Snakewoman
Very Well-Known Member
- Joined
- May 23, 2009
- Messages
- 2,086
- Reaction score
- 17
thats amazing, do they learn the meaning of what they are sayin? like if the ask for a scratch are the just saying random things they have heard or are they asking for a scratch??
Are many well behaved or do they destroy your house? chewing on things and pooing on everthing or are they quite well behaved?
Would love to own an African Grey one day, but with my current work schedule it just wouldn't be fair on the bird.
My Girlfriend has an Alexandrine, so at least i'm already in a bird friendly environment. It's also given the opportunity to have a fair bit of time handling Macaws, Eclectus & African Greys amongst others.... now i've just fallen in love with all of them! It's going to be extremely tricky to decide when the time comes. With the average life span of these birds it's definitely not a decision to take lightly.
It's amazing just how much personality birds can have, and the difference between species. As much as I love Macaws, I think the African Grey is probably one of the best balances of size, intelligence, requirements etc....but the price certainly makes up for it :O
We spent a lot of time doing our research before we bought the Alex. Originally all intentions were definitely getting towards an Eclectus, but ended up going with the Alex purely for licensing reasons. We already had the license, and had no issues with having to maintain records etc...but the conditions that the apply to Eclectus didn't seem fair to the bird. Very similar to reptiles that the bird in theory can't leave the address specified on the license, unless for vet or similar circumstances.From my experience, Alexandrines are incredibly amazing at destroying things, a mate of mine owned one, he has laptop keys all pulled off, glue around glass doors stripped, tv remotes, corners of furniture etc etc. Eckies not so much, only when breeding, they like to make their nest out of weird and wonderful things but never touched any furniture or electrical cables etc etc. Greys are pretty intelligent and udnerstand when they have done something wrong (same with Macaws and Eckies but they require more training). We owned 2 eckies, a male and female and they were incredibly smart for birds with very little human interaction!
However all birds need toys and attention and if that can't be supplied then they should not be owned...just like reptiles need enclosures and heat!
However I do miss my Eckies but with working away it wasn't a viable situation!
very true hard to buy when they are 5000+
I have seen Macaws for as cheap as 4200
Greys for as cheap as 5000
Amazons for as cheap as 1000
Eckies for as cheap as 400 (hand raised-Incredible price)
And Alex's for as cheap as $250
Toss up between an Alex or Eckie tho I would choose the eckie for the couple of hundred more. They are by far a more intelligent bird and less destructive...However can live upto 40-50 years! So yeah not taken lightly!
We spent a lot of time doing our research before we bought the Alex. Originally all intentions were definitely getting towards an Eclectus, but ended up going with the Alex purely for licensing reasons. We already had the license, and had no issues with having to maintain records etc...but the conditions that the apply to Eclectus didn't seem fair to the bird. Very similar to reptiles that the bird in theory can't leave the address specified on the license, unless for vet or similar circumstances.
Our Alexandrine is a companion bird, and spends a large amount of time outside of his cage. He's well behaved, and have had no issues taking him away with us on some holidays. We don't flaunt him in public, but we do try and give him outside time. In theory, we wouldn't have even been able to take the Eclectus out. I also live seperately to my girlfriend, so the bird would have to stay at home alone if she came over.
We spoke with as many people as we could including DERM, various people at bird shows, breeders, etc... and really didn't seem to be any way around it. I admit, most people just said they don't care about the restrictions and we should just do it anyway. It was an extremely hard decision since she was originally set on an Eclectus, but decided to stick with the law and still be able to give our bird the life it deserves. What was frustrating was that this basically only applied to the Eccy's :S
Not trying to sound like a rant, just still can't figure out why the Eclectus is a restricted bird...
cost me around $100 hahaha.
Wow, don't suppose you have any photos of the setup in the trees that you can share? Would be very interested in having a look, had considered something similar for a future project. More than happy to keep private if you don't want publicly shared.
Enter your email address to join: