OVERVIEW
This article’s goal is to give novice pet parrot owners a comprehensive guide. Although the Romans kept parrots as pets long before this, parrots have been revered since the first live bird was brought into the UK in 1504 and until now. When given the right care and attention, parrots can live long lives, making them not just a great pet but also a new family member and lifelong friend for your home.
CAGES
This is the first significant purchase you will make before choosing your new friend; pet stores provide a wide range of patterns and styles at different price points. Although there is no right or wrong cage, maintaining and cleaning a simpler design will be less work. Keep in mind that your parrot will cheerfully spend a significant portion of the day in its cage and will treat it as its own territory. For this reason, the cage should be as large as possible and should at least allow the bird to expand its wings.
It is necessary to cover the bottom of the cage with a replaceable material; wood shavings or shredded paper work well, but they tend to blow around and cause a mess. The best floor covering is old newspaper, this is cheap and readily available so that it can be changed daily.
The cage’s location is crucial as well. The employment of canaries to identify hazardous gasses in coal mines is due to birds’ high sensitivity to fumes and gases. Move the cage to a room with excellent ventilation if you smell something or observe any fumes. Cleaning supplies, aerosol sprays, fresh paint, cooking gas, cooking oil, self-cleaning ovens, carbon monoxide from home boilers, automobile exhaust, and other sources can all produce odors. No cage should be placed in the kitchen since regular cooking fumes can be lethal.
Since draughts can cause cages to become overheated, it is best to avoid placing them near doors or in windows. Even better, keep cages out of direct sunshine. The cage needs to have a method added to it.
WEIGHT LOSS OR FILLER?
You should feed your parrot at least once a day, giving it titbits whenever they are available. The majority of pet stores sell “parrot mix” or perhaps parrot pellets, but neither one is a complete meal. Every day, a healthy assortment of fresh fruits and vegetables have to be provided. If offered, peanuts should be labeled for human consumption since pet stores occasionally sell peanuts that are contaminated with a fungus that can cause aflatoxin poisoning. Everything that we eat, such as cooked fish, cooked meat and bones, canned fruit, cheese, and simple biscuits, can be consumed in moderation. But since avocados are toxic to parrots, neither chocolate nor avocado should be offered to them. (Recently conducted enhanced research has confirmed that there is no ‘one size fits all’ diet for all parrots. Many companies now produce various mixes for Macaws, African parrots, Parakeets, Lories, overweight birds or breeding birds, etc.
KEEPING POLLY CONTENT
Even if its cage is its castle, your parrot needs to be let outside at least once a day under supervision. If you leave your parrot outside unsupervised, it may gnaw on wall paper or furniture.
Pet stores today sell a broad variety of toys, the best of which are constructed from natural materials like wood and hemp rope. Since the goal of these toys is to provide your bird with objects to gnaw on and destroy, common household items like cardboard boxes and empty toilet rolls work just as well. It also needs freshly chopped branches from nonpoisonous trees. Additionally, attempt to place items like substantial pieces of fruit atop the cage so that the bird has to climb up to get it, thus exercising your parrot.
CHOOSING YOUR NEW ANIMAL COMPANION
Choosing the correct bird involves making a number of decisions: imported (i.e., wild captured) birds are typically less expensive, but some juvenile birds can never adapt to a cage life, and there’s also a higher chance the bird could be ill. (No longer relevant in 2018, as importation without a special license was outlawed in 2005.) A bird that has been bred in captivity, or an aviary, will be far better acclimated to a household environment. Hand-reared birds are more expensive but also much more desired because they will already be hand-tame and potentially even speak. Another option is to select an adult bird that has been a pet for someone else, however this has the drawback that the bird may be attached to one person and may utter phrases that are unacceptable in its new environment!
Always select a healthy bird, defined as one with bright eyes, a vigorous gait, and feathers kept tightly against the body. The bird with fluffed feathers should be left alone, as it will spend the majority of its slumber gripping the perch with both feet. These days, a lot of breeders and merchants sell birds that have undergone testing for specific illnesses. If your pet exhibits these symptoms, consult a veterinarian with experience treating birds.
Although the males and females of many species are identical, some veterinarians offer surgical sexing, and other businesses that advertise in the bird press offer DNA sexing from a feather. For your bird, the latter approach is the safer.
In the event that your bird is lost or stolen and later found, being able to positively identify it is crucial. There are other techniques to permanently brand your bird, such as closed rings, which are steel bands that are placed around the leg of the little chick. These rings, which frequently have the breeder’s initials and the year the chick hatched on them, cannot be taken off or attached to adult birds as they develop. The parrot is given tiny electronic chips called micro-chips, which are about the size of a rice grain. For the remainder of the bird’s life, they remain under the skin and are scanned by a scanner to provide a unique numerical or letter code.
The method used for moving your parrot will depend on its particular temperament. It is better to relocate your worried bird into a tiny wooden box so it can’t hurt itself by running against the bars of a huge cage and feel safer in a darkened setting. Your bird may be moved in its cage if it is extremely steady; in fact, many parrots love taking drives once they become used to it.
Many breeders offer birds that have been raised with other animals so they are accustomed to them, which is beneficial if you already have other pets like cats or dogs. However, young birds typically tolerate other animals with no problems. Likewise with children, some birds will readily accept youngsters running around, but remember, large parrots have large beaks which can deliver a painful bite if provoked, so it may be as well to choose a smaller species to start with.
Neighbors: Keep in mind that certain larger parrot species can be very noisy, so it would be polite to inquire whether your neighbors would complain or if they would rather have a quieter parrot species, like a Senegal or Meyer’s Parrot.
Given that some parrots can live up to 100 years, it may be necessary to include provisions for their care in your will.