# African Grey with attitude



## Snakewoman (May 24, 2012)

I think these are my favourite birds :lol:

Don't touch me! - YouTube


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## Skeptic (May 24, 2012)

I've always wanted one but the price tag is a little off putting


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## Rocky (May 25, 2012)

I can't see the video, as I have little internet. But will say, one day I was walking in a park and heard a distinct deep male voice say OI MATE, ******* YOU, I turned around and a man was there with this bird on his shoulder. I arked up at him, and he quickly explained it was his bird. I was skeptical because it was so deep for a parrot. Until the bird swore at me again. Spoke to him for over an hour about his African Grey. Fell in love with the bird. They are amazing. Learnt about their husbandry, contacted some breeders. Saw the price tag. Been saving ever since.

Edit: I decided to use my internet to watch some videos... I noticed they all had the normal parrot like voice. The one I met had a deep male voice. Easily mistakable for a person. Was the parrot I met a one off? I'm confused now... help.


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## Venomous_RBB (May 25, 2012)

Would love to have an African Grey, they are such awesome birds


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## vampstorso (May 25, 2012)

no Rocky that's not a once off,
if you look on youtube youll find plenty of parrots, AG's in particular that have very human like voices, theres one video in particular with a young English man and his AG copies his voice almost exactly.


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## Venomous_RBB (May 25, 2012)

vampstorso, I love your Black Cockatoo, is he/she red, yellow or other coloured tailed?

I have wanted an african grey for many years, the first one I ever noticed was one that sounded exactly like her owner. It was great.


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## notechistiger (May 25, 2012)

Although I do love african greys, I'm not all that sure I actually want one hehe. I do know they can be very nervous birds, especially without a lot of socialisation. I think perhaps a galah first


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## Snakewoman (May 25, 2012)

They're very smart and I've been very impressed at how much they can learn to say, and that they come out with sentences rather than small words. One of my favourites is this one:

Tui the African Grey has a Tantrum. When parrots attack! Parrot gives a verbal bashing - YouTube

They're definitely a bird for someone who has a lot of time on their hands, they get bored easily and then it goes downhill from there if they're alone too much.


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## Skelhorn (May 25, 2012)

A lady around the corner has african greys, gorgeous birds, we used to go over to her place to play with the Baby Eclectus Parrots! Very cute!
However out of all the birds I have played with still my fav is the blue and gold Macaw! They are like a dog with wings!


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## Justdragons (May 25, 2012)

thats amazing, do they learn the meaning of what they are sayin? like if the ask for a scratch are the just saying random things they have heard or are they asking for a scratch??


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## Skelhorn (May 25, 2012)

justdragons said:


> thats amazing, do they learn the meaning of what they are sayin? like if the ask for a scratch are the just saying random things they have heard or are they asking for a scratch??




Greys, Eckies, Amazons and Macaws are all able to learn what they are saying. They are able to learn colours and shapes, Greys are technically the smartest followed very closely by amazon's then macaws then eckies. personally however I beleive eckies talk better and interact more sociable!


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## Miffy (May 25, 2012)

The budgie holds the world record for the most words by a single bird 1700 words !!!!. Yet most don't really class them as a great talker. Probably because they have chirpy little voices. Quakers are a good alternative for a not to pricey small good talking bird.


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## Justdragons (May 25, 2012)

Are many well behaved or do they destroy your house? chewing on things and pooing on everthing or are they quite well behaved?


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## Basstones (May 25, 2012)

Would love to own an African Grey one day, but with my current work schedule it just wouldn't be fair on the bird. 

My Girlfriend has an Alexandrine, so at least i'm already in a bird friendly environment. It's also given the opportunity to have a fair bit of time handling Macaws, Eclectus & African Greys amongst others.... now i've just fallen in love with all of them! It's going to be extremely tricky to decide when the time comes. With the average life span of these birds it's definitely not a decision to take lightly.

It's amazing just how much personality birds can have, and the difference between species. As much as I love Macaws, I think the African Grey is probably one of the best balances of size, intelligence, requirements etc....but the price certainly makes up for it :O


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## Skelhorn (May 25, 2012)

justdragons said:


> Are many well behaved or do they destroy your house? chewing on things and pooing on everthing or are they quite well behaved?



