Aileen
Just Hatched
Joined: March 2005
Posts: 2
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Bonding
Mar 4, 2005 17:20:51 GMT -7
Post by Aileen on Mar 4, 2005 17:20:51 GMT -7
In January this year Andy, my husband, bought me Gandalf, a Timneh African Grey, for my birthday. He's about 8 months old, hand reared and has a very sweet and happy nature. However, he's bonded to Andy and not me. He loves to snuggle and cuddle but only with Andy. He does let me fuss him when Andy is present but when it's just Gandalf and me he doesn't want to know. He willingly lets me pick him up when he flys off his perch and lands on the floor but when I try to get him to step up from his perch he just wants to bite me and has drawn blood on a couple of occasions! I'm a bit nervous of him but do try hard to hide it but I think he may sense this (that bite really hurt!). Any suggestions on how I can get him to love me as much as he loves my husband!
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Bonding
Mar 4, 2005 17:32:40 GMT -7
Post by Jane on Mar 4, 2005 17:32:40 GMT -7
I am afraid this is very common. I have heard of it so many times. Greys have a tendency to choose a particular person, despite any amount of socialisation techniques. I have a female who is similar, she will let my husband stroke her head if I am holding her but not at any other time. She will also let him pick her up if she thinks she is in a desperate situation! Greys are intelligent birds and, like humans, they prefer some people to others. You can try sharing the feeding and cleaning but you can't really make a grey do anything it doesn't want to and that includes the people it chooses to favour.
Jane
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chamogirl
Weaned Todd
Joined: March 2005
Posts: 25
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Bonding
Mar 4, 2005 19:08:36 GMT -7
Post by chamogirl on Mar 4, 2005 19:08:36 GMT -7
I agree with Jane - doing the feeding and cleaning up will help. Sort of like being the "Mom" and Greys recognize this behavior and will react accordingly
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Aileen
Just Hatched
Joined: March 2005
Posts: 2
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Post by Aileen on Mar 5, 2005 8:52:46 GMT -7
Thanks for your replies. I thought this too. I am the one that cleans his cage and feeds him so maybe that's why he's not too aggressive with me. Another idea we have is to only fuss him when we are both here and not just my husband on his own fussing him. That way he may then start associating me with getting a fuss?
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