After the publication of an article on a variety of parrots with photos and descriptions, letters began to arrive in our mail with questions about how much parrots cost in Russia. We did a little research and asked familiar breeders. Here's what we managed to find out.
Both pet stores and breeders sell budgerigars for an average of 500 rubles. The price is valid for all regions, there are no problems with availability.
For one lovebird chick or hatchling, you will have to pay 1500-2000 rubles. There are also no problems with finding them; almost any pet store with parrots has them.
Variety of species of domestic parrots
Over 350 species of parrots live on the planet. Most of them are excellent for keeping at home; other parrots are so few that they are rare in captivity.
Keeping a parrot in an apartment places a certain responsibility on the owner. Before getting a bird, weigh your options. For example, large birds cannot be kept in a small cage, and food for large birds is not suitable for small breeds. In addition, there are species that should not be owned by inexperienced owners, otherwise serious problems may arise.
- Large species of domestic parrots include cockatoos, grays, macaws and amazons.
- The middle ones include the Ozherelidae, Loriidae, Kakariki, Corellas, Rosellas, Caiques and Kalita.
- Small breeds include budgies, lovebirds and passerines.
No matter how attractive the bird may be to you, make your choice responsibly, because at home many parrots live 15-20 years, and some even 70-80 years. Each species has its own characteristics, abilities, character and requirements for living conditions.
Who is more talkative: male or female?
It is generally accepted that males are more talkative, unlike females. But it is not always the case. Everything depends on the bird itself and its character, as well as on external factors: environment, living conditions, stress, and so on.
Both males and females can talk. The main thing is that the bird lives in comfortable conditions, it feels comfortable and constantly hears human speech. True, female budgies are really not very talkative.
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All types of Monk Parrot (Kalita, Quaker)
Small parrots
The advantage of small bird species is that they do not take up much space, are easy to care for, food for them is inexpensive and even novice breeders, including children, can keep them at home.
Wavy
The most popular type of pet parrot is the budgerigar. These birds are cheerful, active, friendly towards people, affordable and easy to keep. Many people also get budgies because they have a good ability to imitate human speech.
Wavys feel great both in pairs or flocks, and in single keeping. The main thing is that the owner pays attention to the pet.
Did you know? Budgerigars kept alone quickly get used to people, become more sociable and learn to talk more easily.
Talking domestic parrots are males. Boys are more capable of onomatopoeia, so choose them when purchasing.
The size of the birds does not exceed 19 cm, so a small cage is purchased for them. Although, of course, it is important to let your pet out of the cage to fly around the room from time to time.
The natural green color of the plumage of budgerigars, thanks to selection, has been enriched with a variety of colors, which has led to the appearance of almost 200 color varieties.
Good living conditions make it possible for these birds to live at home for 15-20 years.
Passeriformes
Some of the smallest parrots are passerines. Body size is no more than 14.5 cm. They are easy to care for, friendly, and learn to talk well. They love to play and spend a lot of time with their owners.
The advantage of this type of pet parrot is that they are not noisy. Therefore, owners who love peace and quiet should have such pets.
True, passerine parrots also have a drawback - they are quite aggressive towards other species of birds, which is why they are usually not kept in a flock. There should be no more than 2 pets in a cage.
The lifespan of this species is up to 20 years.
Lovebirds
Thanks to their bright colors and temperament, lovebirds are increasingly gaining love among bird lovers. It is difficult to teach them to talk, but they will always delight you with their activity and mobility. Watching these cheerful birds, you are always charged with optimism.
It is best to keep lovebirds in pairs. They have a very touching attitude towards their partner (for which they received such a “telling” name), they like to sit closely pressed to each other.
The colors of these parrots are varied: the green main color of the plumage combines beautifully with pink, yellow, and red colors. Pure white lovebirds, deep yellow ones, and also cobalt ones have been bred.
Which parrot talks more?
How to choose a talking parrot for your home? If a person wants a pet to speak well, then it is better to choose a Gray. Representatives of this breed are capable of not only mechanically repeating phrases, but also conducting dialogue. True, they are quite expensive.
