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yes, parrots take an INORDINATE amount of time, space, & money! -
cat-owners think that dogs are such time-suckers? - Huh.
Little do they know! - The average dog's needs are a mere hobby, compared to a parrot - parrots, or even "a" parrot, are a full-time vocation. U need a spiritual calling to bear-up under the load.
Any parrot, even a sane relatively easy-going one who isn't emotionally damaged & extra-needy, sucks 4 to 5 X the investment of time that an average dog requires - to say nothing of the cost of food, space / caging, destructible toys, INdestructible toys that are also safe, & exotics vet-care, which is enormously expensive, when compared to the vet-fees that dogs & cats generate.
Not kidding - many parrot-owners incorporate their parrot into their daily schedule, as otherwise U cannot possibly meet their needs for interactive face-time. BEING IN THE SAME ROOM doesn't count; they need eye-to-eye talk, handling, scritchies, focused attn.
Lots of parrot-owners shower with them as one way of spending 15-mins or more with their parrot; I trained Max, my Tres-Marias Amazon, to keep to his own side of the breakfast table, & we ate together every morning, so he could cope with my being gone for 8-hrs at work. I taught him to drink from a bottle-cap he could footle, & he'd have O.J. with me, plus a variety of fresh veg & fruit, healthy low-sugar carbs, etc. // That was 45-mins of my day, spent attentively with my bird. Give him 10-mins less, & he'd be stressed & screaming by 3-pm.
In the wild, parrots spend hours flying for miles every day, to forage, bathe, eat clay from riverbanks, meet other birds for social time, etc, moving their range seasonally as certain fruits, plants, seeds, nuts, & even blossoms come into production, ripen, or go dormant. Parrots in captivity have a lot of time on their feet, & they need stuff to do, & ppl to interact with if they are not in a bonded pair - or even if they are; they still need some human time to maintain their human-sociable side.
Without sufficient busywork & social contact - whether that's with other birds, humans, or other species - parrots can literally go crazy; they can become neurotic, or even psychotic.
- terry
.
yes, parrots take an INORDINATE amount of time, space, & money! -
cat-owners think that dogs are such time-suckers? - Huh.
Little do they know! - The average dog's needs are a mere hobby, compared to a parrot - parrots, or even "a" parrot, are a full-time vocation. U need a spiritual calling to bear-up under the load.Any parrot, even a sane relatively easy-going one who isn't emotionally damaged & extra-needy, sucks 4 to 5 X the investment of time that an average dog requires - to say nothing of the cost of food, space / caging, destructible toys, INdestructible toys that are also safe, & exotics vet-care, which is enormously expensive, when compared to the vet-fees that dogs & cats generate.
Not kidding - many parrot-owners incorporate their parrot into their daily schedule, as otherwise U cannot possibly meet their needs for interactive face-time. BEING IN THE SAME ROOM doesn't count; they need eye-to-eye talk, handling, scritchies, focused attn.
Lots of parrot-owners shower with them as one way of spending 15-mins or more with their parrot; I trained Max, my Tres-Marias Amazon, to keep to his own side of the breakfast table, & we ate together every morning, so he could cope with my being gone for 8-hrs at work. I taught him to drink from a bottle-cap he could footle, & he'd have O.J. with me, plus a variety of fresh veg & fruit, healthy low-sugar carbs, etc. // That was 45-mins of my day, spent attentively with my bird. Give him 10-mins less, & he'd be stressed & screaming by 3-pm.
In the wild, parrots spend hours flying for miles every day, to forage, bathe, eat clay from riverbanks, meet other birds for social time, etc, moving their range seasonally as certain fruits, plants, seeds, nuts, & even blossoms come into production, ripen, or go dormant. Parrots in captivity have a lot of time on their feet, & they need stuff to do, & ppl to interact with if they are not in a bonded pair - or even if they are; they still need some human time to maintain their human-sociable side.
Without sufficient busywork & social contact - whether that's with other birds, humans, or other species - parrots can literally go crazy; they can become neurotic, or even psychotic.
- terry
.
