by Michael » Mon Nov 09, 2009 12:07 pm
In addition to the cost of a new bird, you should expect to immediately incur the cost of the following prior to even bringing your new parrot home:
-Suitable cage
-Playstand
-Perches
-Toys
-Initial supply of food
-Initial supply of treats
-POH, Parrot Operators Handbook, a book about your species
Some additional optional items may include:
-Carrier
-Water bottle
-Vitamins
-Nail trimming scissors
-Quickstop (should really be in required list)
-Training aids and materials
-Cage cleaning sprays
-Spare perches and toys
-Additional food bowls
-Initial vet check up
So based on these assumptions, we can try to come up with a ballpark cost of initial investment into a parrot. Since bigger parrots require bigger cages, bigger toys, bigger food, etc, their cost goes up fairly proportionate to their size. And since parrot price goes up fairly proportionate to their size (yes there can be special rare birds, but if you're buying those you don't care about price), we can basically infer that parrot accessories are in price proportionate to the actual parrot.
My rule of thumb is to take the price of the parrot and immediately double it to be able to estimate the amount you should be ready to pay up front to own that parrot. So for a $500 parrot, expect to spend $200 on a cage, $100 on play stand, $200 on perches, toys, food, etc. For a $1,000 parrot expect to pay $2,000 for parrot with supplies. You get the picture.
Parrots that cost under $200 are a bit of a special case and you can add $200 to their price no matter what it is by default. You may be able to get a budgie for $20 but there is no way you can get the cage, food, etc for just another $20. The stores practically give those birds away to make money on the overpriced supplies. I really do not believe you can give any <$200 priced parrot a good home for under $200 worth of supplies.
So you may be thinking, ok, $500 parrot + $500 supplies = $1,000. If I have $1,000 set aside for a bird I'm good to go. Wrong. There are a lot of other costs you need to be ready to incur. The following items you may already have for yourself, other birds, or other pets so you might not have to buy them. However, if you are a none-pet owner, there is a good chance that you will be needing these items:
-Floor vacuum
-Handheld vacuum
-Cleaning supplies
-Non-nonstick pans (as in pans that don't have teflon coating)
-Air purifiers/filtration
-Rugs or mats for all bird areas
-Night light
-Lamps and full spectrum light bulbs
-Timers for lamps
-Additional furniture for storing bird supplies
-Scale for weighing
-Sheet for covering cage
-Spray bottles for misting bird and cleaning cage
-Zip lock bags
-Lots and lots of paper towels
So as you see there are many more things to consider than just the parrot alone. They make a mess many times greater their size so you may need to at least double the cleaning supplies you already have. They shed feathers, they make dust, they poop, they throw food around, they chew and break things. You will definitely need a vacuum cleaner and you will definitely need a handheld vacuum cleaner to use to suck up seeds, loose feathers, etc without doing a major cleaning. You will be using more paper towels than ever before so be ready for that additional expense as well.
Air purifiers are expensive but quite necessary because parrots make a lot of dust in general and some parrots are especially dusty. I ended up having 3 because I wasn't satisfied with the first 2 I got. Now I usually have 2 running at any given time and use the 3rd one for a boost if I'm cleaning or the parrot is away from cage area. The last air purifier I got was $250. They got progressively more expensive ranging from $100-$250 in price. I was not satisfied with the cheap ones because they were noisy or did an inadequate job filtering. So I ended up spending a lot on air purifiers but I think it saves a fair amount of vacuuming by taking the dust out of the air. I'm also allergy prone so I think it helps keep the bird and other dust down. I think it also reduces the smell but I cannot verify that because I may just be used to it now.
All your non-stick pans are going to have to go. This is not even a point to be debated. Too many parrots have died in homes from Teflon poisoning that I feel absolutely certain that people who are not willing to give up the convenience of non-stick cooking should not be parrot owners. This also means getting rid of non-stick electric grills, waffle makers, hair straighteners, etc. I gave up my beloved george foreman grill and beloved waffle maker when I got a bird. It was painful but that is a small sacrifice to make for the life of your bird. Of course I got rid of teflon pans as well. All in all, I threw out or gave away about $300 worth of non-stick stuff. Then I bought about $200 worth of replacement not non-stick pans and a lot of oil!
I have 4 lamps set up in my bird area and each is on a timer to simulate day/night for my parrot for when I'm not home. I have 4 rugs strategically placed around my apartment where my parrot spends the most time to catch its mess and then I can just vacuum the rugs. Repeated cleaning wears them out so I just plan to replace them when they get too worn or dirty. This is much simpler and cheaper than ruining the carpet. I also ended up buying several additional pieces of furniture to house the mass of parrot supplies I have and to put the bird scale on top of to conveniently weigh my parrot whenever going in or out of cage.
Here are some more personal sacrifices that you and everyone in your household should expect to make if bringing a parrot (like a baby) into the house:
-Give up nonstick pans or appliances
-No open windows without screens
-No ceiling fans
-Give up smoking (parrots have sensitive lungs and suffer greatly from smokers)
-Cover or get rid of mirrors
-Reserve an entire shelf of refrigerator and freezer for bird food
-Set aside quiet, safe, no-draft area for bird area
-Don't leave toxic or precious things out you don't want your bird getting hold of
Then after all of these initial costs and adjustments have been made, you can expect yearly and monthly maintenance costs for your parrot. Some of these may include:
-New toys
-New perches
-Bird Food
-Fresh Food
-Grooming visits
-Vet visits
Once again most of these costs will be roughly proportionate to the initial price of your bird. A $500 bird is usually small and requires smaller perches, smaller toys, smaller and less food. Bigger parrots are more expensive and usually get charged more for grooming, etc. It is up to the owner how much toy variety they wish to provide their parrot but a brand new toy every month is a good start. Of course as you accumulate more toys you can recycle old toys as well as introducing new toys. Perches get destroyed and require replacement. Also you want to be able to provide a variety of perches like trimming perches, natural perches, ropey perches, swings, etc. So it's not unrealistic to be purchasing a new perch every 2-3 months. So for a $500 parrot, expect to spend $20 per month on toys, $10 per month on perches ($20 divided by 2 months), $20 per month on food, $5 per month on trimming ($15 every 3 months). That right there is $660 per year! And this does not even constitute spoiling your bird.
Basically this is how I would break down the cost of owning a single first time parrot. Expect to pay the price of parrot P + accessories at approximately same cost as P initially. So initial cost is 2P or twice the cost of the parrot. Then you can add the household adjustments you may have to make like cleaning supplies, replacing non-stick, getting lights, etc. These really depend on your situation but don't be surprised to spend at least 1/2P on this for your first pet. Finally expect to spend another P per year in consumable costs. In your first year alone, expect to spend anywhere from 3P to 5P and to continue spending from 1/2P to P for the rest of your parrot's life.
Owning a parrot is a major financial investment that should not be taken lightly. The cost of the bird itself is just the tip of the iceberg with the real cost coming later on in the maintenance. For a $500 parrot living 30 yeas, don't be surprised to spend $15,000 over its lifespan (without getting into inflation, net present value, and economics). Of course there is a time component to these expenses and many of them you will incur later on. But let that long term cost govern your decision about acquiring a parrot rather than focusing on merely the cost of the bird by itself. That is only a minuscule part of the money, time, dedication, cleaning, caring, and love you will spend on that feathered friend.