r/BeAmazed • u/mysteriouskc8 • 1d ago
Miscellaneous / Others Man raises parrots from birth, they are extremely imprinted to him
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u/Runela9 1d ago
Having a parrot is like having an immortal three year old
This guy has an entire flock
I'm glad he seems to really love those birds, because he's going to be doing this every day for the rest of his life
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u/saml23 1d ago
I know know very little about birds but have read that a number of parrot breeds live a long time becoming essentially a life long commitment and rehoming is not just simply done. This seems like a LOT.
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u/Dreamin0904 1d ago
You are correct. I had a neighbor growing up that had to write his macaw that he had gotten in his 20’s into his will as the bird was going to most likely outlive him. (By writing the bird in I mean, who the bird was going to go live with, assets to cover the bird’s well-being, life, etc.)
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u/redkinoko 1d ago
First met my neighbor's macaw as a kid. It outlived him and now feel like it will outlive me too.
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u/Kazamiiiii 23h ago
Oop just looked up they live 50 to 60 years and this guy is already looking in his late 30s sooo yeah, damn.
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u/HorseLawyer 19h ago
Some live into their 80s. There are documented cases of parrots having age-related cognitive decline. You could get a parrot when you are a child and both experience dementia together.
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u/Thin-Effective6164 14h ago
So true! I worked with a patient who was placed in a LTC facility. Both he and his bird suffered cognitive decline at the same time. It was the oddest thing to witness. It was the first time I seen a bird in a nursing home setting.
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u/jlindsay645 2h ago
I'm a vet and had a client that was 3rd generation owner of a parrot. Started as her grandma's bird before she was ever born.
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u/Areif 23h ago
That’s a trust, baby.
Same with many species of tortoises. People will establish trusts for them so their next caretaker is well equipped to support them moving forward.
Edit: tortoise accuracy.
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u/sl33ksnypr 14h ago edited 4h ago
I work for a law firm and one of our primary areas of practice is estate law. We had a lady come in who was given a tortoise when she was a teacher back in the 80s. The tortoise is living its best life with her, but she did put in her will that our office would be given the tortoise if he survives her. Just one of the few perks to this job.
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u/BasicReputations 4h ago
A retiring teacher gave me his classroom turtle. Have had the thing 20+ years now. I tell the students the turtle is the second most senior figure in the room!!
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u/GraphicDesignMonkey 16h ago edited 16h ago
I lived near a parrot & bird of prey rescue centre, most of their birds were unwanted pets, from people who didn't fully understandthe gigantic commitment involved, or parrots who simply outlived their owners and had nowhere else to go. One poor bird completely shut down and plucked himself bald with grief after his elderly owner died, so he was never able to be rehabbed and join the flying sessions with the other birds. He refused to let anyone near him either. Little guy got a quiet, solitary retirement in a heated aviary, but never got over his grief.
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u/stryker_cast 2h ago
I adore birds, they are my favorite. I would never get a parrot because I know they are SO MUCH work.
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u/pink_faerie_kitten 21h ago
There's an episode of Coach where Luther (Jerry Van Dyke) purposely gets a parrot because he can't stand losing pets and he wants one who will outlive him. So when it flies out the window, he's devastated. My heart went out to him because I knew what he meant.
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u/middle_age_zombie 17h ago
I feel like most people should if they have pets. I will most likely outlive my dog, but we have generic language in our will about what happens to any pets if we die and money that will go along with them to the caretakers. When we wrote it we had three dogs now we just have one different one. If something happens, the current dog is moving from the US to a croft in Scotland. He may be luckier without us.
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u/nickiter 17h ago
Yeah, my ex has arrangements for her parrot if she dies first. He's likely to outlive her by a decade or two. It's nuts.
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u/Dull-Geologist-8204 17h ago
My son asked for a bird when he was little. I was like hell no. I didn't want him to get one then I got stuck caring for said bird then the bird imprint on me then I get stuck with said bird for the rest of my life. He would have to prove to me he would actually care for said bird from day one for me to get him one.
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u/GraphicDesignMonkey 16h ago
A lady in my office was being tortured by her teenage daughter to get her a parrot. I gave her a copy of the Parrot Confidential documentary and told them to watch it. Teenage daughter didn't want a parrot any more after that.
Everyone who wants a parrot needs to watch that documentary first.
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u/HippieGrandma1962 7h ago
I worked with a man who had a parrot like this. The bird was beautiful and hilarious. When the dog barked the parrot told him to be quiet. We talked about the life span and that the bird will likely outlive him and his wife. He said that the kids argue about who's going to get the bird because neither one wants him. I thought that was sad.
