Today at the vet I came across an ad for a blue front that needs a new home, the owner is leaving the country.

He is 4 years old and I am told a sweetie arround women but does not enjoy men that much. I have not yet been to see the bird, I just called and asked about him. The asking price for the bird and accesories is extremely high but is negotiable for a good home.

My concern is whether I will be able to bring an older amazon into my menagerie without too many issues as I am totally inexperienced. This bird has the run of the house the same way I keep my suns. What I am really asking is the pitfalls to amazon keeping. It is my policy never to rehome any of my animals once they have made it past the front gate, I always work through any problems. I need to know what I could be letting myself in for. It is not my intention to keep the bird caged for any length of time, it will be only at night.

Also what special food requirements does an amazon have? Currently the bird is having a combination of fresh and pellet. I feed an almost all fresh diet with very little seed.

I have no Amazon experience either, I'll say that right up front. I'd be very nervous about letting the Zon have the run of the house along with the Conures just because of the size difference. Unless the Zon is a total perch potato and the Suns are really non-inquisitive, non-teasing types (is that possible in a conure??) there would be some potential for real damage. I'm sure there will be some Zon folks along shortly.

The Suns leave my sisters grey alone when it is here, but a grey is pretty much laid back compared to conures and does not try interact or call attention to himself.

Do you know if the 'zon is male or female? That will make a difference to you. BF females are a lot gentler than BF males, but not pushovers by any means. A sexually mature BF male can be a handful. Giving such a parrot the run of the house could work, but also has the potential for problems. The males of the BF, YN and DYH 'zons are very spicy and can get aggressive and unreasonable during breeding season. Having said that, my sister has a sexually mature male DYH 'zon that is cage-free 98% of the time and the situation has worked out extremely well. A lot depends upon the individuals -- both avian and human.

As to diet, my 'zons do well on pellets but also love fresh fruits, veggies, nuts and NutriBerries. It has been my experience that feeding seed can increase the aggressive behavior, although I don't know why and I've only seen this in the male 'zons I've had so isn't by any means a scientific observation.

Thank you Joanie. The bf zon is male and 4 years old. At what age is sexual maturity? He does not like men but I am female and so is my daughter who will be the primary caregivers. At the same time I dont want to get into a situation like Arty's wife with a bf male. How long does agressiveness last are we talking a week or two once a year or the entire nine months? It will be very difficult for me to asses a strange bird species on a visit. I have no idea wither I am getting told the truth with regard to the zon's gentle attitude to life. The bird is currently cage free mostly. I dont think I can handle a kamikaze attack bird in my situation. The owner did say non hormonal. But........

Male Zons reach Sexual Maturity between 3-5 years of age, so if the owner of the birds knows the correct age is 4 then maturity is near.
Always expect issues from older birds raised by other folks.
Our Zon (Andy) has his way with my wife for one reason Angie, because he knows he can, just as Andy knows, he can't do that with me.
I always read (prefers male humans or prefers women) do you think birds can tell what humans are males and what humans are females?
How do you feel about adopting this bird Angie?
If you feel you won't be able to handle some serious behavior issues then please don't venture there, if you feel you can be strong no matter what the issues are then by all means (that bird needs you).
Follow your heart Angie.
Peace

I also wonder how they know if the human is male or female. My sisters grey loves girls and thinks that boys are for attacking. I have no idea how he knows and we have tested him time and time again. He can be in attack mode (feathers, eyes, tail etc) busy trying to strike a man and a woman can put her hand next to him and he becomes like a lovable cuddly bird and steps right up. I wonder how can he tell just by a hand. I don't think size as my hands are big.

