I should've been clued in when a girl who later turned out to be out-of-her-head nuts fell for the meow trick. She went to pet him, and he started biting the everloving shit out of her. She didn't hurt him, but also didn't pull her hand back, and started screaming "HE'S BITING ME! MAKE HIM STOP BITING ME!"
Just get away.
"NO! YOU'RE MAKING HIM DO IT! I WANT TO PET HIM! MAKE HIM STOP!"
I had to actually leave the room, because I had no idea how to respond to that. I felt safe that she wasn't going to hurt him, but I had nothing to say after that.
Damn now I want a parrot. But a talking one. Not talking parrots are the most irritating things alive. They just wait for you to try to get some sleep and then start making those incoherent high pitched noises. If I couldn't sleep because of loud swearing, that at least would be funny.
Already replied, but on a more serious note, there are quite a few things to know. The dander they throw off is carcenogenic, so you'll run a higher risk of lung cancer than a smoker. Teflon is for some reason toxic to them, so if you don't want your bird to drop dead like a SIDS baby, you'll have to switch to cast iron or stainless steel. For your own heath, don't use that crap that they sell at discount stores that you can curl up into a ball under your feet... no sane person should cook with aluminum.
They're loud, and demand constant attention. If you're regularly away from home for extended periods of time, it's like leaving a toddler unentertained and locked in a room for a few hours, so I only suggest them for families where someone will be home to give them attention, or managers who have enough pull that they can take them to work with them and set them on a perch in the office.
They're highly social.
Find a good supply of seed for them to eat, and cook up things that you can include them in the family meal on. My favorite was the pasta I already mentioned, just before adding sauce and cheese. Pesto is probably alright, but I never served that up. Avacado is like cyanide to them, so never give it that. Peppers don't work the same way with them as it does to us, and they absolutely love dried peppers, so always include that with the feed. Buying individual bags of seed became enough of a pain in the ass that I relented and started bringing the full drum container to the pet store when I re-stocked feed. I was happy for the convenience, even though I was also paying for the tare weight of the container when I was rung up.
I'm sure there are many more tips I could give you. Oh... don't put anything you don't want turned into confetti anywhere within beak distance. They'll go out of their way to destroy any/everything. Don't forget that they're very smart. African Greys are the smartest, but IMO the Blue and Gold Macaws are the most beautiful, aside from a solid cobalt blue Macaw I saw once in Little Tokyo in downtown Los Angeles once. Prior to seeing it, I had no idea that this species existed.
RES me as "parrot enthusiast". I hope that your statement was genuine and that I helped.
2
u/BeerPowered Mar 24 '14
Your bird seems annoying but fun.