PARROTS  INTERNATIONAL

Companion Parrots As Pets

by Mark L. Stafford

Few pets are as engaging as parrots.  They are animated.  They Talk. They are very social.  And they bond to humans.  They are engaging, fun, and a joy to see and interact with.  However, there are some important considerations to understand before you take a parrot into your home:

Parrots make noise

By nature parrots make noise.  In the wild, parrots communicate and keep their flock together by calling to each other.  For larger parrots these calls can be heard for miles through the forest.  Most parrots are noisiest two times per day, earlier in the morning and early evening.  This relates to life in the wild.  In the morning the flock would be waking up and having roll call.  Then, in the evening,  calling the flock back together to the communal roosting sites.  This type of noise is natural and to be expected of your parrot.  However,  noise and screaming can develop into  a problem with some parrots.  See Steve Martin's excellent explanation of parrot screaming.

Parrots are messy

Parrots are messy pets.  The pet industry has invented all sorts of gadgets and devices to try and help the pet parrot owner deal with the mess.  Parrots throw their food around. Parrots poop.  And you, as a parrot owner, will go through a lot of newspaper as you routinely clean their messy house.  Amazingly, some parrots can be potty trained to relieve themselves on command, but this takes time.

Parrots Chew

Parrots, by nature, chew things.  Everything.  Your parrot won't care if it is the new chew toy you just placed in his/her cage, or if it is grandma's antique Chippendale china hutch in the dining room, or the living room sofa.   If you parrot can get his/her beak on it, the rest is history.  To the parrot, the entire world is a chew toy.  Therefore, your parrot's environment and access to your prized possessions needs to be controlled to prevent  an unhappy situation.

Parrots need a big cage

Obviously the bigger the parrot the bigger the cage.  A cage for a large macaw can take up more floor space than a large refrigerator.

Parrots take time

Parrots are very social creatures.  For a parrot to be happy and well adjusted in your home, it will need lots of attention from you and you family (read "time").  There are lots of generalizations and advice in the literature about how much time to devote to your parrot. But  generally, your parrot will require about an hour a day (plus) of attention from you.  Much of this time can be satisfied by holding your parrot while watching TV...  Or carrying your parrot on a tour around the house or into the yard... Or just taking him/her out of the cage and preening his/her feathers.  But most parrots are not content just sitting in a little cage 24 hours a day seven days a week.  And when parrots aren't happy, they tend to complain about it (see "Parrots Make Noise").

Parrots are pets for life  

Parrots live a long time.  Larger parrots can live for 40 to 70 years, or more.  Additionally, parrots mate for life in the wild.  Therefore your parrot will be innately "wired" for a lifelong commitment.  If you can foresee changes in your life style or living arrangements that may change in the future then a parrot may not be the best pet for you.

Parrots are wild animals

Most pet parrots are only one generation removed from the wild.  Often, your parrot's parents were wild, perhaps caught in the wild and imported to the United States years ago.  Therefore, unlike dogs and cats that have been selectively bred for thousands of years to be good domestic pets for a human household, your parrot has been selectively bred for life in the wild.   You cannot consider your parrot a domesticated pet.  It is really a tamed wild animal.  Your parrot still has all the instincts and skills to help it survive in the wild.  Your parrot will try to use those instinctual skills and adapt them for life in your home.  As you can imagine, that doesn't always work, but you can't blame your parrot for that.  Therefore, your parrot will often exhibit behavior and reactions that aren't entirely appropriate for life in an apartment or house.

Parrots do not understand punishment

Your parrot will need to learn how you expect it to behave in your home (remember, your parrot is hard wired to live in the rain forest).  You will need to learn how to teach your parrot what you expect.  Unfortunately, the methods many of us have learned in dealing with our pet dogs and cats do not apply to parrot training.  Dogs and cats respond well to positive and negative reinforcement (punishment).  Parrots respond well to positive reinforcement and very poorly to negative reinforcement (punishment).  Therefore training techniques that worked well in training your dog and cat to live in your home will not work with your parrot.  In fact negative reinforcement can make for a detrimental pet.  See Steve Martin's excellent reference of parrot training.

Parrots can bite

In the wild a parrot will rarely bite, even a foe or territorial invader.  Most aggression in the wild is just for show.  However, parrots can be trained (inadvertently) to bite.  Remember, they are wild and they react to reinforcement of their behaviors (both positive and negative reinforcement).  In the wild, a parrot will just fly away from something it doesn't like or doesn't want to be associated with.  However, in your home your parrot can't fly away.  If it you place your parrot in an uncomfortable situation  and your parrot reacts by using it's beak, your reaction will determine whether it uses its beak again.  If a parrot bites and you respond by removing the unwanted situation (i.e. your hand) it will reinforce  biting and increase the tendency to bite in the future.   See Steve Martin's "Why Does My Parrot Bite"?

Parrots are nothing like a pet dog or cat

Unlike dogs and cats, which are typically neutered, adult birds behavior may vary dramatically due to hormonal influences.  This may make handling difficult and create an unintentional adversarial relationship with your bird.  Female birds may also have significant medical problems related to their reproductive activity.

There is a perception that birds are easier to take care of than dogs and cats.  This false notion is usually related to the fact that they are kept in cages.  Companion birds require much more time and attention than a typical dog or cat.

Additionally, Pet birds may require medical attention that may be quite expensive.

For purchase of high resolution photographs contact  Parrots  International Photos

For donation to obtain your own DVDs go to Parrots International DVDs

For Information  contact info@parrotsinternational.org

Or by mail at:

Parrots International

15332 Antioch Ave. #417

Pacific Palisades, CA 90272

Digimarc and the Digimarc logo are registered trademarks of Digimarc Corporation.

The "Digimarc Digital Watermarking" Web Button is a trademark of Digimarc Corporation, used with permission.

All proceeds from purchase of photos and donations for videos

are donated to 

Parrots International conservation projects