“Precious” – Red Bellied Parrot

 

 

Precious is “not” a Birdline bird at this time. We make no representations on her health/temperament and request that all inquiries made directly to her current owner. Thank you.

The biography on Precious has been provided by her current owner.  This bird is loved very much and this decision has not been an easy one for her.

Precious was welcomed into my family in 1998 at the age of 6 months.  She is a bit smaller than your average Red Bellied Parrot.

I am in a position that I can no longer take care of her and I am ready to give her to a good home where the person will welcome her into their family as a treasured companion.

She has always been very healthy and very happy and has been a source of encouragement and comfort to me through the many trials in my life. She is such a loving bird and will make the ideal companion for someone who will love her back and spend quality time with her every day. She will get used to a routine. I work 5 days a week but when I get home I always spend time with her.

I get her nails and wings trimmed for safety so she can’t fly around and get into trouble.. I get this done at the Vet in Avenida Village (Avenida All Pet Clinic) at least twice a year.  They know her very well and treat her well too.  I have all her paper work of all the visits on file as well. If her nails get too long they will get caught in blankets and things and she may get hurt because she stresses out trying to free herself. I have a big cage for her so she has lots of room. She loves to play with chains that have bells linked to them as she will spend hours trying to get the bell off the chain!

I give her a bath at least once a week. It’s a must! I will take her into the kitchen and spend time just talking with her and cuddling her and then I will turn the sink spray on and place her in the sink while the spray is on, spraying in the other half of the sink and not on her yet. I make sure the stopper is in the sink and I spray her on a very light spray with warm water.

I would suggest that until she allows you to pick her up, you use a spray bottle with warm water and gently spray her that way until she completely trusts you!

Precious’ cage is in a corner right by my balcony doors so she can see outside. Two of the sides of the cage are beside walls.

Daylight during the day is crucial for her health. I also have a lamp behind my big screen TV shining with a soft 40watt bulb for more light, especially when it gets darker in the afternoon. When I am not home I play the radio. I only play Shine 99FM – the Christian radio station as it has nice music that is calming and very spiritual. I don’t have the music on too loud. Just enough so that she can hear it pleasantly.

Note: When I wash her cage I wash it with mostly water and a little bit of dish soap. Do not use any chemicals or bleach when washing her cage. Make sure to rinse the cage thoroughly when you are done.

Precious does not like complete dark. She will panic and fly all over her cage in complete stress.  To alleviate this problem I have a little night light on the one side of the wall at the bottom of her cage. It is on ALL of the time. You absolutely cannot put a cover over her cage when she is sleeping.  She is terrified of that. She usually will go to bed when I go to bed but if I stay up earlier watching something on my big screen TV she will say “Hi” loudly and continue to do so until I turn the light out behind the TV set. She has a small vocabulary. I have heard her say “pretty boy”, “thar we go” and other words, sort of warbled but clear to me cause I’m her Mamma J

About her being in her cage – you cannot just go in and grab her. She is very territorial in her cage and thus will bite you … not too hard but harder as you persist. You must allow her to come out on her own when you want to let her out. If you have a situation where you need to take her to a vet and she is taking her sweet time coming out (she seems to know these times when you want her out right away J) then place a branch inside her cage and tell her to step on it. If she won’t then use the branch gently to push her out of the cage.

She is shy with others right now as she has always just lived with me. You will have to be very patient with her and allow her to get to know you over time and once she trusts you completely she will be the most loving companion. She likes to have visitors and makes quite the sounds when we have conversations but I keep her in her cage as she has only had me as her mate and unless you have an experienced parrot trainer who can get her to trust others to hold her it is best that the one who is her mate for life is the one that handles her.

Her basic feed that she must have every day is a combination of half of “Hagen Small Parrot Gourmet Premium seeds, fruits and nut mix” and half “Hagen Tropican Lifetime Parrot Granules”. I ensure that her bowl always has fresh food in it every day including fresh water every day. I keep her seed mixture in the fridge tightly closed so that it remains fresh and pest free.

With regards to treats, she loves the following in small amounts:

 

Granny Smith Apples (no skin and no seeds – poisonous) – I always put this in her cage every day

• Banana – half of one peeled – I always put this in her cage every day
• Broccoli – she will eat this once in awhile
• Clementine oranges (the small sweet ones – cut up in quarters)
• Occasional strawberry, raspberries, blueberries
• Baked potato cut in cubes, slightly warm – absolutely no skin!
• Crusts from pizza with no cheese on it
• Certain cereals, like Alphabets, Frosted Flakes, Fruit Loops (not too much!)
• Popcorn – no salt or butter!
• Cooked pasta in different shapes, ie spaghetti, bow ties, etc. – likes it nice and warm but not too much
• Uncooked pasta – she loves fusilli as she likes to go around it as she eats it
• Carrot ( cooked and uncooked)
• Different types of Crackers (no salt on them), toast (no butter!)
• Boiled egg (white and a bit of egg yolk) – do not leave out too long – once she is done, throw the rest out – give only about once a month
• Cooked kidney beans are her favorite but she will try other cooked beans too
• Chicken – white meat (no skin!) – just a little bit and must be very fresh
• You can also experiment with different fruits and veggies but always check to ensure they are safe for her to eat…things like celery- you have to cut up very fine as they will catch in her throat and she might choke. You must take all the skin off of any vegetable and there are a lot of vegetables and fruits that are dangerous and you cannot feed them to her.  NOTE: Absolutely dangerous to any parrot is avocado, mushroom and cheese.  It is a must that any parrot owner has read up on parrots and knows the dangerous foods not to give them.

 

The chosen family that welcomes Precious into their home will be so very blessed. She has only known love all her life since I have had her and she has a lot of love to give to the companion who welcomes her as part of their family.  She is a very precious, loving companion with a lot of personality! Be blessed as she has blessed me in so many ways!

Please contact Theresa at tgermain@acosta.com for further questions or if you think you may be a great new family for this sweet bird.