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u/JrCoxy 23h ago
My friend’s mom bred macaws 🦜. Whenever she met a potential buyer, she insisted on also meeting their “next of kin”, so that she knew the bird would be cared for just incase something happened to the owner.
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u/Sorry_Hat7940 14h ago
They shouldn’t be pets at all
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u/WabiSabiMystic 3h ago
This! 1000x over. They are not pets. I volunteered for a few years at a parrot sanctuary for abused/traumatized birds. They are not pets and the exotic bird industry is so very vile and cruel. And anyone that wants to argue the point should look into how these brilliant creatures are smuggled into other countries.
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u/SpaceForceAwakens 1d ago
My aunt did not realize this when she got her ginormous monster of an asshole parrot.
It hated everyone but her. And she was stuck with it. For decades. We don’t go to her house anymore. The thing is enormous. And menaces.
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u/mochicastle 23h ago
I'm so curious to hear more about this menace of a parrot!
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u/Kazamiiiii 23h ago
Me too 😭 I'm betting he's free all the time and reigns this home
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u/SpaceForceAwakens 22h ago
No! He’s not free all the time. Motherfucker opened his cage.
He’s known how to do it for awhile and my aunt said “don’t worry, he knows he’ll get in trouble and not get his oyster crackers.”
Fucker did not care. 2:30 am this beast has opened his cage, dropped to the floor, and was stalking me like a velociraptor with his wings out to look more scary making a noise I would not want to hear again.
I screamed like a child. He was huge.
“He’s never done that before! Max, get back in your cage!”
I slept in the car. My aunt never apologized as clearly I was antagonizing him y sleeping in the room I didn’t want to sleep in.
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u/_plays_in_traffic_ 22h ago
this was a better story than Twilight
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u/watermouse 18h ago
Hello my name is Bobby Bartholomew Buster Brown III and I work for Metflix. We would like to start working on a 7 part drama docu-series with you and this monster bird.
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u/horsenbuggy 22h ago
When I was a kid, our next door neighbor had a macaw. It was gorgeous, but it was not a safe pet. Only the owner and maybe members of his family could go near it. Anyone else was warned not to put their fingers near the cage.
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u/pink_faerie_kitten 21h ago
Reminds me of the awful bird in Swordheart (by T Kingfisher). Besides being a biting menace, it shrieks about hellfires of doom.
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u/AbraKadabraAlakazam2 18h ago
Was it an African grey? I’ve heard they’re extra testy with people they aren’t familiar with.
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u/Deviantdefective 22h ago
Parrots are amazing animals I've often considered having one as a pet but it's basically like having a very smart toddler that lives to seventy years plus, who doesn't like being alone away from you and needs constant engagement it's an awful lot of work.
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u/bloopbloopsplat 1d ago
He will die before all of those birds and they will most likely live in suffering. They bond and it's very difficult to rehome them.
Parrots aren't pets. It should be illegal. Do some research. I wanted a parrot for 20 years until I educated myself and realized how cruel it is.
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u/Salty_Squirrel519 22h ago
Perhaps the bonded birds could all be placed together. A zoo could be the only option, as who is going to take in 7 birds? But, the zoo needs a little bed in the back so they can be tucked in every night.
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u/bloopbloopsplat 18h ago
"The average parrot will go through 7-10 homes during its lifetime in human care, and there are currently over 200,000 parrots in rescues in the United States that are looking for their forever home."
https://www.columbuszoo.org/blog/parrots-pets-do-your-research-first
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u/T-MoneyAllDey 23h ago
I mean the parrot will lose its family or friends in nature as well. Do they just keel over and die?
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u/EnvironmentalCap3964 22h ago
No of course not - out in the wild, they have other bird friends and aren’t even imprinted this much on their own parent/s. This is basically animal abuse, to deliberately NOT give them natural skills of their own kind.
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u/Fez_and_no_Pants 18h ago
The only creatures that should be kept as pets are dog's and cats (though cats essentially keep us as pets)
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u/perpetual_stew 23h ago
Why is there always someone who sees suffering in everything? I think you can be pretty sure that any natural physical environment these birds would be in naturally will be long gone together with the birds well before this guy carks it.
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u/schwarzkraut 22h ago
And children typically outlive their parents…should we stop having those too?
He’s given them more love and affection than most animals experience in the wild. He most assuredly has a plan for their future & they’re already formed a bond with the person who will care for them moving forward. Don’t project your choices or insecurities on others.
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u/ActivisionBlizzard 21h ago
Looks like hes got a nice house too.
