Keeping Pet Parrots

by Rob Harvey

Diets:
It is very important to feed your parrot the best diet you can and also to vary his diet to make it as interesting as possible. We advise for African Greys Witte Molens Parrot Premium as this is low in sunflower seeds and has over 35 ingredients. African Greys can get addicted to sunflower seeds and by themselves are not a good diet. For Amazons, Cockatoos and Macaws we advise Witte Molens Seedmix for parrots with some Parrot Premium added to this for a good seed mixture.

You will need to add vitamins and minerals to their diet even though you are not breeding your pets. It is wrong to presume only breeding parrots need vitamins -all parrots do. We recommend Avi-plus Twinpack which consists of one tub of vitamins and one tub of minerals and each day you take a pinch out of each tub and mix with your seed mixture to make sure there is nothing missing from their diet. African Greys will need some extra calcium and we recommend the Avi-Cal from Avi-plus which is added to the seed once a week.

It is recommended that you also feed pulses such as Parrot Dinner from Witte Molen. This mixture of pulses is designed to be simmered for 25 minutes, washed and added to the seed mixture. As well as the above you will need to give your pet parrot any fruit and vegetables they will eat such as apples, pears, bananas, grapes, sweetcorn, beetroot, carrot etc but keep away from avocado pear as this is poisonous to parrots.

This gives you an idea of the sort of general diet you will need for your pet parrots but please contact us for more details regarding your species of parrot, as sometimes how you keep your parrot can effect the diet they require.

Cages:
Often you will hear the comment "the larger the cage the better" which is true but it also depends on how you look after your parrot. If you are at home all day and have your parrot out of the cage all day, it is not essential to have a massive cage as your parrot will mainly use it to sleep in . If you have to go out for long periods then it becomes more important to have a good sized cage. If you can afford to buy one where the top opens up into a play area, these are very useful to keep your parrot amused. We will be happy to advise a size cage for your parrot.

Toys and Hemp Rope:
Just having a cage is not enough it is our responsibility as parrot owners to make sure their life is as interesting as possible and making sure there is plenty to play with is the best way of doing this. A good range of toys are now available which can be placed in the cage and will give your parrot hours of fun. We also sell hemp rope in large quantities to zoos for gorillas but it is also wonderful for parrots as well. It comes in two sizes 24mm & 36mm and can be hung from the cage or even around your room to make a playground for your parrot. It can easily be attached by putting a jubilee clip on one end like the ones you use on a hose pipe to attach it to a tap. Then you simple screw a hook into the end and hang it from the cage or aviary. You can add this to both ends and then you have a large swing for your parrot.

Parrots do make wonderful pets but do need time and your attention as they are such intelligent creatures. If you are thinking of buying a parrot for the first time please make sure the parrot is hand reared and completely tame and easy to handle. If possible, buy from a breeder where you can see the conditions in which it was hand reared as this will give you more confidence that it is disease free. Also before buying a parrot please make sure you know where you local avian vet is just incase you get any problems in the future that need to be dealt with quickly. Buying a pet parrot is a big decision so please take your time and do not hesitate to contact us if you want some advise.