I am so lucky to be in a place where I can spend my days with all 3 of the commonly kept Tanygnathus species.  "Commonly kept" is probably not the proper term, since there are so few of them around, and their pet potential has not been truly considered.  In my experience, I believe that the Great Billed, Mullers, and the Philippine Blue Nape all have the ability to become wonderful, interactive pets.  They will never be the "cuddley-pet, me, love-me" pet bird.  Instead, they will be the pet that wants to "hang out with you and play, but no hugging please" bird.  My hand-fed Great Billed babies do tolerate being petted, but only on their terms.  What they lack in cuddling behavior, they more than make up with in interactive talk and play.

Although the three species share many of the same characteristics, there are some personality traits that are unique to each group.  I'll begin with the Philippine Blue Nape Parrot.  The smallest of the group, they seem to be the most energetic and social.  Whenever they see someone, they'll bounce up to them, chattering the whole time.  They are outgoing and fearless, which can get them into trouble if unsupervised.  My first Blue Nape, Oscar, got the most pleasure from jumping on my Shiloh Shepherd's back, riding around the house, gleefully claiming, "Oscie good boy...", laughing the entire time.  Please note:  I do not recommend this close contact between birds and dogs.  My dog is extremely gentle and has been raised around my birds all her life, but I still never leave them unsupervised.  When looking at good family pet qualities, the Blue Nape is probably the best choice.  They are smaller, less noisy, and generally happy, outgoing birds with a good ability to talk.  The PBN is probably the only one of the three species that I would ever consider a candidate for an apartment pet.  Their voices are like a "wind-up" toy, very clear and understandable.  They do have the ability to be loud, as do most birds, but it usually isn't extreme or offensive.  They are usually friendly little guys, doing well with children.  I have not noticed a difference in personality between male and female.  They both seem to enjoy being with people and other animals.  In fact, I have never seen a PBN hen aggressive with a mate.  They do seem to have a need to please without being overly dependent.  Most enjoy playing, and get great enjoyment from hanging toys that they can band around and swing from.  They are not big chewers but can and will go through wooden toys.

There is probably the least information on the pet qualities of the Muller's Parrot.  They are not well established in US aviculture, and almost all of them have been raised as future breeders.  Luckily, we have raised babies here at the farm, and I have had the opportunity to observe their habits while they grew up.  With proper nurturing during their weaning state, I think they would develop into personable companions.  I gave extra attention to one of the boys that we raised here, and he was a sweetie.  His vocabulary was quite good, and he will still talk to me when I'm feeding in his area.  While he was in the nursery, he learned to step up and was not aggressive or "scary".  Now he is in an outside breeding cage, and there is no opportunity for real interaction, but he still comes up to the feeding station to say, "hello".  I enjoy listening to the Muller's parrots vocalize.  They create these strange noises that are distinctly unique.  They can also emit a loud alarm screech, which can be annoying.  The boys seem to be mild mannered but the girls tend to be a bit "grouchy".  They can be very aggressive to their mates.  However, we do have one hen on the farm that was raised here and is not in a breeding situation.  She is calm, sweet, and agreeable.  I would love to see these birds become more established so they can enter the pet trade.  There is pet potential there.

The Great Billed Parrot is my favorite bird and I am privileged to have so many of these beauties to observe and interact with.  As I have said about all of the Tanys, these birds are not the cuddly, hug me, touch me parrots.  However, they will hang out with you and be your best buddy.  They want to be with you, watch you, chat with you.  But, they are equally happy entertaining themselves, often having full "conversations" with no one, or manipulating a hanging toy, or simply relishing a tidbit of food that they have found.  I have never met a bird that loves their food more than a Great Billed.  Without exception, all of them vocalize this sound of absolute enjoyment while eating their meals.  We have most of our Great Bills located in one barn, and the "Mmmm, Mmmm" sounds coming from there after I have fed amazes me.  However, they get distracted while eating, picking up one favorite bite, only to drop it and pick up another favorite morsel.  They have a good potential for talking and I love their deep, honking tone.  It must be mentioned that they also have the ability to emit an extremely loud, harsh alarm call.  It is not constant, but could become a problem for a person with little bird noise tolerance.  The GB can become a great family pet.  If raised with children and people handling him/her, it will be very attentive and interactive.  Of course, each bird's personality is different, and you always must practice caution around children.  Fast movement can startle them, which may cause them to lunge and grab.  My pet GB will go to most everyone, but I have tried to provide exposure since he was a baby.  He is very curious and interested in other people, birds, and animals.  Right now, he is taking great pleasure in watching me hand feed baby birds.  He closely watches the entire time that I feed.  Although they don't generally like to be hugged, they do enjoy getting head scratches and light pets, but on their terms.  They can be opinionated at times, and don't really like being told what to do.  But, behind that independent nature is a real need to please attitude.  A socialized, handfed GB likes to interact with people.  My first pet GB was fascinated with landing on people's heads, looking down at them between the eyes, and saying, "Hi!"  He discovered that it was even more fun to take my mother's glasses off and fly away laughing!  This became a learned game.

The Great Billed's all love to play and I give them large, wooden hanging toys to bang about and chew.  They also love to make noise banging the hard acrylic toys.  They can be voracious chewers, so they should be provided with appropriate toys...even 2x4 chunks are fun playthings.  Strangely though, all of the GBs I have raised have had a special affection for their stuffed animal.  I always give the babies a "stuffie" as a companion.  Every one of the babies have taken care of "stuffie", not chewing it or destroying it.  One of my babies actually talked to the stuffed companion, and "tucked it in" at bedtime.  My Balkie's favorite spot is on the couch with all of my stuffed animals.

I feel the Great Billed is more intelligent than the average parrot.  Therefore, they do get into more trouble and must be watched more carefully.  They can open doors, unlatch things, learn to do things, etc.  They do put those big beaks to use. 

So, can the Tanys become good family pets?  For the most part, yes!  Should they be pets may be the better question.  These three species are not well established in American aviculture.  I think that the Philippine Blue Nape probably has the best chance of becoming established in the pet trade.  They are cute, interactive birds that have become more established than the other two.  Not only are they bubbly, but are smaller and do have potential to be good talkers.  They are not as destructive or noisy.  The Muller's parrot has never really been established in this country.  I think the male Muller's has a good pet potential, if we can begin to produce more offspring.  They seem to be the hardiest of the Tanys.  However, they do have a tendency towards obesity.  I think that the Great Billed has great pet potential, if noise and space is not a problem.  However, they are not well established either.  We have had difficulty with new hatches (humidity, iron, Vitamin K, and other problems).  We have had health problems with keeping these beauties outside (very susceptible to sarcocystis and an unknown Great Billed disease affecting Gbs in the Gulf areas during hurricane season).  There seems to be a noticeable shortage of males, hatch rates being hen heavy.  Hopefully, we will have more aviculturists who will devote time and effort to this fantastic group of birds, and they will become more available to the serious pet bird owner.