More and more people want a parrot for their pet. But not everyone fully understands how complicated is to have a parrot in your house, especially if it's an Amazon parrot. You must have a lot of patience and a lot of spare time to rightly breed and socialize your new pet. And of course, you must have a very good financial condition to properly maintain an African parrot in good conditions.
First of all you must know that parrots are very aggressive pets. They can not be compared with cats or dogs. Why is that? Because Amazon parrots have very strong personalities. For you to have an obedient pet you must control him by setting rough rules and limitations. Of course these aspects are not true when we talk about a 3-month-old Amazon because at this age they all are sweet and cute. The attitude problems will develop later when hormonal changes will appear. This will happen when the parrot is 4 or 5 years old. The hormone level changes at this age because the parrot reaches sexual maturity. Because parrots are flock animals they will consider you their flock and will become very possessive with you and his territory if you will let him. So if your pet was not well bread when he was young, you will have lot of difficulties when he has reached his sexual maturity.
If you want to discipline your pet you must be very strict with her and you must handle the bird every day. If your pet is a baby parrot you will not have any problem handling her. You just have to be very patient at the beginning and handle him very careful every day, slowly, as to allow you to touch him all over. If your parrot is afraid of you, don't rush him. Go slowly, with patience, from where he will let you to be touched. The toes are in many cases a good place to start. One thing is for sure: he will let you to touch him when he will begin to adapt to the environment. This can take weeks. You must be very patient and not push him more than he lets you. This can be a long process. Sometimes it can take weeks until he will let you touch one toe.
When you succeed touching him every where, you must go further. If you don't want your new pet to become a one person bird, you must present him to every person in your family or friends and encourage every one to slowly touch him. In this way he will integrate perfectly in to your family. Also show him his new territory: the entire house, room by room. It is also recommended to let him alone a few times a day so that he gets used to being alone.
If he is your only bird pet, you will represent for him his new family or his new flock. You must become his new parent and show him how to behave, how to play with toys. Also, in the same time you must show him his place in the flock. As a baby the Amazon will slowly begin to chew you finger. At first it will be like a tingle but as he grows it will turn into full bites. So my advise to you is not to encourage him to bite your finger by telling him'No bite?. Do not expect your Amazon to react immediately to your request. Do not forget the Amazons are very stubborn birds. You must be very convincing and very patient in the same time.
An Amazon should also be stick trained because they have a very powerful personality and he is very hard to handle especially if is a mature parrot and is during the breeding season. In this way you will avoid some very bloody bites on your hand and arm.
You must show your Amazon parrot his place into the flock. Do not encourage him to dominate you. For example do not encourage him to climb on to your shoulder. If you will do this, your parrot will think that that is his territory and he will protect it from any person will try to approach. Also if you will want to get him off your shoulder, he will respond aggressively and even bite you from your shoulder or even worse from your eyes. So be very careful and show him who has the controls.
There is a new "fashion" on the market: parrots as pets! There are more and more popular every day. This popularity is shown by the high interest for parrot's information on the internet. There is a paradox in this because this seems to be a new phenomenon. Not everybody can afford a parrot. To have a parrot for a pet you need to be a very patient person and of course to have a very good financial situation. Also you have to have a lot of spare time to socialize and to properly care for your new pet.
First of all, if you want a parrot for a pet you must bye him a cage. So go to the nearest pet store and bye the biggest cage they have if you want your pet to be a happy one. You must remember that parrots ? especially Amazons are very big birds so, the bigger the cage, the happier your bird will be. He needs a cage big enough to stretch his wings. Another thing you must remember is that your new pet is one of the smartest birds there are, so you must get a complex door shutting mechanism in order not to be open from the inside. And of course you must make sure that the door is big enough for the bird to enter or exit easily.
Amazon parrots especially, are birds with a very strong personality, who want attention. So you must give them a lot of your spare time. Of course you will not be able to sit and play with them through all the day, there for, in order to teach them to stay alone you must bye them a lot of toys with whom they can play. Make sure that these toys are not harmful. An example of such a toy is the swinging perch that can be easily assembled inside your pet's cage without harming her.
Do not let the bottom of the cage empty. You may fill it with various materials like paper, sawdust, straws but my advice to you is to put sand at the bottom because it can help your bird in more then one way: the parrot can gain some minerals from it or he can use the sand to shape his beak. A bird's beak will keep growing the same as our fingernails, and, as our fingernails, must be sharpened. This process is easier to accomplice if your bird has sand at his disposal.
You must clean your pet's cage at least two or three times a week so you can remove his feces and leftover food. This is very important because the parrot is a very clean bird and doesn't like a dirty area around him. Dirt can cause powerful stress attack to your bird and can dramatically decrees his life cycle. Also make sure that at least once a month you clean his cage ? the bottom, the bars and the door and of course his toys ? with detergent. This will protect your bird from various diseases.
There is also an optimum way of feeding your parrot: instead of feeding him once with a big, juicy meal, better feed him in many small meals. This is a pleasure for your pet. There are a lot of foods you can give to a parrot: you can feed him with a home made food or, you can go to the vet and bye him pre-packaged parrot food. In any way, you must give to your pet fresh food at least twice a day and of course, make sure that the food is healthy and does not contain bacteria. You also need to get to your parrot fresh water at least three times a day in a clean bowl. His bowl and plate must be cleaned and disinfected every week. Also parrots love fresh fruits. Do not encourage him to eat large quantities of nuts and seeds because these are very hard to digest and are very poor in nutrients and vitamins.
Many people want a parrot for a pet because of their unique possibility to talk. If you want to teach your parrot to talk you need to start when he is a young bird. Start with simple words like: ?HELLO? and repeat them until he learns them. Also your parrot can learn how to weasel and not only one tone but an entire melody. Making a tape will help him a lot. If you want your parrot to learn to talk quicker you can say the words when you do a certain activity so your parrot can associate the activity with the word. It is very important to make sure that the bird is paying attention to you when you talk to him. Another advice is not to say to him the same word over and over again because your parrot will get bored at one time.
Also very important for your pet is his personal hygiene. You must bath your parrot at least once a week. Use a special bird shampoo and clean water that is very slightly wormed up. Most parrots love water but if you see that your parrot is scared, take him slow, don't rush him. And in a short time he will love the water as much as you. After the bath do not try to dry him with an electric drier! Let him dry up for himself in a sunny corner of the room. You also will have to cut his nails. My advice is not to do that until you don't learn how from a professional. So, the first time, go with him to a vet to groom him properly. After you familiarize to the technique you may attempt this at home.
It is very good for your pet to be let loose outside his cage at least half an hour a day. When he becomes more tamed and potty trained you can leave him in the house all day.
By doing what I recommended you and by following my advises you will have a beautiful, intelligent and healthy parrot in your house and you can enjoy of your pet many and many years as a parrot can live up to 70 years!
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