Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with parrot

Will our sun conure be okay without leaving his cage for a week?

archagon — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 02:39:22 -0800

We're going on vacation for 4-5 days, and are leaving our sun conure in the care of our friends. Unfortunately, he bites anyone who isn't us, so they can't let him out of his cage. (His wings are unclipped, so he would have no problem getting to them.) Will he be okay?

SoCal bird places

Nattie — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 20:44:38 -0800

Looking for avian resources -- vets, toy stores, etc -- in SoCal! We're moving to SoCal this week with our Congo African Grey Parrot and cockatiel. We're going to be living around Arcadia or Pasadena, but we're willing to drive an hour or so in any direction to visit places. We're looking for the following:

- Places that have a wide selection of bird toys. Usually the store will specialize in bird toys; we're not looking for something like PetCo or PetsMart.

- A vet that is a trained avian specialist. This is extremely important. There are a lot of vets that can mostly only handle dogs and cats, but say they will see birds as well. We have had terrible experiences with these vets and our cockatiel has a long, difficult medical history with something a non-specialist would not be able to handle successfully.

How does parrot speech work?

evariste — Sat, 25 Nov 2006 13:55:13 -0800

How do parrots mimick sounds like b, p, m, v? They don't even have lips.

Swashbuckling sea-plunderer seeks parrot/perch solution

t0astie — Fri, 21 Jul 2006 01:02:47 -0800

Ahoy askm[ateys]! Help a pirate keep her parrot on its perch. There is My eye-patch, sword (glow in the dark, natch), and bottle o' rum are shipshape. But my parrot -- a mangy-feathered grog guzzling bilge-rat of bird if ever there was one -- will not hold fast.

Tried so far: elastic (unfortunate effect on puffy pirate shirt) and carrying parrot (could be awkward if need to swill rum and wield sword concurrently).

Particulars: parrot is about the size of a budgerigar, weighs about 150 grams and is made of plastic.

Pirate is mid size wench planning night of adventure ~~on the high seas~~ at the local tavern in company of like-minded privateers, tomorrow.

I will not be keelhauled or leaping about the rigging. So no naval-standard knot work needed. I hope.

I would like keep my brand new, rather nice and quite expensive shirt in decent condition. Superglue and tar are out.

Heave-to, haul away and a barrel of rum to the sea-dog who fixes firm the pox-faced beastie to its buccaneer.

What is this needle-shaped microorganism?

Infernarl — Wed, 03 May 2006 19:27:54 -0800

We got our Green-Cheek Conure about 10 days ago; he is about 4 months old. This afternoon at his checkup to make sure he was “fit for purchase,” a strange microorganism was found in his fecal sample. The vet had never seen it before. The microorganism is about equal in size to Megabacteria (i.e. really big for something microscopic) and it looks like a pine needle: a long, skinny, tapered cigar shape. Some of the pine needles have nodes in the center (see drawing inside for a rough visual interpretation.) Have any of you ever seen or heard of a microorganism like this? Research online has turned up nothing so far. Our best guess is that it is a yeast of some sort (like Megabacteria, also known as Avian Gastric Yeast.) Some more info:
When the vet first looked into the microscope, she asked us what our bird had been eating- her first thought was that it might be something herbal or pollen-related. He hadn't been eating anything unusual, so this hypothesis was ruled out.

The bird has been on the calmer side of normal in behavior- there have been no overt signs of sickness. He does not look miserable. We were a little worried that his demeanor meant there was something wrong, but we dismissed those feelings as those of nervous new bird parents when his energy level increased considerably after the first few days living with us. He has a good appetite, and he loves to play with us and with his toys in his cage.

The microorganism's resemblance to Megabacteria, coupled with our bird's calmness (low energy?) and small size (scrawny?) relative to other Green-Cheeks (could be indicative of not feeling well,) prompted the vet to prescribe Clavamox and Nyastatin, which we will be giving to the bird for 14 days. If these drugs don't work we are going to try Amphotericin B.

We love our bird (his name is Virgil) and we are very worried. Any input would be appreciated.

P.S. Here is some megabacteria info:
http://www.shadypines.com/megabact.htm

Here is a drawing of the mystery organism.

Need recommendations on buying a parrot

Gamblor — Thu, 19 Jan 2006 10:08:26 -0800

I'm thinking of buying a parrot, and I'm leaning towards a White-Bellied Caique. Does anyone own this type of bird? Can they recommend it? I'm looking for a bird that's not too loud, not too big, likes people, and would be good around a family. Talking is nice, but really not that important. I had originally been thinking of an African Grey, but I've heard that while they're excellent talkers, they're not crazy about being handled. Cockatoos seem very friendly and affectionate, but they're way too loud. Macaws are beautiful, but they're huge and need an enormous cage. I know no bird is going to be perfect, but from what I've seen/read, it looks like the Caique is a pretty good fit.

I saw several baby Caiques at the Marc Morrone's pet store, and they seem great. The store's prices are really expensive, but it's local, and I can pick out the bird myself right now. I also looked up some breeders online, and their prices are much lower. But if I buy through them, I have to put my name on a list and wait for a bird to become available, which could be a couple of months. And since they're all out of state, the bird gets picked out by someone else, boxed up, and shipped to me, which seems like a lot of stress on the little guy.

Other than cost, is there any difference going through a pet store vs. a breeder? And is this a good bird to buy? This is a lot of money to spend, and the bird could live 40+ years, so I want to make sure I do this right.