Touracos / Turacos as Pets
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Information & Photos by David Jones, UK Breeder & Turaco Expert - e-mail: david@turacos.co.uk - Website: http://www.touracos.co.uk
Turacos as Pets
Turacos become hand tame if handreared from an early age. However, the following need to be considered:
- Turacos are fruit eaters and their droppings are very sloppy, deposited anywhere, including when in flight.
- They need a lot of space to fly and run around in.
- Most do not really enjoy human contact, although hand-reared ones, petted continuously, do accept and enjoy human attention.
- Hand-reared birds can just as easily be over aggressive towards humans and with no fear of people can present a problem. I have two males (handreared by someone else), who attack me at every opportunity!
- Turacos are happier with a partner, although sometimes have to be kept alone due to aggression.
Having said all that, I know that some people do keep turacos in the house as a pet, so if you can find a tame one it is up to you.
Diet / Food:
The following diet is recommended by David Jones - e-mail: david@turacos.co.uk - Website: http://www.touracos.co.uk:
To feed about 80 adult turacos, I mix together:
- 1200 grams (total) dry mix, in equal parts, of Orlux low-iron softbill diet (from Double Dutch 01970 832797 sales@double-dutch.co.uk), Haiths Prosecto (Freephone: 0800 298 7054 - UK only, International: (+)44 (0)1472 357515 sales@haiths.com), poultry chick crumb, poultry layers pellets, Nutribird T16 (from Double Dutch 01970 832797 sales@double-dutch.co.uk), mixed dried fruit
- 100 grams of sweet corn (frozen)
- 4 large carrots, 100 grams mild cheese (grated)
- 5 hard boiled bantam eggs, 2 large iceburg lettuce (finely chopped)
- 40 apples, 10 pears, 50 grapes, 40 bananas, 10 tomatoes, 3 oranges (diced into 0.75 cm cubes)
Please refer to this website for softbill diets and softbill publications.
Memberships / Organizations:
The International Turaco Society is dedicated to the keeping and breeding of Turacos in aviculture and the collection and dissemination of information on the wild Turaco family in Africa.
David Jones is the Chairman and manage its website, which can be found at: http://www.turacos.org/ ... If you wish to join or renew, then on the Home page click 'MEMBERS' and then 'JOIN / RENEW'. Under 'So how do I join or renew?':
- Click here to bring up an application / renewal form. This can be printed out and sent to the address shown on the form together with your payment.
- Click here to apply / renew on line and post your payment.
- Click here to apply / renew on line and pay on line.
There is also a Yahoo group interested in Turacos. To learn more about the Turacos group, please visit: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Touracos
To start sending messages to members of this group, send an e-mail to: Touracos@yahoogroups.com
Purchasing Turacos:
If you are interested in purchasing a Turaco, please visit this website for available birds and pricing. If you can't find the species you are interested in, contact David Jones at david@turacos.co.uk for a referral.
If you would like to add to or correct any of the above information, or would like to share with the AvianWeb visitors your own experiences, please e-mail the AvianWeb Webmaster.
Photo contributions and articles are welcome!