From my experience, Alexandrines are incredibly amazing at destroying things, a mate of mine owned one, he has laptop keys all pulled off, glue around glass doors stripped, tv remotes, corners of furniture etc etc. Eckies not so much, only when breeding, they like to make their nest out of weird and wonderful things but never touched any furniture or electrical cables etc etc. Greys are pretty intelligent and udnerstand when they have done something wrong (same with Macaws and Eckies but they require more training). We owned 2 eckies, a male and female and they were incredibly smart for birds with very little human interaction!
However all birds need toys and attention and if that can't be supplied then they should not be owned...just like reptiles need enclosures and heat!
However I do miss my Eckies but with working away it wasn't a viable situation!



Basstones said:


> Would love to own an African Grey one day, but with my current work schedule it just wouldn't be fair on the bird.
> 
> My Girlfriend has an Alexandrine, so at least i'm already in a bird friendly environment. It's also given the opportunity to have a fair bit of time handling Macaws, Eclectus & African Greys amongst others.... now i've just fallen in love with all of them! It's going to be extremely tricky to decide when the time comes. With the average life span of these birds it's definitely not a decision to take lightly.
> 
> It's amazing just how much personality birds can have, and the difference between species. As much as I love Macaws, I think the African Grey is probably one of the best balances of size, intelligence, requirements etc....but the price certainly makes up for it :O




very true hard to buy when they are 5000+
I have seen Macaws for as cheap as 4200
Greys for as cheap as 5000
Amazons for as cheap as 1000 
Eckies for as cheap as 400 (hand raised-Incredible price) 
And Alex's for as cheap as $250

Toss up between an Alex or Eckie tho I would choose the eckie for the couple of hundred more. They are by far a more intelligent bird and less destructive...However can live upto 40-50 years! So yeah not taken lightly!


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## Exotic_Doc (May 25, 2012)

African greys are my fav birds out of all i have owned. He is actually still alive and living with a family member O/S since i cant bring him into oz  and incredibly he actually cost me around $100 hahaha. They are amazingly intelligent ( Check out Alex the african grey on youtube or einstein the AG) Alex would blow your mind away because of how intelligent he is. But you got to be very careful raising any of the medium or large parrots from amazons,eccies,macaws etc.. Because they can really be a big problem and destroy everything


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## Basstones (May 25, 2012)

Skelhorn said:


> From my experience, Alexandrines are incredibly amazing at destroying things, a mate of mine owned one, he has laptop keys all pulled off, glue around glass doors stripped, tv remotes, corners of furniture etc etc. Eckies not so much, only when breeding, they like to make their nest out of weird and wonderful things but never touched any furniture or electrical cables etc etc. Greys are pretty intelligent and udnerstand when they have done something wrong (same with Macaws and Eckies but they require more training). We owned 2 eckies, a male and female and they were incredibly smart for birds with very little human interaction!
> However all birds need toys and attention and if that can't be supplied then they should not be owned...just like reptiles need enclosures and heat!
> However I do miss my Eckies but with working away it wasn't a viable situation!
> 
> ...


We spent a lot of time doing our research before we bought the Alex. Originally all intentions were definitely getting towards an Eclectus, but ended up going with the Alex purely for licensing reasons. We already had the license, and had no issues with having to maintain records etc...but the conditions that the apply to Eclectus didn't seem fair to the bird. Very similar to reptiles that the bird in theory can't leave the address specified on the license, unless for vet or similar circumstances. 

Our Alexandrine is a companion bird, and spends a large amount of time outside of his cage. He's well behaved, and have had no issues taking him away with us on some holidays. We don't flaunt him in public, but we do try and give him outside time. In theory, we wouldn't have even been able to take the Eclectus out. I also live seperately to my girlfriend, so the bird would have to stay at home alone if she came over. 

We spoke with as many people as we could including DERM, various people at bird shows, breeders, etc... and really didn't seem to be any way around it. I admit, most people just said they don't care about the restrictions and we should just do it anyway. It was an extremely hard decision since she was originally set on an Eclectus, but decided to stick with the law and still be able to give our bird the life it deserves. What was frustrating was that this basically only applied to the Eccy's :S

Not trying to sound like a rant, just still can't figure out why the Eclectus is a restricted bird...


