Male or Female

Hello everyone, I'm thinking about getting a CAG and was wondering if there is any difference in personality between Males and Females. Does one make a better pet? Louder, friendlier, bites more ect...
Thanks,
Scott

Hi Scott. This is a very good question. From what I have read about and experienced there are very little differences in the behavior of AG except when the are harmonal. All parrots can be loud or bite. What are your expectations of an AG?

My exceptions? Good question. I went and looked at birds today. I actually went to look at an eclectus. There was several AGs there and the way the looked at you.....was just kinda cool. It seems like they were actually observing you. Trying to see if you were friendly or not, wanted to play or not ect... I don't know what it was exactly, but they seem to know something. LOL
I really don't have any great exceptions, I work a full time job and live by myself. I don't want to get a parrot if they can't handle being by them self for 8 hours a day. The woman at the shop said that with some good toys in the cage they would be fine. She only had female babies at this time, so I was wondering if there was a difference is the sexes. I know female eclectus can get a little more hormonal compared to the males.
Scott

Parrots and especially AG need lots of one on one time with their flock member (you). People do work and have parrots. And yes the AG are very intuitive and can look at you and know what you are feeling at the time. You can hide nothing. Their brain power is what attracted me. I suggest you list some things about yourself and time to spend with a bird on the forum. What you want out of the relationship with a bird. The parrot form members are good at making suggestions. In the meantime study up on them. One last suggestion is not to shop in a store for a bird. There are so many birds needing homes. Phoenix Landing is one org. that has some for adoption. Good luck.

Great advice from SB...definitely keep doing research, and remember that although different parrot species have certain behavior traits, they're each their own "person".

Hey scott!

I read that handreared male birds make better pts than female. I read this off of birdhealth.com.au, the owner of the site specializes in avians. I reccomend going there for more info.

Hi Scott, glad to hear you doing research....
I had an AG "Congo", got him at about three years old. He was always a shy, very aggressive bird. Could only hold him on a perch, no physical contact, BUT he did let me clip his wings and trim his nails. He had the ability to talk, said a few words. I reckon he was lazy . Had an accident with my hand, gave him to my ex-husband.
At a later stage I got another AG "GiGi" had her sexed, definitely a female. She was a very cuddly, lovable bird, who loved going under my t-shirt, falling asleep near my armpit. She spoke beautifully. Unfortunately, she died at 13 months, from a suspected stroke.
I am now a guardian to another AG (yipe just I just love the Grey's) Mishka, who is 2 years and 5 month old. Handreared her from 6 weeks. she is not a cuddly bird, but is extremely lovable, in a birdie way. Loves her head to be scratched, and her wings to be stroked. She thrives on lots of attention, and routine. We spend 1 hour at night, training, playing, interacting and just chatting. Her ability to talk is absolutely amazing, she says over 400 words and sentences. She talks non stop 24/7 jokes aside. My gut feeling is Mishka is a female, extremely similar to Gigi, just my gut feeling LoL

Below is a very informative link, pertaining to male and female parrots.
Parrot Differences between Male and Female Parrots - FAQs.
Hope you find this useful
Good luck

Thanks everyone for the suggestions and sites. Ahhhh decision, decision... I will continue my research until I'm absolutely sure I'm ready for the commitment and then what species.
thanks again,
Scott

I had the same dilema when choosing my eclectus, everyone had a different opinion. I heard the girls get hormonal and the boys get stressed and are prone to feather plucking. I even read somewhere females should only be kept as an avairy bird!! In the end I went to a reputable breeder who said they should be looked at on a bird-to-bird basis.

One of the advantages to going to a breeder or shelter is they usually want the right home for the bird, not just a sale. Our breeder choose the bird for me - a very outgoing, curious female who she said will be able to cope with a busy household like ours. Shadow is still a baby so it's too early to tell but so far she has fit in perfectly. Good luck

I just attended my bird club meeting and the guest speakers were from bird rescue groups. Sad to hear them say there are hundreds and hundreds of birds, not all with behavior issues, needing homes. Had I done my homework first I would have not purchased from a breeder. One rescue family that takes in birds to re home has 2 children and 54 birds needing homes. They have at lease 5 cages in every room and garage and basement.

Of course SB you are right about a rescue group. I have gotten all of my other pets through shelters, we don't really have much in the way of bird shelters where I live so I didn't even think of that..... definately something to look into for future flock additions

SB has a great point (says the person w/ 2 birds from a breeder and 1 from a pet store). Sometimes they are difficult to find in your area and there is one in Texas that will only adopt out to their area because they do several home visits. Which is good, but very limiting to the those of us who don't live there.

Whichever way you go, get a good rapport with the rescue volunteers or breeder. They'll be your support group for the first several months when everyone's getting to know each other.