The question “How are African Grey Parrots to keep as pets?” came from Quora
“Come on, fess up!
You’ve done the unthinkable. You’ve actually thought of getting an African Grey but the horror stories of screaming, biting and plucking keep you “centered” or “sane”.
What if you had a mentor?
That’s why you have me!
What are the pros and cons of having a pet bird? was asked on Quora. This answer motivated me to set the record straight.
Pros
If you do it right, you’re going to have a loving companion animal for the next 60 years.
Cons,
If you do it wrong, you’re going to have a very unhappy bird for the next 60 years.
They can live sixty years or more.
They’re loud (a cockatoo’s scream has been measured at over 100db, compared to 130db for a jet engine at 100 feet).
They throw food.
Sunshine, my Lutino (Yellow) Indian Ringneck Parrot was by far the best pet bird I have ever had of all the birds we had.
My then husband bought him as an unweaned baby and I completed the process. I found that Ringneck Parrot babies need to be hand fed and beg, but don’t open their mouths to accept the syringe, they require a bit of prying open with the opposite hand’s fingers in order to slip in the tip of the syringe or pipette. Then it was no trouble at all.
Please don’t get discouraged because of one anecdotal story of stupidity. (See other Quora answers below) People die in car crashes every day but most of us still drive.
Here’s a little back story for you. The ancient Greeks kept parakeets. Not necessarily budgies because the Alexandrian parakeet got its name from Alexander the Great. As the story goes Alexander was gifted one of those around 327 BC
File under more money than brains. We all know how crazy the Romans were but not many people know that they would assign a slave to take care of the family bird which was usually a parrot of some sort.
Hi, a year ago someone gave me a pair of parakeets. I gave them a big cage, and tried working with them, individually. They are almost 4 years old, and are happy to see me, but not interested in being held, or scratched, and that is ok.
I have an African grey parrot, who has lived with me for 26 years, she interacts with me and my family and is really pretty funny and wicked smart.
Recently Science magazine ran an article entitled “Parrots, songbirds pack more neurons into their forebrains than most mammals”.
Now some scientists are saying that birds are way more intelligent than we ever thought because they somehow counted the total number of forebrain neurons – with soup (we’ll get to that in a bit)!
The study, published online in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, found that 28 bird species have more neurons in their pallial telencephalons, the brain region responsible for higher level learning, than mammals with similar-sized brains.
20% – 25% of parrots are sexually dimorphic meaning you can identify their sex by the color of the bird. Male eclectus are green – females are red.
Male Indian ringnecks have the ring females do not. The ring starts to grow in one feather at a time beginning at about 10 months and completing in 1-1/2 years.
Adult budgie hens have a cere right above their beaks that varies from whitish blue to deep brown in color. The most common is that a male budgie has a bright blue cere. It may brighten during the breeding season, and then fade. A female’s cere ranges from white to brown and pink.
How can you stop screaming–excessive (Question from Quora)
Screaming is never excessive for a bird – they are merely communicating, it’s what they do.
Before I can answer your question I need to know the species, age, sex, the diet and a picture of the cage set up if at all possible – thank you.
Hi Mitch,
Bubba is a 30 yr, old CAG (congo african grey). dna’d male on basically harrisons with nutriberries and healthy people food,.. I don’t know how to take a pix of his cage. 2x2x4 feet – 5 perches – all different materials. at least 5 toys I try to keep changed.
How long should it take for a Cockatiel to grow back clipped wing feathers?
I have a 7-month-old cockatiel, he’s super happy all the time and is “shedding” his down feathers constantly lately. The people we bought him from at about 2 to 3 months old were clipping his wings and he still hasn’t been able to fly properly. We keep him clean, happy, and healthy.
My answer
For the record, we are proponents of keeping birds flighted. But if a person loses a bird because it is flighted and they walked outside with the bird on their shoulder un-tethered – they are a dumbass.
Cassowaries are rarities, very large flightless birds in the genus Casuarius native to the tropical forests of New Guinea, nearby islands and northeastern Australia.There are three extant species recognized today.
Joe Krathwohl (Facebook)
Both of ours are tame and perform in our bird shows.
