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My African grey. Rescue from the RSPCA 27 years ago when I was 14 years old. Been with me ever since. No idea how old he is
 

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My African grey. Rescue from the RSPCA 27 years ago when I was 14 years old. Been with me ever since. No idea how old he is

The are absolut funny birds.. We once addopted one, his previous owner passed away.. And it needed a home for a few months, so a relative living in an other country could come and pick him up. We knew it was named Coco but not how old he realy was. But alledged over 30 years old. And he was a very vicious but true comedian at heart, he accepted nothing and nobody near his cage. Feeding him was a challenge not to loose a finger. But he could talk and sing like a champion and learned realy fast. He wistlled complete tunes such as the Radetzky March from Johann Strauss. Back then we also had a dog and he always was bullying the dog with making noises to draw her attention and call her name and say "Come!?" with a very affectionate tone. Than the studip dog came close to look and snif and when it was close enough the darn parrot squealed and banged his beak into the cage to startle the dog. He did this at least once a week.

One night i came home from a night drinking with friends.. And Coco went completely bonkers and saying "Coco sweet" and maded kissing sounds and wanted out of the cage. I was tipsy enough to take my changes, he won me over and opened it. He immediately came to me climbed onto my shoulder and sat for over an hour talking like mad nibbling my ears, nose and hairs and acted realy happy. All of a sudden the sweetest and best parrot one could imagine. Next morning after me taking a shower and having breakfast he was back to visious again.

After asking around it seemed his previous owner was an Alcoholic.. It was the smell of beer the bird associated with his best friend. That made the difference for him, drink a beer and he was your best friend ever and eat out of your mouth. :lol:
No beer smell and he would try to kill you.
 
The are absolut funny birds.. We once addopted one, his previous owner passed away.. And it needed a home for a few months, so a relative living in an other country could come and pick him up. We knew it was named Coco but not how old he realy was. But alledged over 30 years old. And he was a very vicious but true comedian at heart, he accepted nothing and nobody near his cage. Feeding him was a challenge not to loose a finger. But he could talk and sing like a champion and learned realy fast. He wistlled complete tunes such as the Radetzky March from Johann Strauss. Back then we also had a dog and he always was bullying the dog with making noises to draw her attention and call her name and say "Come!?" with a very affectionate tone. Than the studip dog came close to look and snif and when it was close enough the darn parrot squealed and banged his beak into the cage to startle the dog. He did this at least once a week.

One night i came home from a night drinking with friends.. And Coco went completely bonkers and saying "Coco sweet" and maded kissing sounds and wanted out of the cage. I was tipsy enough to take my changes, he won me over and opened it. He immediately came to me climbed onto my shoulder and sat for over an hour talking like mad nibbling my ears, nose and hairs and acted realy happy. All of a sudden the sweetest and best parrot one could imagine. Next morning after me taking a shower and having breakfast he was back to visious again.

After asking around it seemed his previous owner was an Alcoholic.. It was the smell of beer the bird associated with his best friend. That made the difference for him, drink a beer and he was your best friend ever and eat out of your mouth. :lol:
No beer smell and he would try to kill you.

That's African greys for you! Draw you in and then take a chunk out of you before you know it's happened. Mine (Arnie) is the same with other people. They pair with one person and after that there is no way anyone else is going near (excluding young greys which are as soft as you like). Fortunately for me Arnie has paired with me and only very, very rarely tries to bite but nothing too bad even then. He's completely soft and friendly with me

I've got a similar story to you post a night out. Few beers, came home with a mate of mine, he asked several times "if I try and touch him will be bite me", to which I replied "yes, 100%, several times" but with a bit of booze head on and the confidence that brings he went to touch him and then a few seconds later had a stream of blood running of the end of his finger!

Arnie chats like crazy and copies what people say exactly how they say it, so much so you'd think that person he's copying was in the room. He also associates time of day or events with words, so if a guest is leaving the house he always says "bye, bye", late in the evening he says "goodnight Arn" a lot until you cover him up, if my parents dog comes over he barks at him, whilst telling him "bad, bad, get down". He's a lot of fun to be around and all in all is a pretty content bird

They are wonderful pets but they will be with you forever and it's not fair on them if people get them as pets in later life (the person being in later life I mean) as the bird at some point will need to be rehomed and it will probably struggle with that. Outside of that, I know of couples who have wanted one. They then get this perfectly friendly, young and playful bird that will happy be passed to anyone for a couple or 3 years until they start to mature, then they (the parrot) picks which person they like and that's then their partner and the other person from there on in becomes someone to attack given the chance. Arnie is fine being out of his cage with other people, basically as long as no one goes near him, he won't go near them. I do know people though that don't enjoy the same and their parrot will actively hunt out anyone in the room that isn't the person they like, and I do mean hunt. So anyone reading in be warned, they are good fun but equally challenging. I just hate the thought of these guys being bounced from home to home as people don't understand them
 
Nice to see them outside their cage, are they very friendly?
Well I got the female first, not hand fed just a young bird which made it easier to get attached to me. I got the male ( the grey one) to keep her company . He is not as tame and will not accept handling. He just knows when it's time to ho back in the cage.
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Nice colour, is his name marmalade?

He indeed has a striking colour that's rarely seen in European housecats he glows almost orange in the sun. I can see why you think his name must be Marmalade. He's has the M on his forehead. It sure fits.
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He doesn't have an undercoat and his fur feels extremely soft and silky. He's also quite tall and long legged and has a very gentle character. :) He's my gentle giant not a grain of fat but still almost 8 kilo's. Beeing out of the ordenary also seems to come with a price, he developed a skin condition and diagnosed with an autoimmune disease called Atopic Dermatitis. Doomed to be on medication for the rest of his life - Sporimune. Without it he gets painfull skin infections and licks and scratches himself hairless. And with the medication he suffers side effects. But i think i found the correct dosage so he has the least trouble with both.

When he still was a kitten i called him Lucifer, becuase of his striking glowing fur in the sun. But his gentle soul, that name didn't suite him. Since Lucifer is Disneys Evil Cat..
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His name actualy cannot realy be translated into English.. It's something local and when you hear it would sound to you as "Yoopie The Poopie"

Yoopie is short for the name Joseph and somebody realy sweet and gentle is a Poopie. And its also a saying that got popularized by a host from a television program for kids from the 1980's.
 
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