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How to keep a parrot happy, contented, and amused.

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Darth_Kitten Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Dec-06-03 12:19 PM
Original message
How to keep a parrot happy, contented, and amused.
Any tips from the birdie lovers?

I've got toys, treats, honey sticks galore, but anything else I'm missing? :shrug:
(yes, I give lots of scratches and love) :loveya:
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KG Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Dec-06-03 12:28 PM
Response to Original message
1. don't know nuttin' about parrots
but got a honey stick gauranteed to keep a kitten happy, contented, and amused. :evilgrin:
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eyesroll Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Dec-06-03 12:31 PM
Response to Original message
2. Some birds like music
Our late cockatiel, Entropy, used to love "Uncle Fucka" from the South Park soundtrack. No kidding.

Now, our two birds seem to enjoy Vince's stump speech. He'll practice it in front of them and they'll shout right along with him.

Our Meyer's parrot, Logos, enjoys watching the birds and bugs outside. We've set up a play stand on a small (cheap, IKEA) table in front of a large window. (Entropy would have been afraid, though...she was a very skittish bird.)
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Lars39 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Dec-06-03 12:33 PM
Response to Original message
3. A mirror?
I know parakeets usually love to look at themselves. :shrug:
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Deja Q Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Dec-06-03 03:40 PM
Response to Reply #3
13. With a mirror, a bird would bond to the mirror image & ditch the human...
as a companion.

For parakeets and birds that aren't handfed, mirrors are okay and are encouraged. Otherwise, mirrors would be a tremendous mistake. :D
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alfredo Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Dec-06-03 04:07 PM
Response to Reply #13
16. Especially Cocketeils
Talk about vain.
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Lars39 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Dec-06-03 04:17 PM
Response to Reply #13
20. Hmm. Learn something new everyday!
Feathery vain things, aren't they? :)
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trof Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Dec-06-03 12:34 PM
Response to Original message
4. a companion of the opposite sex?
just asking
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Amomaly Donating Member (19 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Dec-06-03 01:13 PM
Response to Original message
5. What else is there?
One thing not to try.... D&D dice. At least, my cockatoo has a hate-on for them. The scar on my ring finger can attest to it. :scared:
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Shakespeare Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Dec-06-03 01:24 PM
Response to Original message
6. my cockatiel used to go NUTS for....
The subscription inserts that flutter out of any magazine you pick up. Parrots love to (and need to) chew on things--as I'm sure you've discovered--and this is a pretty harmless thing for them to chew on. Mine can pulverize a subscription card into a few hundred little parrot spitballs in record time. Cleanup's not so fun, but it'll keep 'em amused for awhile.
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Bozola Donating Member (992 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Dec-06-03 02:04 PM
Response to Original message
7. Lots of compainionship.

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Tharesa Donating Member (153 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Dec-06-03 07:38 PM
Response to Reply #7
26. ahhhhhh!
that picture frighten Tharesa :scared:

Tharesa almost have nose bitten off by that parrot.
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nothingshocksmeanymore Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Dec-06-03 02:35 PM
Response to Original message
8. Play CD's for him
they like auditory input
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Sting Donating Member (403 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Dec-06-03 02:36 PM
Response to Original message
9. teach it colorful language.
I did that to my gramp's parrot....
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Amomaly Donating Member (19 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Dec-06-03 02:46 PM
Response to Reply #9
10. Yeah.
A cousin's favourite thing is to scream "Baloney!" at our cockatoo, because you see... well, try it and see what it sounds like.
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alfredo Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Dec-06-03 04:10 PM
Response to Reply #10
17. Birds don't have lips, B, P, and M are a real stretch for
a bird.

My 'Teil just whistles. She's sweet.
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nothingshocksmeanymore Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Dec-06-03 02:54 PM
Response to Reply #9
11. I STRONGLY recommend against that
we had a parrot once. They blurt those things out at the most inopportune times!
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Darth_Kitten Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Dec-06-03 03:21 PM
Response to Reply #11
12. I'm teaching my tiel to play "Price is Right"
Edited on Sat Dec-06-03 03:22 PM by Darth_Kitten
Whenever the show is on, I tell her to "Come on Down!!!" and she climbs off her perch and heads down to the open door of her cage.:)

She likes Plinko and the games where they offer cars. :evilgrin: (she chirps)

:D
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nothingshocksmeanymore Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Dec-06-03 04:05 PM
Response to Reply #12
15. My parrot imitated the sound of the zipper on my leather organizer
book...and the series of swear words my father used to string together...it was quite funny because he did it in my father's voice too!
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eyesroll Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Dec-06-03 04:03 PM
Response to Original message
14. Two other things birds like:
1. Feet


Olive, the parrotlet, will normally attack bare feet if she finds them. This time she wanted her head scratched. Vince obliged (or tried to, anyway).

2. Wine


(No, we don't let her have any. She likes to watch it swirl around in the glass.)
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Darth_Kitten Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Dec-06-03 04:13 PM
Response to Reply #14
18. Funny you should mention those things!!
I was scratching Murphee with my toe the other day. :) And she was fascinated by the coke in the bottle on another!!! :)


Cute pictures!
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Deja Q Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Dec-06-03 04:13 PM
Response to Reply #14
19. #2
I forgot the species' name (Meyer's Parrot?), but he looks similar to a Senegal parrot, just less flambouyant coloring. :D
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eyesroll Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Dec-06-03 04:29 PM
Response to Reply #19
21. Yep, #2 (Logos) is a Meyer's parrot
She's female, but there's no good way other than DNA to tell the sexes apart. (We thought head shape was an indicator. We thought she was male when we got her.)

They're both part of the Poicephalus genus, so they share some phyiscal characteristics. Meyer's are a little more willing to tolerate more than one person, whereas Senegals sometimes (not always) pick a favorite and attack the rest.
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Amomaly Donating Member (19 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Dec-06-03 04:30 PM
Response to Reply #19
22. Your birds are beautiful
To our bird, anything in a glass is "juice" and therefore fair game.

When she's tired and wants to go to bed, she imitates the sound of tooth-brushing because that's what we do last before going to sleep.
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eyesroll Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Dec-06-03 06:07 PM
Response to Reply #22
23. Why, thank you, and welcome to DU!
What kind of bird you you have? Ours aren't good mimics -- Olive the parrotlet will very occasionally make a kissing sound, and Logos will make kissing noises and squeak like the door (she also says "hi"), but that's about it.

Tooth brushing -- very cute, and logical, too.
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Kat45 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Dec-06-03 07:31 PM
Response to Reply #14
24. Awwwww! Olive is so cute!
And I just love the name Olive for a parrotlet. My parrotlet, Grace, is busy eating her millet right now.
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Kat45 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Dec-06-03 07:35 PM
Response to Original message
25. I've found that my birds love it when I talk to them.
And they like it even better when I use their names frequently. They also like it when I sing to them, and they don't care that I can't carry a tune. I'll often change the words to a song to incorporate their name into it. The sengal, Attila (who lives with my ex), made up the nickname "Attee" for himself, so sometimes I'll sing: "Attee for a-two, and a-two for Attee..." and he loves it.
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DemNoir Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Dec-06-03 07:40 PM
Response to Original message
27. I always thought it would be nice to have a bird
But then I think its cruel to keep a bird in a cage or indoors at all. Am i just being a liberal weeny? Are domestic birds truly happy?
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Kat45 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Dec-06-03 08:01 PM
Response to Reply #27
28. I think some of them are very happy, they love their people and
their people love them. Their people become their flock. I know a number of people with birds who let them out of their cages for a good amount of time every day. (Of course you have to have a bird-safe environment to do this.)
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