If you are visiting this site then there is a strong chance that you, like me, are a big lover of owls and have maybe considered what it would be like to own your very own pet owl. I would firstly like to say that I personally do not condone owning birds as pets unless you really, truly, have the right means to provide them the perfect life. Birds need lots of time and space to fly and this is the number one priority that often people will not be able to provide for their pet birds. Owning a pet should never be for selfish reasons, and rather should always be for the benefit of the animal, and if this isn’t going to be the case than I recommend visiting your favourite feathered friends in licensed and approved bird sanctuaries and in the wild. Maybe you could even sponsor one and donate some money to its care monthly if you really want to help out our owls.
If you believe owning a pet owl is for you, then in this post I will be assessing the key positive and negatives to owning a pet owl to decide whether owls really do make good pets or not.
But in short: Do owls make good pets?
The answer is: Generally no. I would not recommend owning an owl as a pet unless you are extremely well versed in the care and handling of owls and know exactly what you are doing and how to make the owl happy!
| Requirements | Positives | Negatives |
| Lots of space | Require large & expensive aviaries | |
| Independence | owls can form very close bonds with their prime carer | owls need time and space to themselves without lots of noise and disturbances. Owls also tend to rely on one single mate and therefore will not be welcoming to new owners / multiple owners and can be very dangerous. |
| Legality / Permits | Permits and laws surrounding owning owls are great to ensure proper care is administered to the owls. | owls are illegal in most places to be kept as household pets. Owls require permits before ownership which can be a hassle to gain. |
| Specialised Diet | Their diet is often simple once conquered. | They are carnivores a require a mix of specific rodents for a healthy balanced diet. Their diet must be monitored like any pet to avoid deficiencies. |
| Regular Bathing | Bathing stations will need to be regularly provided or built within the owls large aviaries so they can bathe when necessary. | |
| Hunting | If you want to create a partnership for hunting with your pet owl then this will be a combined hobby that will fit both of you. | Owls are natural hunters and this is what they are built to do, removing this natural instinct from their life would be unfair treatment. |
| Nocturnal | Nocturnal owls might not need much attending to during the day / social hours of the day. Also owls that are usually nocturnal may amend their schedule to fit their owners. | BUT owls will still need to be catered to during the later or earlier hours (when you may wish you were asleep)! |
| Constant Care | If you want a pet that needs your constant care and lots of attention then this could work! | The amount of care owls need can be challenging especially if the owl is not feeling fulfilled and begins to lash out. |
| Clean Enclosures | Owls can be very messy and therefore will take a lot of cleaning to maintain a clean enclosure. | |
| Sedentary | If you appreciate pets with hours of inactivity to watch your owl do.. not much at all.. then this might be a great match. Owls are fascinating to watch even when they are just hanging out! | If hyper-active pets like dogs are your thing, an owl would not be your perfect match. |
| Life expectancy | Owls, like most animals, will live much longer in captivity if under the right care but keep in mind – a long life is only worthwhile if its a good life! | If your owl is going to live a long life you have to be committed to your owl for the long haul because as mentioned above, your owl will become very attached and dependent on their sole carer and can become depressed if they leave them, They also don’t warm so well to new owners! |
Lots of space / Cage needs
You may be aware of people you know owning birds such as parrots and budgies etc in small indoor cages within their front rooms (I don’t approve of this either) but this is not the case for owls! Owls need an abundance of space therefore expensive, large aviaries with an indoor and outdoor space correctly kitted out will need to be installed in the perfect location. Owls also need to be able to bathe regularly and therefore the perfect aviary will include facilities to accommodate this. This kind of aviary and constant maintenance is a pricey expense added to your weekly bills.
Independence
Some pet birds will demand attention at all times of the day but owls are used to spending lots of their time alone since they rarely depend on anything other than perhaps one single mate. They are not social in the wild with other birds so having owls in captivity doesn’t affect their social life much at all. Problems can arise when the owl is only attached to one single person and therefore anybody else attempting to share the care will not be met with a friendly bird. Owls will be dangerous at times when transferred to another persons care and they can even become depressed if they lose their original owner whom they become attached to. Therefore if you decide to own an owl as a pet, you better plan to keep them for life!
