Different topic, but I saw a person ask a question about this on Twitter and it's something I have experience with because of 2 decades at pet stores. several years of which were spent at a store that specialized in parrots.
I don't recommend parrots as pets. I could stop there, but people always want to know "why?"
There are some really great pet parrots out there. However, for every great one, there are dozens of miserable parrots who usually also make their humans miserable. Not pets or companions, but captives. I've seen so many get sold over and over because they just weren't what their owner thought a parrot would be.
And even the friendly ones are easily bored.
A bored parrot can (and will) destroy your house. Window frames, door frames, wooden molding, doors, wooden cabinets, chandeliers, sheetrock-- I've seen it all ripped to pieces in a couple of hours by a bored parrot.
They can learn to open just about any latch, and I've seen them break cheap padlocks to get out of a cage.
Cockatoos are parrots that have their own set of issues. Many cockatoos become very affectionate. But, the more affectionate they become, the needier they are. If you can't give them the massive amount of attention they need when they need it, they become emotional; loud, depressed, and self-destructive. You've probably seen pictures and videos of naked cockatoos, and this is nearly always a result of them either becoming upset at not getting enough attention or hating captivity. And they never recover enough to grow their feathers back. At least, I've never seen it happen.
The cockatoos that don't become affectionate are pitiable creatures. They stay terrified and scream and cower and pluck themselves. And they bite. The worst damage I've ever seen from a parrot bite was inflicted by a scared cockatoo. That one died of fear and trauma a few days after biting through a person's hand.
Even those who are generally friendly seem to enjoy biting. At least in certain moods. They seem to like the response it gets. Often there is one person they'll attach to and everyone else gets bitten, but most will also bite their favorite person if they decide it would be entertaining. Or if they have a grudge (they do hold grudges).
Parrots also love to scream. and they scream LOUD. They love the sound of their own screams. Some learn to put their head in a food bowl (metal is preferred) so they can scream and get a good echo back in their face. I don't know why, it's just something they like to do.
Parrots are messy. They scatter seed hulls far from their cage and they poop a lot. And cockatoos (including cockatiels) shed lots of waxy dust from their feathers that gets all over the house.
Most parrots never learn to talk. Those who do seem to learn to repeat what you'd rather not have them repeat, and will say it at the worst time. And, it's hard to get them to stop saying anything they can get a reaction for saying. Most still prefer to scream.
Parrots are smart. but sometimes this is more of a bug than a feature.
A parrot is more likely to be a miserable, messy, destructor than a pleasant, talkative companion.
On the other hand, government has gotten more and more set against you owning a parrot, coming up with more paperwork, regulations, and warnings every year it seems. Anything government doesn't want you to have might be a good thing to have. Probably not in this case.
I'm not saying there's no chance you'd get a good parrot where both of you are happy. I just think the chances are so small that it's not a good idea unless you're prepared for what you're more likely to experience. I like parrots. I've never owned one myself-- not above the size of a small conure-type, anyway. For most people, a parrot isn't a good choice.
Do with that what you will.
Thank you!
Possibly the birds suffer psychological damage from being in a cage. Might there be a lesson here somewhere?
ReplyDeleteIn some cases I'm sure that's true. In other cases-- just like humans-- parrots see their cage as security. If they get scared or uncomfortable, they'll often go back to the cage.
DeleteMany (maybe most) large parrots don't stay in a cage most of the time. Often they sleep inside the cage but spend the day on top of it (with toys) or on a parrot stand. Some parrot stands are like a jungle gym-- huge, with many levels and filled with toys and distractions. Some parrots never get closed inside the cage, even at night.
From the natural parrot perspective, that's still captivity.
Just like living inside a nice house, with all the things you "need", could still be captivity if you can't get out in nature or if you are surrounded by "laws" that rub you raw.
Extremely good points about parrots and I appreciate you making them. These are some of the reasons why I have never gotten one as a companion. The other reasons include the expense of caring for one properly, the space requirement, and the fact that cats and birds aren't usually good housemates. I have heard some really amazing stories about their intelligence, and that makes me see adopting one about the same as adopting a human child, which is another thing I'm not set up to do! Nice to hear a perspective on this from someone who truly knows. -Roh
ReplyDeleteCats and parrots, surprisingly, often get along really well. It only takes one reaching paw getting nipped for cats to realize a parrot isn't prey.
DeleteI had a female red-rumped parakeet/parrot that liked to dance back and forth on the floor in front of my cat-- who would just hiss at her. She knew the bird was off-limits-- and so did the bird. And she taunted the cat. That cat made friends with a Japanese quail later, so she apparently didn't hold a grudge against all birds.