How messy are parrots?

[Talithahorse]

I have owned several birds including my African grey, Walter. I also worked at a pet store for a time cleaning all of the bird cages daily. I have to say as a group, the lovebirds tended to be the messiest. My Grey, Walter is not exactly neat and takes great joy in flinging out bird food to the dog who comes to eat it. (I don't understand it either but they have this relationship). Another interesting thing Walter does is to sort out his pellets. Some days he would eat the purple and fling the orange, other days he would collect the red and dump the purple. I guess it is just a game for him but it drives me nuts. Now he has gone through a phase where he refuses to eat the pellets at all.

 

[NNYchick]

I have had a few parrots too. All are messy like everyone said but if you have the time they are an absolute joy to have around. My grey was like having a preschooler in the house you never knew what she would come up with next. Like talithahorse she loves to mess with my dogs. She would call them real sweet over to her cage and sometimes share treats,nip them on the nose and laugh at them or climb on Their back and call out mama, they usually weren’t sure what to do with her so they would come to me (a German shepherd and boxer afraid of a parrot) and she’d get what she wanted a ride to mama. She also had my voice down so she would whistle to them and say who wants a cookie and when they came running in the room she would give out a big belly laugh. She also would make the alarm clock sound and call to my husband to get up, many time he’d come stumbling down stairs only to realize it was too early or Saturday. She had a perch in the shower and would shower with me in the morning singing her little heart out. She really wasn’t loud because she talked or made household noises never really made bird calls. If she was too quiet or muttering to her self you better check on her because she was in to something. I will have another grey someday. She was extremely protective of me because I hand fed her and when I had my son she really didn’t take it well, she would pin her eyes at him and growl when I had him on my arms. I rehomed her to a couple that only had grown children and they had other greys. They would call and give me updates and she had bonded with one of the other greys.

 

[Talithahorse]

that's cool about the ride with on the dogs. Walter figured out pretty early in my children's lives that they could be bribed! He would sidle up to the side of his cage, fluff up and then say "wuv you" which awed the kids. They then brought him treats. He learned to manipulate them way too early but they now adore each other. Soon my bird will go to college for a second time, this time with my daughter. I think he will end up being the first in the family to get a PHD for the number of times he goes to college.

 

[duncan5]

Parrots are messy, but it’s our job as owners to clean up after them. I keep a green wing macaw and I clean her cage and around her cage everyday. If you have been told that it isn’t necessarily to clean a parrots cage that often, you haven’t been told the truth.

 

[Parront]

The real question: are you willing to clean up after the equivalent of a 3 year old every day, for about the next 40 years, or the rest of your life, whichever comes first? If the answer is "NO" then do not get a parrot!

 

[Parront]

That said, I LOVE my parrot. Dylan is my best bud. I take her with me on vacation, or I DO NOT GO!
I take her to the vet as I did with my dog. She eats the food I eat. My bird gets the best care I can afford, as would any other pet -- a dog or cat, or a horse. I might compare the commitment of having a parrot to the level of commitment that a horse owner would have. Horses live ~30 years, but a parrot lives from 40 to 90 years.

 

[duncan5]

...And the noise, and also know that parrots are selfish animals...everything they see belongs to them and whatever you are eating they think should be included in their food bowl and the mood swings, one moment they love you and the next don’t even think about touching it. But I absolutely love how the bird I care for behaves and I wouldn’t change any part of caring for her.
What’s wrong with me?

 

[Parront]

...And the noise, and also know that parrots are selfish animals...everything they see belongs to them and whatever you are eating they think should be included in their food bowl and the mood swings, one moment they love you and the next don’t even think about touching it. But I absolutely love how the bird I care for behaves and I wouldn’t change any part of caring for her.
What’s wrong with me?

"What's wrong with me?" Nothing, if you are owned by an African Grey, or similar parrot.