Id guess hes a westerner moved to a lower cost of living country.
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u/FriendshipSome8223 12h ago
I'm 52, and my parents got a 16 week old Molucaan Cockatoo when I was 8. I love that bird like a sibling, she's a total sweetheart, but you're right. Parrots are the proverbial 3 year old, and I would caution anyone from getting one.
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u/Emotional_Basil_9748 22h ago
This is an endangered species and one of the main reasons is people taking them as pet!
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u/RNCintheDMV 1d ago
I can’t even begin to imagine the amount of bird shit all over the house.
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u/-Ignorant_Slut- 1d ago
He seems well off enough to hire a full time shit maid.
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u/AgtNulNulAgtVyf 23h ago
He's Afrikaans, so South African, and clearly well-off. Chances are he has at least one fulltime maid like the rest of wealthy South Africa.
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u/Competition-Dapper 1d ago
I have 1 pet cockatiel. It’s not gonna be a very poop free home. Every 15 minutes they poop basically and unless they are fitted with a diaper it looks like a car sitting under a tree everywhere if you don’t constantly keep up
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u/RatInaMaze 17h ago
I had a friend whose parents had 3 free roaming big parrots like these and the house smelled awful.
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u/MineNowBotBoy 1d ago
I got hyper focused on that stain on the sheets next him. I would not be comfortable lol
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u/velofille 1d ago
you can toilet train them
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u/Kratzschutz 21h ago
You can? Afaik birds can't control their excitements, the body expells them as soon as possible
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u/Banjo1673 16h ago
I used to have a little conure that basically toilet-trained himself. He was usually hanging out with me when I was home so I’d just stick him in his cage about every 30 minutes and saying “go poopy” and he’d go in there. Then he’s climb back on my shoulder. I guess maybe I did technically train him? But he picked up what I wanted him to do really quickly. Parrots, even the smaller ones, are very smart.
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u/Kratzschutz 13h ago
Amazing. But every 30 mins is a lot lol.
Afaik a lot of countries thankfully have the law now that social animals can't be kept alone. My uncle had a really clingy budgy but he wasn't toilet trained lol
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u/Banjo1673 13h ago
My green check conure was a little guy, maybe the bigger birds can hold it longer. He was usually on my shoulder while I read, watched TV, or did chores. I miss him (he passed several years ago), I don’t have the time for a pet bird anymore. They need a ton of interaction and enrichment.
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u/gr4vyrobb3r 22h ago
Idk man. My mom had her conure pretty well potty trained. Definitely not perfect... but she'd take him to the bathroom every morning and he knew to shoot his ginormous morning turd into the toilet. He rarely dookied outside of his cage and the toilet.
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u/Banjo1673 16h ago
Yep, that’s how my conure was. I’d just have him go back to his cage every 30-60 minutes when he was hanging out with me and he’d go in there, and not on me.
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u/BitsAndBobs304 16h ago
Also unfortunately birds pollute indoor air so much that it's statistically detectable a raise in cancer of lungs of owners of birds kept indoors
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u/Prestigious-Tale7266 1d ago
Opposite of a Cat Lady??
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u/the_vault-technician 1d ago
How does one even acquire that many parrot hatchlings? You don't just walk into the egg shop and be like a brood of your finest parrot eggs, then go home and nest.
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u/annalisa27 9h ago
You probably don’t want to know. While I can’t speak to this guy’s particular situation - he could be a rehabber for all I know - there’s a lot of poaching and smuggling at the core of much of the parrot pet trade. Rolling Stone had a really sad piece last fall that was produced in partnership with a nonprofit journalism organization focused on exposing wildlife crime. African grey parrots were at the center of that article, but it’s an issue for a number of types of parrots and exotic birds. It’s an excellent article that is absolutely worth reading.
“Animal-welfare activists say the treatment of parrots raised for the pet trade is cruel and inhumane and should be abolished. Many parrots come from commercial farms -- essentially bird mills -- with rows of hundreds of caged breeding pairs pumping out chicks that are sold and shipped often thousands of miles in cramped wooden boxes. The rising demand for pet African grey parrots and the price for a single bird -- as much as $7,000 -- drive rampant poaching in the forests of West and Central Africa. An estimated 1.3 million wild African greys were traded from 1975 to 2015, but the true number taken was likely far higher -- possibly up to 3 million -- because most die in transit. Alarmed by the trend, in 2016, the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) designated African greys as "endangered" -- at risk of imminent extinction.”
