Thank Goodness I found this site!!!!

Hello Everyone! I am sooooo thankful to have found this website!!!! Whew! I am a total newby to the world of parrots. Let me tell you how this came about.

My neighbor across the street from me was recently diagnosed with ovarian cancer. She is in the early stages of treatment. When she called me to her home to tell me, it was a tender and emotional time. She knows I love animals as much as she does. And, she confided in me that she had to part with her parrots because of her doctor's orders. Plus, I believe she knows how sick she is to become with treatment and although she has family, she doesn't want to put the responsibility on her loved ones to care for her birds.

Well, I'm 55 years old myself, and realize that time is starting to pass pretty quickly. I wouldn't go out and get a new pet at this age for fear of something happening to me in the next 10 to 20 years. But, I was so compelled with compassion to help my neighbor, I volunteer to take the birds immediately. My deal is "when she gets better, she can have them back."

What I have inherited is a gray head conures, and a lilac crowned Amazon. Now, these birds I suspect are pretty old. For one thing, my neighbor told me she got them from another owner years ago. I don't expect to do much with these birds as far as training and will enjoy their presence and keep them healthy until they go. In the mean time though, I have so many questions!!! Please help me if you can.

I love these little bird icons, they are so cute!!! Anyway, as a child, my mother and grandmother had parakeets. I remember my mother use to put a cuddle bone in the cage for the birds to sharpen their beaks. She also had a special sandpaper type perch to help keep their little nails down. Also, I remember my mother putting a special grit in their cage for their digestion. Do owners of parrots do the same thing? Where do you get these items? I live way out in the boondocks, so I suppose I would have to shop on line.

I probably should borrow a book from the library too on caring for parrots. But for now, could someone outline the basics of parrot ownership for me? These birds are darling. I have cleaned their cages nicely, and give them fresh water twice a day with their food. I found they really enjoy apples in addition to their regular seeds.

Thanks in advance to anyone generous enough with their knowledge and time to help me get started.

Memmay

Welcome to the forums. Feel free to look around, particularly I'd recommend the discussions on what to feed them (and what NOT to feed them) as this is perhaps the most important aspect of keeping healthy birds. Also be aware of their sensitivity to anything in the air - aerosols are deadly, as are fumes from some cookware, air-fresheners, and many other common products.

Cuttle bones are handy to have in their cage, but this is more for the calcium than for actually 'sharpening' their beaks. I leave one in Auggie's cage, but he could probably do with out it, and in fact he does do with out it as he rarely touches it.

There are a number of different perch types and it is good to have a bit of a variety, both to keep their nails groomed and for general foot health. Ideally you want a wide range of sizes, shapes, and materials. Sandpaper perches can work but now concrete/stone perches are available for the same purpose; these are more durable and will not be torn apart and eaten. Also many of these come in shapes that provide a range of shapes and sizes within one perch. For example:[ame=http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000WE30AQ]Amazon.com: Large Safety Pumice Perch: Kitchen & Dining[/ame] (Note: I don't know if this is a good one or not, I just pulled it up as an example of this type of perch).

As for grit you will find there is much controversy on this. It is good for them to have some occasionally but many birds will overdue it if it is left in their cage. This can be potentially quite dangerous. My solution is to offer it to Auggie every few days out of his cage: I just open the jar of grit and he dives in - he loves it. But I cut him off before he eats too much. Grit is also a calcium source so in principle they would not need grit AND a cuttle bone if they are using one reliably (though it doesn't hurt to offer options).