Parrots Are a Lot More Than ‘Pretty Bird’
nytimes.com
nytimes.com
During the heat period, she began communicating with a parrot from a nearby building block (with high pitched screams which penetrate concrete).... One day we accidentally left the window open and she flew right out to find her love.
We never saw her again, but at least I know that she followed her heart ... But she took the love away from our home. Six months later me and my wife of 8 years were divorced. I'm not saying we did it because of the parrot, but somehow I feel like it had something to do with it. There was also a puppy involved, which I found a month after the bird flew away, but I won't go into that now.
Pets are more than just cute animals living in our house. The whole dynamic of the relationship, the definition of "home" changes when we get a new pet or when a pet leaves or dies.
Have you noticed that dogs resemble their owners ? Well, I think it goes both ways - the owners pick up some traits from their pets too.
I don't think psychology or sociology even considers pets, yet a large part of the population lives with various companions which strongly affect their lives (hence society in general).
Watch Nature's 'Parrot Confidential' to get an idea of the consequences of breaking this commitment. Parrot Confidential is an excellent, though heartbreaking, documentary that highlights the plight of these intelligent creatures in captivity.
Heartbreaking.
Second, if you really really don't want to take my advice, at least consider buying a second-hand bird. Birds can form new bonds; you don't need to buy a chick to have it bond with you. Mine bonded to me almost instantly.
You are right about birds being able adapt to new owners. We got our bird as a baby and he was my wife's pet. After a few years she decided that she could not deal with his occasional biting. When she announced she was going to get rid of him, I wanted him, even though I rarely handled him before. My wife now has no physical contact except scratching his head through his cage bars, and I am the one who plays with him. I work with him on my shoulder.
Also how did you birdproof your house so he can fly around freely?
As for bird-proofing your house, unfortunately you really can't. Parrots chew through soft woods (e.g. pine trim) quickly. In my case, I only allow my bird free flight in certain parts of the house. I've put clear plastic bumpers--the kind of thing you can put on wall corners--which prevents her from destroying the trim on my door jambs. In other cases, e.g. the trim around my bathroom mirror, I've just given up.
Also, keep in mind that parrots are burrowing creatures, so if you give them other stuff to burrow into (aka chew/destroy), then they won't destroy your house as much. My parrot burrows into cardboard boxes that I give her. Think of it like providing a scratching post for a cat.
I let the bird fly all over the house but I pay attention to him: if he is in a grumpy mood he might chew on something he shouldn't. If he does behave badly, he likes witnesses to his transgressions.
He does not fly that often because he does crash occasionally and doesn't like that, but when he is zooming through the house at high speed he is impressive. He often prefers to grip my hand with his feet and 'fly in place.'
Then, upstairs our master bathroom is basically the parrot's room. I built a large stand from tree branches and hang some toys and a rope ring from it. She loves playing in front of the bathroom mirror.
Having a flighted bird can be annoying at times--mine loves to play "chase me around the house" at times--but I think it's essential to the bird's state of mind. Caged birds that never fly can literally go insane. My vet (author of the book "Holistic Care for Birds") is a strong supporter of letting your bird fly, despite the possible hazards that entails.
Honestly, my bird would like more social attention than she gets, but there's only so much of me to go around. My wife and daughter don't handle her for fear of getting bitten.
One recommendation: there's a DVD called "Captive Foraging" which has a lot of ideas for giving parrots foraging-type problems to solve. Even buying shelled nuts (unsalted of course) gives them something interesting to do.
When our bird was young my wife used to make food puzzles that he would play with to get treats. I need to start doing that again, hopefully the DVD will give me more ideas.
I don't blame them. Getting bitten by a parrot hurts like a MF'er.
Edit: also, you really can't leave a Parrot alone. I work from home at least 90% of the time and my wife is retired and is at home a lot so we basically have the little green guy covered as far as company goes. But, for couples who work all day out of the house, having a Parrot would not be good.
The other thing a lot of people don't understand is the fact that you have to get rid of anything that might cause problems for their delicate respiratory systems - most cleaning products, candles, air fresheners, teflon cookware, most heaters and hair dryers and straighteners, etc (or go to great lengths to make sure they're never anywhere near those fumes).
Depending on the breed, it can also be really tough to find an apartment where you won't get yelled at all the time for their noise.
There are very, very few people for whom I would recommend parrothood.
True story. If you leave them in the cage, they get depressed and have mental health issues. If you leave them out of the cage, they trash your house, shred any piece of paper left lying around, and god help you if you leave a cupboard open...
I think of the hundreds and thousands of parrots in the flocks compared to the singles or pairs from pet stores.
He will bite when startled, craps on everything sooner or later, and screams for fun. Someone described it as having a toddler with a can-opener on its face, and that's not far from accurate.
It's not an easy pet to have, and not for everyone. But - if a bird works for you, it works fantastically.
Great book on the subject: http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/122665.Ravens_in_Winter
She flighted, very social, very co-dependent. Prefers being on a shoulder or on top of a head most of the time. The flighted part has been difficult at times. She flew away and we lost her for 4 days once. But I still stand by her being flighted being a good choice. She flew to a stranger that saw one of our thousands of fliers and turned her in. She goes where she wants when she wants when we are home and always has energy to burn flying around.
We have staggered schedules so the bird is only alone in her cage 7 hours a day 4 days a week. She actually loves this time as we set up a tablet full of hundreds of videos on random of other birds singing and talking to pass that time she must be in her cage during the day. She -loves- it. Whenever it comes on she will stop what she is doing to go gets all excited and runs over to watch it and start singing and mimicking the things she is seeing.
This may not work out for all birds, but it has certainly worked out for ours. She has her own educational TV :D