Adopting a parrot can be one of the most rewarding and fun experiences for any person who does it.
Parrots are immaculate creatures that bring a comprehensive sense of joy to everybody’s life.
More specifically, African greys are some of the most sought after parrots for being so intelligent, caring, and superb all-around parrots.
With this in mind, why are African greys so expensive?
To answer this question…African greys are expensive primarily due to obtaining an African grey, which requires a lot of time and money for the breeder. Poaching has also decreased their population, causing them to be rarer than most parrots. Plus, they’re knowledgeable and have three different sub-species, leading their overall demand to be high.
It’s interesting to look at a creature like an African grey and ponder why they cost the way they do.
There’s a lot attached to the matter.
Still, the rarity and overall interest of African greys tend to be the primary reason why.
However, there are other costs involved, such as maintenance and caring for an African grey, which can be costly.
Basically, there’s a lot of costs with African greys no matter how you look at it.
If you’re interested in learning more about African greys and their cost, look no further.
Down below will take an in-depth look at the price of an African grey, what examples make them expensive, and how much they cost in certain places across the world.
From there, we’ll discuss plenty of other topics related to the subject that’s worth highlighting.
Before you know it, you’ll be an expert with the costs associated with African greys.
Let’s take a look!
How expensive is an African grey?
The average cost of an African grey has to do with a lot of factors.
Those factors relate to the age of the African grey, where the parrot has to go country-wise, and the parrot’s health.
Still, it’s relatively easy to make a rough estimation for the adoption, as that’s the highest cost of an African grey.
African greys tend to be roughly $1,000 to $3,500, making them one of the costly parrots in the entire world.
Their high price primarily has to do with the process of breeding African greys, as their population has been decreasing in recent memory due to poaching.
Wild African greys are also hard to find as they’re found in dense forests, making it much more challenging to get them from the wild than other parrots.
They’re also very costly to raise as there are a lot of costs associated with them.
Some essential costs include food, cleaning after them, and much more.
What examples make an African grey expensive?
Although we briefly discussed the specifics of what makes an African grey expensive, there’s a lot more attached to the matter than what most people realize.
It’s not only the overall difficulty of adopting an African grey, but everything else attached to the point.
Keep in mind, these examples aren’t the only reason why an African grey is costly, but a good list to make a note of with their costs.
Plus, some of these costs might vary depending on where you live and the African grey you’re interested in adopting.
Nevertheless, let’s take a look!
African greys are challenging to adopt
African greys can be reasonably difficult to adopt as breeders have to invest a lot of money into them.
Unlike other parrots, breeders have to invest in special cages, food, and cleaning up after them.
When everything is all said and done, that tends to add up for their overall cost and can be an annoyance.
As touched upon already, the population of African greys has been decreasing as well, causing them to be an even rarer parrot to adopt.
Besides the cost and population decrease associated with the difficulty of adopting an African grey, they’re also in dense forests, making it more of a challenge to get them out of the wild in the first place.
African greys live a long time
Generally speaking, the longer a parrot lives, the more costly the parrot will be.
After all, people want the parrot they adopt to be here as long as possible.
Although it’s not true in every case, that’s mostly why African greys are so expensive.
It at least plays a role in their price.
African greys tend to have an average lifespan of 40 to 60 years, making them much longer than most other parrots.
Although they’re not the oldest living parrots in the world, it’s still impressive to see them have such a lengthy life.
It’s always nice to know you can grow old with your parrot.
African greys are a luxury in the parrot world
Another primary reason why African greys are so expensive has to do with their reputation.
Reputation plays a critical role when it comes to the price associated with anything, but especially in the parrot world.
As odd as it sounds, people want to show off whatever parrot they end adopting.
Although all parrots are magnificent to raise, there’s something to say clout-wise about owning a more costly parrot.
Some of you might not care about this at all, but it’s part of the reason why African greys are so expensive.
Take it for what it is as it’s a large reason related to the subject of the cost tied to them.
African greys can speak very well
Regardless of how knowledgeable you are with parrots, just about every person knows about parrots and their ability to talk.
It’s a significant feature of a parrot that makes them so fascinating.
Although parrots technically only have the ability to mimic voices, it’s still a generous portion of why parrots are so unique.
Back on the subject with African greys, they happen to be some of the best parrots at talking.
Generally speaking, most shows that feature a talking parrot will have an African grey.
Although there are plenty of other parrots that can speak well, the fact that African greys are amongst the best plays a role in their cost.
African greys require a lot of maintenance
Besides the adoption cost tied to adopting an African grey, there are many costs connected to actually raising them.
As discussed earlier, African greys require a lot of food, a large cage, and more cleaning supplies than most other parrots.
Therefore, raising them can be significantly expensive as well.
Basically, not only is the initial cost of an African grey on the higher spectrum, raising them can be very costly.
Therefore, no matter how you look at it, they’re an expensive parrot in every area that you can think of.
Still, if you can afford to adopt an African grey, you won’t be disappointed.
Are African greys expensive in Africa?
Some of you might be interested in how much African greys cost in Africa compared to other continents.
If this happens to be the case with you, African greys are more affordable in Africa than most other continents being under $1000 in most cases.
As you can imagine, if a parrot doesn’t have to be transported overseas, that obviously cuts down on their cost.
Are African greys expensive in the Americas?
African greys are typically the most expensive in North America as it’s one of the furthest destinations to ship them over.
Plus, the parrot market isn’t as popular in North America as it is in other parts of the world.
As for South America, they tend to cost roughly the same as they do in North America.
Are African greys expensive in Europe?
African greys vary in price greatly throughout Europe as they tend to be more fair-priced in the Scandinavian countries compared to the rest of Europe.
Parrot-adoption is very popular in the Scandinavian countries, thus causing the market to be much more affordable as a result.
Are African greys expensive in Australia?
Although the notion of African greys being expensive in the U.S. because of how far it is to ship them seems applicable to Australia as well,
African greys are actually reasonably affordable in Australia.
There’s a lot of parrot breeders throughout Australia, making them much more affordable than you might think.
Are baby African greys expensive?
Last up, the two main factors that can affect the price of an African grey has to do with their age.
Baby African greys tend to be the most expensive variation, as the younger the parrot, the longer they’ll be around with the parrot owner.
This obviously plays a huge factor as it’s always preferable to have your parrot with you for a long time.
Are old African greys expensive?
On the contrary of baby African greys, you have older parrots.
Like you can assume, older African greys tend to be more affordable as they have more health issues and don’t have as long of a lifespan as younger parrots.
Also, older parrots have a challenging time bonding with their owner compared to younger parrots.