Updated: Jan 13, 2020
Hi there, we’re Alban and Mandi, proud parronts of Monty and Merlin from @CaptainMonty_and_Friends on Instagram.
We get a lot of questions from our followers asking who/what/where/why/how did we get into exotic birds. Let’s start..
Here’s a little background story - Alban grew up in a house full of pets. They had adopted a blue gold macaw named Georgie and he was 10 years old. Georgie was a sweet loving bird who was very attached to Alban. Now keep in mind..this was years ago when we had little to no knowledge about how exotic birds really “work”
Georgie had a fatty diet and he didn’t fly which led to an unfortunate incident causing him to pass. We were heart broken but surely, it was an awakening experience.
From that moment on, we decided to dive deep into the world of macaws. Learning everything we could about their diets, exercise, and general way of life. Watched all the YouTubers we could and even chatted with professional bird trainers. Months pass and we miss having squawks around the house so we went out in search of a baby macaw. At this point we’re amateurs looking for a BABY macaw.. can you see how crazy this sounds? With our newfound knowledge, it was time to put it to practice. We were persistent even though every suggestion online highly reiterates the amount of work that goes into having a baby macaw.
After a few months of searching, we found Monty from an exotic pet shop in NY. Such exciting times for new parronts!
Butttttttt…..for once, the internet was right.. it wasn’t easy. And we’ll get into that later..
Having a new baby macaw was like being first time parents. There’s a steep learning curve and you make mistakes. It was stressful and there are not many helpful posts online to answer our questions. It took a long time and lots of trial-by-fire to get things right. Besides their dietary needs, we were optimistic to raise and train a freeflying bird. Monty is a bit hard headed and flight training was not an easy feat. By the time we got Merlin, I’d say we pretty much have things down pat.
We have learned so much from our experiences that we would like to share with you guys all the honest and ugly truth in having an exotic bird. It is not easy, you really have to do a lot in order to give them the life they deserve, and they have a longggg lifespan which means it’s a lifetime commitment to these beautiful babies.
However, I cannot stress enough how rewarding it feels whenever we get greeted by our babies or even when they cuddle with us out of pure love. It feels right and accomplishing and it’s what keeps us going as Monty and Merlin’s proud parronts.