There are many reasons you’ll want to adopt an Amazon parrot; they are intelligent, they are beautiful, they have rich and varied vocalizations, and you can teach them a lot of things.
To know more about the perks as well as responsibilities associated with owning an Amazon parrot, watch this video from our Avian expert, Dr. Laurie Hess.
Watch Do Amazon Parrots Make Good Pets on Youtube.
Video Transcript
Hi, I’m Dr. Laurie Hess, Director of Pet Health and Nutrition at ZuPreem.
You’re probably all familiar with the Amazon parrot. It’s that common green bird that you see in the movies that are perched and put on top of a pirate’s shoulder often. You see them a lot in movies and on TV.
They are medium-sized to slightly larger green birds that are very, very intelligent. They learn to talk. They love to sing. They love to be quite interactive. Because of their intelligence though, they do need a lot of daily stimulation or they can be destructive and they can be very, very loud and start to scream.
So they are a long term commitment. They can live 30 to even 50 years in captivity if they’re fed properly and they do love to eat. I see quite a few Amazons in my practice that have been fed seed and a lot of nuts. They love to eat and they do like high fat foods like we all do, and a lot of times, they are really prone to becoming obese and to developing high cholesterol that deposits in their arteries – something you probably heard of is atherosclerosis – which can predispose them to getting strokes and heart attacks. So it’s important that they be on a nutritionally balanced diet. Pellets are the best for them. There are a lot of fun and again, a lifelong commitment.
So if you’re thinking of getting an Amazon, it’s fun to have them around. You can teach them to do a lot. You need to spend a lot of time with them and you need to be prepared to have them in your family for a very long time.
