BLUE and GOLD MACAW Ara ararauna

Do not be afraid of their intimidating large beaks, these parrots can be extremely gentle when hand-reared or carefully trained and tamed. Be very cautious when handling an unfamiliar macaw, as these birds can inflict a nasty bite, in severe cases needing surgical attention!

The young macaws take four months to rear and those being hand-reared need careful weaning. These big soft cuddly babies need lots of attention and can easily become spoilt. The macaws especially the Blue and Gold Macaw make excellent pets being extremely loving in nature. They need large cages (1m wide, 1m deep, 2m tall as a minimum) giving enough space for them to stretch their wings and tall enough for them not to damage their tails. This bird cage combination can become an expensive first choice. They are by virtue of their size heavier than most other pet parrots and this needs to be considered if thinking of a family pet.

Bear in mind also, that large macaws can be very noisy, especially when reaching breeding maturity (8-10 years approx.). They have excellent mimicking ability, but don't generally learn more than a few phrases. If you have time to devote to this parrot they are wonderful, beautiful and very graceful birds that will shower you with love.

Visual distinction between the two sexes is not normally possible, but some cocks may have broader heads than the hens. Both sexes make excellent pet parrots and by the age of three still seem to be getting more loveable by the day. They will often follow their owners around the house.

We have experienced a fully fledged Blue and Gold Macaw fly around a large living room gracefully missing all the obstacles. Often Macaws living in captivity will never fly and it has been reported that even 30 year old parrots had never flown!

With one of these large parrots sharing your home do remember you can not be house proud.