In twelve more days my first parrot - a ten year old blue-headed pionus - will be coming to live with me (I'm not excited at all.. lol). I don't know a whole bunch about her previous situation but I do know that she was in a multi-parrot home and that the owner did not feel he had adequate time for all of his birds.
I've never had a parrot before (I had society finches but lost them due to a long power outage during the winter while I was at work... I live in Canada and it gets REALLY cold here) and so I've been reading and reading and reading and harrassing everyone I know who has had large birds to relay any bit of information they can to me. I have already been informed that the cage the pi is in is too small and so that situation will be remedied as soon as she's had time to settle in. I am already expecting her to be somewhat sad and traumatized from the move and I understand that moving them to a new cage can be stressful as well, so I'm going to let things be for a little while at least. I'm also looking into buying her a playstand that can be moved from room to room (yay, wheels!) for when she's comfortable being around me.
I manage a pet store and so I work retail hours; mostly eight hour daytime shifts but some evenings too. I also teach dog obedience classes and am gone a couple hours a couple nights a week for this as well. I will have no less than an hour to spend with her every day and typically closer to three or four hours of 'time out' of her cage where we can interact. There are dogs in my household as well as reptiles and a cat. The dogs know better than to touch anything that is designated off-limits and so does the cat. The reptiles are caged unless I'm handling them directly and I'd never have them out when the parrot is out.
So. My question is this...
How much time out of her cage is not enough time out? It is my intention to have her out of her cage any time when I am home and not occupied by parrot-unsafe activities (i.e. cooking or cleaning) but will three or four hours an evening be sufficient for a pionus parrot of her age? Is it sufficient for her to be within eyesight and hearing distance of other activities (i.e. TV watching or reading) or does she have to be directly interacted with for long periods of time? I have a tendency to talk to everything (even my fish!) so she won't lack for aural stimulation, that's for sure.
I know that every species is different and then every individual within a species is different but it would be lovely to hear some numbers as to how much time you spend with your bird on a daily basis and what you're doing during that time.
Thanks so much!
I've never had a parrot before (I had society finches but lost them due to a long power outage during the winter while I was at work... I live in Canada and it gets REALLY cold here) and so I've been reading and reading and reading and harrassing everyone I know who has had large birds to relay any bit of information they can to me. I have already been informed that the cage the pi is in is too small and so that situation will be remedied as soon as she's had time to settle in. I am already expecting her to be somewhat sad and traumatized from the move and I understand that moving them to a new cage can be stressful as well, so I'm going to let things be for a little while at least. I'm also looking into buying her a playstand that can be moved from room to room (yay, wheels!) for when she's comfortable being around me.
I manage a pet store and so I work retail hours; mostly eight hour daytime shifts but some evenings too. I also teach dog obedience classes and am gone a couple hours a couple nights a week for this as well. I will have no less than an hour to spend with her every day and typically closer to three or four hours of 'time out' of her cage where we can interact. There are dogs in my household as well as reptiles and a cat. The dogs know better than to touch anything that is designated off-limits and so does the cat. The reptiles are caged unless I'm handling them directly and I'd never have them out when the parrot is out.
So. My question is this...
How much time out of her cage is not enough time out? It is my intention to have her out of her cage any time when I am home and not occupied by parrot-unsafe activities (i.e. cooking or cleaning) but will three or four hours an evening be sufficient for a pionus parrot of her age? Is it sufficient for her to be within eyesight and hearing distance of other activities (i.e. TV watching or reading) or does she have to be directly interacted with for long periods of time? I have a tendency to talk to everything (even my fish!) so she won't lack for aural stimulation, that's for sure.
I know that every species is different and then every individual within a species is different but it would be lovely to hear some numbers as to how much time you spend with your bird on a daily basis and what you're doing during that time.
Thanks so much!
