PARROT CARE IN BELIZE

"NOT JUST A PRETTY POLLY"

Working to care for your Belizean parrot

"Bird brain??" Absolutely not!

Parrots are smart.

They are much smarter than your cat or dog. Some species of parrot can be as analytical as a 3 year old child. The Amazon parrot you have (and it will be an Amazon) is able to think, reason and evaluate. Give him something new and watch him work out what this strange thing is and how best to destroy it.

With intelligence comes emotions.

Just like that 3 year old child; boisterous, playful, loving, grumpy, charming, comical, devoted, noisy, destructive, messy, unpredictable, demanding - you name it, that's a parrot. Because they are smart, they are easily bored. A parrot starved of stimulus will probably resort to damaging itself: plucking out its own feathers is a common distraction. They need something new to occupy them every day: interesting foods, sticks, fresh leaves, ropes and perches for climbing and chewing, baby's plastic teethers, cardboard rolls, string together broken clothes pins, bottle tops, buttons, beads... Keeping a parrot caged all day is torture for such a smart, tactile creature, particularly when he has nothing to do. Take him out regularly, handle him, allow him to roam over the outside of the cage, give him new environments to explore - anything to occupy his mind.

Creating a happy pet-owner relationship makes huge demands on your time - if you don't have the time, then you shouldn't have a parrot. A truly happy pet parrot will allow you to scratch him all over, groom his feathers and carry him around with you. Contact is incredibly important. In the wild there are many other parrots in a flock and they will clean and scratch each other constantly, removing parasites and conditioning feathers, particularly those they can't reach themselves. Not to mention - it feels good! Try spraying your bird with warm water from a trigger bottle, especially in the dry season. He may be a little surprised at first, especially if he hasn't been able to bathe before now, but persevere and he'll love it. It helps him to keep clean, healthy feathers, and of course it cools him off when it's hot and dry.

Q: "Any cage will do - right??" A: Wrong!

Size:

Captive parrots are usually malnourished, with wasted muscles and poorly conditioned feathers. Lack of space is prime reason for this. A bird needs to stretch, flap, move around and exercise. The recommended cage size for a red lored parrot is 10 feet by 10 feet by 10 feet. Now, we all know that's not practical for most people, but it gives you an idea of how much a bird in an 18 inch by 18 inch cage is suffering from lack of space (and yes, we see a lot of those).

It is very important to have lots of different thickness of perches in the cage at once otherwise he will get foot sores ("bumblefoot") and arthritis in his feet. Cut bush sticks from wild trees that have not been sprayed with poisons and change them out regularly; this prevents disease and also makes things more interesting for the parrot. Your bird needs at least one perch suitable for roosting. Please make sure the sticks don't twist around when he stands on it - this is useless for a bird. Hint: cable ties are wonderful for securing and joining perches. If you have more than one bird in a cage, they need space to roost side by side so one isn't above the other. Height differences cause jealousy, territorial behaviour and can be very messy for the 'underneath' bird.

He needs headroom of at least 12 inches clearance above the top perch and another 12 inches ground clearance below the lowest perch to get his tail off the floor. With another 12 inches on both sides for wing stretch, this is an absolute minimum cage size of 2' x2' x2' for a red lored (a mealy or yellow-head will need more). Then he needs shelter as protection from weather extremes and a place to 'hide' from potential predators or he'll never sleep easily. Please don't use plastic tarps or bags, they are hot and noisy and if he bites pieces off it, he can get sick. Cut branches with thick leaves and secure those to the cage.

If you have more than one bird in a cage, watch for signs of aggression. They may be happy together when they're small, but as they get mature they could start to fight. If the feathers are scrappy, particularly the tail - then the bird is probably being attacked. It is incredibly traumatic for a bird to be locked in a box with a creature that hates it, attacks it and will not leave it alone. Image it happening to you…

Never put the cage on the floor and don't allow other animals to get close to the cage, particularly cats and dogs. Think about where a parrot would live if he had a choice: If he's outside, then ideally he wants to be high up, able to shelter from the rain, but be able to bathe in the rain if he wants to. He absolutely must have shade - a parrot will die within half an hour in direct sunlight. If he's kept in the house, make sure he has company, but also peace and quiet at night. You can put him by the window during the day so he can see outside, but watch for drafts in cooler weather and direct sunlight in the heat of the day - parrots don't like being too cold or too hot any more than we do!

Q: "Just cut off all its wing feathers - yes??" A: NEVER!

We do not approve of captive wild birds, so we would never clip a birds' wings. If, however, you are determined to keep your bird, and clip his wings, then please follow these guidelines.

• to keep warm
• to protect soft body parts
• to enable flapping and therefore exercise chest muscles
• to control his landing in case of a fall - if you cut off all of his wing feathers and he jumps from your hand, he'll fall to the floor onto his beak or chest and could cause himself serious damage. He needs to be able to glide to the floor and land gently on his feet. Most importantly - whatever you do to one wing, you MUST do to the other: mis-matched clipped wings cause a parrot to spiral to the ground in an uncontrolled and painful fall.

If you have a baby parrot (let's not even begin to imagine how that may happen) do not cut his wings straight away. Give him a month or so with his wings intact to learn balance and agility skills which will be vital for him in adult life, captive or not.

