Okay so now do you pick a large, medium or small parrot? That should be the first question you ask. Then you should ask yourself, how much am I willing to spend on the bird, cage, food and accessories because obviously a bigger bird will need bigger stuff and more food which means a lot more money.
Once you narrow it down to size, it will make things easier. The internet is our greatest tool for knowledge as you can look up all parrots according to size and personality and then you can find a breeder on the web as well.
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| (image taken from Google images) |
Make sure you don't just go for the flashy, big beautiful parrot because they look pretty and majestic as they may not fit your lifestyle or family. Every type of parrot has it's unique personality but different species can be clumbed into different chategories based on what kind of personality traits they usually tend to demonstrate.
My son asked for a bird for his fifth birthday this past April 2011 and I love animals so I didn't mind at all but at first my husband said no way, "we have enough pets" were his exact words. But he is a softy as well so we found a local breeder and surprised him on his big day with a very pretty yellow and green graywing budgerigar also known as budgie. He is hand tamed so my son was able to handle him right away and has not put him down since - neither has my daughter for that matter which has led to many fights between the two of who got to hold him and kiss him and many tears over this little, very calm bird. He chirps in the morning when he hears the birds outside and when my kids come downstairs for breakfast. He loves to sit on their shoulder or the play gym I made him. When in his cage, he doesn't do much but perch and thats about it. My son called him "Tweet-Tweet" because that's the sound he makes when he chirps. But where does this leave my 3 year old daughter - she's 3 going on 12 by the way, lol. There were fist fights every day and I had this mental picture in my head that I would find them both pulling at each end of the bird untill they pulled him apart. I know, horrible scenario and my kids are very gentle with animals but they really love this bird and fight for his attention. So I contacted the same breeder as we were vary impressed with his aviary which is in the basement of his home and his animals looked so healthy and truly very tame. This time though I decided to get a parrotlet since these birds live 15-20 plus years each, I thought having two different types would be better. I did so much research since the bird was still a hatchling and we had to wait 5 weeks for him that I think I know eeverything about them now - no lie.
Parrotlets are almost the same size as a budgie and are even more quiet even though budgies are not that loud at all but there are differences. Parrotlets are a big parrot in a small body. They love toys and their cages and will play with and use every part of their cage so bigger cage is better. A smaller budgie cage just won't do as parrotlets don't just purch often like budgies unless they're napping which is not often unless they are very young. hey also love to be out of their cage and love to interact with people and when placed on your shoulder or play gym, they will stay there whereas budgies tend to fly off and much patience is needed to keep placing them there so they understand you want them to perch on a specific spot. Parrotlets also eat more often, a lot more and need to eat a cockatiel mix rather than a smaller budgie mix.
We finally picked him up two days ago and he is beautiful. Unlike most parrots, you can tell males from females just like with budgies. Budgie males and females can be equally as brightly coloured but the cere above their beak (their nostrils) the males will be shades of light milky blue to bright blue, whereas a females will be shades of light peachy or pinky coloured. With the parrotlets the males have birghter colours and more colours compared to females and are easily distinguished from one another. Most other parrots have to be DNA tested to find out sex and most breeders will include this in the price of bird or they can get it done for you.
I used to have cockatiels when I was in high school and I really enjoyed them although I had the hard task of taming them myself as I got my one from a backyard breeder which did not hand feed them. Many puncture wounds later, they finally after weeks of patience beame tame but that's also because they were young when I got them. Taming an older bird may be an almost impossible feat.
Parrots make wonderful pets and are very charming and playful when tame and many can even learn to talk and that includes budgies and parrotlets too. Although it is said that if you have two birds that bond will usually not talk and want to spend less time with you and more time with their bird buddy. Some tame birds have also become biters after being bonded with another bird so when considering a parrot, if you want a cuddly social bird that wants your undivided attention, consider getting only one. The thing to remember is do as much research as you can, find a good breeder which can give you pointers and get all accessories purchased ahead of time so when you take your new feathered friend(s) home, they will have a home ready for them.
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(left is Tweet-Tweet and right is Yoshi) |
