updownbird

Parrots can make wonderful pets. With their wide variety of personalitys and playfullness, they can make great pets for people who are willing to care for them properly.

Parrots kept in captivity are still wild animals by nature. Their natural curiosity, sensitivity, intellect, playfulness, and ability to form close ties with humans can make them wonderful companions for those who know what birds need to be happy. these same characteristics, however, that make parrots so intriguing are the very same ones that make them extremely difficult to live with as companion animals. Many parrots find themselves homeless as their natural behaviors and needs clash with human expectations. If you are intrested in having a parrot as a pet, please research and find out if you can live with these traits

Unlike dogs and cats, parrots clearly choose whom they wish to form strong bonds with. You may love your parrot, but it may not necessarily offer you unconditional love in return. Many parrots will bond with only one person.

In the wild birds keep the flock together by using loud calls. These loud calls come with every parrot. To prevent excessive screaming, birds require hours of daily interaction with you.

Professionally trained bird shows can lead people to perceive parrots as objects of entertainment and decoration, and raise expectations that a parrot will perform similarly at home. Sadly, the fact that parrots can communicate with people in human language has also become their curse. Many parrots simply do not learn or choose to speak.

Birds are meant to fly and to be with other birds. No bird is meant to be caged. Confinement in cages can lead to neurotic behavior, excessive screaming, feather plucking, self-mutilation, obesity, and other destructive habits.

Parrots are mischievous and territorial. They sometimes view others—even family members—as intruders and can display jealously towards them. They'll often resort to aggression to keep intruders away from their mate or chosen human or to protect their domain. As prey animals, birds can be naturally suspicious and defensive around strangers or in unfamiliar situations.

A parrot's beak is the equivalent of a human's hands. Birds use their beaks for a variety of activities that enable them to survive. They use their beaks to eat, to preen, and to feel and hold objects. They also use them for aggressive and defensive behaviors. In the wild, the beaks of macaws and cockatoos are powerful enough to chew through tree branches and in captivity, their beaks are no less powerful. Parrots do not know the difference between a sanctioned bird toy and their homes' woodwork, so they can do great damage if left unsupervised. Careful for birds that chew on people too!

In the wild, parrots spend a great deal of time foraging for highly varied, seasonal diet. Because of the different nutritional needs of the various species, individual tastes, and the tactile and social nature of eating, feeding a parrot is not as simple as feeding a dog or cat. It requires daily dedication to purchasing, preparing, and serving a variety of vegetables, fruits, nuts, seeds, pellets, and "people foods" such as pasta, rice, and beans.

Parrots in their natural habitats drop the remains of their food to the ground, thus feeding creatures below and distributing seeds. In your home, they treat your carpet as the forest floor.

Birds have extreme sensitivities to products not otherwise considered dangerous to cats and dogs. Among these are many household cleaning products, personal care products, candles, air fresheners, building materials, paints, glues, plants, foods, and especially toxic fumes emitted by non-stick coated household appliances and tools such as cookware, self-cleaning ovens, hair dryers, irons, and heaters. People who live with birds must be very careful about the products they use in their homes.

Many of the larger species of parrots can live to 80 years in captivity. Parrots are a lifetime commitment—the equivalent of caring for a special-needs child for the rest of its life. Make sure that you have a plan as to who will care for the bird if something should happen to you.

The reality is that not all parrots talk, not all parrots choose to bond with humans, not all parrots are tame, not all parrots want to amuse and please people on command. However, all parrots do bite, do scream, do chew, do make messes, and do demand intensive care and interaction. Terms like "hand-tame," "hand-raised," "hand-fed," and "domestically-bred" are misunderstood. They often mislead uneducated consumers to assume they are getting a companion animal that is tame, loving, well-behaved, and will not bite. Many times these "hand-fed" birds grow up now knowing how ot act like a bird, they then end up with behavioral problems.

The worst thing you can do is buy a bird on impluse. You need to be prepared to deal with the time and work involved with birds. Also make sure that if you have a bird that you do not reward any bad behavior by giving it attention. If the bird is screaming don't shout at it, this just reinforces the birds idea that if it wants your attention all it has to do is scream.