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Palm trees in a conservatory

Dear Mr Cravens, RE: Phoenix roebelenii - Pygmy Date Palm, Rhapis Excelsa - The Lady Palm

Thank you for your reply regarding safe plants for our conservatory. We have removed the unsafe Sago palm and listed above are the two palms now under consideration.

I would be grateful if you would kindly confirm that the aforementioned Palms are safe for our conservatory as our parrots are allowed to fly free out there some of the time.

Thank you for your help and advice which is very much appreciated.

Yours sincerely, Sara

Dear Sara, I am by no means a palm expert!

(Perhaps if there is one who reads this site, he or she might make themselves available to be our full palm resource:):))

As I understand it both those palms and most all the true palms are safe for parrots.

You might want to use a pruning shears to keep the spines on the date palm trimmed to a non-piercing level….

Cheers, EB

About EB Cravens

“If we TRULY believe our captive-raised hookbills are important to world parrot conservation, we must work ceaselessly to ensure that these same psittacines retain as much of their wild instinctual behavior as is possible,” affirms avicultural writer and hobby breeder EB Cravens, from his small organic farm on the slopes of the Big Island Hawaii.

“Our goal is to birth and raise only a few baby parrots who know that they are parrots, but choose to befriend humans, because humans are nice to them… feed them… and are fun to be with!”

EB has bred, trained, raised, kept and rehabilitated more than 75 species of psittacines during the past twenty plus years both at his home and while managing the notable exotic bird shoppe, Feathered Friends of Santa Fe, New Mexico. His emphasis on natural environments for birds, the urging of babies to fully fledge during the extended weaning process, and the leaving of chicks for many weeks inside the nest box with their parents in order that they may learn the many intangibles of their species, have succeeded in changing for the better the lives of so many captive parrots.

A science writer by training, he was for years a regular contributor for AFA’s Watchbird Magazine and the Companion Parrot Quarterly. EB currently writes a monthly column entitled “The Complete Psittacine” in PARROTS Magazine out of England; and another, “The Hookbill Hobbyist” down under in the well-regarded Australian Birdkeeper. His monthly series of articles “Birdkeeping Naturally,” is sent out to bird clubs and individuals around the U.S.

“As devastating pressures continue upon avian species in the wilds,” he says, “it is critical that those keeping birds in captivity do so with responsibility and foresight.”