and animals. Mr. Conyers was careful to include husbandry in the equation, but he pointed out that for many creatures, a properly balanced diet can add decades to many animal's lives.

"A terrapin should live 60 years. If you buy one for your ten year old, he should have it when he retires. Amazon parrots should live for 75 years. A budgerigar should live for 15 years.

"Variety in the diet and good husbandry is the key. If you have an exotic pet, you should do your research. Two-thirds of a parrot's diet is fruit and vegetables, and the rest is made up of seeds.

Parrots, particularly those kept as personal pets, are often deprived of their natural food sources, and fed a commercial feed of dry nuts and seeds. While nuts and seeds are a part of a parrot's diet, in the wild they eat other things as well. Mr. Conyers explained: "They eat green seeds or developing seeds, and they will eat through the fruit to get to the seeds. When we buy seeds we will check them to see how good they are. Here, we try and balance the seeds with fruits and vegetables.'' Careful nutrition has paid off. "The plumage of the birds has improved drastically,'' noted Mr. Conyers. "For the first time in 18 years, after two years on the new diet, our large parrots started breeding.''