Difficulty of Parrot Ownership Over Time

[Michael]

Think about the span of time you've had or been involved with parrots. As time goes on, would you say things get easier or more difficult for you? Why is that? What effects this?

[entrancedbymyGCC]

The "spam" of time? LOL!

So far I have not noticed it getting harder or easier, but it really hasn't been that long. I'm really interested in what the rest of the crowd has to say!

[GlassOnion]

The "spam" of time? LOL!

[TheNzJessie]

to me it has stayed the same (so far) i think things would get more difficult once the terrible twos come?

[Michael]

The "spam" of time? LOL!

Gimme a break, it was really late.

[MandyG]

I didn't select an option, I wasn't sure which to select. In my short two years of having parrots I'd say that some things get easier while new challenges are always presenting themselves. The routine gets easier and slightly less time consuming as time goes on, such as getting into the habit of preparing the fresh foods and finding the most efficient ways to clean cages. The basics of training gets easier after a while once you and the bird have learned how to communicate effectively with one another. The basic things are really what seem to get easier.

When training, each new trick presents its own challenges. Also, as the bird ages, new things such as hormonal behaviour come into play. The bird may go through the 'terrible two's' or out of nowhere become a monster during breeding seasons. It's sometimes difficult to constantly bring new things into the bird's environment to keep them mentally and physically stimulated. With a rectangle cage there's only so many ways you can arrange things to keep things new for bird. Parrots are smart and can figure out many different foraging toys in just a small amount of time so it's hard to keep one step ahead of them and present new foraging puzzles for them to figure out. Personally, my main challenge right now is dealing with Mojo's tantrums. It's relatively new behaviour so I'm not sure if it's seasonal or not. It was around this time last year that he started acting up to the point that my husband's safety was a concern so it may be seasonal. This type of thing I believe will get easier over time. If I can look back and see that for the last 10 years Mojo has gotten moody during these months I'll have learned how to watch for it and how to deal with it.

Possibly it's just my limited experience that makes me think that there's always new challenges (or learning opportunities, if you prefer) while living with a parrot. I'd like to see what more experienced parrot owners have to say about this. Maybe after 10+ years everything just gets easier? You find this happy balance with having the bird in your life and you get along effortlessly because you know eachother so well?

[rebeccaturpeinen]

i chose easier but that is maybe because of the way i got him and wasnt thinking or planning on getting a bird when i found him... so i knew nothing. i guess what i mean with it getting easier is that its more fun now before i had so much to learn and was always worried i would do something wrong and it took him a while before he bonded to me so it didnt feel like i was getting that much back... which made it hard.

but the amount of time spent on him is ofcourse the same

[entrancedbymyGCC]

The "spam" of time? LOL!

Gimme a break, it was really late.

Sorry, I really couldn't resist -- it was really late and Monty Python's "Spamalot" started running through my head! I've been called on late night typos, too...

[footfoot]

Easier because the bird has been easier.

[lzver]

I voted that it stays the same. If your properly cleaning .... there's no real way to speed that up. It takes a pretty consistent amount of time to prepare food, clean, socialize, make toys, etc.