Customer Reviews

The Eclectus: A Complete Guide

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If you are looking for a book on keeping Eclectus parrots as pets, you will probably find this book disappointing, although it does contain limited information on the subject. (Unfortunately, no book has been written that includes extensive information on Eclectus as pets.) However if you are interested in the natural history of Eclectus parrots or in breeding Eclectus, this book should be part of your library. The chapter on natural and avicultural history is especially strong and brings some sense to the confusing topic of Eclectus subspecies.

The book provides some good and useful information about Eclectus Parrots but not enough to justify the price of the book. It is not a big book at all. The book does not go into much detail about things. For example, the author mentions the importance of having the right size and type of perch but never really says what that is specifically. How big around should the perch be? He doesn't say. If money is no big deal then this is a good book to add to your collection of books about Eclectus parrots.

If you are interested in becoming an Eclectus breeder this book might be worth while. Breeding seems to be the main focus of the book.

For dealing with parrot training and parrot problems and such I recommend "Guide to a Well-Behaved Parrot" by Mattie Sue Athan. There are some things I don't agree with in the book like her recommendation not to carry your bird around on your shoulder but there is a lot of good stuff in the book.

I bought this book with the expectations of helping me prepare to train a baby eclectus, and was very disappointed. This book covered more information about the history and the anatomy of this parrot, rather than providing any helpful information for an owner to help understand and deal with the behavior and training of this bird. I have purchased other parrot training books that may not apply specifically to the eclecuts, but it does cover more useful information. The book does have good pictures if that is what you are looking for.

THis book is more useful for its' pictures than it is for the information on dealing with an electus parrot. It does not go into detail about any of the topics that it should cover. It gives you more information on the history and anatomy of the parrot, than it does on this parrot's behavior. Nor does the book provide any training techniques or answers to behavior problems. I think you would be better off buying a general parrot training and behavior book, than buying this guide to the eclectus.

I found this book to be a great overview that saw me through every stage of my Eclectus flock -- from acquisition and housing to breeding. I've appended the summary on the back cover:

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Roger Sweeney has spent several years at various zoological and bird gardens in the U nited Kingdom. In 1989 he became Livestock Manager at "Birdworld", the United Kingdom's largest bird gardens. While at Birdworld success was achieved with a wide diversity of species, including Parrots, Softbills, Pheasants, Ratites, Penguins, Spoonbills, Wading birds and Birds of Prey.

The Eclectus Parrot has been bred at Birdworld consistently over the last 10 years and considerable work has been carried out into its incubation and neo-natal care.

In 1993 Roger became a full time consultant at "Birds International", one of the world's largest breeding and research centers located in the Philippines. This facility houses what is surely the world's largest collection of captive Eclectus Parrots!

While at "Birds International" Roger was also responsible for the management of some of the world's rarest birds including the Spix Macaw, Mount Apo Lorikeet, Sumba Hornbill and Palm Cockatoo.

As of mid 1994 Riger has been retained as a consultant to "Loro Parque".

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