This course offers an insight in the behaviour of tropical birds and provides essential guidance including successfully keeping and maintaining them in captivity. Large parrots are known to bond powerfully with owners and, as longevity records show, can live many decades. Many species possess a strong character and can be extremely demanding to owners for attention. They require understanding from basics needs to communication through behavioural analysis. The subjects covered by this distance learning course will offer those in the pet care industry and owners a practical information of avian practitioner knowledge and skills.

Topics covered in this course include:

Parrots in nature v captivity

Small to medium birds in nature v captivity

Feeding, Diet and the need for a foraging regime

Food frustration

Aviary and Cage care

Cage frustration

Sound signal training

Species:

Macaws

Africa Grey

Small parrots and Lovebirds

Conures

Lories, Lorikeets and Parakeets

Cockateils and Cockatoos

Canaries, Waxbills and Finches

Aggression:

Directed towards owners

Family, Friends and Strangers

Intraspecific - bird v bird

Towards other home pets

Sexing and disease tests including dna testing

Excessive-vocalisation

Displaced sexual behaviour

Owner attachment

Withdrawn behaviour

Frustration behaviour

Obsessive and compulsive behaviour

Over-preening and Feather-plucking

Destructiveness – in the cage and in the home