Behaviours and Personality

So, what is your expectation of an Eclectus Parrot? Any Eclectus Parrot? What have you read? You know, no matter what you read about them they are as individual as you and I. It's as simple as that so you shouldn't give yourself high expectation of them. Be realistic and understand that your Eclectus, no matter the sub species or sex will grow up with you imprinted into them. In the end their behaviour will come form you. An Eclectus will learn how to behave, misbehave, act, react, bite, be aggressive, withdrawn, clam, crazy, funny, amazing, frustrating, hurtful and it all comes from you. None of us ever like to hear we've made a mistake with them and caused their undesirable behaviour, but reality is, most of us do.

As care givers we expect our parrots to instantly act and behave, why? What makes us think it is already imprinted in them how they should behave? It isn't the case with wild parrots. Wild parrots learn everything from the adults from what to eat, when to eat, how to behave, yet we expect all of this to be instant. Eclectus parrots are an easy going and easy to train but this is quickly slipping away and they're becoming more difficult and more care givers are complaining about their behaviours because of a lack of understanding of these birds and not doing proper research on them. Because of our behaviour we're letting down the Eclectus Parrot in a big way.

Reality is we have too high expectations of these birds. We either expect the unexpected, or we're too focussed on training them to suit us that we forget they are birds, not babies, children, cats or dogs. We could use a little training from them too. We should be listening and observing these birds ourselves, taking note of their body language and what they're trying to tell us. There's a great deal we can always learn from the birds. Lets face it, being trained by our own bird isn't really something we consider.

The Eclectus in general do have wonderful personalities and it is really up to us to ring the best out of them. Not only can they learn form us, but we can also learn a lot from them.

Parrots Living With Other Animals

While there can be risk when parrots live with cats or dogs and other animals, it isn't impossible to have them all together in a peaceful household. Eclectus Parrots are particularly friendly and curious with other animals, especially when it comes to wanting to 'make friends'. You can train a pet cat or dog to understand that your parrot is also a part of your household. It's easier to have new kittens and puppies to do this but it can happen to older dogs and cats as well with some training and supervision.

It's important that all your pet or companions are supervised at all times. Supervising will also give you the opportunity to see how your pets interact together and if anything needs to be improved.

There are so many households in Australia today that have pet cats, dogs and parrots that live in harmony successfully while they are supervised when out together but even if they get alone you still need to watch out for their saliva and bacteria under their claws. These are deadly to a parrot so a parrot should not be encouraged to touch a dog or cats mouth in any way and a dog or cat should not be allowed to paw or lick a parrot.

While cats and dogs are capable of licking their wounds clean, this does not apply to parrots. A cat or dog cannot lick a parrot as the cat and dog saliva is toxic to parrots and can kill them.

Cats and dog can and do learn to adapt with living with parrots in the house but they still require supervision as they can never be 100% trusted. Anything is possible and a dog or cat is always capable of anything. Dogs, and in particular cats, are natural hunters. You cannot take their instinct out of them. Even if they learn a parrot is a family member, they still have their natural hunting instinct and this can kick in at any time and for any reason. They can still live together but will a

Eclectus Diets, The Basics

The next, most important thing to be aware of the Eclectus dietary requirements are a bit different to that of other parrot species. They have a longer digestive tract and some can do poorly on seed and pellet only diets. The longer digestive tract means they are able to absorb smaller amounts of nutrients in food they eat that may not be able to be absorbed by other parrot species, which is why they are able to do extremely well on fresh raw natural food such as fruit and veggies, sprouts. Diets high in pellets or unnatural supplements have been known to cause some Eclectus Parrots to have an overdose in vitamins which can result in things like feather destruction, toe tapping and behaviours such as screaming and aggression. Eclectus Parrots absorb those types of high nutrient foods more easily than other parrot species causing the overdose resulting in health and behaviour issues. You should not place your Eclectus any over the counter supplements unless it's been advised by your avian vet. Coloured or artificial pellets can also have an impact on some Eclectus health. Some Eclectus are more sensitive to their diets than others. They are an individual bird when it comes to what they need, what they may be allergic to, what they like, dislike and how well they do on any food given to them. Many people who have Eclectus Parrots often find that what works well for one, may not always work for another or give the same result.

It is recommended your Eclectus have at least an 80% natural soft fresh raw food diet and 20% everything else including treats, seed and pellet. 50% of that can consist of sprouts and micro greens.

Everything I have mentioned in all my food lists are given to my birds raw, not cooked, unless specified. I give my birds the most natural diet I possibly can to keep them healthy, shiny and happy.

A lot of us also enjoy giving our birds a cooked meal once in a while, and boy do they enjoy receiving one!! But a cooked meal should only be a treat, or used for those birds who are extremely fussy on what they eat. Your bird should always be encouraged to eat raw foods. As nice as it might sound to feed our (bappies, fids, fabbies, babies) birds cooked food, at the end of the day it's not natural for them nor is it that healthy for them in the long run. And really, have you ever seen a bird cook a meal in the wild? And do we have to spoil them and treat them like our own children? I believe an Eclectus on a natural raw food diet and is not spoilt with cooking and treats is a happy, content parrot and living the most natural life that it should be living. These birds are not here for our convenience and entertainment, they are here as a privilege.