Greetings from the PacNW

[Lankyrob]

they are beautiful looking birds - are they easy to "house train"??

[percey39]

Very nice bird, i would imagine when they all get excited they would make a lot of noise. I really love the blue boy.

[Irish Eyes]

Originally Posted by Nafun

Hyacinths are so beautiful. Shame they're dumb as stumps though =(

I used to have a blue and gold myself. Had to get rid of him when I went to college.

I can't imagine living with so many macaws though, I lived in the country, and had neighbors from half a mile away complain about the noise at sunrise.

You'll be pleased to know that Mikey Blue is highly intelligent. Very sweet, very mechanical (he likes to take things apart), and extremely funny! He doesn't have as large a vocabulary as some of the birds, but he has enough strength to make up for it--he breaks the bars on his SS Kings 506 with frightening regularity :-).

Neighbors don't complain, even though our home is in the city on a 1/4 acre lot. Probably because they can't hear them over our dogs.... LOL! Seriously--we're lucky to have some very nice neighbors, when all is said and done.

Lankyrob, I've never specifically tried to house train any of them. However, they voluntarily do not poop on us if they're on a shoulder or whatever. I have a friend who trained her Scarlet to poop on a paper plate, though. Kinda weird and funny .

I've wanted a B&G macaw ever since I was about 5 y/o and I saw a flocked toy one on a swing in a store, which my grandmother eventually bought for me. I can't even begin to imagine giving Bob up!

Or any of the others, for that matter.

[Freebody]

wow they are beautifull!! i would love to get one but they scare me when im holding them, i guy at my local pub i drink at most often brings his white parot their all the time, i dont know what kind it is but it friendly,but she has taken chuncks out of him at random over the past 15 years or so hes had her, so when he passes her over shes calm but i still feel uneasy about the whole ordeal lol

[Irish Eyes]

Originally Posted by Freebody

wow they are beautifull!! i would love to get one but they scare me when im holding them, i guy at my local pub i drink at most often brings his white parot their all the time, i dont know what kind it is but it friendly,but she has taken chuncks out of him at random over the past 15 years or so hes had her, so when he passes her over shes calm but i still feel uneasy about the whole ordeal lol

I don't know without seeing a pic, but first thought is that your friend may have a cockatoo. Do you remember seeing a crest? They usually have them, and they usually raise them during times of excitement (or fear, or anger).

Parrots bite. If you have one, you just have to get used to that fact. From the tiniest parrotlet to the largest Hyacinth, their beaks can hurt ya! Trick is to learn to read their body language, and to train them that "no bite" or "ouch", means "STOP what you're doing right now!"

I figure the average boa or python keeper ought to be able to handle a little parrot "love nip" :-).