10 Things You Should Know Before Getting a Parrot
- Parrots need to be on a nutritious diet. Most of that should come from fresh ingredients. It is your responsibility to keep yourself in its best health! Though some are pickier than others, every parrot still enjoys eating a diet rich in flavours, textures, and colours! It is essential to include a variety of foods each day.
- A companion parrot needs to have fresh water at all times. Some owners may need to clean out their water bowl multiple times a day if their bird's bath or soak their pellets inside their dish.
- Parrots need to have a bath at least 2-3 times a week; Ideally, daily baths are preferred. Bathing is crucial to your parrot's healths as it allows your bird to keep their plumage in good condition and keeps dander down.
- Parrots need toys to keep them mentally stimulated! In the wild, parrots spend hours of their day trying to find food, but we give our birds their food in captivity. Birds must engage in the activities that they naturally would in the wild. Playing with toys is a vital substitute for natural behaviours such as foraging, nest building and interacting with their flock.
- Every parrot species is different, and caring for some species can be more challenging. They come in different sizes and often have different dietary needs. Some birds need their food to be smaller in size, and some can crack open a walnut shell. Although most parrots have many similarities, each species is unique to itself.
- Have an emergency plan when mother nature hits, including fires, outages, and storms. Have your travel cage ready when preparing for a possible storm. Think of and list the absolute bare minimum necessities to enable you to care for your companion in case of an emergency.
- Your parrot can wake you up at an undesirable time! Most birds wake up when they see the light coming in, and in some areas, you can see the sunrise as early as 5:30 am. You can have plenty of toys to keep them busy but still mindful of their early singing. Fun fact: Researchers found that noise has little effect on birds, but the reason why they start chirping so early is that sometimes they cannot tell time well. They found that light pollution can change the timing of their songs!
- Parrots have a sensitive respiratory system. You'll need to be mindful of toxic fumes. Any type of smoke is very harmful to your parrots. Cigarettes, pipe or any other form of smoke should affect their health.
- Parrots molt, which means you'll need to invest in a good vacuum. Molting is the biological process of slowly shedding old feathers so new ones can grow in. Most parrots molt at least once but sometimes two or more times per year. If you have multiple birds like me, it can stress your vacuum cleaner thanks to the increased volume of feathers and feather dust all over the floor! I suggest you have a separate vacuum just for your birds.
- Large parrots can make ear-piercing noise, but smaller parrots can make continuous noise. I always hear owners talking about not wanting to get larger birds because of the possibility of them making loud noises. That can be very true, especially in the case of umbrella cockatoos, but have you ever heard a sun conure make noise or even a budgie? Larger birds can make high pitch noises throughout the day, but smaller parrots are more inclined to sing the WHOLE DAY!
