Choosing a Macaw that's right for your family can be hard. Pet stores these days can tend to focus more on profits than on raising a healthy well adjusted Macaw. So I thought I'd give you three tips to look for when purchasing a macaw.

Tip #1 - Stay Educated

Before purchasing a Macaw you really need to make sure you know what you're getting yourself into. A Macaw can be an excellent choice of pet parrot, as it's not as temperamental or likely to scream excessively like a cockatoo, but also can tend to have a higher need to destroy things than say a Quaker or Conure parrot.

So one tip I like to give people is to research websites that provide accurate information about parrots. One good place is my blog which I'll link to below. I've recently started hiring parrot behavior specialists to write weekly articles about what it really takes to raise parrots on my blog, and I think you'll find it informative.

Tip #2 - Check Out The Diet

Many pet store owners knowingly feed their parrots 100% seed based diets. This is a BIG warning sign as an all seed base diet causes a parrot to develop into an extremely picky eater and has been known to cut the lifespan of domestic parrots in half.

Instead look for a store that feeds their birds a pellet mix, (non colored) along with fruits, veggies and preferably freshly cooked bean mixes.

This way you'll know if the store owner is really willing to put the extra time and energy it takes into raising a healthy macaw, because let's face it, it takes more time to keep a Macaw healthy, than it does to just dump some seed in his bowl and call it good.

Tip #3 - Ask For a Medical Check Up

Make sure you negotiate with the pet store owner for a medical check up before he sells you a macaw. Many stores are not clean and Macaws can get nasty viruses that can often result in death. And you don't want to be on the wrong end of a virus, with a dead macaw you just paid $1,500 for, and not be able to get a refund.

To make sure you don't get in this jam make sure the store owners signs off on some sort of agreement where before he gets a full medical checkup before purchasing him, or within a few days of purchase, whereas if the bird ends up being sick the store is liable to give you a refund, or pay the medical expenses.