Cuddly 1,5 years old BFA

[Omena]

I'm in the process of looking for my future medium/small parrot. Went to a pet shop yesterday who have a female Blue Fronted Amazon for sale. Apparently she has been there since last year - June, I think. Apparently she was bitey at first, but has tamed down a lot and is pretty affectionate from what I heard and saw myself.

When I saw her, she would do this purring/growling sound (you know, the sounds Zons do) staring at me and she pretty much immediately lowered her head for scratches and wanted to share kisses. I once hit a broken feather and she lunged at me without taking contact with her beak, I said I understood and apologised for hurting her and she let me continue scratching straight away. I also got to hold her and she got beaky couple of times, thus I warned her and she ignored that so I let her on her cage until offering my hand to step up and try again. She also got beaky to the guy asking her to step up out of the cage. I tried taking her out myself when she went in the second time and she stepped up immediately - this could be of course because it had been already asked once.

Apparently she has her character and have "those days" which is no news when it's a Zon in question, and a female. But, you who know better, what do you think of that cuddliness for a BFA of her age, is it likely to stay, or?

 

[jh81]

The only way to discover her "true" personality, is spending lots of time with her, so she gets to know you, and you get to know her

 

[iamwhoiam]

Welcome to AA. Are you planning on getting her? My male BFA is generally sweet but he does have his moments especially in the morning. He is NOT a morning bird.

 

[melissasparrots]

At 1.5 years old and a confirmed female, she is likely to be a sweet bird. Keep in mind, cuddly to an amazon is a totally different thing than cuddly like a cockatoo. Its unlikely she will ever be cuddly like a cockatoo. However, asking for scritches and giving kisses is likely to be an almost daily occurance for most of her life. My bigger concern is that you are so worried about if cuddlines will stay. Amazons in general are not known to be cuddly. Birds do change somewhat as they mature and part of knowing and loving a parrot is to love them through the changes. To be honest, most female amazons don't change much. And in many ways they are likely to change for the better. However, there are no guarantees. She's likely to have plenty of sass and try to boss you around from time to time. She's also likely to ask for scritches frequently. You could get her home and find that she likes to spend long hours with you snuggled up to your cheek. Or she could be my like female amazons and like spending about 10 minutes on you getting scritched and then wants back on her cage with just periodic offers for a quick pet when I walk by. If you don't get the hint, they communicate that they need to go back to their cage by biting harder and harder until you take them back. Mine will also not hesitate to nail me if my dog gets too close.
So, while they are very friendly, they do have triggers that most definitely not cuddle-like. Triggers to bite should be well respected and even though you may end up with a fine bird, you will still bleed from time to time while learning to recognize and respect those triggers. Other common triggers are other people and children or pets in the family. Your bird might be quite content to sit on your shoulder and get scritches until your husband or child walks in the room and then you bleed. As she matures, she might remain friendly to her favorite person and chase down all others. Also, once you get her home, if you live with other people, there is no guarantee that you will remain her favorite. She could easily switch bonds, be an awesome companion to someone else in your family and turn on you. She is an independent and fickle spirit. There are no guarantees of loyalty. Such is life with a parrot. You have to be able to respect them as individuals with likes and dislikes that you may not agree with. Love her for what she is, not what you want her to be. If you have intense emotional needs for an animal that loves you, get a dog. They love almost everyone. If you can accept less than perfect and love her anyway, she will likely be a pretty decent or even very good bird. Female amazons generally really good birds. But still fiery little amazons.

 

[Omena]

Thank you all for your replies! And to melissasparrots in particular. You have stated all the concerns that I have and things I have thought through. I do not need a Cockatoo level cuddliness, while I have considered a Galah, but I wouldn't go for a big white Cockatoo - already, I can take noise, but holy smokes the lungs that these bigger Toos have! lol. I have two dogs already, and two Arabian horses, and having tamed and trained several foals and horses also with not-so-easy personalities, I understand body language pretty well and have found that parrots have the same personality traits as a highly sensitive flighty possessive horse (my mares more or less).

Bonding to my OH more is probably the thing that concerns me most. Although right now he is not very comfortable with bigger parrots. I'm planning to take him to see the Amazon. We had a female BFA at work earlier, but she did not share the same feeling with me as my new acquaintance.

What comes to bites, I'm not worried, having had some bleeding fingers from a bit too rough beaking, and I trust I can read the body language well enough for the true bites, but they might still happen and I accept that. It's like with horses, they will always remain a prey animal and you have to accept their nature and take precautions because of it, no matter how much they have been shaped with training.

I have also considered the African Grey and the Conures, Jenday and Patagonian. We shall see, but I plan to visit the Amazon and see how it evolves. Unfortunately, I do not have the luxury to just walk in and say I take any parrot right now. It might take several months until I can bring one home, and she might be gone by then.

Right now I have a female Lovebird, who is not yet tame. I have a feeling it can take a long time until she is. For now I can approach her around 30 cm with my head when she is on her cage. Sometimes she will fly close around us. And she repeats the words we say to her (I recognise the tone).

 

[Omena]

Welcome to AA. Are you planning on getting her? My male BFA is generally sweet but he does have his moments especially in the morning. He is NOT a morning bird.

LOL. I could live with that, not being able to socialise properly before a good amount of coffee myself.