Name a Pet Peeve

[lzver]

But really, my biggest pet peeve about parrots, but not something they do is the following conversation with strangers/people I know who aren't familiar with parrots:

"Hey
-Hey
-You have parrots?
-Yup.
-Do they talk?"

It's basically always the first question that arises when people know I have parrots..and when I say that not all parrots speak "human talk" but have their own way of communicating, I loose all the interest those people had in the first place.

Or the first thing a bird breeder or pet store tells you is that they are good talkers. We went to a bird store/breeder yesterday and they had an Australian King Parrot there. When we asked what they were like all she said is they are good talkers. I had to ask more specific questions to get other questions answered - like noise level, diet, housing, etc. I'm sure a lot of people ask if they can talk as their first question, but that's not the most important thing to me. I'm sure its not going to be the last time I hear that since my search is just beginning.

[entrancedbymyGCC]

Sometimes I wish Scooter wasn't a bottomless pit for attention. Also, if I let him be out when I'm working at home and on a telecon on speakerphone, I have to carefully protect the phone or he attacks it and then tries to eat the buttons. Hard to explain to one's colleagues if he turns "mute" off.

[lzver]

Sometimes I wish Scooter wasn't a bottomless pit for attention. Also, if I let him be out when I'm working at home and on a telecon on speakerphone, I have to carefully protect the phone or he attacks it and then tries to eat the buttons. Hard to explain to one's colleagues if he turns "mute" off.

I hear you. Lucy is great hanging out by herself, but whenever Jessie is out, he wants my undivided attention.

When I work from home I have to take all calls in the basement. It seems like whenever I'm on the phone, Lucy and Jessie start talking and screeching up a storm

I was on a conference call once and Jessie started saying 'Hi Buddy' over and over again quite loudly. The people on the phone said they didn't know I had young children ... I explained that I don't have young children ... it was one of my parrots talking. Fortunately it was only people from my department on the call, so everyone got a good laugh out of it. In fact sometimes they joke and ask me if Jessie wants to join the conference call

[MandyG]

My pet peeve is the mess! Why do parrots have to get so much joy out of destroying toys? It seems the best toys are the ones that make the biggest mess!

Half of their fun is probably watching us slave after them!

[miajag]

I guess I just don't get why "Does your parrot talk?" bothers some of you so much. I mean, in the minds of most people that's the characteristic that distinguishes parrots from other pets and I don't fault them for thinking that.

[pchela]

But really, my biggest pet peeve about parrots, but not something they do is the following conversation with strangers/people I know who aren't familiar with parrots:

"Hey
-Hey
-You have parrots?
-Yup.
-Do they talk?"

It's basically always the first question that arises when people know I have parrots..and when I say that not all parrots speak "human talk" but have their own way of communicating, I loose all the interest those people had in the first place.

Or the first thing a bird breeder or pet store tells you is that they are good talkers. We went to a bird store/breeder yesterday and they had an Australian King Parrot there. When we asked what they were like all she said is they are good talkers. I had to ask more specific questions to get other questions answered - like noise level, diet, housing, etc. I'm sure a lot of people ask if they can talk as their first question, but that's not the most important thing to me. I'm sure its not going to be the last time I hear that since my search is just beginning.

On the opposite end of this, I hated it when customers would come in and their first question would be, "Which ones talk? I want a bird that talks." I'd have to explain that it is not guaranteed that any of them will talk and that's a terrible reason to buy a bird. I spent more time trying to talk people out of buying birds than into it when I worked at the pet store. Maybe that's why I don't work there anymore? Don't have that killer sales instinct. In other words, I have a soul!


Back on topic though, I hate it when I'm trying to do something on the computer or am talking on the phone etc and they will not leave me alone. They will play by themselves until I start doing something and then they need all of my attention. They're like children that way!

[Michael]

Back on topic though, I hate it when I'm trying to do something on the computer or am talking on the phone etc and they will not leave me alone. They will play by themselves until I start doing something and then they need all of my attention. They're like children that way!

At least it isn't illegal or considered abuse to lock em in a cage when they are unbearable!!!

[pchela]

If only we could lock our kids up in a cage from time to time...

Oops! Did I say that out loud?

[tacotaco]

I'd have to say the fact that Charlie doesn't sleep later than 8am on weekends

[Michael]

Have you tried covering the cage?