Pet cockatoos are some of the most demanding pet parrots imaginable. Not for the beginner by any means, pet cockatoos are subject to a range of mental problems, including overstimulation, screaming, feather plucking and self-mutilation.
Living with a pet cockatoo requires you to walk a fine line. Give the bird too much attention, and it will become over-dependent on you, leading to difficulties when you can’t give the bird all the love it expects. Too little attention and the bird becomes lonely, bored, and prone to destructive behavior.
Overstimulation and Pet Cockatoos
Cockatoos crave attention. The more you dote on them, the more they want. It’s not for nothing that cockatoo owners refer to cockatoos as “Velcro birds.” A cockatoo always wants your attention.
The problem is, too much attention causes overstimulation, and over-stimulated cockatoos often bite. You also have to bear in mind that adult cockatoos are very sexual. That cute little thing they do when you stroke their back—the one where they hunker down and bend their head back to look at you with languid eyes? That’s sexual behavior. The bird is telling you, in no uncertain terms, that he or she wants to share a nest with you.
To avoid sexually overstimulating your cockatoo, you’re best to restrict your stroking to the head and stop if you see the bird showing signs of assuming “the position.”
Pet cockatoos often receive lots of attention when they’re new and novel. As time passes, owners often recue the amount of attention they give the bird. Used to high levels of interaction, the bird tries to get your attention any way it can, which often translates into screaming parrots and feather plucking. Feather plucking can progress to self-mutilation, when the cockatoo actually chews holes in its own body.
Boredom and the Destructive Parrot
A bored cockatoo is a destructive parrot, and just as prone (if not more so) to screaming and self-mutilation as an overstimulated cockatoo. Cockatoos are incredibly smart. They need toys and games that challenge their incredible brains or they’ll find other, less desirable use for all that brainpower.
The best way to raise a well-adjusted cockatoo is to give the bird, from the beginning, the amount of daily attention you intend to give it for the rest of its life. Young cockatoos should be taught to amuse themselves with parrot toys when their humans aren’t around. The bird should receive daily attention, but not come to expect its owner to dote on it for every minute of the day.
Perhaps most importantly of all, remember that pet cockatoos are demanding, complex birds that are best left to the experienced parrot owner. All too often a baby cockatoo’s charm leads to an impulsive purchase by well-meaning people who find they simply cannot deal with the bird’s demands. Cockatoos are the most commonly surrendered birds seen in bird rescues, so please, do you research before you bring one of these magnificent, complex, and all-too-often neurotic birds into your home.
Michael McGrath - Michael McGrath began providing web content shortly after finishing his graduate degree in English at the University of Alberta. His broad ...
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