What kind of parrot should I buy that can talk but is cheaper? The answer is simple - wavy. The cost of such parrots is low, from about 700 rubles. With due diligence of the owner, they can learn to speak and remember up to 150 words.
Medium sized parrots
For the most part, medium-sized domestic parrots are also not particularly picky about their living conditions. But the cells for them must be much larger than for small species. Often an aviary is equipped in an apartment for such birds to provide them with sufficient space to live.
Aratinga
These birds reach 16-35 cm. They are very positive, cheerful, playful, they adore human attention, for which they are lovingly called “sticky birds”. The plumage of the aratinga is bright and colorful, it perfectly combines red, yellow, blue and green colors, although photos of these parrots do not always convey their beauty:
Aratingas are easy to keep at home, but they are considered destroyers, capable of turning furniture into splinters in a short time with their strong beaks. To distract them from this activity, you need to provide a large number of wooden toys and branches.
These birds really need the attention of their owners. If you like to spend a lot of time with your pet, in the “face” of the Aratinga you will get an extremely affectionate companion who takes great pleasure in communicating with you.
The disadvantage of these birds is their loudness. In the mornings or evenings they often make loud, shrill calls. Although they can scream throughout the day, expressing both displeasure with something and joy.
These pet parrots have the ability to reproduce human speech and can learn several dozen words and phrases. They are well trained in a variety of tricks.
Aratingas can live 15-30 years in captivity.
Kaiki
White-bellied caique parrots are funny birds that move with original jumps. For these abilities, many owners have such pets. They are artistic, restless, and easily learn a wide variety of tricks. True, they are completely unteachable in human speech, but they perfectly imitate various sounds: the ringing of an alarm clock, a crying child, the noise of household appliances, and so on.
The two varieties of white-bellied caiques, the red-headed and the black-headed, differ in the color of the plumage on their heads. The size of the birds is 23-25 cm.
They can scream loudly and shrilly, they like to chew on something, but these are very trusting and affectionate birds that become true friends to their owners.
Under optimal conditions, domestic caique parrots can live 25-30 years.
Kakariki
Kakariki are called jumping and running, and also the most restless parrots on the planet. They don’t sit still, they constantly find something to do: tinker with something, dig for it, find it. They run and jump, not only along the bottom of the cage, but also along the ceiling. Therefore, the bird cage must be spacious enough to give them enough room to maneuver.
Males can be taught to talk, but their “vocabulary” will be small. The female is not a talking bird, but she is calmer. Males of kakariki are usually bully and restless.
The birds reach sizes up to 25 cm. The main color of the plumage is green. Life expectancy is 15-20 years.
Corella
Nymphal cockatiels are not much inferior in popularity to budgies. These graceful birds with a beautiful crest are peaceful, making them suitable as pets for beginners and even children.
Corellas are gentle creatures; they love to communicate with people and cuddle up to them. They sing beautifully, can whistle and imitate human speech. You need to spend a lot of time with them; they can get sick from lack of attention.
A touching crest on the head, bright “ruddy” cheeks, a curved beak reminiscent of a smile, different shades of gray in the plumage make the bird very elegant. The body size of cockatiels reaches 32-34 cm. They live at home for an average of 20 years.
Laurie
In Dutch, the name of these unusually colorful birds means "clown". Loris are intellectually developed birds, affectionate, extremely playful, and easily tamed.
Like domestic parrots, these birds can be very trusting, quickly make contact with a person, even a stranger, and are happy to communicate with children. Not aggressive towards other pets. Loneliness is easily tolerated, as they will always find something to do.
But they have two serious drawbacks:
- piercing creaky screams;
- liquid droppings with which the lorises seem to mark their territory everywhere.
Hyacinth macaw
A very popular breed of parrots that many bird lovers want to purchase. Hyacinth macaws are distinguished by their extraordinary intelligence and almost canine fidelity. They especially attract attention due to their bright feathers. The plumage color is rich indigo.
