3 or them, lol
Give it lots and lots of thought and do lots and lots of homework.
Karen

[Jessica M]

I don't want to do it,i don't have enough time to give it the attention it needs

[sidech]

Then don't, or you'll regret it.

[Jessica M]

I don't plan on it,right now i plan on working with my dog on training her to come among other things and by that time i am giving myself till March that is my deadline to work with my dog,because that issue needs to be addressed before i bring something else into my home.Their is Quaker parrot in a shelter that i am hoping it will still be their when my dog is trained,but if not then it wasn't meant to be and i'll look into adopting another bird.But my dog was here first and i need to start taking responsibility for the things i have before something new comes in and that is my new years resolution. ^_^

[captwest]

I think your being responsible and doing the right thing . Please stay in touch and let us know what your fid situation is , Good luck and Happy New Year