New here, wondering which parrot is for me

[loco4feathers]

I am a long time animal lover and owner of a small zoo.... we have a 6000 gallon koi pond with 14 koi, a red foot tortoise, a Turantula, two 65gallon tropical aquariums, a shïtzu, a Lhasa Apso, a puppy from the two, and a cinnamon turquoise Conure... I haven't ever seen another Conure with similar markings and am guessing at what to call it..... anyhow, we're wanting a larger parrot,, I love the greys, but she wants something with bright colors and good speech abilities ... we have a rambunctious 10yo boy... we need a bird that can acclimate to a household that can be loud at times. For the most part we're calm enough ... just want to everything to be considered.
I look forward to everyone's input... thanks in advance.
Joe

 

[lene1949]

Welcome to the forums...

Maybe a female eclectus would be good...

 

[Remy]

Well, Greys are known for their excellent speech abilities. Personality is more important than looks. Besides, greys have a bright red tail.

 

[Lintini]

Welcome! I just adopted a grey 2 months ago and I love her to pieces!!! You probably can't go wrong with whatever bird you choose to add to your home welcome welcome!

 

[Alisana]

If you want a cuddle bug, conures are good for that.

If you can visit a rescue centre, look at the different parrots there - each have individual personalities, so it's worth meeting some in person.

 

[wenz2712]

I agree with Lene.. a Female Ekkie would be a good choice

 

[loco4feathers]

I called an eclectus breeder,, only $900 for a female,,, they were telling me how greys are one person birds and really nasty to everyone else... I haven't really heard that before,, is this definitely true when buying a baby grey. Also, are the Ellie's truly a "family" bird... that's most important to me.. I need a bird that will be friendly towards my whole family.

 

[paulhanlon]

Hi welcome to the forums if your looking for one that has nice colours and your not to fussed about the talking abillity i would surgest a catalina macaw they are not the best of talkers but can learn a few words and there colour mixtures are beautiful

 

[wenz2712]

I called an eclectus breeder,, only $900 for a female,,, they were telling me how greys are one person birds and really nasty to everyone else... I haven't really heard that before,, is this definitely true when buying a baby grey. Also, are the Ellie's truly a "family" bird... that's most important to me.. I need a bird that will be friendly towards my whole family.

I have heard that the Female Ekkie is OK with quite a noisy Household and the Male is more for a quiet Household

Greys can often just bond with one Person... This can also be the same with an Amazon!! I dont think Ekkies tend to do this so much.

 

[Alisana]

Ekkies are polygamous by nature, so if you want a family friendly pet, it's a good choice rather than trying to 'train' them to like other birds.

As others have said - greys can bond with just one person, however if you want them to like everyone you have to socialise ALL the time.

Lorikeets are noisy, but little fun bugs. Diet can be tricky though.

Cockatoos and Macaws are at the long end of the life span scale, 60+ they're a huge life time commitment - size, age and noise wise.

I actually missed your comment about already having a conure, hehe

If you consider the ekkies, jump onto the Eclectus section of the forum and chat with some members there - or do a thread search

 

[loco4feathers]

Hi welcome to the forums if your looking for one that has nice colours and your not to fussed about the talking abillity i would surgest a catalina macaw they are not the best of talkers but can learn a few words and there colour mixtures are beautiful

We do want a good talker ... talking is #2 in importance, right after friendliness and just before coloration

 

[lene1949]

Still sounds like a female Ekkie to me..

 

[paulhanlon]

On that note I'd say a female ekkie then

 

[wolf0994]

I will tell you that grey's can be very much family fids. We adopted a 16 year old grey in April of this year that was bonded to another parrot and mainly only used to older adults. I have 5 kids, 2 dogs, 1 cat, 1 parakeet. Major environment change for our Kawie. My kids love him and he loves them. It only took a couple weeks and he was allowing them to touch his beak and give them kisses. He did bite twice in that first month or so but this was a huge change for him. Since then he has not bitten anyone and I have kids down to 7 years old. They all give him lots of attention and he loves it. I dont want to take anything away from the ekkies as I hear they are wonderful wonderful pets. I just dont want to you disregard a grey because they can be "one" person pets. It all depends on how you socialize them.

 

[Trina]

My friend has a grey, he is an amazing bird good speech, but then from what i have learned researching when I was searching for a larger parrot, they are the best talkers. My 13 year old loves to go over there when we are hanging out to play with her grey.

However, I chose the eclectus female for myself.

My friends grey is an amazing talker but my eclectus is a pretty awesome talker herself. She talks all the time. Most of the time I have 5-6 teenagers in my house on weekends. she does fine. I also have a trombone player in the house, that is louder then her and when she has had enough she makes a loud noise and says "be quiet" " NO NO" "be quiet"

Now my Eclectus she gets on fine with anyone that lives in my house, everyone can pick her up. But she has her favorite human regardless. My friends grey is the same he has his favorite human which is her husband, but he still will play with my girl.

I think greys are also awesome, I just tend to be more of an eclectus person. Best thing is to research the parrots diet etc and see which parrot can easily fit into your family.