Birds are annoying. first and foremost.
We have a lesser sulfur crested cockatoo named Napoleon
(not him. but looks like him) lol
He is one of the most smart, funny, sweet, quirky pets you could ever have.
Firstly, it is ALWAYS like having a two year old in the house.
the good and the bad parts of that lol
Bad parts?
He is messy. Cleaning their cages is annoying, flinging their food (which many find very fun) is messy, they like to groom themselves in water and splash around.
He is loud. and not just "aww he is talking" but "OH MY GOD WHY ARE YOU SCREECHING IT IS 6 IN THE MORNING!?!"
Some of it you can teach, like "shhh".. but you can never really get a bird (especially a large one) to be quiet. They are birds, calling is what they like to do
He is (this will also be featured in the "good" section). They will open latches to their cages, make the noise of your cell phone so you come running, tip their food bowls over, curse to get attention, and just be general pain in the butts that don't listen because they are too smart to "obey"
They are social smart animals. That means, you are their flock and their "mate" and to a bird.. there is no bond closer. They WANT to be with you all the time. They like taking showers with you, eating at the same time as everyone, being part of the conversation, sitting by you while you watch TV, playing games with you etc.. while this "can" be good.. this is also a GREAT responsibility.
Birds that are ignored will not just be sad. They will hurt themselves, pluck out all their feathers, and just become general menaces.
- He is expensive. His cage costs a small fortune, even though he barely spends time in it other than sleeping lol also if something goes wrong, exotic vets are $
- We have left him for weekends before (all of us) and he has done ok. He was visibly sad the whole time, but we had somebody stay over the house with him (he does LIKE visitors/strangers) and he did ok.
I do NOT think he would have been ok with just somebody coming over and feeding him. Thank goodness we found a housesitter that stayed over, even just her being around, watching tv, eating, etc.. was nice for him so he wasn't alone
- Having a huge tantrum. His call can be heard from 52 stories down, 1 block away. I know this for a fact.
GOOD PARTS
- He is smart. the kind of smart that makes you scratch your head and wonder what is going on in that head of his. He knows plenty of tricks and uses words in contexts.
As in, if you have food, he says "gimme some please!" or "NOW!"
- He is funny. not like woops funny but like, he is intentionally humorous. He will throw something off his cage at the dog. My mom will laugh, he will laugh..and then do it again and look back at her.
He will talk back to us, play games, make fun of us, imitate us, imitate the tv, the microwave
- We can share food with him lol they eat everything that is healthy for us. Fruits, veggies, meats, etc..etc..
Napoleons favorite food is eggo waffles
- Long lifespan is a plus. He will likely be with us until like forever lol
- He can talk. Not as well as an african grey, but he certainly does talk, and sing, and buzz, and beep, and ring, and bark lol
- He is cuddly. Cockatoos are VERY VERY cuddly. He loves to be stroked, petted held, loved on, scratched, kissed. all of it.
_____
QUIRKS
- his favorite food is eggo waffles, he also enjoys apple slices
- he is scared of the dark (we leave a night light on for him)
- he sings himself to sleep sometimes
- he speaks spanish (we don't) we think his last home did lol
- he is cage-free. His cage is open during the day, he spends most of him time on top of it on his playpen or in my moms room.
he walks around the house as most pets would, on the ground.
- he is potty trained and returns to his cage to "go"
- his favorite activity is to sit on your lap while you watch TV
- We bought him on the side of the road. The man selling us mangoes didn't have change for a $50 and offered us the bird. He had him in a shoe box.
- He has a pretty high pitched girly voice lol most cockatoos do
- He learns very fast. clicker training is a breeze to him and teaching him a new trick takes all but 5 minutes
- He loves to lay on his back on your lap lol
- I honestly think he KNOWS he is smarter than the dogs
It's hard talking about him. because as much as we all love him and as much as our house would be empty without him.
I don't think these birds are right for anyone. Like, I can't imagine EVER thinking it is a good idea for somebody to go out and buy one
and the more I am around him the more I think "wow..these really are creatures that were not meant to be pets" but there are plenty of birds in rescue that NEED homes, so I digress.
but still, especially when it comes to larger birds (which really are a LIFETIME commitment) I would really really seriously be careful before deciding to bring on home
It's not a new pet, it's a lifestyle change lol