A very large representative of parrots - the length of an individual individual can reach a meter, the weight reaches one and a half kilograms. In the wild they are found infrequently and mainly in South America - Bolivia, Paraguay and Brazil. They can spend most of their life with their owner - among pets there are often individuals up to sixty years old, in the wild - about forty.
The cost of a young parrot is from $10,000. The price varies greatly from breeder to breeder, but the maximum cost is about 30 thousand.
Large parrots
Representatives of large breeds of domestic parrots are often compared in terms of intelligence to 3-5 year old children. They are intelligent, artistic, and able to learn and reproduce many words and phrases. Moreover, one often gets the impression that they do not just imitate human speech, mindlessly pronouncing words, but understand their meaning and insert remarks at the right moment.
Large parrots become very attached to their owners and become their true friends. In return, they require a lot of attention, they need to be trained from the first days, since most of them tend to dominate. These are strong, temperamental birds, capable of causing serious injury with their strong beaks if not trained correctly.
Most of them are not suitable for novice bird owners, as they are picky about the living conditions, diet and even the character of their owner.
They require spacious metal cages, or better yet, enclosures. It’s even better if a whole room is equipped for such birds. They need constant human contact. They are long-lived.
Amazon
These birds with bright green plumage are one of the large pets that novice owners can keep. Amazons are by nature friendly, inquisitive, active, excellent talkers, attached to their owners. On the other hand, the Amazon is a noisy bird; it can be impudent and quarrelsome if you do not train it.
The sizes of Amazons, depending on the variety, range from 25 cm to 45 cm. An amazing feature of parrots is the ability to accurately reproduce the intonations of the person teaching them, especially when it comes to singing. They sing great, whistle melodies, talk and imitate the voices of animals.
The lifespan of Amazons is 50 years. There is evidence of a long-lived species of this species, living for 70 years.
Macaw
Gorgeous birds, to which superior epithets are usually applied: the rarest, largest, most expensive parrots in the world. They grow to almost 1 meter. Their prices are in tens of thousands of dollars. The plumage of the birds is bright, contrasting, and does not leave any person indifferent.
Macaws are temperamental, touchy, even vengeful. They constantly strive to dominate, so it is important to train and educate them from the first days of their appearance in the house. They are noisy and love to test the strength of everything that lies poorly with their strong beaks.
How to choose and where to buy a pet parrot
Having figured out your preferred type of parrot for home keeping, all that remains is to purchase it. You have already prepared a cage or enclosure where your pet will live. Feeders, drinking bowls, toys and other accessories found their place in it. Now it is important to understand where you will buy birds:
- in a nursery or from a trusted parrot breeder - in this case, it is more likely that the bird was born and raised in good conditions in compliance with all the rules. You will receive documents for her, which will indicate her age, place of birth, state of health, often even gender. However, you will have to pay a fairly high price for good conditions for raising your future pet;
- In pet stores you need to look at the conditions in which the bird is kept, the condition of the cage, whether it is cramped there, what kind of food it has, even what kind of litter it has. It is not uncommon that temporary living conditions are created for parrots for sale that do not take into account the characteristics of the bird, hygiene is not observed, low-quality food is used, etc. In such conditions, the parrot receives extreme stress, from which it is not easy for it to recover later. But the price for such birds is lower than that of professional breeders;
- parrots are even cheaper in bird markets, but the conditions in which they are kept leave much to be desired. There is often a very real risk of buying an old and sick bird;
- according to advertisements - when buying a bird from hand, you will not know in advance what difficulties you will have to face. It is not known how the previous owners treated the parrot; it is not always possible to find out its exact age. They can even sell wild birds. You will encounter difficulties in taming, often no efforts in this direction on the part of the new owners bring success. But such birds are cheaper than other options.
Which parrot to choose from these options is up to you. Sometimes you can see the state of health of a bird by external signs. If a bird with smooth plumage, a clean beak, legs and area near the cloaca, as well as shiny eyes without any secretions, is active and looks at you with curiosity, perhaps this is your pet parrot, with whom you will live many happy years, filled with fun, enthusiasm and great mood.
Whatever parrot you choose to keep at home, create conditions for it in which it can live for a long time. You will find some useful tips in this video:
