The Goffins Cockatoo is a quick learner and full of personality.
When you own one of these birds, there is never a dull moment.
Appearance
This particular cockatoo has a pinkish white body with bright red coloration around its mouth. It can grow to 12 inches long with a maximum weight of 9.7 ounces. They are classified as medium-size birds.
Goffins Cockatoo Lifespan
We actually don’t know for sure what the lifespan of the Goffins cockatoo is. One of these birds was recorded as living up to 26 years in captivity. There is, however, a distinct possibility that they can live even longer with proper care.
The Goffins Cockatoos Personality
These birds have a reputation for being very intelligent. They are capable of learning all sorts of tricks within a shockingly short amount of time. A trained Goffins Cockatoo can even solve complex puzzles that some humans have trouble with.
You can expect this bird to express how it feels by vocalizing. They make high pitched sounds, sometimes screeching to communicate their mood. This makes these birds somewhat problematic for those who live in an apartment.
When these birds are content, their noise level tends to decrease significantly. This gives you all the more reason to keep your pet happy at all times. They can become bored fairly easily, so you have to spend quite a bit of time with them each day.
You should be able to handle this cockatoo without having to worry about getting bit. While some light nipping is not unheard of, these birds are fairly gentle creatures. It is a good pet to have if you have small children.
Natural Habitat
These cockatoos can be found on the Tanimbar Islands of Indonesia. They tend to spend the most time in tropical forests, including the Maluku province.
Goffins Cockatoo Care Guide
1. Goffins Cockatoo Diet
You should try to mimic this bird’s natural diet as much as possible. This means giving it a variety of fruits, nuts, and seeds. These birds also really like palm flowers. Some of the fruits that you can give these birds include oranges, bananas, and apples. They also like spinach, cabbage, and kale.
Don’t forget to give your bird the occasional cuttlebone, as it will help to prevent a calcium deficiency while keeping their beak at a good length. Feeding this type of bird only seeds will eventually lead to serious health problems, including fatty liver disease.
You want to avoid giving your bird any “junk food” as well as caffeine and alcohol. All of these foods can and will have a toxic effect on these birds. Chocolate is especially toxic to this bird, so you need to keep that in mind.
The more balanced your cockatoo’s diet is, the more likely they are to live a long and healthy life.
2. Environment
You will need to make sure that your cockatoo is housed in a cage that is no smaller than 90 by 70 by 120 centimeters. While these cockatoos aren’t the biggest of their species, they still do require a fair amount of space to move around in their cage.
It is also crucial for you to give your bird plenty of fun toys to play with. The last thing you want is for one of these birds to get bored. They are known to pluck out their own feathers from a lack of daily stimulation. You also need to have ropes and other things for your bird to play around on.
These birds do well being kept in a cage with others of their own kind, but just make sure there is enough space for all of them. Each cockatoo needs to have a good amount of distance from the others.
3. Common Health Problems
One of the main issues that owners have with the Goffins Cockatoo is self-mutilation, which usually results from boredom. If you aren’t giving your bird enough attention on a regular basis, it will most likely let you know.
Fatty liver disease is another health problem that can arise if the bird is fed a diet that is too high in fat. This is precisely why you want to avoid giving your bird an all-seed diet.
4. Grooming
If you want to keep grooming to a minimum, you’ll need to provide your bird with plenty of things to chew on in their cage. This will help to prevent beak overgrowth, which isn’t a big issue with these birds in the first place. You also want to have at least one rough perch in their enclosure to keep their nails at the right length.
These birds will bathe in a shallow bowl of water, so you should keep one in their cage. Remember to change out the water so that they do not contract a potentially fatal bacterial infection. This is an essential part of maintaining your bird’s hygiene.
Goffins Cockatoo Price
You could pay anywhere from $1,000 to $2,000 for a Goffins Cockatoo. Young adults tend to go for the most, but it also depends on the breeder. These are very popular pets, which drives the price up even more.
Conclusion
- The Goffins Cockatoo has an unknown lifespan, but it can live up to at least 15-20 years in captivity.
- These birds are very social creatures that require regular interaction with their owners.
- If you aren’t paying enough attention to your bird, you’ll most likely hear it emit a loud high-pitched shriek.
- Because these birds can be fairly noisy, they aren’t a good choice for apartment dwellers.
- You’ll need to keep this bird in a fairly large cage so that it has enough room to spread its wings and move around.
- You can keep a Goffins cockatoo with another of its kind, but just make sure there is enough space in the cage for both of them.
- Give your cockatoo plenty of toys and other things to have fun with in its cage.
- Look out for feather plucking and self-harming behaviors, as it is usually a sign of being neglected.
