Always Stay Open to Learning – Questions From a New Caretaker

I have so many questions about caring for my bird, because I love him. I worry about doing the right thing, or the wrong thing. But it seems it doesn’t matter how may times I ask someone, I always get different opinions. For example, our vet has said it’s okay for Mango, my Sun conure, to eat tomatoes, but ‘BirdTalk’ magazine says not to feed them. The same thing applies to candles. My vet says they’re okay, but articles say they’re dangerous. My vet says it’s okay to feed Mango eggs, but an article says they must be cooked.

This March (2011) was Mango’s one year anniversary with us, and I’m still learning. Another question is should we cover Mango’s cage at night? At first we did, but now we don’t any more. And should we get Mango a mate? Some say yes, some say no. Our vet says that because we live in Florida, we don’t need the special spectrum lights for him, but articles say he needs them. Even so, we don’t take him outside, even when his wings were clipped, because I still worry about a larger bird swooping down after him and pulling him off of me. I’d just die if that happened. Then our vet says that Mango doesn’t need a cuttlebone for calcium because he is a boy and the Harrison’s pellets he eats, contain calcium. Would you please help me sort this all out?

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