The Key to Good Advice

From time to time we have some large parrots for sale. Most of the time these are hand-reared and hand-tame so they can often be handled, or stroked, or offered food from the hand etc. Other times, they are breeding pairs, or single birds looking for a mate.

At one time, we had two macaws. These are one of the largest of the parrots, with extremely strong beaks. These were being sold as aviary birds, potentially for breeding. Because of this, they were kept within an indoor aviary with very thick, solid mesh. The standard aviary panels would be a chew toy to such birds!

A regular customer came in whilst we had these parrots, and wandered around the shop for a bit. He then spotted the parrots and went to have a look at them. After a while, he came back to the counter and asked about them.

"They don't look very tame."
- No, they aren't. They are a breeding pair and aren't really 'pets' as such.
"I wouldn't want to put my fingers in there!"
- No, me neither. I wouldn't recommend it. They almost certainly would try and bite you.
"Those beaks look nasty!"
- Oh yes. They break open walnuts without any problem at all. They'll snap apart pretty much anything we give them.
"A bit too big for me, I think."
- Yeah, they need a fair amount of space with very strong wire.
"Looks like they'd bend most of the normal cages."
- Yes, that's why they have to be in that large aviary we have.
"I see. Okay."

And off he went to have a look at them again. Knowing what birds this customer already kept, I knew he wasn't actually interested in buying them, rather he just wanted to take a look. I did a bit of tidying up around the till and then some admin on the computer until I heard the man shout.

"S**t!!"

I looked up as the man turned back around to face me. He did not look happy. In his hand was a bunch of keys.

"He snapped my car key!"
- What? How did he get it?
"I put my key through the bars to touch him, and he snapped it in half!"

I went over to take a look and, yep, the macaw had snapped the key clean in half. Fixing it, if I even found the other half, was pretty unlikely.

For the next two hours the guy waited for The AA to visit him with a locksmith so that he could get back into his car, and for those two hours he looked pretty sheepish.