As to whether I can be strong enough, I have no idea, I have yet to come to any animal, dog, cat, cow, horse or bird that disliked me or wanted to attack.
If Andy only does to your wife because he can, I understand that part. The thing that is of concern is that a bird is a wild animal and not in anyway domesticated like other animals. Pack leader or herd boss wont cut it with them. I don't think you can tell a cat or a bird what to do, they seem to do their own thing anyway.

i dont think birds can tell between male and female persay...but they probably are sensitive more to pheremones we give off, our auras and our personalities. amazons tend to respect more of the confident person (could be for all species). but i would say my husband is confident but our DYH foster bird doesn't really like him very much...but loves me.

i would be wary of a bird who had the run of the house. our DYH also was fully flighted and had the run of the house at his previous owner's home. with wings clipped, he will occasionally try to attack my husband by launching himself off of his cage. i think this is due to the fact that he used to always have his way.

i have 2 green cheek conures and 3 amazons at the moment. from what i see, the amazons don't really give the conures the time of day - zons totally ignore the conures, EXCEPT when the conures land on a zon's cage. this rarely happens in my home because i keep them apart (opposite ends of the room) but it happens and i am always there to scoop them up to take them away (no out of cage time without supervision!). if a conure lands on a zon cage, the zon would try to go over to the conure and bite their feet - a show of cage territoriality.

at 4 years old, i hope this zon is not yet a perch potato...you'll need to find ways of keeping that bird busy otherwise he could easily become overweight (a common plight in zons).

you have to convey a feeling of being comfortable around the zon, no question. otherwise they will make it a fun game to try and bite you. their bite is hard, but ive never experienced a bone-crushing bite ever from a zon (and ive been bitten up pretty good by my YNA male (he loves my husband, and like to keep me in check, lol). so, while it is likely you might get bitten at least once, you'll live. keep that in mind. and dont take it personally either!

oh, and from what i've experienced, as long as you keep eye contact with a zon, they are more likely not to bite you. so if you find yourself in a situation when a zon would usually lash out or try to bite you, keep direct eye contact with him. i usually talk to my zon saying "be a good boy!".

i would definitely try to meet with the BFA in his environment. he will be the most at ease there. and he will more likely show you his true colors. if you meet him in an area where he is not used to, he will probably show either a more "friendly" or "aggressive" personality. its best to see him on his own turf to see his true self.

4 is very young. be prepared to invest pretty much the rest of your live to him. :-) good luck and i hope to read an update on this!

I remember when I was researching amazons before I brought home Stella (my yellow nape) that I got a lot of useful information from articles written by Joanie Doss. I just looked her up quickly on the 'net and here is a link to her stuff -- I hope it will be helpful to you.

http://websearch.cs.com/cs/boomframe...m%2Fjdoss.html

Joanie Doss is the greatest, IMO, for info about Amazon behavior issues.

Kate makes a really good point. Eye contact is important. I have a male DYH who is an extremely good bird. This is true even though he was set up very young as part of a breeding pair and lived that way (although no babies ever came along) for many years before he moved to Casa Amazona. When he gets hormonal, though, it's as though he's been body snatched by his evil twin. It was in that mode that he bit me right down to the bone one fine day. Had I not been doping off when I put my hand up for him to step up onto, it would not have happened. My attention wandered and I missed his very clear signals -- my fault.

For male Amazons, in particular, I believe it's absolutely vital that they be trained to step up onto a handheld perch. It will make your life with him infinitely more pleasant during breeding season.

Another thing I notice about Rico is that he adores being around me. When he's too hormonal for handling, he's still a delight as he gets as close to where I'm sitting as possible and just hangs out with me. We talk softly back and forth and I feel no need to put my hand in the meat grinder yet still maintain the good part of the relationship.

Another observation about male Amazons has to do with their individuality. Each has his own personality. Rico, as mentioned above, does get hormone poisoning -- but he's always extremely well mannered. He can virtually always be handed a special treat, although there are times it's just best to let him be. On the other hand, I've been around two other male Amazons (a DYH and a Mexican Red Head) who were extremely aggressive. They were a totally different kettle of fish. The DYH has injured several of us, biting my friend very badly through the cartilege behind her ear. This happened while she was merely walking past his cage and he was fully wing feather trimmed. The MRH isn't so prone to aggression in terms of attacks as he merely bites any human body part that comes near him.

Amazons are my favorite parrots and I can't say enough about their great attributes. On the other hand, getting the right one makes it work. The right one for you might not be the right one for someone else. The DYH mentioned above who bit my friend on the ear took one look at her husband and snuggled right up to him -- they've been best friends ever since. I agree with the advice to meet him in his own environment in order to get the best first impression of him.