Pet Parrots - The Scarlet Macaw

With their high intelligence Scarlet Macaws are quick learners and when handled by someone with experience they become very loving, playful pet parrots.

Reaching up to 36 inches from it's head to the tip of it's long slender tail a Scarlet Macaw is not a small parrot.

They are mostly scarlet colored with blue on the wings and tail with a yellow band on the upper wings below a scarlet shoulder.

They have a white, featherless ring around their eyes. The upper beak is white and the lower beak is black.

Keep in mind that these parrots live a long time. Typically between 35 and 50 years. Some have reportedly lived up until 75 years of age.

As far as macaws go they are fairly high strung and they do have a tendency to pinch. You need to discourage it from pinching at an early age to prevent it from turning into a biter.

If you slap your macaw or use any aggressive means to try to teach it not to pinch it will learn to fear you. If it's scared of you it will bite to protect it's self.

As a rule Scarlet Macaws aren't a good choice for a pet parrot for families with small children. Their high strung nature makes them nervous when there is a lot of noise and activity.

If you are prepared to teach your children and your parrots how to behave around each other they can learn to get along and even play together.

Macaws are loud parrots that will make a lot of noise if they get bored.

It's a mistake to give in to a screaming macaw and give it a treat or a toy to play with in order to get it to be quiet.

You don't want to reward your macaw for screaming or it will figure out that the more noise it makes the more attention it gets.

When it is being quiet is the time to give it some attention not when it is making a racket.

In time it will learn that being quiet is the way to get attention and screaming will get it ignored.

Scarlet Macaws are highly intelligent birds that make loving, playful pet parrots when they are properly trained.

Article Tags: Scarlet Macaw