The Red-throated Parakeet: A Guide to Care and Health
If you have a red-throated parrot, you have a very rare and beautiful pet bird. To raise and enjoy your bird, you must be willing to be patient, work hard, and dedicate a lot of your time to it. But you will be rewarded with the affection of an incredibly colorful and personable companion. Here’s a guide to your care and health that will help you enjoy a long and wonderful life together.
Provide a healthy diet–The Red-throated Conure will thrive on fresh organic fruits and vegetables. Supplement this with a high quality granule mix. Table food is also good, including eggs, pasta, bread, crackers. Nuts make an excellent gift when given once in a while. Don’t forget to vary their diets to keep their interest high. And try to make your food as attractive as possible by mixing different colors and textures.
One of the most nutritious food sources is sprouted seeds. They are low in fat as they sprout and offer a different set of nutrients daily as they continue to grow. They are truly a food that just keeps on giving. You can buy seeds that are already sprouted or you can choose to do it yourself. But they are a wonderful investment in your Conure’s health.
Avoid avocado, peanuts, caffeine, chocolate, rhubarb, and foods high in sugar and salt. These can prove fatal.
Provide spacious homes–The bigger the cage, the happier your red-throated beauty will be. The cage should be large enough for your bird to fully spread its wings in whichever direction it is facing. A variety of horizontal perches at different levels will allow you to climb, but should not hinder your Conure’s ability to spread their wings inside the cage. They also need to spend several hours a day out of the cage.
Providing your bird with play areas and perches outside of the cage in a bird-safe area is a great way to keep your bird fit, engaged, socialized, and healthy.
Be generous with human interaction–Making a happy home for this parrot means dedicating several hours of your day each day to interact with your bird. This can include talking, cuddling, training, or just hanging out together while you read, pay bills, watch TV, or work on your laptop. Scheduling this time each day will increase the level of trust between the bird and the owner, and will help your bird remain docile and relaxed with you and other family members.
Because they are members of a herd in the wild, they need and expect this social interaction. By spending this time with your bird, you are more likely to avoid behavior problems such as aggression, feather plucking, and screaming. If you can’t spend at least this amount of time with your Conure, choose another bird for a companion or reconsider your choice of bird.
Be proactive with disease prevention-Red-throated Parakeets are subject to a number of diseases. And while there’s no guarantee, there are many things you can do to lessen the chance of disease and infection shortening your red-throated parakeet’s life.
Keep Wellness Appointments–Schedule an appointment at least every 6 months with an avian vet. Remove fresh food from the cage after one hour to reduce the chance of your bird ingesting mold and mildew that has grown on the food. Clean the cage daily to prevent small pieces of dried droppings from becoming airborne and spreading disease.
keep the air clean–Filter your bird’s air to keep its airways clear by removing the large amount of airborne contaminants that are present in a captive bird. Continuously filtering the air will help your red-throated parakeet avoid respiratory infections that can be so deadly.