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FAQ About the Hiking Cockatoos

Chapter 3 How Old, How Much, and Life span?

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How Long have you had them?

Mozart has been living with us since he was 3 months old, just after he was weaned by his human "mommy" after hatching in 1990 at the American Bird Co. in Falls Church, VA. We did not know very much about Cockatoos when we brought him home, though we had read everything about Cockatoos that we could find in the early 90s. What helped us was owning a Cockatiel for 5 years before we succumbed to the Cockatoo magic. We recommend that anyone contemplating buying a Cockatoo should read Bird Talk Magazine for at least a year or two and perhaps start with a Cockatiel to get started. Unfortunately he died when he was just 14 years old of a digestive tract problem. Kaipo was just 5 months old when he joined us in October 2005, and Amadeus was 4 months old when he joined us in September, 2006.

Is they one person birds?

Unlike some other species of parrots, Mozart was very much an "equal opportunity lover." In fact he seemed to try to balance his time with us. But some days he will spend more time with one of us than the other. He is not a "one person bird." The same is true of Kaipo and Amadeus, though Kaipo does seem to prefer middle-aged women. All of them seem to like to be around people. Mozart enjoyed the reaction from people when he talked to them. Though he did tire from the interaction. Kaipo and Amadeus are still being socialized.

How Long will they live?

They may live to be 70 years old or more. That's people years, not dog years! But they might also only live to be 40, or as much as 120 years. But they do die from disease and other problems. Mozart was only 14 when he died. And, yes, we are planning for them after we die, because they will probably outlive us by decades.

Cost and Cages

Cockatoos are expensive, but the cost is probably less than that of a pure bred dog. But the expense is not the purchase price, its the time and care that must be invested in their welfare. They must be housed in large (expensive) strong cages. They must be caged and cannot be allowed to roam around the house unsupervised. An unsupervised Cockatoo can get into incredible mischief at best. At worst they can become a deceased bird very quickly if they chew up something that involves electricity, such as a lamp cord. Purchasing a properly sized cage is likely to cost at least 500 to 1,000 dollars. Toys and accessories (mounting brackets, perches, bowls, swings) can cost additional hundreds of dollars.

The Dark side of Love...

Did you fall in love with one of our birds at first sight? (We did!) Do you want to get a Cockatoo as a companion? Please do not act on the impulse to buy one. Note that we did not write "Pet" we wrote "Companion", because this is more than a dog or a cat, this is an intelligent creature, not a toy or fashion accessory. While predisposed to be gregarious with humans, this animal is intelligent and is not domesticated like a dog to view you with respect, you have to earn it. Think a purchase out very carefully, then wait at least a year. (We waited 4 years.) Read everything you can get your hands on about Cockatoos, and find out everything negative about bird ownership that you can. You need to know this aspect of exotic bird ownership before you buy. A bird that is purchased and then discarded because the human could not cope has a tough time understanding what went wrong. These discarded birds may acquire "bad habits" and self-destructive behaviors as they are passed from owner to owner.

The classified newspaper advertisement offering "Cockatoo with cage for $1,500 OBO" may be tempting, but before you buy we advise that you read these pages and spend some time at WWW.MYTOOS.COM to learn some of the negative aspects of what you may be getting into. That web site has a lot of information and horror stories about Moluccan Cockatoos that should be reviewed by anyone considering the purchase of a Cockatoo. Note: we find that the information about Moluccan's and Umbrella Cockatoos is different in some respects from our experience with our three Cockatoos.

Toys

Young Cockatoos have to learn to entertain themselves in the cage and regard it as a safe place that they enjoy. The hard part for the human is to restrict how much that they interact with the young bird and teach it to play on its own. This is especially important if you work for a living and cannot spend all your waking hours to care for them. It is very important for a young bird to learn that during certain hours the bird must amuse itself and work on its own "projects". The human has the responsibility to make sure that the bird has toys and projects to keep boredom at bay. But that means that when you are at home you will be spending most of your time outside of work hours interacting with the bird and doing so consistently for decades.

Cockatoos require a lot of toys which they can destroy. Wood, rope (cotton and sisal,) leather, chains, rocks all provide the necessary chewing materials. Toys do not have to be expensive, but you must be creative to provide interesting ways for the bird to spend its time. This means studying what interests the bird and how it plays. The best toy we have found in the past year is an empty cardboard box for a beverage twelve pack that has been put into a brown paper grocery bag. This is not a joke, it is the perfect toy at this time for Mozart. He derives hours of activity from this toy. Check out the Bird cam page elsewhere on this web site and you may catch him playing with it. The biggest problem we have is to consume enough beverages (sigh, such a burden!) to keep Mozart in boxes!

Food: Fresh food, water, vegetables, grains, breads, pasta, fruits and nuts are in the Cockatoo diet. Nothing fancy, just the sort of things we should all be eating. Our birds like to share our food and have been taught basic table manners (such as not to walk across a plate of food.)


Mozart eating Pizza

Mozart eating Pizza

Although they will eat food off the dinner plate, they can pick up and hold objects with their feet. Quite often they eat food by picking it up and holding it with their left foot, but never their right. Their table manners are pretty good for a bird. Mozart would often sit patiently next to a plate of food without touching it until we invite him to share. He liked bread, potatoes, rice, pasta, meat, pizza, shrimp and lobster. He found butter and animal fat irresistible. Unfortunately he consumed too much and was overweight. We try to keep Kaipo and Amadeus from eating fats and restrict our use of butter around them. They are not allowed any alcohol or sugary beverages. Yes, they do like crackers, especially "Cheese-nips".

Vet care is no more expensive than for a dog or a cat, perhaps cheaper because rabies and other vaccinations are not an issue with birds. Our birds go to the Vet regularly for checkups. I should point out that not all vets are qualified to work with birds and you have to look around for one who is. This has not been a problem in the Rockville, MD area. We've had our choice of several vets.

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