psychology

[DanaandPod]

I know it has been brought up a zillion times... but, what I want to understand completely is not whether a parrot can be home alone... but, what they feel psychologically if they naturally are never alone in the wild..... Not only this...but he calls to other wild birds that he sees from the window or when we are at a park. I feel so incredibly bad that he is a captured bird. Basically, he is left alone for eleven plus hours. Though, on weekends I spend half a day with him. And week days, my routine is as follows: half hour of me exercising infront of his cage with pop music, then a half hour of him having free explore time outside of cage, then half hour of trick training, then he goes into the shower with me on his shower perch...and I teach him to whistle songs. But, when it comes time for me to leave... he starts screaming on the top of his lungs. Though usually he quickly stops once i lock the door and am on my way. I just wonder what it is like for him being alone emotionally and mentally when it is not at all natural for a parrot. I always have music for him...and he has plenty of toys... but can someone please explain what might it be like for him. I feel very concerned about it. I live in an apartment and nobody has complained of him screaming while i am not home which is a good thing... Well, I can't wait to see if someone can answer this to my satisfaction. thanks.

[Wolf]

You have asked a very good question and it seems simple enough to answer until you actually try to answer it.
While no one can truly answer as to how another person really feels in regards to any event in their life, we can empathize with the other based upon our own feelings. I can tell you for certain that being made to be alone is for a parrot perhaps one of the severest forms of punishment that you can inflict upon it, both mentally and emotionally. Due to the level of their intelligence about the best that I can do is to ask you to try to imagine how you would feel if you were 3 years old and your parents locked you in your room all alone and without a word left you there, not knowing if or when you would ever see them again. And then try to imagine how this feeling would build as the hours passed.
We, are also a social species and solitary confinement is considered by us to be a major form of punishment and the longer it lasts the more inhumane it is considered as it can cause severe mental and emotional problems in the individual that may or may not ever be able to be healed or even successfully treated.
This is the best that I can do in answering your question. I would strongly suggest that you get him a mate or rehome him. And due to the bonding that these birds develop I would get him a mate because he is already bonded to you.

[Pajarita]

Yes, we are a social species but we are also the most domesticated of them all, at the very top of the food chain, and use reason to figure things out and calm ourselves when in an undesirable situation. Parrots are highly social (like we are) but, for them (prey and not predators like us), solitude does not only mean the absence of a comforting presence but anxiety because the reason why nature made parrots social is that there is safety in numbers. Parrots are intelligent, they can count and they have a very real sense of time (including past and future) so, eventually, they realize that, most likely, somebody will show up near a certain time when they are left alone. But the feeling of loneliness, boredom and anxiety is not reduced by much.

There was a study done on African grays and they found that the ones that lived by themselves had shorter telomers (meaning they would live shorter lives) than the ones that lived with other parrots. This tells us how essential 24/7/365 company is to them and that the lack of it creates chronic stress and, taking into consideration that humans are real poor substitutes for other parrots, if you are not even there all day long, you do the math...

He is also not having enough one-on-one time (minimum is one hour but my senegal spends about three or four with me), not enough out-of-cage time (minimum four hours -which mine spends mostly next to me, she is perching on a chair to my left right now- but also uses for flights around the house) or following a solar schedule (messed up endocrine system).

I realize that you really did try to do a very good thing when you adopted this bird and that you love him and want the best for him -meaning, I am not just giving you a 'hard time'- but keeping parrots when people work full time is almost impossible unless you approach the issue as having a baby (meaning providing daily child -or bird- care) OR by having a bonded pair.

[DanaandPod]

Is a Jardine rare? I never hear about them or see them... How does someone go about bonding their parrot? And, will he no longer be attached to me or have the same connection?

[DanaandPod]

From the sounds of it... it should be illegal for pet stores especially to sell parrots. And for just anyone to own one.... I mean, if the two hour routine I spend with him every morning and the half days on weekends isn't enough... then... I dunno what to do. I cannot and will not give him away...I promised him that...and he is the love of my life...I cannot hire a baby sitter either and dont know anyone who is home during the day that can come here. I will have to figure out how to get a mate I guess.... I can't have a parrot waiting alone in panick and anxiety all day till I get home. I mean few Americans work from home... and those that are not working/school are often too old to obtain a parrot as a pet because of their life spans... Sounds like an animal that should have never been made a pet to begin with. It is unfair to them.

[Wolf]

From the sounds of it... it should be illegal for pet stores especially to sell parrots. And for just anyone to own one.... I mean, if the two hour routine I spend with him every morning and the half days on weekends isn't enough... then... I dunno what to do. I cannot and will not give him away...I promised him that...and he is the love of my life...I cannot hire a baby sitter either and dont know anyone who is home during the day that can come here. I will have to figure out how to get a mate I guess.... I can't have a parrot waiting alone in panick and anxiety all day till I get home. I mean few Americans work from home... and those that are not working/school are often too old to obtain a parrot as a pet because of their life spans... Sounds like an animal that should have never been made a pet to begin with. It is unfair to them.

