Your Buddy For Life Can Be an African Grey

Parrots have always fascinated me. I remember when I was a child, we used to pay a visit to my aunt who had a pet parrot. The parrot was amusing and exceedingly friendly. Loneliness has entered my life since the death of my husband. While looking through selected pictures the other day, I found one of me with my aunt’s parrot. Looking at the photo, I considered buying a parrot as a pet for myself.

The trouble was that I did not know anything at all about caring for a parrot. My aunt always believed that only time and patience were needed. The quandary was that patience was not my strong point. I was certain though, that if I learned more about parrots, I could take fantastic care of one. It would give me the friendship I desired and some fun too. I decided that a call to the library was in order first. The library would give me all the information and advice that I needed to decide whether I could look after a parrot properly and with the care and attention it deserves.

There were a lot of books in the library, all with great, helpful information. One useful section I read was all about making sure the parrot had a large cage which was enough for him to spread his wings. On a daily basis, I would need to place paper at the bottom of the cage. This would catch all mess and food. This wouldn’t be a hitch, I always have the hoover on standby. Additional items I would need to purchase were food and water bowls, a perch and lots of toys.

I read with concentration the parrot would have to be washed at least once a week with water and dried off with a towel. It needed some variety in its diet as well as its claws clipping if they got too long. Certain grain foods, nuts, fruit and veggies are ideal things to feed them.

After reading the book, I realized that keeping a parrot is not effortless work. This didn’t put me off purchasing one though, specially when I found out it had the potential to talk. Apparently vocal contact is extremely important, that was ok with me as sometimes I never shut up.

The next day, I went to the pet shop. There I came across the most friendly, beautiful African grey Parrot. The staff member said it was a very loving bird. The assistant also gave me lots of other advice such as not to feed them avocado as this can instantaneously kill them. To cut a long story short, I ended up purchasing everything. The bird, cage, toys, bowls and couple of more books.

My new parrot is called Dolly and she has turned out to be such a delight. We seemed to join straight away and I don’t know how I managed without her. The internet was a terrific source of help for me. I learned everything from how to feed them to how to keep them lively.

Written and Submitted by Joyce Stewart