By Jezenia Ali
The straight forward, simple answer to this commonly asked question? Absolutely not!
Here's why:
You may be surprised at this answer coming from me, someone who owns 9 of her own birds and who has dedicated her life to the training and research of the psittacine family. However, I state this answer with all of my knowledge and personal experience from my years of working with birds, as well as the information I have gathered from other professionals and everyday parrot owners.
Yes, parrots can seemingly make adorable and intelligent companion animals, and while that is true to an extent one simple fact remains: Parrots are not a domesticated class of animal. Yep you read that right. No species of parrot is domesticated, meaning that they are not designed to live or coexist with humans. They are wild animals, just as wild as tigers or elephants.
Thus, coexisting peacefully with parrots is an extremely difficult and time consuming task. No, it is not impossible. Myself and many others have mastered this task. However, it takes a great deal of patience, time, money and space to accomplish.
These are things that most people do not have readily available. So before we get into the positive side of the parrot owning experience, here are reasons why parrots are in all honesty, one of the worst pets you could choose to own:
The Expense:
The start up costs to prepare for a new parrot alone are extremely high if you are doing things the right way. You will need to purchase a spacious and appropriate cage that is made with metal that is safe for birds to be in contact with, such as stainless steel. This alone can cost you hundreds to thousands of dollars depending on the size of the cage. Remember, the bigger the cage the better!
In addition to this, you will need to buy high quality pellets, and budget enough money for fresh produce for chop either weekly or monthly. (This will depend on how you prepare and store your chop.)
You will also need to purchase enough good quality perches, bowls, puzzles to create a fun and enriching environment within their cage. Plenty of toys are also needed to last until your next toy purchase. (Remember, bird toys are meant to be destroyed daily! Toys are not a long term investment.)
There are other items and costs you will need to think about as well, such as a travel cage or carrier, a training course, insurance, a play stand, training stand, training equipment, treats and so on.
Your home will also need to be thoroughly bird proofed for the safety and well being of your parrot.
Parrots also need to receive specialized medical care from an experienced avian vet specialist. Any other vet simply will not do. These bills can be substantially high.
2. The Mess:
Oh, the mess! Parrots have to be one of the messiest pets ever! They absolutely love to shred and destroy everything, (A behavior that should not be discouraged) as this is one of the things that comes most naturally to a bird.
They also can not really be potty trained, and therefore poop everywhere. And boy is there plenty of poop! Bird's metabolisms are extremely fast and they therefore can poop every 10-15 minutes, so be prepared to be spot cleaning continuously, and doing a thorough clean every day or two.
3. The Time:
If you work all day every day, please do not get a bird. I have seen it all too often, that people buy birds and they are left to sit in their cage from morning until evening, and then, if they're 'lucky', thy are taken out and interacted with at night when they should be sleeping!
Parrots should be out of their cage or in an aviary for most of the day. If they must spend a large portion of time in their cage, their owners need enough time to take them out, train with them and exercise them for a few hours at least. (And this should be during the day!)
It also takes a lot of time to formulate and provide the correct routine and diet for your birds. You should be providing fresh chop as the majority of your bird's diet. Chop recipes can take time to make, package and store, if you are making it in bulk for the week or month.
To try and make a bird live any other way is cruel, negligent and unnecessary.
4. The Commitment:
Parrots are not an animal who you'll have around for a few years.
The average small parrot or parakeet lives for 10-15 years but most can live much longer than that. The average medium to large parrot lives for 60-80 years. Some birds like cockatoos have been recorded to live to over 100 years old!
So best believe that they are a lifetime commitment, and a responsible parrot owner will have their bird in their will and be sure of where they will go once they are no longer around to care for them.
Also bear in mind that parrots are a highly complex species in every way, and so leaving on holiday very often should not be an option in your mind, even if you have someone who is knowledgeable taking care of them. This is because you are your bird's flock, and in the wild, a bird will hardly ever (if ever) be separated from their flock members for long periods of time. Leaving your bird in the care of just anyone when you do go away should also not be an option, as birds need to be cared for by someone that they trust, that understands them and that knows how to deal with them.
Talk about commitment!
5. The Noise:
Most parrots are notorious for being extremely loud. While some species such as African Greys, are quieter, even they can have their moments or repetitive sharp noises. The loudest parrots, like cockatoos, can reach well over 150 decibels. For context, 120 decibels can cause immediate damage to human ears. (Ouch!) But even species who are listed further down on the list of noise levels are not exempt from causing a lot of noise.
For example, Amazons are noisy, but not one of the noisiest. My first Amazon is practically silent, but my second can easily reach 130 decibels, and my third amazon is louder than some cockatoos that I have met, meaning he can reach 150 decibels+.
So noise levels can depend largely on the individual. Size and species can mean very little or nothing when it comes to how loud a bird can get!
6. The Behavioural Issues:
Most, if not all of my clients who raised their parrots from chick or quite young, have had behavioural issues pop up once their bird reaches sexual maturity and often times before then too. Parrots can be the sweetest, friendliest little creatures when they are young or not in breeding season. But literally within a day or even a few hours, you can be sitting with a completely different bird. This can be extremely distressing for a doting owner. But this is simply a fact: Parrots are unpredictable and highly emotional creatures. There is no changing that, and they need to be lived with according to their nature.
Again, parrots are wild animals, who need to be respected. They can and will bite and scream as a form of communication. Every parrot owner will encounter biting, screaming or aggression at some point in their bird's life, and you cannot discipline your bird! Discipline does not exist or register in a parrot's mind, and will often if not always make the behaviour worse. Therefore, you will need to be well prepared and equipped to deal with these issues when they arise.
Plucking or self mutilation is another common issue that results from poor state of health or mentality. This is another behaviour that can drastically change your bird and their bond with you.
The Pros of Parrot Ownership:
Well now that we have gone through a list of what I would consider the main reasons on why not to get a parrot, let me not be all doom and gloom, and give you a few reasons on why getting a parrot can be a positive thing:
Yes, at the end of the day, there are hundreds of parrot rescue centers, with thousands of parrots looking for a second chance at life. If you are equipped with everything you need to own a bird, you could be an angel in a rescue parrot's life.
Now please bear in mind that buying a bird, baby or adult, from a breeder who keeps them in a pitiful state is not rescuing them. It's just feeding the vicious cycle called the pet trade. But that is a discussion for another day.
Adopting your bird from a reputable rescue can be an amazing experience! Most of my birds are rescues, and each one has changed my heart in their own small way. Bonding with and gaining the trust of a once broken or unloved parrot is a time consuming feat that is worth every ounce of effort.
2. Intelligent Companions:
While the fact that bringing home a parrot is the equivalent to bringing home a forever toddler doesn't change, it does come with it's perks. Let's face it, toddlers can be some super entertaining and surprisingly bright little humans, even if they do drive us mad sometimes!
Parrots can be similar. Their high level of intelligence means that they have a greater emotional understanding of their humans than most animals, with whom they often match their energy to.
You may catch your parrot saying or doing something at a moment that is so perfect that you'll have a giggle about it for a long time to come.
Parrots are also incredibly social creatures, so they are often quite content to sit with their humans and fellow birds and just relax, preen, rouse and chat.
3. The Community:
Parrot owners who care for their birds in the best possible way often find themselves drawn into large communities of parrot owners across the world.
These communities, when run by the right people, can be fun, interactive, inspiring and informative. You can find these communities through forums online, Facebook groups and in person groups that are sometimes run by rescues.
Naturally Captive has a private Facebook group and a free flight club that anyone can join below.
Naturally Captive Facebook group: https://www.facebook.com/share/GNv7jceVnMJcWZhP/
Naturally Captive's Free Flight Club:
4. Bonding Through Training:
Training with your parrot is an unbelievably special way of bonding with an animal. Whether you stick to indoor and trick training, or you venture into the beauty of
outdoor free flight, there is nothing quite like achieving a full understanding of your bird.
My personal favourite training includes free flight, clicker, target and trick training.
My bird's skills vary according to their species, age and temperament, but they all have their favourite cues and routines, and eagerly look forward to their training sessions each day. And so do I!
Advice for the aspiring parrot owner...
There are so many other reasons why I personally find the parrot owning experience unbelievably enjoyable. But those reasons boil down to my individual birds and experience. Other parrot owners find their own reasons and you will too if you decide to take this journey, and do so properly.
My biggest piece of advice if you do decide to get a parrot? Research and preparation. And some more preparation. And some more research. You can never learn enough about what is best for your bird. Ever. So never stop reading up about them and being open to learning more. The information we have access to now days is never ending and always evolving, so always keep an open mind and be willing to change aspects of your parrot's husbandry.
If you would like to start off your new bird on the right foot, take one of our courses and get access to one on one lessons and live guidance on succeeding in your parrot owning experience!
I hope this article was helpful, and if it was, please SUBSCRIBE to this blog for future articles that will cover a variety of parrot related topics. If you have any questions don't hesitate to contact us.
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