Growing up, we are introduced to many images of what a parrot should eat.  The commercials will show the ideological pirate parrot happily sitting on the shoulder of an angry and scary pirate that is feeding his parrot a cracker that a particular company is marketing.  There are also commercials that show parrots in cages eating a large bowl of seeds.  This particular marketing ploy could be used to sell the cage itself or a particular kind of parrot food.  Regardless of the final intent, all of us have developed an idea of what parrots eat when in actuality the food that a parrot eats can be much more diverse than is commonly expressed in today’s media.

One thing to consider before buying a parrot is that they do not only eats seeds and crackers.  Parrots can eat virtually anything that a human can eat but can get very sick if it is fed foods like beans, chocolate, and avocados. Usually the best way to feed your parrot is by mimicking the food that it would naturally eat in a rain forest setting.  The best way to do this is to give your parrot a mixture of both a pelleted diet and a natural diet.

The pelleted diet should not be an exclusive diet because extreme heat and processing of the pellets typically will destroy the vitamin content that is central to the well-being and health of your parrot.  Though it does not destroy all of them, using pellets in combination with the natural unprocessed foods, will create an optimal formula for keeping your bird healthy.

Though some of the foods that parrots would naturally eat cannot be easily imported, feeding your parrot a supplement of natural leafy greens like kale and dandelion can help supplement what is missing in the pellets.  Other good natural foods to feed your parrot are green beans, cucumbers, sunflower seeds, carrots, and broccoli.  By mixing these ingredients up each week, along with the pellets, your parrot should have a diet that is close to the natural intake necessary to keep it healthy at all times.

When feeding your parrot, make sure that you give it more food that necessary.  The reason is that parrots can be very picky about what the eat and also very messy.  If your parrot has been on the same diet for some time, and you feel that you need to change its diet to make it more healthy, do so at a very slow pace so that the bird can adjust to its new dietary intake.

Providing fruits to your parrot must be a daily occurrence.  Remember to only give a small amount because fruits can spoil very quickly in the open-air.  Making sure that your parrot eats fresh fruit is also part of maintaining a healthy diet.  You must consider that in the wild, if a parrot eats a piece of fruit, typically it is not on the ground, nor has it been sitting for a couple of days.  Fresh fruit is part of a parrots and natural diet and therefore you must try to always provide fresh fruit for yours.

Your parrot is your friend.  Feed your parrot food that you would only feed your self or your children.  This means that the fruit, vegetables, and any other supplemental foods should be fresh and pesticide free.  By taking these precautions, and by following a specific daily dietary regimen, your parrot will remain healthy and happy all the days of its life.

One of the most rewarding pets that you can ever purchase is a parrot.  Most of these birds seem to possess a very high intelligence which is brought out due to consistent socialization and training.  Along with their unique ability to mimic human speech, these colorful critters are a very popular addition to many animal loving households worldwide.  If you have not acquired a parrot yet, one of the first things to consider is which parrot species would be best for you. Two of the more popular species of parrots are the Macaw and the African Gray Parrots.

If you are looking for a very friendly bird, the Macaw may be for you.  Possessing four toes like the woodpecker with two in front and two in back, these colorful birds from Central and South America, and even Mexico, use their feet only for climbing.  Although they are considered an endangered species due to the rapid deforestation of their natural habitats, they are finding a sort of salvation in the homes of bird lovers everywhere.

A Macaw’s diet consists of nuts and fruits. They also love to interact with humans.  With an average lifespan of over 50 years, these loving animals usually display nonaggressive behavior that is characteristically seen and heard in most of the parrot species.  The most debilitating part of owning a Macaw is their extremely loud voice, which was designed to be heard for long distances in their natural habitat, and not within the confines of a modern home.

If you are looking for a parrot that may not be as lovable, but has the genetic predisposition to be able to learn words that mimic human speech, the African Gray parrot is your best choice.  Native to Africa, this medium sized parrot of predominantly gray color has the uncanny ability to be able to learn and say words that mimic human speech.

Even more interesting is the ability of the African Gray to associate human words with their actual meanings.  One African Gray reportedly had a vocabulary of over 1000 words and could speak in sentences.  This ability is probably why even Egyptian hieroglyphics depict these wonderful birds and that the royalty of England appreciated their value as an honored pet.

Like the Macaw, the African Gray parrot also has a very strong beak that is designed for breaking nuts and not interacting with small children and even some adults.  As long as an early relationship is established between the owner and the African Gray, the bird will more than likely develop gentle human mannerisms along with human like speech.

