How To Pick Out The Perfect Macaw

By [http://ezinearticles.com/?expert=Dave_Womach]Dave Womach

Choosing a Macaw that�s right for your family can be hard. Pet stores these days can tend to focus more on profits than on raising a healthy well adjusted Macaw. So I thought I�d give you three tips to look for when purchasing a macaw.

Tip #1 � Stay Educated

Before purchasing a Macaw you really need to make sure you know what you�re getting yourself into. A Macaw can be an excellent choice of pet parrot, as it�s not as temperamental or likely to scream excessively like a cockatoo, but also can tend to have a higher need to destroy things than say a Quaker or Conure parrot.

So one tip I like to give people is to research websites that provide accurate information about parrots. One good place is my blog which I'll link to below. I�ve recently started hiring parrot behavior specialists to write weekly articles about what it really takes to raise parrots on my blog, and I think you�ll find it informative.

Tip #2 � Check Out The Diet

Many pet store owners knowingly feed their parrots 100% seed based diets. This is a BIG warning sign as an all seed base diet causes a parrot to develop into an extremely picky eater and has been known to cut the lifespan of domestic parrots in half.

Instead look for a store that feeds their birds a pellet mix, (non colored) along with fruits, veggies and preferably freshly cooked bean mixes.

This way you�ll know if the store owner is really willing to put the extra time and energy it takes into raising a healthy macaw, because let�s face it, it takes more time to keep a Macaw healthy, than it does to just dump some seed in his bowl and call it good.

Tip #3 � Ask For a Medical Check Up

Make sure you negotiate with the pet store owner for a medical check up before he sells you a macaw. Many stores are not clean and Macaws can get nasty viruses that can often result in death. And you don�t want to be on the wrong end of a virus, with a dead macaw you just paid $1,500 for, and not be able to get a refund.

To make sure you don�t get in this jam make sure the store owners signs off on some sort of agreement where before he gets a full medical checkup before purchasing him, or within a few days of purchase, whereas if the bird ends up being sick the store is liable to give you a refund, or pay the medical expenses.

These are just a few of the many things you can do to make sure you purchase a Macaw that doesn�t cause you all sorts of trouble in the future. Be sure to check out my blog at http://www.birdtricks.com/updates

Dave Womach publishes a parrot training newsletter to help people overcome their parrots issues at http://www.birdtricks.com/macaws.html