As much as we don't like to admit to it what you have said is true, but it is too late and we have to make the best of it and do our best and keep trying to learn more about them so as to provide better for them. We have destroyed so much of their natural habitat and driven many species to the brink of extinction through the trade in exotic birds or through having them declared as pests and shooting and poisoning them that it is possible to see a large portion of them become extinct in my lifetime and I am 60 yr. old. The Carolina Parrot went extinct around the beginning of the 20th century, some 50 years before I was born. It is indeed a sad state of affairs.

[Pajarita]

Yes, it should be illegal to sell parrots as pets but I seriously doubt it will ever become illegal to own one in the States, we have such a sad state of affairs here where the big corporations have the government in their pocket and PIJAC is hugely active in the lobbying arena and very powerful (read: rich -the pet industry is a billionaire one).

But, what we can do is make it so the laws change and afford good protection and strict standards. Other countries have done it.... Sweden has excellent laws concerning parrot husbandry and France has given a separate legal status to companion animals so, obviously, it's not impossible.

Now, a word of caution and I don't mean to put you down or make you feel bad in any way but to explain what my position is because you will find that I follow my own extreme drum when it comes to animals and what should be their inalienable rights. Most bird people in birdsites would applaud the "I am never rehoming him because I love him" sentiment - I don't. Because, if you think about it, what does this really mean? That even if your bird is unhappy and stressed out, you will still keep it even though he could be happier in another home? That would be completely self-centered and the opposite of what love should mean. Rehoming has a bad reputation but it's completely unmerited when it comes to parrots. The truth is that, as you have just realized, few people are in a position to offer a relatively content and healthy life to them. People work full time, go to college, get married, get divorced, have children, get sick, move, get a new job that requires more hours, etc. etc. etc. PLUS parrots will outlive most of their owners (if they are well taken care of, that is) so rehoming is, unfortunately, a fact a life for them and should never be regarded as our 'failure', it should be regarded as a reality that needs to be addressed. It's how you address it that makes the difference. Because, if you love your bird, you will not 'try to recoup my investment' (as some people put it when they are trying to sell the parrot they no longer want) but would, instead, put the time and work into making sure that the home he will go to is, indeed, a good one.

As to getting him a companion (has he been DNA'd a male?) I don't know if jardines are rare or not where you are, they are not the most common of parrots, that's for sure. But, if you cannot find another jardine (which would be the ideal), you can always get another poi which, if they are of more or less the same age and opposite gender, it should work out... a redbelly, a brownheaded, a cape or a Meyer's come to mind. My jardine hen is bonded (not mate-bonded but friend-bonded) to a Timneh hen so it's possible to achieve the same effect (companionship and attention) with a bird of a different species.

Now, as to how do people who work full time achieve a better life for their parrot? Well, if the parrot has a companion, a room of their own to fly around, a good diet and their lights put on timers so they can follow a solar schedule, the parrot will have a good life. It will not be a heavily interactive pet during weekdays in the winter because, if you work full time, you will be able to see them in the morning but, by the time you return home is already night and the parrot would be aslep, but the parrot will be content and healthy.

[DanaandPod]

sigh... ...

[DanaandPod]

Pajarita, Do your parrots, the Jardine's and the other stay in the same cage???? I found only one prospect which is a Meyers. It wouldn't have been my choice but the only ad I've found in Ct or surrounding shelters...tho a shelter won't give to someone in an apartment usually. I am thinking if I can find him a companion then it is good... I mean, I have given him the best I've got... and truly better than most... of all the suffering birds out there.... Like I said...there are few people who work from home... He is in a big cage with nutritious food and interactive toys... and I give him all my attention when i am home. Its not the wild and I feel truly bad...but it can only be much better and a decent life if he had a companion.... but only if it can be in the same cage...otherwise..., whats the point???

[Wolf]

They are a different species and since they may flock bond, they will probably not mate bond and because of this it is not recommended for them to be caged together. Pajarita keeps her birds in a room that is set up just for the birds and not for humans. There are several open cages in the room but the birds are not caged. After the quarantine period you roll the new ones cage into the room with Pod and then you slowly introduce them to each other. You can not just throw them together in the same room as they will fight if you do that. If they get along with you in the room with them without fighting then and only then can you start letting them spend some unsupervised time together in the same room. But since my birds are caged at night or any time that I can't be present to watch over them, you will have to get the specifics of bringing them together from Pajarita.