[DMBand0026]

So my empty house is kind of lonely. I've been the only one living here since January and so I felt like it was time to add to my, "family" here. I love birds. My parents gave me a parakeet for Christmas when I was 8 years old and the little guy lived for nearly 13 years. I was devastated when he died.

When I moved out of my parents house I got myself another parakeet and he's awesome. I have a much better understanding of how to properly care for birds now and so I've been better about the new bird's training building a relationship with him.

I've been interested in big birds for a long time too, but they've been prohibitively expensive for a long time for me, until recently. I just got a raise the other day (yay!) so I was finally able to splurge a little and go out and get an African Grey Parrot.

I just brought him or her home today and he or she is great. I don't know the gender yet because it's only 3 months old and the only definitive way of telling if an African Grey is a male or female is to do DNA sexing. I have to wait 7-10 days to find out and I'm really excited to find out. It doesn't matter to me either way, but I'm excited

I don't have pictures yet, but I will soon. Hopefully I've made a lifelong friend

[Luca]

I love birds. I just wish I was home often enough to be able to keep one.

My family has had two cockatiels for a long time - over ten years. But when my parents moved to California, I had to take care of them, and it was hard on both them and me. Eventually I had to give them up. Now one of them is much happier in a vet's office just in a cage in the waiting room, while the other lived in a foster home for about a month before my mom brought her out to California with her.

I love them, but they need social contact. Good luck with the African Gray!

[Kickaha]

Cool! My wife and I saw a *HUGE* African today at a pet store - it was in a back room, in a too-small cage, and looked totally despondent.

I trilled at it, and it perked up, and started vocalizing. We ended up mimicking back and forth for a few minutes, and then it started doing flips! It walked up the cage wall, across the top, then flipped back upright dropping to its perch. After every one, it gave a cute squawk, and looked at me like "Wasn't that neat?" It actually sounded sad when we left.

I hope yours gives you lots of company.

[DMBand0026]

I'm sure the bird really was sad when you left, Kick. They really are unbelievably intelligent and amazing creatures and I'm sure he enjoyed your interaction immensely

[ShadowOfGed]

Wow, so I read the entire article on them.

It makes me want a pet. I just moved to California, if you hadn't heard… but my apartment complex forbids pets. Which sucks, royally. But after reading this it makes me wonder what it would be like to have a bird. A friend of mine had some small, squawky ones, but an intelligent bird sounds like a lot of fun (if a lot of work).

I hope you enjoy yours!

[Moogs]

Originally Posted by Kickaha Cool! My wife and I saw a *HUGE* African today at a pet store - it was in a back room, in a too-small cage, and looked totally despondent. I trilled at it, and it perked up, and started vocalizing. We ended up mimicking back and forth for a few minutes, and then it started doing flips! It walked up the cage wall, across the top, then flipped back upright dropping to its perch. After every one, it gave a cute squawk, and looked at me like "Wasn't that neat?" It actually sounded sad when we left. I hope yours gives you lots of company.

I can't go into pet stores and linger around for this reason... every time I see a cool animal and make some sort of contact with it, they always give you that look when you leave. :/ Pet stores need to do a better job of creating a good environment for their animals. Cages are teh suck.

Meantime, congrats DMB! Cool looking bird!

[curiousuburb]

WTF, dude... you couldn't find a Norwegian Blue?

[crazychester]

Originally Posted by DMBand0026 the only definitive way of telling if an African Grey is a male or female is to do DNA sexing.

Wow. I know birds can be tricky to sex but I wonder if that's the case with many other bird species. Pretty extreme lengths to have to go to.

IIRC African Greys are supposed to be far and away the best talkers of all the parrots. It'll be interesting to hear what s/he has to say in due course.