Don't cut a growing feather. These are called blood feathers, and they have nerves and a blood supply. The shaft of these feathers appear darker in colour (which is the blood) and sometimes they have a plastic-looking sheath over them. If you cut one of these the bird may bleed to death. The bigger the bird, the less feathers you need to clip. Cut carefully with sharp nail clippers across the three very longest feathers on the outer wing (see picture), if he can still fly too far, cut the fourth. You should not need to cut any more than that.

DIAGRAM: THE ONLY WAY TO CLIP WINGS - IF YOU MUST!

Q: "He bites, so it's best I don't touch him?" A: Wrong Again!

This is where the real work begins. It will take time and effort to tame your bird, especially if it's been a while since you touched him. There are many reasons why parrots bite - but let's be realistic, biting is his only way of communicating displeasure. So, why does he bite?

He is locked in a cage, he's not allowed to fly, he has no friends, he never gets a bath, his food is dry and uninteresting, he is often without water, he can't reach the trees he can see, he has nothing to chew or play with, people poke fingers at him, dogs bark at him, he's hot, he's angry, he's frightened, he's frustrated and he just wants to join the other parrots he hears flying over him every single day. Maybe he hates something he can't reach - like the family dog, the TV, the pattern on the curtains, and so in pure frustration he bites the nearest thing to him: you. There may be a member of your family that he really likes; parrots are well-known for bonding with only one human and everyone else is to be bitten.

He considers you his property and can't stand for anyone else to come near you. He sees a potential rival, or an intruder, and he really wants to bite them but he can't get near, so he bites whoever is nearest at the time - probably you. It could be that he is guarding his cage - his home. Birds see a cage as either a refuge or a possession. You need to turn it into a playpen - something to be enjoyed. Add things to it daily, then he'll want you around as a playmate.

In the wild a scared bird would simply fly away - but you have either clipped his wings, or are physically restraining him, or both, and he can't escape. So he bites. And he will continue to bite until you put him back where he feels secure - probably in his tiny cage. Leave him a while and let him calm down. Check around, try and work out what frightened him, then remove it.

Watch for the signs. When your bird is worried, scared or angry, he will lean forward on his perch, fan out his tail, push back his wings, and his eyes will go big and small. If this happens, don't touch him - he is about to bite something, and best you don't mess with him.

It takes time and patience. The best way is not to allow it to happen in the first place. If your bird is normally tame, but a 'biter' then a sharp 'NO' and a gentle shake of the hand will normally stop him. With time and practice, you will subconsciously shake your hand every time he goes to bite hard, and eventually he will simply stop bothering to bite. If he's having a particularly bad day, respect that for what it is - a grumpy 5 minutes - and put him somewhere secure to cool off. Don't confuse biting with exploring - parrots use their very sensitive tongues to feel their way around their world, everything goes in their mouth, rather like babies.

If you get bitten it is always your fault. It is never the parrot's fault. No exceptions. You have either caused the bird to bite you, or you did not notice his warning signs. You're supposed to be the smarter of the two species. Don't ever use violence with your bird and don't yell at him - he simply won't understand and you'll probably just make him worse. Parrots respond well to love and affection and of course food, not to violence and anger.

Q "He'll never be tame, he's too old." A: RUBBISH!

• Let him out of his cage. He feels trapped, so he's angry, so he bites. You'll never tame a bird through bars.

• Sit next to his cage and wait. Parrots are impossibly nosy and he'll come to you eventually. It may take hours, days, weeks... but persevere (best done while watching TV - your attention span is probably shorter than the bird's!)

• Scratch his head. Once you have achieved this, he's yours forever. Hold your finger at a distance and slowly, slowly approach his cheek. Sit at his level - if you're higher than him then you're a threat. If he looks like he'll bite, back off and try another time - this is not a battle of wills - it's all about trust.

• Use food! It works with every living creature. Bring him lovely things to eat every day and you'll soon be his best friend.

Q: "White corn's all he needs to eat, right?" A: PLEASE, NO!!

There's no doubt about it, a pet parrot is expensive to feed properly. In the wild his only job (other than to make little parrots) is to feed himself - and he spends all day doing it. Parrots love variety; in the wild they fly from tree to bush to get different fruits and seeds as they ripen month by month. So, sorry, but that's what he needs from you. If you were given the same few foods to eat every day you would quickly become bored and probably suffer health problems. Try different foods – your bird will soon let you know which his favourites are.

Banana, watermelon, papaya, mango, figs, sugarcane, carrot, celery, spinach, pineapple, oranges, hibiscus flowers, cashew nuts (no salt), sunflower seeds (more than a handful a day will make him fat though), unsalted peanuts in shells, fresh corn, dried yellow corn, green beans, okra, kinep, ackee, any kind of apple, craboo, plums, grapes, chilies... try anything once! As a complete food you can get special pellets for parrots from feed stores which will give essential vitamins and minerals, but parrots tend to leave these till last! Keep a look out for flowers and berries frequented by wild birds, and try your parrot with those.

Salt, alcohol, & fizzy drinks will make him sick Don't feed him 'human' food- processed sweets, drinks, sugary cakes, salty chips etc. He may like it, but it's not good for him (or us!)

chocolate, avocado & onion are poisonous to parrots

It goes without saying ( I hope) but:

YOUR BIRD MUST HAVE ACCESS TO FRESH, CLEAN DRINKING WATER ALL THE TIME

• Don't forget - please let us know if you need help or wish to give up your bird