| Welcome to Bird ownership Jim,
Just as with a baby there are many potential hazards around any house
that could injure or kill a Bird. It is necessary to cage a bird when
it is not being supervised. It can chew through and electical cord,
eat a poision plant, eat any part of the house that could be
poisonous(carpet, painted/stained woodwork, exposed adhesive, as well
as any cleansors you might forget to put away.
Buy a cage !
This will also help you in you training as it will look forward to your
coming home and letting it out. and if there are any behavioural
problems you can help correct them by returning the bird to its cage.
your other alternative is turning an entire room into an aviary, and
allowing the bird out to the rest of the house while you are there to
supervise it.
|
|
Cockatoos and other large birds are wonderful wonderful
Pets....but their beak NEVER stops growing, and they
have a never-ending desire to chew, and they also get bored
real easy!
The amount of destruction that combination can cause
is mind bogling! I have a lovely pine rocker with a
Macaw sized piece missing to alwlays remind me of this
possibility, and that was only a few minutes... Given
an entire day...and I said, the possibilities are
mind bogling!
I highly recommend the Animal Environments cages that
they advertise in Bird Talk. An additional possibility
is building a play gym out of manzanita. I don't know
where you live, but if in the MA/NH area, there are several
pet shops that stock manzanita branches. It is also
possible to purchase manzanita mail order.
After you get the cage and gym, fill both with all
sorts of chewable toys and keep some in reserve, so
you can rotate them....
As for food, try plums, peaches, grapes, chicken wings,
pizza, all pasta products, cooked and uncooked. Almost
anything except chocolate and alcholol, too much
sugar or salt is just fine for the bird....
And, take it to a AVIAN vet for a baseline checkup...
and at the risk of starting a series of flames...get the
wings clipped!
-dick
|
| Congratulations with your new companion!
The caging advice is pretty sound. You realy need to protect these
birds since they are very inquisitive. Ensure that the cage is as big
as possible with a good lock on it.
At an age of 15 wks you might consider to keep up the handfeeding
routine one daily. The whining indicates she still expects this from
you and it helps to get rear familiar with you.
Cockatoos can be mighty interesting and rewarding pets, specially when
real tame.
Cockatoos are HIGHLY sociable and intelligent. They need company ALL
DAY! If you are from home for more then a few hours on a daily basis
then please get it a companion. This would ideally be another Triton but
any other young parrot of about equal size will do. The sex doesn't
matter. There is no risk that the birds will be less familiar with you,
they will NOT loose there tameness. Keeping two handraised cockatoos
has NO disadvantages and the make a much more interesting spectacle to
watch.
Also this will reduce the risk of screaming and feather plucking to
almost zero.
I know you love the bird and want a good life for it so please get it a
companion! Now we've learned more about parrots we understand
their needs for a wellbeing existance a lot better. Keeping an
intelligent and sociable bird like a cockatoo in solitary confinement
doesn't meet their needs. Getting your new friend a companion will be
much more satisfactory to you too.
Have fun!
Peter
|