Someone please assure me this winged beast (and I mean that in the nicest possible way) is going to stop cowering the corner and eat something. I haven’t seen it go near the food or water. I have not seen it go anywhere. It sits on the perch.
My parrot was very wild when I got her (despite the fact that she was hand raised.) She would not let me touch her and would strike at my hand, bristle and puff her feathers up, etc. etc. This went on for months.
It took me a long time to get her moderately tamed, but she will still give me the puffy feather treatment when she is in a mood and will strike at my hand a few times a week. She IS getting better all the time, but she has her moods. I suggest patience, patience, patience. I suspect that yours is eating and drinking, just that you haven’t seen it.
If he is like my birds, he is eating and drinking when you are not around to look at him. Because he is shy right now. If he is pooping regularly, then he has been eating. He should be willing to eat the same food he was eating at his old home. Greys do not always trust new food, and may not even recognize new food, or food in a radically diffferent place. Eating something in front of him and chewing with your mouth open will encourage him to try new stuff, but he will still need “old style” food for a while. Make sure his water is in the same format as before: if its a hamster bottle, provide one, if its a ceramic bowl, more of the same.
He does seem to be pooping. That does imply he is eating. Still, I have never seen a more timid bird. (But then this is the first one I have ever taken into a new environment.
It is almost bedtime, that means we are coming up on 24 hours.
I will make a point of refilling his nasty, dirty little water thing from the pet shop. Maybe that will help.
Thanks.
I’m asking this in jest, but if the book says to leave the bird alone for a few days, why does it sound like you’ve taken some time off from work to be home with the parrot… 
Any chance of a picture, Paul?
That’s pretty wild about the peppers. You’d think it would burn their lips.
Most parrots get by without lips.
At the pet store where I used to shop, all of the baby parrots would always rush to eat the peppers first, then line up on top of the cage and beg people to kiss them. Of course, any human who fell for this would get stinging lips from the pepper on their beaks. This is a small price to pay for learning not to kiss strange birds.
Hey Paul in Saudi, try napping in front of the bird, or watching a movie and falling asleep. That seems to boost birdy self-confidence.
If he came from the shop with a water bottle, like what rodents use, I’d replace it with a water-cup-- you can see the water’s state and will change it more often.
Try eating in front of him-- like, have your dinner in the same room where he can see you. They’re flock animals and will eat with the flock and often another person eating will prompt their appetites.
If he still doesn’t eat soon, try giving him something he can’t resist.My parrot Murphy, who is another kind of parrot but from about the same region as a grey, loves pasta, corn bread, safflower seeds, and green grapes. If they sent him home with pellets it might just not be appetizing enough. In general, don’t worry too much. They’re sensitive, but he’ll get over it as soon as he’s a little more used to things.
I am off work because it is the weekend here (We use a Thursday/Friday) weekend. Next week is off because of the Eid. (I hope everyone had a good Ramadan.)
In any case, I am sitting in my bedroom waiting for the sun to rise, so the bird gets a full ten hours of shut eye. Then I will go in there and more or less ignore the bird while I go about my normal morning routine.
I am sure that the Magnificent Winged Beast will adapt.
The comment about eating in front of Onan reminded me of a janday that a friend had. She fed him by hand when he was a new peep, and was always asking him, “Is that good?” Full grown, he’d hop off his cage, walk over to where she was eating and ask her, “Is that good?” before snitching stuff off her plate. 
He (or She) is better this morning. Having abandoned (and knocked down) its hiding perch, it is now hanging upside down and calling out. This is the behavior I saw in the pet shop.
It is moving around and will (I suspect) run across food and water if only by Brownian Motion.
Anyway, a bit more activity in the bird cage this morning.
Hear that sound? Twern’t no passing parrot.
I do miss friend Charlie’s Lolita. Even beyond our circle that bird’s intelligence was legendary. They’ve been together for twenty five and a bit of change now, much longer than any of his girlfriends lasted.
I am happy to report The Magnificent Winged Beast is pooping green. That implies it is eating the vegetables I put in the cage. And so, we can presume he is also eating other stuff.
He is also playing with the toys now. He seems to like the sound they make.
OK, the parrot seems to be OK.
Name him “Onan”.
Darn it!
Gotta read the whole thread before I post…
No doubt, a fast crowd here at SDMB.
In any case, he is eating quite well now, and I presume he has found the water too. He is watching the Music Now channel and I expect him to sing in quarter tones in no time at all.
(Are they supposed to sleep hanging upside down, or the animal simply trying to freak me out?)
That depends. Does your parrot have the brown furry plumage and leathery wings?
Seriously, I don’t know. When I took care of a friend’s Gray she slept in a normal upright position. But she did like to hang upside down a lot as well. It might just be trying to be funny - they can have a wicked sense of humor.
I am leaving the lights on until the thing finds a right-side-up perch. I have a vision of a loud ‘keplunct’ in the night as it falls to the floor.
Silly bird.