| Rose breasted cockatoos ARE very nice birds and, as a pair, make real
good pets.
They breed relatively easy, for a cockatoo, and can therefore be had
captive bred/hand fed. The prices however are rediculous considering
the fact that they are consired to be a pest in Australia and shot from
trees by the thousands. In the Netherlands they are sold for araound
$4,000/pair(!) whereas GSC's go for less than $2,500/pair.
There are more road-casualties/year over there than they number in total
outside of Australia!
They are by far the best behaved of all cockatoos and make very
pleasing noises, again for a cockatoo that is. They do the least damage
with their beaks too.
There are several books that have a good section about them and there
is one standard work that covers this lovely cockatoo scientificly
thorough but still readable. I will look it up for you.
Peter
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| Hi Linda,
I can answer some of your questions in regards to Galahs (rose-breated
cockatoos), being the lucky owner of one for 12 years. It seems there
are 2 kinds of species; a smaller one - the one I have - about 12-14
inches from head to tail, and the larger one - 18 inches? pretty big
anyways. They are very affectionate and demand alot of attention
daily. Some are good talkers, I think this depends on the bird because
mine just mumbles and squawks alot and isn't really interested in
talking but would prefer long rubs on his back, neck, legs, stomach,
wings, head and toes. Not many people can give him a rub, he is very
particular and has definite favorites. If anyone in the immmediate
family is away for awhile, he gets very upset. No fooling these birds,
he hears my car from down the street and knows its me. Overall, they
are very friendly and are good company, travel well and enjoy a change of
scenary - he loves car rides. Be prepared to keep them for a long
time and spend a few hours a day with them, they're age-span is on
average about 50 or more years!!! To determine the sex, males have
brown eyes and females have pink eyes, they molt about twice a year and
enjoy showers and day to day activities - washing dishes, clothes etc..
Keep an eye out though, they are very mischevious and can be described
as behaving like a 2 year old forever.
As for breeders here, I have not come across many and when I
did the price was very high. I have seen 3 in the pet shops in the
last year or so.
Hope this helps you in deciding if a galah is for you.
Liisa
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