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## Skelhorn (May 25, 2012)

Basstones said:


> We spent a lot of time doing our research before we bought the Alex. Originally all intentions were definitely getting towards an Eclectus, but ended up going with the Alex purely for licensing reasons. We already had the license, and had no issues with having to maintain records etc...but the conditions that the apply to Eclectus didn't seem fair to the bird. Very similar to reptiles that the bird in theory can't leave the address specified on the license, unless for vet or similar circumstances.
> 
> Our Alexandrine is a companion bird, and spends a large amount of time outside of his cage. He's well behaved, and have had no issues taking him away with us on some holidays. We don't flaunt him in public, but we do try and give him outside time. In theory, we wouldn't have even been able to take the Eclectus out. I also live seperately to my girlfriend, so the bird would have to stay at home alone if she came over.
> 
> ...



Funny that isn't it. My eckies were Solomon eckies and yeah they had to stay at home, yet you can take your amazon, grey, macaw out for a walk with no issues. Load of crap but thats how they are I suppose! 
Recently however sold them to a gentleman in NSW that built them a special Avairy up in the tree's with about 20 other parrots he own so they are doing extremely well!

Licencing for them was a super pain however!



exotic_doc said:


> cost me around $100 hahaha.




score!


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## Basstones (May 25, 2012)

Wow, don't suppose you have any photos of the setup in the trees that you can share? Would be very interested in having a look, had considered something similar for a future project. More than happy to keep private if you don't want publicly shared.


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## Skelhorn (May 25, 2012)

Basstones said:


> Wow, don't suppose you have any photos of the setup in the trees that you can share? Would be very interested in having a look, had considered something similar for a future project. More than happy to keep private if you don't want publicly shared.



I will try and get back into contact with the guy and ask for some photo's...Mind you its what he informed us he was doing. He seemed genuine plus lived on acreages in Northern NSW. Will get onto him and let you know Basstones. Might take a little while tho as I remember he was not good with Mobiles haha!


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## Exotic_Doc (May 25, 2012)

Skelhorn said:


> Funny that isn't it. My eckies were Solomon eckies and yeah they had to stay at home, yet you can take your amazon, grey, macaw out for a walk with no issues. Load of crap but thats how they are I suppose!
> Recently however sold them to a gentleman in NSW that built them a special Avairy up in the tree's with about 20 other parrots he own so they are doing extremely well!
> 
> Licencing for them was a super pain however!
> ...


LOOL i know ay Skelhorn. You can only imagine my reaction when i started making plans to get another one here. Saw the price tag and couldnt believe my eyes, this was like 7 years ago and after owning alot of species my ultimate is still affording an AG here


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## Skelhorn (May 25, 2012)

Exotic_Doc said:


> LOOL i know ay Skelhorn. You can only imagine my reaction when i started making plans to get another one here. Saw the price tag and couldnt believe my eyes, this was like 7 years ago and after owning alot of species my ultimate is still affording an AG here



Yeah that would make ya a bit depressed. Can you get your one over?


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## thals (May 25, 2012)

I absolutely adore these guys since a gorgeous young male bird stole my heart, wish I had the money for one, such amazing animals!


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## Exotic_Doc (May 25, 2012)

Skelhorn said:


> Yeah that would make ya a bit depressed. Can you get your one over?


Haha it is depressing. I have loads of photos of him, i just gotta find them and upload a couple. Nope you cant import exotic birds into the country....


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## Stevo2 (May 26, 2012)

Funny videos 

I'll stick with my zon and gw - they suit our lifestyle better; I dont feel intellectually deficient around these two.... most of the time...


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## jakedasnake (May 26, 2012)

Exotic_Doc said:


> African greys are my fav birds out of all i have owned. He is actually still alive and living with a family member O/S since i cant bring him into oz  and incredibly he actually cost me around $100 hahaha. They are amazingly intelligent ( Check out Alex the african grey on youtube or einstein the AG) Alex would blow your mind away because of how intelligent he is. But you got to be very careful raising any of the medium or large parrots from amazons,eccies,macaws etc.. Because they can really be a big problem and destroy everything


 einstein is so funny


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## Miffy (Nov 6, 2012)

jakedasnake said:


> einstein is so funny




no ones mentioned hahns Macaws. Small bird but the same personality, brains and charisma as its bigger cousins. really great birds, talk clearly and very playful. And just slightly more expensive than an ecelectus $1200 or so for a chick


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