Greyson & Mateo
If you’ve been following our Instagram account, you’ll notice that we have added two new family members to our lives: Earl Greyson and Yerba Mateo. They’re both named (cleverly if I say so) after teas and are little sweethearts.
Greyson was found in the middle of the road all by himself. Someone has been very kind and has already finger trained him. He’s used to being handled by humans, doesn’t startle easily at all, and is very eager to land on peoples’ heads and shoulders and arms and things. We don’t know where he came from! When he was found, the person that found him went around to all the houses and businesses in the immediate area and asked if he belonged there. No one claimed him, so we decided that he would come home with us. He was perfectly agreeable when placed in a box and was quite personable.
Before he came to the house we obviously needed to obtain a cage and things to entertain him. I left work for lunch and met Miayah at Petsmart. We walked up and down the bird aisle, looking for something that would fit him and possibly a friend in the future. My father has owned birds my whole life, and I remembered that he always gave them lots of room. I also read a bit online about parakeet care, and many websites recommended large horizontal measurements for cages as they tend to fly horizontally, rather than vertically. We picked out a giant $200 cage and grabbed toys, food, treats, and vitamin supplements. We brought the whole rig home and assembled it together so it would be ready when Greyson got to the house. I had to go back to work since lunch was over, so Miayah was in charge of picking him up in his little box.
We had debated getting him a companion the day after we picked him up, but ultimately decided to wait a bit to see how he was doing by himself. We weren’t sure if he was going to be violent to other birds or if he’d love them. We didn’t know his personality yet but we’d quickly find out.
Greyson seemed lonely pretty quickly once we put him in the cage. He was restless and responded very strongly when we played parakeet chirps from YouTube. Miayah and I got worried because he seemed more and more distressed the longer he was alone - not quite to plucking out feathers but enough to be ruffled and fidgety. We ended up buying him a mirror for temporary companionship while he got settled into his new home. When I tell you he was obsessed….. He was absolutely in love with his reflection. He latched onto it so hard. The only way we could get him out of the cage is if we took the mirror with us. He was protective and would make cute burbling noises to it all day.
Based on his behavior with the mirror we decided that a companion would be a good decision. About a week after Greyson came home, we went to the same Petsmart where we picked up the cage and scoped out the birds. There were three little babies, all blue. We picked one out, asked an associate to help us, and quickly found out that they didn’t have any pet boxes! We couldn’t take any of them because there was nothing to put them in. We looked at each other and ultimately decided that a bird is a bird is a bird at that point. We didn’t know personalities, we didn’t know how they’d get along yet, so it wouldn’t matter whether we got a bird from this Petsmart or another. We left and stopped at another Petsmart.
At the second Petsmart there were three parakeet babies, one bright blue that appeared to be female, one medium blue that appeared to be male, and a blue-grey one that also appeared to be male. We are fairly certain that Greyson is a male bird based on the bright blue on his nose so we felt strongly about getting another male. The last thing that we wanted to deal with was eggs and nesting and possible babies. We are NOT prepared to be parents, so a male parakeet was going to be our best bet. Miayah liked the grey one the best, and I thought the medium blue bird had an attitude, so the little grey baby came home with us. While there I bought a bird bath as well.
We’d ordered a little cage from Amazon as a temporary home for a new bird. The internet advises a slow introduction if the birds weren’t purchased at the same time and again, we didn’t know what Greyson’s living conditions were before he came home with us. It was important that we keep them separated but close enough that they could become acquainted. We placed the little grey baby in the small cage and snuggled it up close to the larger cage that would eventually become his home. Greyson ignored the new bird at first, but we quickly figured out why -- he still had his mirror! He’d already bonded with mirror-bird, so why bother with the new one?
We took the mirror out and almost immediately, Greyson realized that someone was answering his chirps. He booked it to the side of the cage where the grey baby was and they started chirping to each other through the bars. At this point, we were really delighted because there was no angry squawking and no crazy reaction, just quiet burbling. At this point, we sat down and talked about names and decided to stick with the tea theme - Yerba Mateo was picked as the best name!
We’d gotten Mateo on a Thursday night. We decided to give the distanced socialization a couple days to see how they’d get along long term. We realized that they genuinely liked each other when we separated them. The big cage is on wheels so if we’re not in the front room of the house where they normally stay, we’ll wheel the cage around so they can continue to hang out with us. The first time I took the little cage to the den, they both went bonkers. It was an urgent, panicked, back and forth that sounded like, “Where are you? Where are you?” They quieted when I brought the cages back together. We knew at that point that they were good to go.
Sunday night we took them out of their respective cages and let them fly around together. They made circles around the room and settled on Miayah’s boyfriend’s arm. They gave each other little bird smooches, and then flew around again to settle on the back of one of the chairs. Mateo seemed a bit more clumsy (this is an understatement) and wanted to follow Greyson around the whole time. Wherever Greyson flew, Mateo would be close behind. Greyson eventually flew back to the big cage and climbed in. Mateo went in too!
Now at this point, Greyson is now realizing that someone else is in his space, and Mateo doesn’t understand how personal space works. He’s squishing himself against Greyson at every moment possible. Greyson squawked for a while, and they chased each other around the cage, Mateo knocking against Greyson over and over. We took them back out of the cage and let them fly around again for a bit and they ultimately went back into the big cage together. They settled. They like each other! It’s a happy ending to a crazy ordeal. They slept in the big cage together last night and they seemed 100% fine this morning. I’m so glad that they can be friends.
All that’s left now is socializing Mateo. He is NOT finger trained and absolutely terrified of hands. Do you have any suggestions on how to finger train a parakeet? This is new territory for us and we’d love ideas.