skully. wrote:Silxe wrote:Parrots are super overrated, kinda. As pets. Parrots are horrible pets (sans the domesticated English Budgie) and I don't think anyone should have one. Their overratedness actually hurts them via the pet trade.
Chickens, pigeons, ducks, canaries and zebra finches are better avian pets.
Parrots can be great pets for the right individual.
It's bad to call a type of animal a "horrible pet," because there is so much diversity. Somebody might say that dogs are horrible pets because they were once attacked by a dog, even though obviously there are many wonderful dogs out there. At least the dogs kept as pets are all the same species!
"Parrot" refers to 393 species in 92 genera. You cannot lump all of those into "horrible pets."
Everything depends on the individual parrot, and the individual owner - this is literally true for any animal kept as a pet. The way a pet behaves is influenced by the way its owners treat it. If you abuse a parrot, it will develop problems, and might be a bad pet for the next owner! If somebody keeps their parrot shut up in the cage the entire day, that is abuse, and you CANNOT blame the parrot for becoming aggressive and lashing out at new people that it meets. This is also true for a dog, or a cat, or any other pet.
It also depends on the kind of pet you want. If you want a mainly decorative animal, you might get a fish tank. You will be expected to take care of the fish (and trust me, fish are a lot of work - cleaning the tank, maintaining the pH, temperature, etc.), but the fish might not thank you for it. Of course, there are individual fish that might come up to the glass to observe the person who feeds it, but other fish may hide when you come close to the aquarium. So, you might consider fish to be a "horrible pet," if you weren't looking for that kind of pet!
Maybe you want a pet who you can snuggle with, but also needs its alone time. How about a cat? But again, every individual cat is different. You might have a cat that is aggressive and scratches you, or you might get a cat that you can pet all day and night! If you get a "bad" cat - or really,
one that does not meet your expectations of what a cat should be like, you might be biased and call cats "horrible pets," despite many cat owners loving their cats to death.
The same goes for parrots. Parrots are very diverse (like I said, 393 species in 92 genera!!!) - some are better suited to living with humans - a cockatiel is more likely to form a strong bond with you than a palm cockatoo. Of course, it does depend on the individual. You might have a really nasty cockatiel and know someone with a super sweet palm cockatoo (which is unlikely, since palms are not common pets at all). And it also depends on who the parrot is comfortable with! My parrot, Kiwi, hates strangers. He will bite my friends if they come over. They probably leave my house thinking that parrots are "horrible." However, Kiwi is bonded to me, so he is an excellent pet - to
me. In fact, he is sitting on my head as I write this. You might think that because I own a parrot, I will be biased towards them. Actually, I look at the whole perspective. It is true that many parrots end up in animal shelters because many people do not understand what it takes to have one as a pet. Parrots, and birds in general, are very different from us. They are in an entire different class than us! They act very different from mammals, so we may not understand their behaviors properly, and end up being bitten as a result. It is pretty obvious that when a cat hisses at you, you probably shouldn't try to pet it. But parrots are different. Kiwi hisses when he's angry, happy, excited,
and calm! I have spent years getting to know him, so I can tell if he wants me to pet him or if he wants me to back off. Somebody who doesn't know him will probably end up being bitten by him - but again, he hates strangers. I have met really wonderful parrots who will walk up to me (or fly) and beg me to pet them - these are okay with strangers. But my parrot would never ask a stranger to pet him. It really depends on the individual. People might walk away from Kiwi, thinking that he is a "horrible pet," but I love him with all of my heart, and he
does love me back - the same way a shy dog might hate strangers, but love its owner.
Parrots
are a lot of work, and require a lot of money, and time.
And, they might be hard to understand, which could result in the owner accidentally teaching the parrot bad behaviors.
But you cannot call all parrots "horrible pets," because every individual parrot is different. And, each species (there are 393 of them!) has different needs. Regardless of how it acts, a macaw is going to be more work than a budgerigar, not to mention live longer (80 years vs. 10 years, on average of course). Getting a parrot can be a lifelong commitment. If caring for a macaw for maybe your entire lifespan sounds like a bad idea, then a macaw might be a "horrible pet" for you. But of course, "macaw" refers to 16 different (alive) species (19 including extinct species - not that you'd have one of those as a pet), and their lifespans, needs, and suitability for companionship with humans will vary, not just by the species, but also by the individual.
In conclusion, you shouldn't refer to parrots as "horrible pets," because it really depends on the individual parrot, and
you. Maybe you don't want to commit to a pet that lives a long time, is very intelligent, requires a lot of work, and will form emotional bonds with you. Maybe you want a pet rock instead. It all depends on what you're looking for in a pet.
I probably came across as salty, but I have nothing to be upset about - I have a wonderful companion who will love me for 40 years. I just want to inform you and ask you to re-evaluate your opinion. You should treat all animals as individuals, and judge them as individuals, too. As for overrated animals, I'd have to say unicorns, at least how they are depicted in today's media and trends.