Legality
In most places, owning a pet owl is illegal and this can lead to fines and possible jail time if this law is broken. Also, even if you did decide to ignore the law, if your pet owl became unwell you wouldn’t easily be able to find effective help for them. Standard vets will not be trained to deal with owls in areas where owls are illegal to keep as pets, and even if you did manage to find a skilled veterinarian to help, it would lead to the risk of being caught for committing a crime. Owls are legal in some states within the US I believe but a permit will be needed in most cases for owning an owl, this is to prove you are effectively trained to handle raptors. Laws like this are extremely important and we should be grateful our owls are protected under such laws or else we would see pet owls kept in small cages in peoples gardens! (and we wouldn’t want that now would we?!)
Specialised Diet
Owls are birds of prey which means they are carnivores and cannot live off seeds and fruit like other species of bird. Owls must be fed rodents and these would need to be located, bought in bulk and effectively stored to keep them fresh. Not many people would be a fan of storing these dead rodents within their normal freezers next to their own food (and I wouldn’t recommend this either!) so a separate freezer will be necessary for keeping the owls dinner! On the other hand, some may argue that this is quite a simple diet, they do need their food mixing up enough for nutritional benefits but otherwise, one meal a day will suffice usually and owls actually eat less and are easier to feed than many other usual household pets.
Nocturnal
The nocturnal nature of the owl can be seen as a negative or a positive depending on each individual. Not all owls are nocturnal so you can acquire a diurnal owl but they will want attention during work hours when you perhaps want to partake in social events and job demands. Nocturnal owls will often change their schedule slightly to fit their owners schedule which can be very beneficial as they wont be as active as a diurnal owl but will still be available during the day for you to interact with. Whether this is fair on the owl is each to their own opinion really and how it seems to effect their owl to switch up their schedule. Often owls are awake at night for hunting reasons and if you are supplying their food then that isn’t much of a problem anymore.
Constant Care
Owls may be independent but don’t get this mixed up to believe they are not high maintenance pets because they absolutely are! Owls can become fed up if they don’t receive the care and attention needed to keep them entertained and unhappy owls are capable of causing harm to their owners. They can become destructive if they are pushed to becoming frustrated.
Enclosure Cleanliness
To care for any animal effectively you must keep on top of the cleanliness of their enclosures. If they have to stay in here for long periods at a time then they must be kept clean for the health of the owl. Owls can be messy pets, they eat in a messy manner by often dismembering their food into smaller pieces and therefore cleaning up ripped apart rodents will become a daily routine of yours. Lovely!
Sedentary
Owls don’t need a ridiculous amount of entertaining as they are pretty happy sitting on a perch and watching the world go by. Owls really don’t like to use too much energy so they usually save any energy for hunting. If you do not plan to hunt with your owl then you must let them use the same amount of time a day they would do naturally hunting, to fly and stretch their wings and get some exercise but otherwise they might be quite sedentary. Too much stimulus can actually stress an owl out so too much going on in their cage isn’t preferred and it’s probably best to just include a few different perches they can fly between at different heights and a good view of the surrounding outdoor areas for them to be nosey as they perch.
Life Expectancy
Life expectancy is greater in captivity than in the wild as owls are less likely to encounter dangerous situations in captivity. The only danger in captivity is a bad owner, but providing this isn’t the case, owls are generally free from all kinds of dangers they face in the wild. For example within captivity Barn owls tend to live 18-21 years whereas they generally only survive until they are 2-3 in the wild. Starvation can be a problem within the wild so this is the one reason why not letting an owl rely solely on hunting can be beneficial.
Conclusion
I can completely understand why a pet owl seems like the best idea ever. After all, they are extremely fascinating birds with interesting personalities but it must be remembered that these are extremely wild animals and by that I mean, they live to hunt, and this is their main focus. Taking this from and owl by keeping them in captivity where food is given to them is not as fair on the natural instinct of the animal. This isn’t to say captivity is all bad, it certainly works well when the owl can be flown daily and have enough room to live their best lives. The owls in captivity treated well will actually live longer and this is great if the owl is happy throughout this time! Keeping owls in captivity really can benefit the species as they can breed much easier in captivity and we can keep track of numbers within the species!
Also it is important to remember that as cute as owls are, they are not made to be cuddled or even stroked. Many owls do not like to be touched and their feathers are not made to be touched as they are covered in natural oils needed for the owls health. Likewise, unless the owl is imprinted, meaning it has been hand reared by you since birth, it might not be very friendly towards you and in general owls are not lovey dovey pets like our beloved pet dogs! Owls are wonderful in their own ways and therefore must be respected in this manner and never expected to be anything other than what they are – which is a wild animal! : )