Pet Toucan Adorably Freaks Out at Sight of Mom's Painted Toes

This pet toucan, Chester, lives alone with his mom after being rescued from a tiny cage of a bird store. Their life together is pretty good, though there’s obviously a lot to keeping a wild bird like a toucan in a small apartment. Also, Chester has some very decided opinions about the way his human mom dresses and even her choice of nail polish. For instance, at one point he was upset and attacking her because she was wearing dark nail polish on her toes. Then later, when she took it off, he freaked out all over again.

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In this video, you see what must clearly be a case of true love between this woman and her large-beaked bird. I, for one, would not stand still if that monster were coming at me with his giant face-knives. Nevertheless, she seems to think it’s cute.

Related: Pet Toucan Sounds Like a Squeaky Toy When His Human Loves on Him

But Maria Stagliano and Chester have already been through a lot.

The Challenges of a Pet Toucan

Chester’s story doesn’t begin in a tiny cage in a sketchy bird store, but that is where Stagliano found him, a small, lonely bird in a cage way too small for his needs. The store informed her the bird was “up for adoption” which is a strange thing to say at a store, and the woman made arrangements to bring Chester home.

And there was a lot of arranging to be had! Even seasoned bird owners know that toucans are an extremely challenging species to try to keep in captivity. They have a very limited diet and need a ton more space and enrichment, even than your average parakeet or parrot. They need lots of daily fresh fruit, which they will violently shake from side to side, and they need a lot more space and time to be “free range.” Cages and clipping are not good options for these birds, who are highly energetic and need tons of enrichment and exercise to keep from becoming unhealthy and destructive.

In fact, one of their favorite past times apparently is attacking people's feet—painted or otherwise.

In the comments, many people take Stagliano to task for daring to even keep this bird in her home, but his life was far worse in the uncaring pet shop where she uncovered him. Sometimes the perfect situation doesn’t exist, and you need to do the best you can.

The Exotic Pet Trade

Sadly, too many people enter into the exotic pet trade thinking it’s going to be all adorable videos of head scratches and sweet honks. And though Stagliano does her best to educate people about how truly difficult it is to make life tolerable for her exotic bird, a lot of people—even those watching her videos—are getting the wrong idea.

“He’s what is convincing me to get a bird,” reads a typical comment under the video.

Uh, did you not see the part with her poop-covered apartment?

Other toucan owners join the chorus, explaining how the very fact of caring for toucans have convinced them that they are not birds that work as private pets, and should either be left in the wild or live in a zoo. But that’s the real issue with a lot of the exotic animal trade. The good owners are committed, because there are no other options for their beloved animals, and the bad owners just don’t care.

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