To cover or not

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Maggie Wright

Moderator: merlin

To cover or not

Postby merlin » Thu Jan 05, 2012 5:17 pm

Hi Maggie!

I have spent quite a bit of time on your site today, and ordered a copy of your book. I am very much looking forward to receiving it!

My family has just adopted a TAG from a parrot rescue. We are calling him "Wolfgang", or Wolfie for short. He was at the rescue for 2 months, and has been with us for 3 days now.
We are already amazed at what he knows as far as whistling and kissing sounds, and he says some words, but they're hard to understand right now. He's still timid about getting on our hands, but he has made it clear he prefers our hand to a dowel!

Here's my question: Should we cover him at night? Our children go to bed before we do, and we rise before the kids. Once they have gone to bed, it would be very helpful if he were to calm down, and the same in the morning! We had owned a peach faced Lovebird for several years, and he recently passed away. He was an old bird when we received him, and very, very loud. At night, and when there was a lot of stimulus that he was reacting to, we would cover him. Do you think that Wolfie would learn to understand that the cover means quiet time, or would he perceive that as mean? We were told that he came from a home that was trying to breed him by placing him and another TAG in a closet... so you can see why I'm hesitant to possibly re-creating a bad scenario for him. (We do not know if he is actually a "he".) His cage is in our living room, and our home is fairly small, and he has quite a loud voice!

I want to do my best for him, as he will be part of our family for many, many years.
Thanks for your time, and having a site full of information all about Greys!!!

Angie
merlin
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Re: To cover or not

Postby merlin » Thu Jan 05, 2012 5:19 pm

Hi Angie!
Wolfie is precious! I understand your hesitation about covering him at night, but it is good to protect him from drafts and to give privacy. A suggestion: cover his cage gently with a dark navy sheet but leave a space open... ie cover 3/4 of the cage or 9/10, which leaves a space. If he seems to get upset to have something over his cage, then back off and introduce it to him very slowly.

If you are very active at night, you may want to create a "sleeping cage" for Wolfie and place it in a dark place away from your nightly activities where he can get good uninterrupted sleep at night. I do this for my birds... so I can clean their cages at night and so they get privacy and darkness for sleep. The sleeping cage can be as small as a carrier and I place a perch and water in them at night. Sweetpea likes to chew up toys, so she gets little pieces of wood (2 or 3 pieces from old toys) that she can chew up in the early AM. You may want to think about something like that.

Thank you for getting my book. Hoping it helps a lot. If you need any consultation help, I can do it by telephone. I charge $35 for one half hour, plus a follow up. http://www.africangreys.com/greyplace/telephone.htm

Congrats about becoming a Grey pet human! You'll LOVE it!
Blessings,
Maggie-
merlin
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Posts: 188
Joined: Thu Jan 01, 1970 12:00 am

Re: To cover or not

Postby merlin » Thu Jan 05, 2012 5:20 pm

Hi Maggie!

Thanks so much for your prompt response!

I took your advice and we started by covering his cage about halfway, and also told him "sssshhhhh, it's quiet time" and did not respond to his attempts for attention after that. I'm not sure if that is the right move or not...
I also used less light this morning, and that really seemed to help!

Thanks for your wonderful articles and advice! Last night, he let me hold him (on my hand) and insisted on giving me kisses! I visualized him stepping up onto my hand, and he did exactly that!

Have a wonderful day!

Angie-
merlin
Site Admin
 
Posts: 188
Joined: Thu Jan 01, 1970 12:00 am

Re: To cover or not

Postby merlin » Thu Jan 05, 2012 5:27 pm

Angie,

You discovered the KEY: visualization. Not only can you visualize his getting onto your hand. You can also visualize him NOT biting... behaving very well. I'm thrilled that it works!

Please keep me posted.
Blessings,
Maggie-


To anyone reading this post: VISUALIZATION is the KEY to teaching your bird to behave. By visualizing, you are "not focused" on the fear of being bitten AND you are telepathically telling your bird or teaching your bird how to behave... what you expect of him. Such a simple concept... but THE most powerful!
merlin
Site Admin
 
Posts: 188
Joined: Thu Jan 01, 1970 12:00 am


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