Special considerations before bringing home Bird-zilla:

•The first thing you need to know is birds scream. There are many reasons why they might do this: happy, sadness, upset, just because, frightened, or because they are calling out to their flock mate - YOU! Will you be able to handle the amount of volume a bird can generate? Will the rest of your family have as much patience?

We suggest two techniques to curb yodeling:
1-Teach your bird the fine art of whispering. When the bird screams, walk up to the bird and whisper in calm soothing tones. Most birds will learn to mimic your behavior. Once they do learn to mimic, all it will take is you whispering to them to change the volume on the bird's voice.
2-Teach your bird that there is a time when you will allow his loud vocals. I have designated vacuum time as "sound off time". It's noisy then anyhow. Make it fun! Yell to your bird over the noise of the vacuum. Let him yell back to you as you vacuum. When vacuum time is over, go back to technique #1 to reinforce/signal that "sound off time" is over. I have not owned a bird yet that these two techniques have not worked on.

•The second thing you need to know is birds bite. ALL birds bite. At some point in time in the course of bird ownership, you will get bitten.

To curb the urge for human soufflé, when you start to feel the pressure of the beak and you are sure that your bird isn't just tasting his surroundings, push back into the birds mouth. Natural reaction is to pull away. This is what your feathered friend is hoping you will do. He will have gotten the reaction he was looking for and you will have taught him that you can be controlled. However, pushing back into his mouth is something he isn't expecting and it will put him slightly off balance. He will have to release his hold on you. He will learn that human treats are not a part of his natural diet and you shouldn't have to use this technique very often.

•Birds need a properly sized cage.

You wouldn't expect a macaw to feel very comfortable in a parakeet sized cage! The larger the bird, the bigger the cage he needs, and the more room in your home you will need to put his barred castle. If you can afford it, always purchase the bigger cage than your particular sized bird will need. Remember, he is going to be in his cage a lot more often than he will be out, so he is going to need that extra room.

•Birds are messy! Being cage dwellers, all of their mess gets amplified to the area in and around their cage. Birds molt seasonally which means their down feathers may float around the house. Some birds love to throw their food. Some birds are neat-nicks and refuse to do "number two" in their cage and aim for your floor instead.

With smaller birds, one way to contain a good majority of the mess is to wrap the bottom half of the cage in a layer of plastic wrap. With larger birds, purchase several heavier shower curtains or felt lined plastic table cloths to put under their cages. Certain colors will help camouflage the "number two". If you set the cage on top of the curtains or table clothes, they can be easily vacuumed with your regular vacuum cleaner and they will help protect your carpeting! Another bonus to buying the heavier shower curtains and felt lined table clothes is that they can be machine washed several times before you have to throw them away. (Make sure you wash them on delicate cycle.)

•Vet visits for birds are very expensive! You shouldn't take your bird to the same vet to which you take your dog. You are going to need a vet that specializes in birds. A full check-up done on a bird will usually run upwards of $200. Will you be able to afford this expense?

•A bird's diet is not contained just to what you put in his dish.

Birds are very efficient in the fine art of whittling. Leave them alone with your wooden trim, doors, end tables, entertainment centers, etc. long enough and they will turn them into several dozen perfectly chiseled toothpicks. They not only will eat wood, but almost anything they can get their circular saw beaks onto.

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Do you still have more questions on what all being owned by a bird entails? We suggest the birdie psychology book: Birds On The Couch by Ruth Hanessian.