Please be careful about the play with Spider. Remember she is a PREY animal and not a dog. If you terrify her, she will become phobic of you. That can be resolved after a long period of rebuilding trust, but you don't want to put her through it.
When something scares an animal (predator and prey), they can become phobic of what was with them when the pain occurred. For example, if a dog is hit by a car, it may become phobic of the tires....or the last thing seen...or a man with a hat trying to help him....it is all association. If you rough house with Spider and scare her so much that her genetic wiring triggers her instincts into a FEAR OF PREDATOR mode, she will be phobic of you. This happens often with Greys because they are "slow maturing" animals (takes them a longer time to develop), so she is missing much of the training, especially parental training, of what is/is not a predator.
This is a long way of saying please be gentle and slow when you play with her. The on back and tickle and swirl back to shoulder seems okay but do it softly. I say this because a GPR subscriber wrote me one day that their Grey was terrified of them....what happened? They had just been playing all kinds of chase games with her the night before. Well, the answer was that the chase game terrified the bird and triggered his phobia.
Also, if you are traveling, you need to get her acclimated first. Has she ever been in a car? Have you taken her on outings? Do you know what you are putting her in on the trip and is she comfortable with it? When they are away from their territories they become nervous. The first time is scarey....so you need to work on some of the steps before you go out. The Helpful Hints section has tips about travel.
About food: please give here more fresh, organic chopped vegetables than other things. Please refer to the article section which has lots of nutrition articles. I give my guys the MASH diet. You may want to read about it. I give my own version of it.....but you can read about the concept.
http://www.africangreys.com/articles/nu ... shdiet.htm
Do you have a copy of my book: African Grey Parrots: A Complete Pet Owner's Manual? If has lots of good tips, and a whole chapter on nutrition. You can order one through me or Amazon.com
http://www.africangreys.com/greyplace/autographbook.htm
Forgive me for the onslaught of advice.....but I also write things for others to read while helping you. So, please don't get overwhelmed. And PLEASE do not stop posting. We don't have enough people asking questions here.
Have a wonderful day!!!
Maggie-