Identifying and Obtaining the Right Bird for You:
Understanding Parrots: Why Parrots Do What They Do
Question: Our Parrot seems to do EXACTLY what he is NOT supposed to €¦ is he trying to wind us up?
FREE Training to Stop Your Bird's Biting
Get FREE access to Beak School – the only system designed to train your bird. Stop behavioral problems like biting, screaming, feather plucking.
Get the Free TrainingAnswer: No, he or she does what comes naturally, but there are things you can do … What to expect from a new pet parrot and how to live peacefully with your pet
The Parrot’s Bill of Rights … So You Want a Parrot as Pet? … Choosing The Right Bird for Your Lifestyle … Sources for Procuring Birds … New Bird in your House – Information on adopting a previously owned bird or bringing in a hand-fed chick. Advice on optimal set up and integration into your family … New Bird Testing (Disease / Sexing) and Well-Bird Exam / Avian Vets Locator … Why Quarantine your New Bird? … Pet Identification
Bird Rescue as a Business – Before re-homing your birds or donating money – you may want to read this.
The Three Elements Needed for a Happy & Healthy Pet Bird
Housing Birds
Creating a Fun and Safe Environment / Keeping your Pet Safe at Home / Stopping Destructive Behaviorg Your Home and Bird Safety and Welfare:
Redirecting Negative Behaviors in your Petbird for some excellent tips and tricks … Bird Proof Your Home to Protect Your Furniture and Keep your Bird Safe … Foraging: The Way To Keep Your Parrot Mentally Stimulated and Happy … Top Bird Killers … Toxicities … Toy Safety
Bird Nutrition
Bird Behavior and Training:
Pet parrots generally present challenges, such as excessive chewing – especially at certain stages in their life. They do discover their beaks as method of “disciplining us” once they are out of the “baby stage” and they can generally be somewhat naughty, and it really is important to learn to understand them and to guide their behavior before an undesirable behavior has been established. Undisciplined parrots will chew on electric wiring potentially causing house fires. They regard anything in your home as a “toy” that can be explored and chewed on; destroying items that you may hold dear or are simply valuable. Even a young bird that has not been neglected and abused requires proper guidance; this becomes even more challenging when it involves a rescued bird that may require rehabilitation.
- Web Resources: I put together web resources for you to help you understand your pet bird and properly direct him. Please visit the following website to learn more about parrot behavior and training. The following web resources will also be helpful: New Bird in your House: Optimal set up and integration into your family … Taming your Parrot / Bird … Bonding With and Training Your Bird … Keeping Your Parrot Occupied / Redirecting Negative Behavior into Desirable Activites … Overcoming Behavioral Problems, such as Feather Plucking, Biting, Noise and Instructions to Potty Train your Bird / General Training Methods … Training your Parrot: Teach your Parrot to Talk
Special-abled (Handicapped Birds)
Bird Grooming and Feather Clipping
Avian Emergency Care
Emergency Preparations (from the Green and Healthy Website)
How to Prepare for and Survive a Flood … Water Emergency Treatment … Emergency Preparations: It’s COLD Outside! Tips to help you through power outages and during severe weather conditions
Toxicities – Toxins in Food and Environment:
Traveling with Your Pet/ Shipping your Pets / Advertising Sources
Tips for a stress-free travel experience for your pet bird … Pet-friendly Accommodations … Useful Travel Information (Vet Finders, Boarding Kennels, Pet Sitters, Import/Export Regulations, Airline Polices and Regulations) … Transportation / Pet-Shipping Services
Lost and Found / Pet Grievance
A Parrot’s Bill of Rights
1. Get to know about parrots before you bring me home …
I am not a domesticated pet like a dog or cat. I still have the spirit of the jungle in me. I have special needs which you may find it hard to fill. Please don’t learn these too late for my well-being. And please don’t acquire one of my cousins wild from the jungle—it will jeopardize his survival and well-being, and that won’t be a party for you either!
2. Give me the largest home possible …
I am used to flying through rainforests or savannas. I have given up this great gift for your pleasure. At the very least, give me enough room to flap my wings and exercise. And, I need toys for my amusement and wood to chew. Otherwise, I might confuse your home with the forest and its trees.
Proper Housing for your Pet Bird
3. Give me a nutritious diet …
I need a wide variety of fresh and nutritious foods, even if they take time to prepare. I cannot survive on seeds alone and be healthy. Take time to learn what my needs and preferences are.
FREE Training to Stop Your Bird's Biting
Get FREE access to Beak School – the only system designed to train your bird. Stop behavioral problems like biting, screaming, feather plucking.
Get the Free TrainingRecommendations for bird diet / bird nutrition.
