African Gray

Loves my girlfriend, copies everything I say, but won't let me come near him? When we first got him, he loved me and hated Celice. Now I can't get him to come near me? But when I go in his room, he gets excited and starts being talkative. Once I try to leave he makes this noise as if saying "dont go." Then we talk for a few, and I go to leave and he does it again. When we let him fly around the house, he loves to land on celice and let her rub his head and his wings. If I go near him he flies off. :( What can I do? i'm happy with him just listening and talking with me but I think it'd be cool for him to want to fly on me again. I've never abused him or anything. Is celice just considered like a mother? oh, and he pukes on her which we read is a sign of much respect?

[ireneo]

African Grays are extremely intelligent and like many parrots will choose who to love. It doesn't mean he hates you; he just prefers her for whatever reason. Be thankful he doesn't hate you. Parrot bites are not fun.

Does he come to you when you're alone with him or just talk? It may be a seasonal thing and he'll go back to you in time. But don't feel bad if you're not number one with him. You're still buddies. Don't force the relationship. He's in charge.  :-)

[erik86]

He's not a biter. When I leave his door open and he comes to the living room instead of sitting on the tv like he does when company is around he will land on the couch near me. If I go to pet him he flies off. I mean, I know he doesn't hate me because we talk but I don't get why he doesn't want to land on me anymore. If he lands on the floor he does step up to my arm so I can relocate him. :/

[ireneo]

That's a start. When you get the chance to have him on your arm, see if you can walk with him a bit, talk, whistle, have a treat handy like a reward for spending time in contact with you. Perhaps he'll find you're a good guy to hang with after all, up close and personal.

The birds we train at the center (wildlife that is) are trained slowly, spending time with them, getting them used to being on a glove in a quiet place and yes, we do use treats (bits of mice or quail) so they associate good things with the person handling them.

[erik86]

Can we buy those treats? Petco is our only bird place so his treats are usually over priced stuff. We tend to make him more stuff. He gets fruit dishes, peanut butter and mixed nut balls, etc. So its hard to find him a "treat"

[ireneo]

I guess that's what I meant by treat, giving him a bit of one of his favorite foods. Example: our cat loves yogurt so she gets a tsp of it as a treat each evening. My rat loves ginger cookies so I give her a small piece each day. So when you spend time with the bird, have some special food for him handy. I worked at an avian clinic for awhile and one treat most of the birds loved were frozen waffles. That's what we used as a little goodie. Oh, not the whole waffle of course.  :-o

[erik86]

Aha cool. We will try it out! Thanks.