Parrots can make amazing pets. But should they even be pets?

[Peepsi]

Before I start, please understand I do not want to cause debates. I am not poking fingers at people or trying to make parrot owners feel bad for keeping parrots (I am a parrot owner myself). I want people to share their opinions kindly as I feel the parrot community is divided enough and doesn't need more debate. So please consider others as you post.

I just feel I really need to share this with people who have parrots and may be thinking the same thing or people who don't have parrots yet and want advice on what being a parrot parent is like.

To start, I love parrots. I am from Australia, the land of parrots and have grown up seeing wild cockatoos and lorikeets. I now have parrots of my own, all natives; cockatiels, a budgie, princess parrots, a bourke's parrot and currently a galah I'm fostering. I love having them and couldn't imagine life without them now. With the proper time and care they can make amazing lifelong companions...

...However...

...I said they can make amazing companions. I love parrots and I do the best job I can to look after mine, but they are a LOT of work and most people aren't cut out to own them. Here are some of the issues commonly overlooked when you lay your eyes on their cute little faces.

Parrots bite. I hate when I see parrots for sale and the add says they don't bite. They can and will bite when you misread their body language (which you will from time to time). They also scream. You can minimise their screaming along with their biting but there is no such thing as a parrot that doesn't bite or scream. These are just traits most people try to ignore when they get their hyacinth macaw (the bird that can snap broomsticks with those beaks) or their umbrella cockatoo (the parrot known for being so popular but so difficult).

There is also the lifespans. Some cockatoos can live up to 80+ years with some getting over 100 years old. These are the same parrots that are known for their attached-to-one-person issues.

Then there is the cockatoo problem. Now don't get me wrong, I love cockatoos. I see wild ones all the time and have a galah I'm caring for who has the cutest "hello" when he wants attention. But they are probably the most difficult animal I have ever worked with. They are very cuddly and cute with their amazing personalities but they seem to have the idea that the universe revolves around them 24/7. They are very demanding. There are so many videos on the internet of cuddly, playful parrots having the best time with their owners. That shouldn't be your research if you're considering a parrot. That's just the fun, playful part of parrot ownership. These videos don't include the part where your cockatoo turns on you for 'no reason'. Perhaps research should include looking up cockatoo bites on the internet and listening to their screams on youtube with the volume turned up all the way. Now this is not easy to write because my dear galah with his endearing personality is giving me the cutest "hello" as I type why cockatoos are so difficult. But this is just another problem - they are so manipulative. Any cockatoo owner would agree. Now I don't let my galah on my shoulder, he has a lot of behavioural issues I'm working on and having to bribe a bitey, hormonal, short-tempered galah off my shoulder which by the way is right next to my face is just asking for trouble. But he always wants my shoulder, so when I decline he gives the most endearing "hello cocky". Yeah, they're manipulative.

There is also their basic care requirements. There is really no beginner parrot when it comes to this. They all need the same basic care whether a budgie or a macaw.

They need a suitable cage. I keep my parrots in outdoor aviaries so that they get the sunlight that they need and so they can self-entertain when I can't give them attention. If they are kept inside in a smaller cage, they need to be let out daily so they can interact and exercise. They also need toys to destroy. I can't afford to always buy the overpriced toys from pet shops so I give mine native branches to destroy and I'm trying to make safe toys for them. But either way, toys are supposed to be destroyed, that is a sign of a healthy, happy bird.

There is diets. They can't just be fed a pet shop seed mix. They will become deficient in everything and get very sick or die. They should be fed a top quality pellet and veggies. Pellets aren't the be all and end all either. I have done A LOT of research (more than the normal human should perhaps) on parrot diets and most pellets are not all that much better than seeds. I won't get into this too much, perhaps I'll save it for another thread, but it is important to do your homework, consult an avian vet perhaps, do your research on the pellet you're feeding. They should also be fed vegetables daily. I feed this to my parrots every day. I make it in large batches and freeze about a month worth of food for them.
View attachment 1980398
I got the recipe here: https://birdtricksstore.com/collections/main-store/products/natural-feeding-system-digital-download
I know it's kinda pricey but has been amazing for my parrots and taught me so much about diets.

Parrots also need exercise. You'll have to decide whether you'll clip your bird's wings or not. I don't, I personally couldn't clip a bird that is meant to fly. My cockatiels were clipped by the breeder when we got them and one of them broke all his tail feathers when he would try to fly. So now that their feathers have grown back, I couldn't clip them. But whether they're clipped or not, they'll need to get exercise. They also need constant mental stimulation because of their intelligence. Larger parrots like cockatoos, have the cognitive ability of a four year old. Imagine having a four year old that lives for 80 years.

There is also the cost side. Parrots are expensive. I don't just mean the birds themselves (though a macaw or grey in Australia will set you back $4000), I mean the cage; some parrots like macaws are escape artists and need a really secure cage which adds cost, the food; pellets, especially the good ones, are expensive, the toys, t-stands, vet bills; avian vets are not cheap. I could go on.

Now there are some people who do an amazing job as owners and I congratulate them because parrot owning is tough. I see and hear about so many parrots that are not cared for properly and end up re-homed more times than years old they are and that is just sad. My galah is an escaped pet I'm fostering while the owner's being located, he has so many behavioural issues and I think it may be to do with the way he was kept. So I urge you, if you want to get a parrot, do your research, PLEASE, for the bird's sake. See if you can handle all their antics. Some parrots I wonder if they should even be in the pet trade *thinks of white cockatoos*, some people can handle them but many can't. I couldn't own a sulphur crested cockatoo, I get them wild at my house and imagining what a pet one would think seeing his wild friends with a better life is enough to stop me from getting one. They are some of the hardest parrots to own, I don't know if I could handle them.