4. Let me have a social life …
I am a gregarious flock animal, but I am not one of you. I need lots of socialization to learn how to interact with you as well as my siblings. I also need to have adequate quality time with you every day—no matter what your schedule or other needs are. I am a living, feeling creature. Above all, I need to be able to have complete trust in you and count on your predictability in looking after me—every day.
Providing Environmental Enrichment For Your Pet
5. Let me be clean …
I may like to drop food or even throw it, but I need meticulous cleanliness to be healthy. My skin itches without frequent showers, the barbs of my feathers won’t seal if they become oily and, worst of all, I may become ill if my food or water is not always sanitary.
6. I need my own doctor …
You may not understand my physiology and therefore you may not recognize it early on when I get sick. And, it may be too late when you do, because I hide my illnesses. (Remember what I said about my being an animal of the jungle, where there are lots of predators.) And I need an avian vet—a specialist. (No HMOs for me please.) If you can’t afford one, perhaps you shouldn’t have taken me home.
7. Please don’t punish me …
Just as I don’t always understand your peculiarities, you may not understand mine. I don’t TRY to get into trouble—remember, a house is not the jungle. If I do screw up, don’t yell at me and never hit me. I have sensitive ears and I may never trust you again if you strike me. Hands are sometimes scary things to us. (Why in the world would you not be zygodactylous like us?) Even more importantly, we don’t learn by punishment. We are gentle creatures who only strike back to protect ourselves; we learn through patience and love.
Parrot training / behavioral guidance
FREE Training to Stop Your Bird's Biting
Get FREE access to Beak School – the only system designed to train your bird. Stop behavioral problems like biting, screaming, feather plucking.
Get the Free Training8. Speak my language …
I know you get upset with me when I knock over my water bowl, throw food, scream, or pluck my feathers. I don’t do these things to annoy you. I am probably trying to tell you something (perhaps that I am hurting, lonely, or sad). Learn to speak MY (body) language. Remember that I, alone of all creatures on this planet, learn to speak yours!
Learn to understand and communicate with your pet
9. See me as an individual …
I am a unique and feeling being. No two of us are alike. Please don’t be disappointed in me if I don’t talk like you wanted or can’t do the tricks that your friend’s parrot can do. But if you pay close attention to me (and I always empathize with you, whether you know), I will show you a unique being who will give you so much more than talking and playing. Give me a chance to show you who I am; I think you’ll find the effort worth it. And remember, I am not an ornament. I do not enhance ANY living room decor. And I am not a status symbol—if you use me as such, I might nip at your up-turned nose!
10. Share your love with me …
Above all, please remember that you are my Special Person. I put all my trust and faith in you. We parrots are used to being monogamous. (No bar-hopping for us!) So please don’t go away for long periods or give me away—that would be a sadness from which I may never recover. If that seems to be asking a lot, remember, you could have learned about my needs before bringing me home. Even having a baby or taking a new job isn’t a fair reason—you made a commitment to me FIRST. And if you think that you must leave me because you might die, provide for me forever after you leave. I may live to a ripe old age, but I can’t provide for myself. Remember I’m in a small cage amongst people who are not of my blood.
11. Your rights …
You have lots of rights, but I can only assure one. And that is, if you treat me the way I described above, I will reward you with unwavering love, humor, knowledge, beauty, dedication, and a sense of wonder and awe you haven’t felt since you were a child. When you took me home, you became my Flock Leader, indeed, my entire universe—for life. I would hang the moon and stars for you if I could. We are one in Heart and Soul.
FREE Training to Stop Your Bird's Biting
Get FREE access to Beak School – the only system designed to train your bird. Stop behavioral problems like biting, screaming, feather plucking.
Get the Free TrainingAbout the Author …
Dr. Stewart Metz is the Director of Indonesian Parrot Project. This not-for-profit organisation is dedicated to wild Indonesian parrot conservation. … and the important task of educating pet owners on proper pet bird care and conservation of endangered birds.
- They need volunteers!!! You would be helping rescue and caring for parrots and enjoy living within a very different culture in a setting that can only be described as paradise as far as wildlife and natural setting is concerned
- Plan your next vacation! Consider an amazing experience: An Eco Tour … to get an once-a-lifetime look at this lost paradise and its creatures. Project Bird Watch invites YOU to join them on eco-expeditions to the beautiful remote, exotic, idyllic islands of Indonesia. http://indonesian-parrot-project.org/ecotours.html
- Tax-deductable Donations or Shop for a Gift: http://indonesian-parrot-project.org … Donations for items such as cages and medical supplies are always needed and very much appreciated.
