African Grey..?

Question

Hi, I am 15 years old. I've been shopping around for some sort of animal, looking them up doing research looking for price ranging...etc. Do you think that an African grey would be ok for me?

Things im trying to consider-

My mom breeds miniature poodles, are they ok around dogs?

Its cage would possibly be down stairs, its a bit cooler down there, would that be ok? do they need to be at a certain temp.

I will beable to have a time out of its cage every day.

oh and one more thing

I do have a little bit of experience, just not with bigger birds. I've had 4 budgies before. also my mom use to have lots of bigger birds when she was in college. she still has one, but it lives with her dad, and you cant take it out of its cage because he bites...HARD...i think her dad lets it out every now and then...but it just hangs around the house....

Thanks for any help!

Answer 1

my ex had one for a while.  all i remember is he let it go upstairs and it flew around knocking over all my breakables.

he kept it down in the basement that he had filled up with aquariums.  as long as no drafts i would say it would be ok.  sounds as your mom could help you with it if any problems.  good luck with it.

Answer 2

Giving him what he wants,there would never be a problem. between parrots,it's almost easier to handle a African gray especially rather than macaws.They(Grays) are really kind &  adorable & not too naughty.So If you pay attention to these, you will make an easy choise :

1-A young male Congo african gray is preferrd.(young I mean under 1 year old so that he doesn't talk)

2-His cage must have had a height from the floor.(cause birds live on trees they are used to a height & although in that condition they can watch themselves much better)

3-yes,dogs can frighten a gray ( especially a young).I would prefer to keep him away from them at least in the first weeks.

4-niosy?I don't call them noisy at all. ya they normally scream but not much especially rather than macaws.(maybe ten seconds a day only)

5-if they are cold or frightend,their body start to shake.

6-They bite but not hard at all(young ones)really (especially comparing to macaws)even if they are bothered.(this shows thier kind character.)

Finally I really suggest you to read a book about them or talk to a vet.In my opinion, a gray is a parrot easy to handle even for biginners and of course deadly,deadly,deadly adorable.

I wish I could have helped.

Answer 3

African Grays live 60-80 years and don't deal with change very well. If you get a parrot, you need to be sure you can commit to it for the duration of your life, because if you have to give it up for whatever reason, it could perish pining away for you.

Some questions to consider:

Will you take the bird to college with you?

What harm can drunken college friends do to your bird?

Will your future spouse be willing to love the bird even though the bird will most likely only love you?

Are you able to maintain the bird on  your income? Bird food and toys are expensive.

We've had our parrots for 11 years. Our gray is wonderful and we love her dearly. She's upstairs calling for me in my husband's voice. Kinda freaky.

She was actually my ex-husband's bird, but he abandoned us and the bird was quite angry with me for months because she assumed I ran him off. Fortunately, she adores my new husband and will vomit on him if he allows her to get too worked up...something he discourages.

She has acclimated well to the addition of new babies in our family and calls each one by name. frequently reminding our little one to "go potty!"

Grays chatter all day long. They are generally not obnoxious, but can and will pick up annoying sounds to immitate. Ours whistles an obnoxious whistle that our 5 year old got at a party last year. The bird only had to hear it once to immitate the sound. She also whistles the sound the waffle maker makes when waffles are ready. She'll do that all day for days after waffle-making mornings. That's annoying. But not half as bad as the low battery sound the smoke detectors make.

Grays and other large parrots need to be kept in the same areas that other family members frequent. Can you have the parrot in your kitchen or dining area? Think mess, mess, mess! When you go to buy a house one day,  you'll have to consider where you place the bird's cage. You cannot simply leave the bird in a room by itself. It MUST have frequent INTERACTION with YOU.

We had to pass on a lovely house in a perfect neighborhood because the kitchen didn't have a space for our bird cages. Instead, we had to settle for our 2nd choice because of the birds.

There's also the matter of bird kenneling when you must go out of town. You cannot simply leave enough water and food for a bird because they have been known to spill their water or bathe in it and splash it all out of the dish. You'd hate to come home to a dead bird.

Other pets are fine with the large parrots. Dogs and cats quickly learn a healthy respect for parrots who can and will lop off an ear or tail.

One last thing to consider, birds make an INCREDIBLE MESS! Be prepared to clean up after them several times a day. They p**p in two places: inside and outside of the cage.