The African Gray parrot also has special dietary needs.  These include calcium and foods rich in vitamin A like broccoli, almonds, and an assortment of greens.  Therefore, the usual sunflower seed diet that is commonly seen in most parrot cages will not be enough to ensure the health of your bird. A healthy vitamin rich diet will ensure that your parrot has enough energy and brainpower to learn the words that you want it to speak.

Both the Macaw and the African Gray parrot require and enormous amount of attention.  Purchasing toys and interacting with them for several minutes to an hour a day will be a mandatory necessity if you choose to own one of these magnificent birds.  Whether you are searching for a bird that is loving and in need of attention on a continual basis, or a bird that you could perhaps teach to speak, either one of these parrots would make an ideal pet for an owner that has the time and the proper facilities to take care of these animals.

When you embark on taking on the responsibility of caring for your new pet parrot, you will need to invest some money in your parrot’s new home.  Purchasing a cage will more than likely be one of the largest investments that you will incur by having a pet parrot.  There are a few things that must be considered before purchasing a parrot cage such as the safety of the bird, the type of material that the cage is made of, the size of the cage, the size of spacing in the bars, and your accessibility to the cage for feeding and cleaning purposes.

The first thing to consider when purchasing a parrot cage is to make sure that you do not get the cheapest model available.  There are many types of cages including wire cages, stainless steel, and even zinc.  Although wire cages are the most economical, they can be hazardous to your bird if not constructed properly.  The wire may come loose and harm your bird as it flies a round in its cage.  For reasons such as this, choosing a stainless steel cage in the medium price range is probably your most economically prudent decision.  This is based upon the safety of the bird and the veterinarian bills that you may incur by purchasing an inferior cage.

The size of the cage is also very important depending upon the type of parrot that you get.  For instance, if you have a smaller species of parrot such as a parakeet or a cockatiel, a cage is better suited for the bird if it allows it to fly back and forth.  If you get an African gray parrot, which is a very sizable bird, you must get a cage that has vertical height that allows the bird to move easily not only side to side, but up and down its perch.

Another thing to consider is the spacing between the bars of the cage.  Make sure that the spacing is small enough to ensure that the bird cannot get out, but must also be wide enough to make sure that the parrot is not able to get its head stuck in the bars which could cause damage to your bird.

Lastly, you must consider how you will access the cage when feeding and watering your bird as well as cleaning its cage.  If your parrot is shy and not very aggressive, you would probably be safe in reaching in to do the cleaning and feeding without fear of being attacked or bitten by your parrot.  However, if your bird is very active and does not yet have human mannerisms established, it will more than likely try to climb up your arm and it may harm you using its beak to climb.

The solution to this is purchasing a cage that allows you access to the food and water without having to stick your entire arm into the cage to take care of these daily activities.  For cleaning, it is recommended that you get a cage with a sliding tray that can be removed and easily inserted after cleaning.  It is also recommended that you have the food and water dishes close to the door to the cage for easy accessibility.  This way, you can feed and water your parrot in a much more efficient manner.

Remembering that a parrot has feelings and needs is very important when purchasing its cage.  Be sure to take into consideration everything that has already been stated, and you and your pet parrot will inevitably have a long and happy relationship.

How To Teach Your Parrot Not To Bite

When parrots are in the wilderness, they are guided by their natural instincts.  In the wild, parrots survive by using their beak when gripping objects for balance, climbing, and of course eating the food that they find on a daily basis.  Once we bring a parrot into our world, its instincts do not simply disappear.  Although people are in charge of their pet parrot, there are a few things that each of us needs to learn before handling our parrot.  One of those things is a parrot’s natural instinct to use its beak.

When handling a parrot, one of the first things that you will notice is that it will have the tendency to want to chew on your hands and fingers.  This is a common behavior reported by most parrot owners, and can cause major damage to your flesh.  Even very calm parrots can do damage when they are simply trying to use our hands and fingers the same way that they would in the wild: objects to grab when moving and climbing.

Another possibility is that your parrot is trying to show you that it is the dominating bird in your home.  It could also be trying to protect the area where it lives, or it could merely be angry at you because you did not allow it to get its way.  Parrots, as you will find out, can act as happy, and as moody, as any person can.  What needs to be done is a little bit of training in order to set the ground rules on how and when to use their beaks.

If your parrot is healthy, and it is not breeding season, you should have success in gradually teaching it that it is not proper to use your hands as a chew toy.  One of the easiest ways to begin training is to spend quality time with your parrot so that it gets to know you.  By developing a sense of trust between the parrot and yourself, it will relax and be more open to the training you will provide. Remember that only a startled parrot, or any bird, will use its beak in a hostile way toward an owner with which it has a quality relationship.

