🦜Amazon parrot: gear and buying guides

Amazons are expressive South American parrots, good talkers and sometimes singers, with an assertive temperament that varies with species and hormonal seasons. Their powerful voice and morning and evening vocalising carry through walls. Big eaters that move little in a cage, they are prone to obesity, which shapes both diet and toy choices.

Profile : 31 to 38 cm depending on the species, 40 to 60 year lifespan, high noise level.

Amazon parrot gear, family by family

• 🍖 Food

  Low-fat pellets as the base, plenty of vegetables, a little fruit, and sunflower seeds banned from the daily menu. Obesity and fatty liver disease are the main health risks for companion amazons.

• 🧴 Care & grooming

  Regular showers or misting, often welcomed with open wings. A weekly weigh-in helps adjust rations before excess weight sets in.

• 🎾 Toys & enrichment

  Foraging toys that make it work for food, chew wood and climbing setups that encourage exercise. Daily out-of-cage climbing time is its best fitness plan.

• 🏠 Bedding & habitat

  A cage at least one metre wide in solid steel, around 400 to 800 euros, with a separate play area. Like most large parrots, amazons are subject to protection rules: buy a ringed bird with origin paperwork.

• 🧳 Travel & safety

  A rigid large-parrot carrier, introduced with treats well before the first trip. During hormonal periods, respect its body language to avoid bites, including tell-tale eye pinning.

• 🧰 Accessories

  Hardwood perches, lockable stainless steel bowls, a scale and an avian UV lamp if natural light is scarce. A shower perch turns bath time into a welcome ritual.

Guides to read

• Budgie starter kit: the full budget to get off to a good startAccessories

  Cage, perches, bowls, toys, food: the complete budgie starter kit broken down item by item, with a realistic budget of 180 to 400 €.

• Switching from seeds to pellets: the gentle method that worksFood

  Why and how to switch a budgie, cockatiel or parrot from seeds to pellets: a gradual 4-to-8-week transition, with brands and prices.

• Egg food for birds: when to feed it and which one to choose?Food

  Breeding, moulting, winter: when to give egg food to a canary or budgie, which recipe to choose in 2026 and at what price (4 to 12 €).

• Cuttlebone and mineral blocks: which one does your bird need?Food

  Calcium, iodine, beak wear: what cuttlebone and mineral blocks are for, how to attach them in the cage and which to favour for each species.

• Fruits and vegetables safe for birds: the complete listFood

  Which fruits and vegetables can a budgie, cockatiel or parrot eat safely? The list of safe foods, the toxic ones and the right amounts.

• Play gyms and perch stands: setting up the out-of-cage spaceToys & enrichment

  Perch stand, tabletop play gym, hanging playground: how to set up a safe, stimulating out-of-cage space for a budgie or parrot, from 25 to 250 €.

• Foraging toys for birds: shop-bought or DIY, which to choose?Toys & enrichment

  Foraging toys keep a bird busy for hours by making it work for its food: commercial models (5 to 35 €), DIY ideas and how to build up difficulty.

• Swings, ladders and rings: which gym gear for your bird?Toys & enrichment

  Swings, ladders and rings build balance and keep budgies and parrots busy: safe materials, sizes by species and prices from 4 to 25 €.