Attracted to their magnificent colors, their adoring personalities, and their high intelligence, people have been drawn to adopt parrots into their lives for generations.
Caring for these birds in a home environment does involve a few challenges but, with proper care, parrots make wonderful pets.
Different species of parrots require different care but, for all parrots, proper nutrition is vital in maintaining a good quality of life. Most parrot diets are very similar.
In general, parrot diets consist of fresh fruits and vegetables, parrot pellets, and a high quality of vitamin enriched parrot seed mix. Owners also need to change their parrots water everyday.
Although birds are typically considered a “dirty” pet to own, it is very important to keep parrots’ cages clean. Perches, dishes and other surfaces of the cage should be cleaned daily with water and mild soap.
Cleaning products like ammonia, mold and mildew cleaner, and bleach can irritate or burn a parrot’s skin, eyes and reparatory tract. The bird’s cages themselves also need to be inspected for unsafe situations like sharp points in the metal.
Cleanliness is also important when it comes to handling your parrot. Owners need to wash their hands frequently when they are working with birds, handling their dishes, and preparing their meals in order to prevent bacterial infections.
Human saliva also contains bacteria that are harmful to parrots so owners should never allow their birds to place its beak in their owner’s mouths or noses.
The size of the cage is vital to a parrot’s well-being. The parrot should be able to spread its wings within its cage. There should also be room enough to hand two to four safe parrot toys.
Parrots have the capability of forming very strong bonds with their human owners. In general, smaller parrots can have a lifespan of 15 to 30 years and larger parrots can live between 40 to 50 years. Owning a parrot is a lifelong commitment.
Socialization is vital in maintaining a high quality of life for parrots. Their cage should be placed in an area where the families spend a lot of their time and are able to interact with the bird. The kitchen does not make an ideal spot for the cage because of the risk of toxic chemicals while cooking and other dangers.
When most people think about parrot care they don’t consider grooming. Parrots do require a decent amount of grooming throughout their entire lives. Their nails and beaks never stop growing. These can be clipped every three to four weeks. Overgrown nails can get caught on perches or toys. Most bird owners also have their birds wings clipped every few weeks to prevent flight.
In the wild, parrots take rain showers to keep their feathers in good condition. Owners can bath or mist their parrots daily with clean, fresh water using a water bottle.
Parrots are playful, affectionate, and super smart. Owners need to understand the extreme importance of their needs and how to meet each one. With proper care parrots will thrive in a home environment.
Parrot Diet
Parrots come in many different sizes and species but one thing remains the same for all of them; feeding parrots a healthy diet can help them to live longer and a better quality of life.
At this point in the scientific community, there is not enough research to assess the type of diets that parrots sustain for a long period of time in the wild. Experts do not agree on the perfect diet to follow for pet parrots.
But, they do agree that a purely seed diet is not healthy for the majority of parrots. The fact that some parrots do well on a diet based on seeds is a tribute the how hardy parrots are rather then the fact that the diet is balanced. Seeds are deficient in many nutrients like vitamin A and calcium.
They are also too high in fat. In the world of parrot, seeds should only make up about ten percent of their diet. In natural seed eaters like budgies and cockatiels can tolerate about twenty-five percent of seeds in their diets.
Pellet foods are made from a variety of foods including grains, seeds, vegetables, fruits plus vitamins and minerals. They provide a nutritious and balanced diet. However, parrots may get bored with eating the same thing all of the time. These are birds that crave stimulation.
Pellet food can make up the base of a parrot diet consisting of about fifty to sixty percent.
Parrot owners should offer their birds fresh fruits and vegetables as well. These can be offered to parrots chopped or in large chucks for large birds to hold and gnaw on.
To provide the parrot with stimulation owners can hang pieces on the side of the cage. It is best for owners to aim to feed their birds as big of a variety as possible. This way their parrots can receive a well rounded variety of nutrition.
Some good vegetables to offer parrots are carrots, eggplant, cucumber, sweet potatoes, green beans, corn, cauliflower, sweet peppers, etc. Parrots love fruits but it is food to try to feed them a variety of more tropical fruits that they might have been exposed to in the wild.
Some of these types of fruits are mangos, kiwi, melons, pineapple, papaya, or pomegranates. Parrots also enjoy fruits like peaches, cherries, grapes, apples, oranges, or bananas.
When owners are feeding their parrots these fruits they have to make sure they do not eat the pits of the fruit or the apple seeds because they can be toxic.
A few other foods are toxic to parrots like avocado, guacamole, chocolate or cocoa, alcohol, caffeine, and mushrooms. Parrots should also not have foods that contain a large amount of salt, sugar, grease, preservatives, food coloring, and other additives.
Grains such as cooked brown rice, oats, barely, wheat, and pasta are also a good source of nutrients for parrots. Some parrot owners also feed their birds whole wheat breads or unsweetened whole wheat cereals.
Because parrots are such sensitive birds their owners have to take a lot of consideration into the diet that they are providing. Most problems with parrots stem from malnutrition. Responsible owners understand the importance of parrot diets and are willing to undertake all of their bird’s nutritional needs.
source: http://www.parrotcares.com/