Pets Blog

Archive for the ‘Birds’ Category

Buying a parrot is like buying a car. There are many things you need to consider before buying a parrot. These factors are to help you be happy as a pet owner. failure to consider these factors could turn you to a pet lover to a pet hater.

1. Other pets you have – If you have other pets like cats and dogs, you need to consider if a parrot is the best for you as well. Keeping cats, dogs and parrots together in the same house could signify danger for the parrot because the bird could easily be seen as prey by cats and dogs. In addition, birds do not mix with cats and dogs. parrots only flock together with pairs.

2. Size of your home – You need a big room if you want to have macawas, African greys, amazons and cockatoos. These are big parrots and require large cages to keep. If you have a small apartment, you may consider smaller parrots like lovebirds, conures, lorikeets, quakers and cockatiels. these are small parrots and require smaller cages.

3. The amount of time you have – parrots are social birds. They flock together with pairs in the wild. Having a parrot in your home means that you should devote some time to the bird on a daily basis. Parrots need training to talk and this requires time on your part. For instance, parrot training requires a minimum of 45 minutes in an isolated place to train how to talk and master some tricks. If you are the busy type, a parrot may not be the right pet for you.

4. Your budget – Parrots are expensive. the talking ones like the African greys and amazons cost more than $3000. The ones that are not too known for talking, like the quakers cost less than $900. The choice depends on your budget and what you want in your parrot.

5. Family member’s tolerance – Your ownership of a parrot should depend on the tolerance of your other family members. Parrots, especially the lovebirds scream and make a lot of noise. They also chew all kinds of things they set their eyes upon, up to household furniture. Will your family members be able to tolerate all these?

6. Children in the house – Parrots could be aggressive sometimes when provoked. They can injure by biting. If you you have children in the house, you may need to consider your decision before buying a parrot. They can easily attack children.

7. Your age – Parrots live generally have a lifespan of between 60 and 100 years. If you are already more than 50 years old, the bird is likely to outlive you.

Considering the factors mentioned above will help you make useful decisions about whether the parrot is good for you as a pet or if you should just consider any other type of pet. However, a parrot in the family is always a good companion.

A common reason for keeping a bird as a pet is to try and teach it to talk. Some types of bird are better than others, with the mynah bird and the African Grey parrot high up the list, but a lot of birds will learn to talk if trained patiently, especially if from young. You could take the easy route and buy one that already talks but then it may say things you are not especially fond of and in some cases may not pick up new words as readily, at least for a while, from you as his new teacher.

The best way to teach a bird to talk is to work directly with him. Start with simple words or phrases, and from as young an age as possible. Always use the same, calm tone of voice and repeat the word every time you deal with him. Birds seem to react well to words with the letter R in them, e.g. pretty bird. A higher tone than normal helps avoid bass tones in your voice, which some birds seem not to learn so easily from.

You may find after a short time that the bird is sitting seemingly making noises under his breath and this is usually a sign that he is practising the new sounds prior to trying them out loud. That’s a good sign; a bad practice is to swear or show too much emotion in your voice as the bird will inevitably pick up on it and you will find he suddenly starts repeating words you didn’t want him to. Should this be the case, to dissuade him ignore him completely and only praise him or give him lots of attention when he uses the words you prefer. This actually works in many cases.

If the bird doesn’t take to speaking, whistling is another alternative, from which the bird will soon pick up whole songs or melodies.

The Congo African grey parrot is a bird that is worth considering if you want to buy a parrot. The Congo African grey parrot is desired by many because of its wonderful talking ability and intelligence. The bird has an intelligence like that of a 6-year old child and you will always enjoy the company of one in your home.

Though parrots have a general characteristic of needing attention and training, the Congo African grey parrot demands more of this. Hence, you need to think about this very well before you get one. You should have time to dedicate to your pet and give it proper training in order to enjoy her. The bird can really misbehave if you cannot give any of these.

The Congo African grey parrot is a parrot specie that is excellent in talking and mimicing, with an astounding ability to learn between one to two thousand words and repeat each word at the right moment. This is why the bird is compared to a 5 to 6 years old child, learning both good and bad words at the same and expressing them at the right moment. If you want to keep this type of bird, make sure the right words are said in your family.

The Congo African grey parrot is a very shy bird and will take time for the bird to get used to her environment, another similarity to a small child. That is why this bird requires a lot of training and teaching in order to socialize with people and overcome this shyness. With proper training, the bird will always be her normal self even in the presence of strangers.

Toys are a great way to keep pets company and it is the case in this bird. the bird loves playing with toys and you should get the best ones in pet stores near you. You may not give all the toys to the bird at once. Just start one after the other because the bird loves new things.

You will always have a lot to gain from this bird if you give it proper training. After each training session, try to reward your pet. This is a treat they enjoy so much. You may just scratch the head or the lower part of the abdomen to express the joy of being together. You may also reward with food. Study your pet. Parrots always have favorite food. Study what your bird loves eating and always reward her with this.

Though every bird is different, try to have more time together with your bird. Take her out of her cage and spend some time together. Do not lock her in her cage all the time. Birds value time they spend outside the cage, though you need to ensure that the bird will be safe while outside. Keep the bird out of reach of danger while out of the cage. If you have other pets like cats and dogs, make sure they are far away in order to prevent any attack.

Daily training and frequent time together is a great way to enjoy your Congo African grey parrot. When you put all these things into consideration, you will always get the best out of your pet.

Having a healthy parrot should be the major goal of every pet owner. Pet owners should understand how to have a healthy parrot because malnutrition is a major problem being faced by parrots. Malnutrition is a major problem because majority of parrot owners do not know the feeding style of parrots. Most pet owners just love the idea of having a parrot as a pet without taking into consideration the feeding aspect.

As a parrot owner, you should know what it takes to having a well fed parrot and understand the other factors that make parrots live healthily. In addition to feeding, one of the other factors is the mental aspect. This is more than just the diet for your parrot. Parrots are social animals. They are not birds that stay on their own throughout the day. They like to play with others and keep a lively life. And when the night comes, they desire sleep.

Here are some tips on how to care for the health of your parrot:

1. Like human beings, you should feed your parrot at the right time of the day. The feeding should include a balanced diet.

2. Keep your parrot away from the kitchen at all times. This is to prevent accidents from hot kitchen items and exposure to kitchen fumes.

3. Parrots are birds very sensitive to drafts. A draft is a thread of cold air cutting through warm air, thereby increasing a parrot body temperature. Hence, you should keep your parrot in a place where there is no draft.

4. You should not spray aerosols where you keep your parrot. Aerosols are chemicals which affect the respiratory system, eyes and throat of humans. Spraying such chemicals near your parrot will cause greater effect.

If you are a new parrot owner without experience on the behavior of these pets, how can you tell if all is well with your pet? these are some signs to tell you something is wrong:

a. Changes in appearance of feathers – A change in feather appearance of your parrot may be bleeding in feather shaft, short, clubbed or deformed feathers. These changes are signs that something is wrong and you need to visit the doctor.

b. Beak changes

c. The parrot is no longer showing interest in things that normally generate interest in him

d. The parrot now perches on two feet instead of one

e. Increasing weight loss

f. The parrot stands in a strange way

g. He now uses areas of his cage that he was not used to previously

There are other symptoms for knowing that things are not going well with a parrot. The most important thing is being vigilant. take time to study your pet behavior and this will easily alert you when things are not well with him.