Sunday, July 25, 2010

Parrot Name

Choosing a name for your new parrot can sometimes be quite hard and stressful. So here are a few helpful hints that I always use to figure out a name for my newest addition.
-A name that reflects your interests or hobbies: like if you like mysteries you could name it Agatha. Or if you liked a specific clothing line you could name it something like Abercrombie. If you like magic tricks and illusions you could name it Abracadabra.
-A name that reflects the birds colors: so for instance your bird is green, yellow, or blue. There are quite a few possible names like Kiwi (green), Sky (Blue), or Honey (yellow).
-A name to reflect your nationality: if you're Spanish you could name it something like Amigos (Friend) or Bonita (Beautiful). Or if you're French something like Perroquet (Parrot).
-A Name that simply attracts to you: You have to like your birds name! So try looking at some that just simply interest you. Some of my personal favorites include:
-Mimi
-Jo Jo
-Sally
-Sunny
-Bella
-ZiZi
-Sammy
-Nina
-Lulu
-Star
You can try searching pet names on the internet to start yourself off with some fresh new ideas.
I also like to try a shorter easy name in case I am planning on teaching the bird how to say its own name, in a case like this I wouldn't name a parakeet Worcestershira which is much to long, but something like Alexandria could work since I could call her Alex for short, these are all the things you must consider while thinking up a name for your new pet. 
I always start with a list of my favorite names and narrow them done one by one until I finally come to my perfect birds name!

Monday, July 5, 2010

Molting Parrot!

If a bird starts to molt, most of the given time it is to great surprise of the owner. Molts are common for birds and just a part of their natural life. If the bird has lost most of its feathers and a lot of it is bare, especially if it is the first time I would probably suggest you take him/her to the vet to assure you it is molting and possibly give the bird a treatment so the feathers soon return in a proper condition.
During a molt your parrot may look like a well used wet feather duster (not a pretty sight), or you may not realize it at all in appearence, but will find a more than regular amount of feathers around the cage and such.
There are many different reasons a bird could molt including:
-Climate changes
-Age (usually a bird molts in the process of their maturing)
-Type\species of bird (some have an annual molt)
-Damaged feathers
As you can see, there are many different scenarios that can trigger a molt. Every parrot experiences at least one molt in their given life time, but in most cases it will happen regularly, so always be on your toes.
You may also realize that your birds feathers look almost wet like but are actually quite dry, this again is quite normal and just a result of oil on the birds feathers from its preening which it will do constantly during a molt.
To make sure your bird is safe and sound during its molt and feather regrowth, you can make sure not to stress the bird out, this could cause complications with the birds new feathers. Keep your bird in a warm (but not hot) cozy place, that isn't very noisy and have a minimum amount of light on the bird. This will help your bird get the best results with its new feathers.