Sims 2 Parrots
If you have the Pets expansion pack for The Sims 2, parrots are one of the available options. Frankly, I recommend them. It’s fun to have a dog or cat, but if you’re running a busy family, it can be challenging to keep up with the mammal pets too. To get a parrot, go to the Pets menu in Buy Mode, and buy a cage. Put the cage in your Sims’ house, then click on the cage and choose “stock cage.” You have the choice of six different birds, five of which are parrots. (I believe the sixth is a falcon, but I’m not 100% sure about that.) Your Sims can teach your parrot to talk. I haven’t yet determined whether the parrot’s future conversations are based on the interests of the Sim who taught them to talk, or the Sim to whom they are speaking at the moment. Meet Cupcake. Cupcake enjoys talking about finances and the environment. 
Once your parrot learns to talk, you can command your Sims to talk to the parrot. This is great because it fulfils their Social and Fun needs, while boosting their Charisma stats. In fact, a parrot is almost a necessity for single Sims. The parrot’s dish can be filled for $20. Parrots seem to eat about $8 of food per day. You can check the food level at any time by right-clicking on the cage and seeing how much it will cost to refill the dish. It’s best to refill the dish once every other day or so. Don’t let it get too low, or your parrot will get hungry. 
Grotesquely, a hungry parrot complains with the same thought bubble as your human Sims. Which happens to feature a chicken leg. 
Oops. 
Meet Dolly. Dolly enjoys riding around on Connor’s shoulder. To get your Sim to carry the parrot around, choose the interaction “Carry X” (where “X” is your parrot’s own name). I have yet to see a parrot die of old age, but they do seem to live quite a long time. (Until you accidentally forget to feed them.) Since the parrot isn’t a full-fledged family member like a dog or cat, they don’t have a controllable panel, and you can’t see exactly how old they are. However, Cupcake was purchased when Connor was a baby, and lasted until Connor became an elder. 20 Sim days, give or take? Aside from feeding, the only other maintenance is the occasional cleaning of the cage. A green “stink cloud” will alert you to this fact. If your Sim leaves the cage door open, your parrot will periodically escape and fly around the house. This doesn’t seem to cause any harm - I have yet to see a parrot die in such an escapade, nor have droppings ever appeared on the sofa. If you have the Seasons expansion pack installed, you might be concerned when your tropical parrot flies around outside in the middle of winter. I haven’t seen a parrot freeze to death, but I suppose it is a possibility. I’ll keep you posted on that one.