A very simple way is to start your training is to begin in a very quiet room, on a regular basis, by placing your hand in the cage away from your parrot.  Doing so will acclimate the bird to your hand being in the cage.  If the bird is very young, more than likely it has not developed a biting pattern and training will be much easier.  However, if the bird has already developed a routine of biting, using a stick instead of your finger may be the best course of action.

The training that you will do is what is commonly called a step up training mixed with a food reward system.  Basically, the bird will initially sit on a stick and you will push the parrot with another stick to step up to another point.  Doing so will focus the bird’s attention on using its feet primarily, and not its beak, when it steps up.  Furthermore, you will say praises to your parrot each time that it steps up to reinforce this new pattern.

Reward your parrot with not only words of praise but also food.  Doing so will escalate the learning process and quickly reinforce using its feet instead of its beak when interacting with you.  This entire process can take several weeks, but if the bird is young enough, it will learn quickly that using its feet, instead of its beak, is the best course of action.

Alternate solutions would be using gloves with your hands in a cage. This could lead to the final step which is allowing the parrot to come out of its cage and sit on its perch in the open air.  Just make sure that your parrot is now very comfortable with you on your hand before taking it out.  The change in its environment may cause it to panic if it does not feel safe and cause it to grab on to the outside of the cage, or you, with its beak, thus setting the training back a few days

Using these suggestions, and common sense, you should be able to train any parrot to not bite when being handled by you and eventually other people.

There are five things that you must consider once you have decided to teach your parrot to speak.  You must consider the breed of parrot that you want to teach.  You must consider the temperament of your parrot.  You must consider the amount of space in your home.  You must consider the relationship that you must develop with your parrot.  And finally you must consider the nutrition that you will be giving your parrot while it learns how to speak.

As a preface, you must begin teaching your parrot to speak wind it is very young.  The best time to teach your parrot to talk is actually right out of the nest.  As with all animals, the earlier that you begin bonding with your parrot, the easier it will be to develop a relationship of trust with your parrot.  Of course, the parrot will not start talking right away.  However, this is the best time to begin exposing them to human language which will help them build a kind of vocabulary so that it will be easier for them to learn the words that you will teach.

The best place to keep your parrot is in the area of the house that gets the most exposure to human traffic.  Bathrooms are used on a daily basis by people, but the types of noises and vocabulary that would be heard in the bathroom are probably not apropos to teaching your parrot words that you would want it to speak on a regular basis.  Placing your parrot in the living room or the kitchen would be best suited for young parrot so that they can see and hear human activity on a regular and almost continuous basis.  These rooms are typically filled with lots of talking between family members which will help the parrot begin to understand human words at an increased rate.

One other thing to consider is the type of parrot that you get.  There are many different species to choose from including smaller varieties such as ringnecks, plumheads, cockatiels, and lorikeets. Although beautiful, these types of parrots are smaller and are not usually capable of imitating human speech very easily, if at all.  Larger parrots, like the African gray, are much easier to teach and seem to have a genetic predisposition toward learning speech and words.

The next thing to consider is that the temperament of your parrot can sometimes be difficult to deal with when teaching them how to speak.  Some parrots are shy and others are very vocal.  Walk into any pet shop and you are bound to know exactly where the parrots are being kept.  The birds that you want to have are actually the ones that are the most violent and aggressive, as well as the ones that are the loudest.  The shy birds tend not to want to interact and therefore are going to be the most difficult to teach words.  Therefore, if you are choosing a parrot at an early age, she is one that seems to be a bit louder than the others and also seems to be lacking manners when approached or held.

If you did purchase your parrot at an early age, the best thing to do to ensure success is to make sure that your parrot gets proper nutrition.  All of the training in the world will not matter unless the bird is properly fed and therefore has enough energy to participate with you during its learning sessions.  Feeding your parrot only seeds is actually a very poor diet and lacking in the nutrition that all parrots need.  If possible, consider feeding your parrot nutritional pelleted diets that are full of all of the nutrients that a parrot will need to stay active and healthy.  An alert parrot is simply easier to train than one that is feeling hungry and tired all the time.

Lastly, you must consider how you will begin to develop your relationship with your parrot so that it begins to respond to you when the training sessions.  Remember to handle your parrot with care and talk to it in a kind and supporting way.  The tonality of your voice has a lot to do with how your parrot will respond to you and how close your relationship with this bird will be.  The closer your relationship is, the easier teaching will become.  Plan to spend as much time as possible with your parrot so that it gets to know you and trust you at all times.  In this way, you will be able to have a very high success rate in teaching your parrot to speak.