What to Look For When Buying a Pet Parrot

I’m going to buy a parakeet from petsmart when i go what do i, look for to get a good one a nice one and a young?
i want a young one and what color is most likely not to bite !!! plz help and dont say get one from a breeder !

- Trae

I won’t say get one from a breeder – parakeets are easy to train and tame and it’s really not neccessary to seek out a breeder for these little guys!

In fact, Gilligan, our star parakeet in the parakeet taming course was straight from a pet shop! He was wild and unfriendly and within 7 days he was performing a routine with over five tricks and earning Dave a standing ovation on the cruise ship!

They also don’t have to be “young”, either. But most ones you will find in petstores are around a year old or so which is not a bad thing at all and still young.

There is no specific color of parakeet that bites less… it’s all about you training them NOT to bite. As most people accidentally train their birds to bite in the first place.

You want to look for an active, vocal and social parakeet among the bunch (like shown in the video above). He or she can be preening himself, eating, drinking or just playing or chatting with a nearby friend.

You do not want to choose a bird who is away from the flock or on his own in a corner or at the bottom of the cage. You want to look for any discharge from the nostrils and make sure there is none. Their feathers should look clean without any stool left on the bottom and they should appear active and healthy.

Over grown beak and nails are something to look for as well as you don’t want to choose a bird with these. It’s manageable but just makes it a little more complicated then you want as a first time bird owner.

Don’t expect the bird to be happy to see you or immediately step up on your hand (feel honored if this does happen, though!) and begin training the day you get home if you want. It’s actually better to get your bird immediately used to you rather than letting it “settle in” to its surroundings where it will see its cage as its comfort zone and everything else as scary and new (including you!) so get to work on Gilligan’s routine and you will be on your way to one happy parakeet!