How To Take Care Of A Parrot...

Lets get right down to it. Taking care of a parrot involves a couple of things that you, as the owner MUST provide for your parrot to live that long life that I told you about. These things are as follows:

1. Proper Nutrition - Just as "man cannot survive on bread alone..." your parrot cannot and will not survive on seeds alone. Don't make the assumption that because they are birds that all they want to eat are seeds. First of all, a diet of seeds will have them missing out on the important nutrient that they need to survive. A combination of fresh fruits, vegetables AND seeds is the ideal diet that you want your parrot to have. You also have to make sure that you change your parrots water EVERYDAY!

2. Space - Now there is some debate about this particular part of the equation. This is because some parrot owners have cages and some have aviaries. Aviaries are, for the most part, large cages. These aviaries allow your parrot to have a larger space to move about. They are ideal for the parrot because you don't want a cage where your bird cannot at least stretch out his or her wings! And you also don't want a birdcage where the parrots tail is sticking out of the cage!

Some people recommend aviaries, some recommend birdcages. With the larger parrots, like macaws, I recommend an aviary. But for the smaller parrots, a bird cage will suffice. It all depends on the onwer and his or her personal preference. Both types of parrots will do good in an aviary. You do the math.

3. Interaction - You have to interact with your parrot. Your interaction with him or her will be the spark that gets him going during the day. Parrots form strong bonds with their owners. So how is he going to be able to form this bond if you, the owner don't speak to him everyday. Or play with him? No animal wants to be caged in all day long, just to have his owner ignore him at the end of the day. If you cannot devote at least 30 minutes a day to your parrot, then this is not the pet for you. Parrots thrive on this interaction and will let you know when they are not happy. So do yourself a favor and play with your pet parrot!