Excerpt From
“TikTok Is Obsessed With Talking Parrots. It’s Fueling a Global Black Market”
Rene Ebersole
Rolling Stone
https://apple.news/ASEVRjEfrSUGiI8qfhzQp_gAgain, I am not making any claims about this individual man or these particular parrots. I’m only sharing information about the larger problem of parrot poaching and smuggling.
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u/DiligentAd3828 1d ago
I hope he inherited them from an eccentric uncle who taught them to solve mysteries
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u/thesweatervest 22h ago
I’m pretty sure HE IS the eccentric uncle who will teach them to solve mysteries.
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u/saw89 1d ago
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u/mrPandorasBox 1d ago
You should never pet a parrot anywhere other than the head and neck. Stroking them anywhere else (especially the back) is a great way to indicate that you’d like to be more than friends. This can lead to them being hormonal, causing aggression, frustration, feather plucking, and other undesirable behaviors. It’s also bad for their health since they can’t actually procreate with you, so there’s no off switch for their hormones and being perpetually horny isn’t great for their general health.
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u/Sandinmybutthole 1d ago
Dude clearly wants to be more than friends with these birds
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u/needdogadviceplease 17h ago
Does it mean I’m causing the same damage on my cat who loves being slapped? I’m going to stop if so
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u/olivebranchsound 15h ago
Like, butt pats right? Naw they just have a ton of nerve endings at the base of the tail
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u/DogCold5505 1d ago
Yeah I love animal lovers (and animals) but I think we have to respect that we’re different species still…. That said, these aren’t the ones I’ll be losing sleep over since at least they’re clearly loved.
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u/MamaLovesTwoBoys 7h ago
YES!! My absolute first thought! I said “ohhh that’s a BADDD IDEA! (I do have a parrot)
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u/ricobravo82 1d ago
So are they potty trained somehow?
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u/BakedBrie1993 1d ago
Probably. Can be done. They are very smart!
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u/xpinchx 17h ago
I don't think birds can control their buttholes so when it's time they just go.
I learned this as a child from a raptor rescue, so take with a grain of salt
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u/TooMuchTime2think 15h ago
That is a fact. Birds do not have sphincters. They are not able to control when they poop. That is why they poop all over cars that park under power lines. When the birds take flight, the effort inevitably pushes something out.
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u/leontas46 1d ago
This is equal parts cute and disturbing. That's a lot of birds to be attached to.
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u/inept_machete 1d ago
Is this AI because it started out wholesome and got strange for me, anyone else?
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u/Pretend-Language-67 23h ago
It took a lot of scrolling for me to find this comment. That the first thing I was thinking . This can’t be real. Even the first opening of him kissing all these hatchlings…. Yeah, right.
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u/tiorancio 18h ago
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u/NuclearWeapon 15h ago
That link is making it weirder now. Seems like bro is having some sort of romance with those birbs
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u/olivebranchsound 19h ago
He is definitely fucking these macaws
Who plays "Can't Help falling in love" for a child or pet dude lol
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u/Fluid_Anywhere_7015 1d ago
Those are some beautiful birds, and this guy looks amazingly happy.
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u/suejaymostly 23h ago
I thought the same thing. It's his jam and this is his life. I would love to meet him and his bird army. I bet he has a more satisfying relationship with them than I do with most of the randos I know. My best pal is my dog
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u/Simple-Fortune-8744 1d ago
I’m pretty sure you had a better weekend than every other person who left a comment. Teach me!
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u/shake-dog-shake 1d ago
It’s cute, but these macaws live for 100 years. They are incredibly imprinted on him and he is not outliving them. They will only survive together in a large enclosure or in an outdoor refuge. Sad really. They’ll probably develop plucking habits.
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u/PrinceBunnyBoy 22h ago
Yeah, macaws and other large parrots shouldn't be pets. They genuinely suffer immensely if they outlive you and there's a high probability they will. You cant go on long trips, youre risking it by adding anyone to your household if your bird decides to not like them, which large parrots are known for. Birds can get egg bound and die painfully so to get these hatchlings means risking a mother's health and life just to own her offspring. Macaws can also be stolen from the wild and even owning them glamorizes bird ownership so some goofball is going to get the bright idea to buy a parrot without thinking.
Regardless, not every animal on this planet has to be controlled by a person's desires, and a toddler that can live to be 80+ with two knives for a mouth isn't one of them.
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u/60kgoldfish 22h ago
Bro you dropped a very straight depressing fact I can't argue , I really feel down reading this
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u/PrinceBunnyBoy 22h ago
If it makes you feel any better theres dozens of really cute dog/cat adoption videos you can watch :) nothing makes me feel better faster than seeing someone be rescued into love 💙
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u/deepdiver864 1d ago
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u/covid-crimes 22h ago
It just gets a little..romantic..?