I think I have gone on enough. I congratulate everyone who read the whole thing. Again, I am not targeting anyone or being a hypocrite. I love having my parrots and though they are A LOT of work, I put in the work because I love these birds and want to do the best by them. Please feel free to share your thoughts on this subject as there are many different opinions and I would love to hear them all. Can we all be kind in the way we post, I'm not judging anyone and I want everyone's opinion heard. If you have parrots or particularly white cockatoos, share some of the best parts and worst parts of owning them. How do you deal with their crazy quirks? Please contribute your experiences to help other people learn so we can all work to better the lives of our pet parrots.

You covered everything that I can see. I wish I could like your post 100x Most people should NOT be parrot owners. There are, as you said, some people out there whose lives are set up in such a way that they can be EXCELLENT parrot owners, but those people are few and far between.

For example, anyone who lives alone and works normal hours should never have a single parrot (outside of two budgies or lovebirds). I do mean, never. African Grey? Macaw? Yellow-headed Amazon? Cockatoo? No no no nononononono.
These birds NEED companionship 24/7, and their mannerisms and culture is so different from a human's, that most people would not know what they need at all.

I owned one parrot in my entire life, and I regret it. He was a little green Parrotlet named Cucumber. I thought he was cute and little, so I bought him when I was a young adult. I worked a regular schedule. I could tell within days that the poor parrot was not happy. Once he got over the shock of being moved to a new house, and when his hormones fully kicked in about a month later, he began to act out. The screaming. The masturbating with his toys. The biting of fingers and toes (I tried to keep him out of the cage as much as possible, but he only wanted to bite everything). I knew he was unhappy, and had no idea how to make him happy. I ended up rehoming him after about 6 months...something ignorant people such as myself end up doing, and then the bird gets shuffled from home to home.

This was in the days before the Internet, so researching parrot care wasn't simple.
But since then, i've educated myself, and know that only a very few segment of the population are cut out to be parrot owners. The best kind of parrot owner is one who can work from home or not work at all, and thus stay with the parrot for long periods of time (as opposed to leaving the house every day for 8 hours minimum to go to work).

Anyway, yes, as other suggested: MAKE AN ARTICLE OUT OF YOUR POST. It is very helpful and there can't be enough of these sorts of articles on the web.

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

I'm trying to encourage my galah to play with toys and self-entertain. I feel so sorry for him because HE'S A GALAH and they're supposed to love playing and being goofballs but I suppose because of his unknown past, he doesn't

Some like toys and some don't. My Amazon likes climbing and chewing up dowels mostly. I buy toys and they never get touched. Mine does like treat hangers, and shredding and dismantling stuff like a cob of corn. She also has a thing for bells. You sometimes need to figure out what your bird wants.

 

[Quailobsessed]

You covered everything that I can see. I wish I could like your post 100x Most people should NOT be parrot owners. There are, as you said, some people out there whose lives are set up in such a way that they can be EXCELLENT parrot owners, but those people are few and far between.

For example, anyone who lives alone and works normal hours should never have a single parrot (outside of two budgies or lovebirds). I do mean, never. African Grey? Macaw? Yellow-headed Amazon? Cockatoo? No no no nononononono.
These birds NEED companionship 24/7, and their mannerisms and culture is so different from a human's, that most people would not know what they need at all.

I owned one parrot in my entire life, and I regret it. He was a little green Parrotlet named Cucumber. I thought he was cute and little, so I bought him when I was a young adult. I worked a regular schedule. I could tell within days that the poor parrot was not happy. Once he got over the shock of being moved to a new house, and when his hormones fully kicked in about a month later, he began to act out. The screaming. The masturbating with his toys. The biting of fingers and toes (I tried to keep him out of the cage as much as possible, but he only wanted to bite everything). I knew he was unhappy, and had no idea how to make him happy. I ended up rehoming him after about 6 months...something ignorant people such as myself end up doing, and then the bird gets shuffled from home to home.

This was in the days before the Internet, so researching parrot care wasn't simple.
But since then, i've educated myself, and know that only a very few segment of the population are cut out to be parrot owners. The best kind of parrot owner is one who can work from home or not work at all, and thus stay with the parrot for long periods of time (as opposed to leaving the house every day for 8 hours minimum to go to work).

Anyway, yes, as other suggested: MAKE AN ARTICLE OUT OF YOUR POST. It is very helpful and there can't be enough of these sorts of articles on the web.

Thank you so much!

It's good when we can acknowledge our past mistakes and help others learn from them.

Thanks for the encouragement. I knew I needed to write this, it's just great to have people to back me up and encourage me. I'm definitely going to turn this into an article.

 

[Quailobsessed]

Hi all.

I have been working on making an article from this thread, I'd added extra info too. I was almost finished, but it seems it's been deleted.

I will start again and hopefully publish it soon, sorry it's taken awhile and thanks again for the suggestion.

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

Let me check into this.

@CarpCharacin

 

[CarpCharacin]

Your article was still there, in fact it was reported by someone else who could see it, but they didn't have permission to comment and rate it. I'm not 100% sure what went wrong, but I deleted and then undeleted your article, and that appears to have corrected the issue.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/what-you-need-to-know-before-you-get-your-parrot.75448/

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

Thanks @CarpCharacin . I knew you could fix it.

 

[CarpCharacin]

@Quailobsessed was your article saved as a draft article before the site upgrade?

 

[Quailobsessed]

@Quailobsessed was your article saved as a draft article before the site upgrade?

Yes it was. It's been published now. I have just edited a couple of things I didn't finish.

Thank you @oldhenlikesdogs.

And @CarpCharacin, Thank you so much for finding it. It has saved me so much time that I'd have to put in to re-write it.

 

[Quailobsessed]

@janiedoe and @Peepsi

Thanks for your suggestion to make this article and encouragement.