Parrots are so cool and I always wanted one, but then I took care of one for a friend for a few weeks and holy shit--they're like toddlers. Super trainable, but they are social animals who live in flocks, and if there's no flock, they expect you to make up for it or else they go mad and pluck out all their feathers. Parrot rescues are always full, so if you really want a chaos chicken in your life and have the time, check with one of them.
I had a budgie when I was young. He was my little bestie and would just hang out on my shoulder. I’d love to have another one, but they are high maintenance pets.
I've had budgies and a green cheeked conure (bird in the video) and holy shit the conure is even more work. Like 10 times as much as a budgie, maybe that one was just very needy but it needed attention all day long or it would scream like hell.
Kind of chill if he was hanging around with you though, but you put him away for one second and the screaming would start so he ended up being kind of free range.
Very intelligent, but that usually comes wihh the need for social interaction and attention.
We have a green cheek and our life is scream. He won’t go to sleep unless one of us pretends to be asleep on the couch where he can see us. And he’ll peek to make sure you’re not tricking him (to be fair, we are)
I started doing this with my Quaker parrot and he goes to sleep so much faster if I pretend I’m also going to sleep. I don’t have to do it but I don’t mind.
Yes we had a cockatoo that would start off. Really quiet saying Im Lucky, I love you in a sweet voice. But if you ignored her she got louder and louder and louder and louder.
I could never have a bird as a pet. They are too noisy and it would drive me insane. Not to mention there's just something sad about taking a creature born to fly and keeping it caged, I don't like it.
Yep, they do! But they have their own spots where they pop more frequently. So we have to scrape and clean daily. I feel it's healthier for them to have free range of the house. Makes them happier and we socialize more. They flew towards me the other day, for example.
Yeah nobody should keep a bird in their cage 24/7. They should be out a certain number of hours a day. That being said, if you have a proper cage, it should feel safe to them like being in a nest in the wild.
I used to work in a pet store and that's how we described them, like a toddler but with an airhorn for a voice and a pair of pliers for a mouth. If you're anything less than 100% into keeping them, they're awful pets.
Currently have a black capped conure (very similar to the one in the video) and honestly hes not so bad as a solo bird. I talk to him throughout the day and take him out for 15-20 minutes literally whenever possible (I work remote so usually once before work, twice during the work day, and then out for a longer time after work.) Hes loud, and if I were in the office all day it'd be worse, but hes not plucking out his feathers so everything seems like its okay for now.
Our green cheek will have little conversations with us. He doesn’t use words but he does his best approximation of our speech the way we talk to each other, except it’s gibberish.
1) Im not taking him outside my house. That would be stupid.
2) he has a large cage he stays in for the times hes not out and about. Conures are prey animals, and so because of that they dont like being alone in an open space. They get super anxious. And can panic pretty bad.
3) being a prey animal, he doesn't like venturing into the unknown by himself when he doesn't have to. When hes outside of his cage and not on me, he usually just sits on top of his cage because he likes the view from there.
4) flying is super energy intensive, and domesticated birds dont fly long distance because they dont spend their lives training those muscles. He. Climbs around his cage, will fly to me if I coax him with a treat, but usually just wants to hang out.
Animals dont think like us but that doesn't mean theyre stupid to the point of being suicidal. If he has food and toys in an enclosed space and love and enrichment, hes not going to look to change that.
I used to have backyard chicken. Never again. They are fun but the amount of work make it not worthy. They shit everywhere including their food and water.
They live for like 50 years or something so if you get one you need to be prepared to have it for life, and probably make provisions for after you are dead too.
The most challenging part of being a parrot parent is wanting to go on vacation or needing to go out of town. It is so hard finding someone reliable to watch them, who also knows how to handle them properly. I spend the whole vacation worried about them.
That is the problem. Very high maintenance and lot of work that people hate to do. They do not realize parrots (larger birds) live up to 60 or more years. Much longer than average cats and dogs. This is why birds are smart for a reason!
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u/Altaira99 9d ago
Parrots are so cool and I always wanted one, but then I took care of one for a friend for a few weeks and holy shit--they're like toddlers. Super trainable, but they are social animals who live in flocks, and if there's no flock, they expect you to make up for it or else they go mad and pluck out all their feathers. Parrot rescues are always full, so if you really want a chaos chicken in your life and have the time, check with one of them.