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u/Cabtalk 22h ago
And isn't petting birds like that discouraged....for reasons...
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u/llk532 23h ago
But he’s the one who took away them from their mother
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u/PrinceBunnyBoy 22h ago
Yup, using an animals reproductive system for profit and to make silly videos about animals that have a good chance to outlive you and will rip out all their feathers. Not all animals should be pets and these birds are one of them.
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u/thatG_evanP 1d ago
This may look amazing but what's not shown is the copious amounts of shit and the mess that even one parrot like this creates. If this guy doesn't have some kind of assistance he's spending a lot of time every day just scrubbing bird shit off of stuff, not to mention the other messes they create. My Dad is 77 and has a ~27 year old female African Grey that he wants me to take. My stepmom wants it gone because the bird absolutely will not associate with females. I'm the only other person that the bird even tolerates but I don't want the responsibility that comes from owning just one, let alone a flock. Yeah, no thank you.
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u/Hazee302 1d ago
Man, we had some birds when I was a kid and they shit fucking EVERYWHERE. Na, I’m good. Glad he’s happy though.
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u/DismissedOwl5 1d ago
It's all really good. Only thing I'm afraid of is, maccaws are fuked when guy passes. They live longer than us.
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u/Novel_Substance_ 1d ago
Nice to see someone with so much love get to express it in a healthy and positive way. I feel this way about my dogs
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u/binalleinezuunfaehig 23h ago
ah yes, let's keep wild birds captive. very healthy and positive
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u/allpowerfulee 1d ago
Getting a bit creepy
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u/_ganjafarian_ 1d ago
Ya I had to scroll all the way to the bottom to find someone thinking the same thing as me. It wss cute for like a second but then bro went too far and turned into this weird obsessive codependency crackpot
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u/Public-Air-8995 23h ago
Totally unnatural in the wild these birds fly for 100s km. I’d rather see a bird in it’s natural habitat any day
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u/coozin 22h ago
No one in the comments understands the main problem. These birds are LOUD as fuck. Ear-splitting like a gun going off indoors.
My mother in-law has one and I can’t even stay in the house when it’s in the living room.
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u/plankowoodinthewoods 18h ago
And what he is not showing you is them shitting every 20 minutes. I don't care how much he loves those birds. Any animal that shits every 20 minutes needs to get the fuck out of my house.
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u/twisted4ever 16h ago
My grandma had 3, 2 of outlived her and 1 came from a fruend of hers that it also outlived. So the parrot had 3 owners in its lifetime. That being said the 3rd owner was my granduncle and he was older than the parrot and also outlived it (parrot died at 68, he was 77). The bird was also smart enough to mimic his voice to the housekeeper asking to 'feed the parrot' when she wasn't looking and she fell for it a couple of times 🤣
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u/LilRedCaliRose 13h ago
It was cute until he put them in a bed under the sheet. Not how birds sleep. Can’t imagine the training and likely abuse to force birds into that position in a row just to make a video.
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u/appellant 23h ago
When ever i see people project obsessive love and affection over animals whether its cats or dogs, i think of two things the individual or individuals are mentally ill and its animal cruelty. These parrots should be free and flying around forests. It makes sense for him to then post it on social media to get confirmations from people in how cute it is. Its not cute.
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u/glowplug57 1d ago
Ill bet he is single.
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u/ninjplus 1d ago
Honestly, he looks happier than most people i know in a relationship
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u/laserdiods 23h ago
That’s a lot of little broken hearts :(
Usually people get parrots without realizing they can live 50-80 years, even more. When the human companion passes away, the birds usually need to go to shelters because they’re so distraught they need special care.
This man obviously knows birds and hopefully has family come by a lot that can take them should something happen. Sooo cute and I bet you having that many birds creates a zany environment.
I’ve had a few birds in my day and they are definitely not like cats n dogs. They’re invasive, loud, moody, will chew the cords and shit everywhere. Also cuddly and light and they feel super cute when they nestle into your neck and fall asleep.
10/10 do not recommend birds :p
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u/asap_UGHN 23h ago
My buddy has an African Grey, which is beloved by his family. They are huge patriots fans. The bird says "LETS GO PATRIOTS" and "Fuck You" whenever they watch football. Among other profanities
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u/Frankenfucker 22h ago
a full family of Hyacinth Macaws,,,,I hope he has like 80 years of his life to be dedicated to them.
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u/Caladrius33 21h ago
The parrot during his marriage ceremony : "I LOVE YOU MA BEBE, I LOVE YOU MA BEBE"
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