Casper

Hi all. It’s been a while since I last did an update so here it goes.

Casper is now converted onto a pelleted diet, it was a battle of wills but I won in the end!!! He gets a small amount of seed in the morning with his toast and palm oil, then pellets for the rest of the day. He does eat small amounts of fresh veg, particularly cooked carrots and broccoli. He much prefers cooked rather than raw, in fact I would assume lightly steamed would be more to the fussy blighters tastes haha.

He goes out into the garden a few times a week in his travel cage. He distinctly hates the neighbour’s raucous tones as when she gets home from work, he gets more vocal usually ending up with a repeated screeching ‘stoppit’!!! He does some great bird noises and police sirens which is not so pleasant.

Whilst still been quite unpredictable, we have real progress. He used to only step up when he was been amorous or when flying to me. Now, with a bribe of a grape, he steps up pretty reliably. I am so pleased with him for starting to trust me more. He still dislikes everyone but me and evening visitors are a bit of a pain as thats when he comes out. If I can’t avoid a visit, I just alter what I am doing and he comes out earlier.

He has a new playstand and whilst he now goes on it, he doesn’t really play on it. He gets his treats on there, seeds hidden in the ropes etc but once they are gone, he returns to his homemade apple branch stand. His love is to play on the floor, shredding the Argos catalogue and playing ‘one,two, three with a rolled up ball of paper’. God that bird can launch it high!!! His favourite toys, despite my generosity are empty crisp packets and plastic water bottles. Typical eh?

Well it has been a while since I last updated Casper’s blog. He is so much part of our family now that one day just runs into another and before you know it time has flown.

He still clearly favours me although due to his moult, he is rather grumpy at the moment. He chooses when and where he has any interaction with me. He is still not keen on my daughter who is rather disappointed but she has been working hard with him, feeding him his toast and palm oil, filling up his food bowls and sitting chatting to him. He has perfected so many sounds and whistles, some of which he may have known in his previous home. I don’t think he will be a prolific talker though as he prefers to make noises and doesn’t seem to pick any words up too readily. He does like to screech ‘stoppit’ at the kids when they get too loud, and in my voice too haha. He shouts ‘get down’ at the dogs if they dare think they can have a snooze on the sofa!

He comes outside with me most afternoons and makes the most sweet bird noises. He did shout ‘stoppit’ at the neighbours a few times when they were having a raucous BBQ…ooops. I have just bought him an amazing new playstand and as soon as he dares get on it I will of course post some pictures.

Is he still stroppy??? You bet he is but I can read him a lot better now and am still yet to be bitten ( probably tempted fate there). He is rather mischievous and looks up to check you are watching him when you should be ignoring his naughtiness.

He is tentatively trying Harrison pellets now but its a long hard road to get him to have any. He still has his seed mix and loves cooked veg. Every night he gets bribed back into his cage with a slice of orange.

He is hard work and my whole routine had to change because of him. I don’t regret it for a moment though. He is such a handsome boy. Every time I walk in the room I call Hello Darling….would be nice, just one time Casper, if you could say it to me haha

I will  have pictures of his new big present in the next few weeks so call back soon

Well we finally did it……. After some serious modification of a dog crate, we made ourselves an outdoor cage. Casper wasn’t slow in getting in actually much to my surprise. He had a good half hour outside in the sunshine and did a bit of stationary flying on his perch. He loved hearing all the birds and was soon mimicking them. The next door neighbour was in his shed making a bit of noise and Casper kept going ‘OH’ every time he heard him. Then the neighbour did a really loud sneeze and Casper, as quick as a flash, said ‘bless you!!!’

He is back inside now but will not go back into his lovely big cage, he has himself all fluffed up and cosy on his perch grinding his beak getting down to his afternoon nap.

I am so pleased he liked it. I was sat with him in the sun thinking that I had always dreamed of been able to be outside with my Grey and now I have done it.

Will put my thinking cap on for an idea as to our next adventure.

Well well well. So much for been scared of new toys…. Casper is really wary of new things like most Greys. I usually leave a new toy on the floor by his cage for a couple of days then hang it on the outside until he shows an interest in it. Then it gets put inside for him. I had been in the loft and found all the baby toys we had put aside for when we got a Grey. This particular one is a shape sorter. Every hole has a button which when pressed or the shape is put in makes a noise. Also when your hand or in his case his head goes in the top of the jar, it plays a tune.

Well I put it down on the floor as usual and he was off the top of his cage and on it like a bird posessed!!!! Ok so he hasn’t worked out the shape thing yet but loves pressing the numbers and repeating what it says……Circle hahaha, Heart I love you etc etc. He does enjoy putting all the shapes in the jar and then getting them out again. He was so tired as we put the shapes one end of the room and the jar the other. So funny to see him running back and forth haha. He did not want anyone joining in beyond that though. Its my game and I am not good at sharing yet thanks very much!!!!

He was at it for over 2 hours and not a peep from him except the incessant noise the toy makes haha. My sofa was left alone last night hahaha.

Here is a photo of Casper sitting proud on his new home made play stand that we made him!

He seems really proud of it!!

And one of the main man just because its a cute pic!