Rose Breasted Cockatoo!

MustLoveAnimals · Aug 25, 2014

After attending the All American Hookbill Fair in Bridgeton, MO on Sunday, I have found the bird for me.....The Rose Breasted Cockatoo!! I was able to handle three. Even though they all had their own unique, individual personalities, all were just as cuddly and affectionate.

And they are a perfect size!

Now, I still have LOTS of research to do before bringing one home.
I want a very large cage. I was thinking possibly 5'/6' tall, 4' wide, and 3' deep. Would this be too small? What would be the maximum bar spacing? And I'm going to get a few play stands/tree stands. I was thinking; two for the living room (Where he will spend most of the time, for it is a high traffic area of the house), one in the dining room, and one in my bedroom (Where the cage will be).
What do you feed yours? I'd want to have a large variety of food items.
What is dangerous/toxic for this species?
Oh! And what would be a good reward treat for clicker training? I saw on a video, someone giving their parrot a treat through a syringe. What could be dispensed through a syringe?
What are common health issues, and what could I do to avoid these?
If you have any other comments, recommendations, or opinions, please share!
Thank you!

Jayyj · Aug 25, 2014

Well, good choice!

The cage dimensions sound good to me - in fact I think that's slightly bigger than Alice's cage which is a Montana Heidelberg. She also has an xl java tree in the front room where the cage lives, and a small java tree that lives in the bathroom but can be carried around with us.

The toxic list is the same for all parrots, and galahs (I find the Victorian name far too much of a mouthful!) don't have any specific special requirements, although they are prone to fatty tumours so care needs to be taken with feeding them too many fatty foods. If you can avoid clipping the exercise of regular flying will help in terms of keeping a galah in good health. Alice has Harrisons High Potency Fine pellets emvellished with a dried fruit and veg mix, and I give her a warm chop mix with around a dozen different veg and sprouted seeds every morning - I make this in bulk once a fortnight and freeze it. There are loads of suggestions for chopmixes in the diet subforum, and also toxic / non toxic lists, which I found myself stood in the supermarket frantically consulting on my smart phone for a good two months after getting her! She also loves toast, cous cous and pasta (strictly wholemeal) and gets those a few times a week when I'm eating them myself, and is a fiend for cheese (special occasions only and in very small portions). If she had her way it would be curry and pizza all the way though - god knows what her previous owner allowed her to eat.

The syringe thing sounds like a just weaned thing - not common with adult birds. I use quartered pine nuts as training treats.

All galahs seem to love shredding things, so lots of shredding toys, and they need lots of out of cage time, and need to be taught to self entertain. They're a lot more accomodating than most of the other too species but that shouldn't be taken to mean they're easy birds to care for - so read everything that's out there about too behaviour problems just to be sure. You shouldn't encounter anything like as bad as the horror stories surrounding the large white toos but if the goal is a happy, healthy bird then a lot of the same rules apply.

Good luck!

MustLoveAnimals · Aug 25, 2014

Jayyj said:
Well, good choice!

The cage dimensions sound good to me - in fact I think that's slightly bigger than Alice's cage which is a Montana Heidelberg. She also has an xl java tree in the front room where the cage lives, and a small java tree that lives in the bathroom but can be carried around with us.

The toxic list is the same for all parrots, and galahs (I find the Victorian name far too much of a mouthful!) don't have any specific special requirements, although they are prone to fatty tumours so care needs to be taken with feeding them too many fatty foods. If you can avoid clipping the exercise of regular flying will help in terms of keeping a galah in good health. Alice has Harrisons High Potency Fine pellets emvellished with a dried fruit and veg mix, and I give her a warm chop mix with around a dozen different veg and sprouted seeds every morning - I make this in bulk once a fortnight and freeze it. There are loads of suggestions for chopmixes in the diet subforum, and also toxic / non toxic lists, which I found myself stood in the supermarket frantically consulting on my smart phone for a good two months after getting her! She also loves toast, cous cous and pasta (strictly wholemeal) and gets those a few times a week when I'm eating them myself, and is a fiend for cheese (special occasions only and in very small portions). If she had her way it would be curry and pizza all the way though - god knows what her previous owner allowed her to eat.

The syringe thing sounds like a just weaned thing - not common with adult birds. I use quartered pine nuts as training treats.

All galahs seem to love shredding things, so lots of shredding toys, and they need lots of out of cage time, and need to be taught to self entertain. They're a lot more accomodating than most of the other too species but that shouldn't be taken to mean they're easy birds to care for - so read everything that's out there about too behaviour problems just to be sure. You shouldn't encounter anything like as bad as the horror stories surrounding the large white toos but if the goal is a happy, healthy bird then a lot of the same rules apply.

Good luck!

Great!
I won't be clipping wings. I didn't with my past Parakeet and I don't with my current Cockatiel, so I won't with the Galah.

I will remember to get quartered pine nuts for training.

My Tiel also loves to shred and tear things up, so providing things like this won't be a problem.

I'll read up on common Too behavior problems and how to avoid them. I'll also post a new thread asking about self-entertainment. Since I've never had a bird that didn't self-entertain, I'll need some tips.

Thank you!

Birdman666 · Aug 25, 2014

I told you so...

MustLoveAnimals · Aug 25, 2014

Birdman666 said:
I told you so...

Lol you sure did!

Thank you for bringing them up!! Otherwise, I may have never known.

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