I need some advies

[Lina]

I don't even know where to start. the theme is the same you are young very young, I know you have researched and all but it dosn't ell you how much time a large bird takes you your day everyday day in day out, cleaning the pen several times a week, cleaning the food dishs water bowl fixing its food , then the time to spend bonding and playing training the bird, and you plan on going to collage, i guess if you never need to sleep you might be able to do it for awhile .. but what happens when you meet that someone special and they want some of your time too, most likly you will find someone that likes birds but what if the bird dont like them. My advice would be wait till after that first year of college, before even thinking of getting cause im sure it would break your heart to see your bird start pulling out all its feathers cause you are too busy, the larger the bird the more of your time they need and its not like they can get it from someone else. Birds take alot of time, more than you can know till you having to do it.

[feathermum]

well im always late to the "big" discussion it seems...LOL

anyway here are some thoughts I haven't seen mentioned. 1st, doesn't matter how old u are isn't so much an issue ( as long as you have $, place to live, ect..) I work in a very "different type of pet store, infact I don't really even like calling it that. I mostly only work w/ the birds & that includes rescues.we get so many drop-offs, it's mind bogaling!! guess what the age group is I see the most leaving their birds??? 30s-40s. does that surprise anyone? here are the most common excuses ; job loss, new baby, allergic child, home loss, landlord changed rules about pets. These are the reasons u feel realy bad for the person/family, b/c any of these could happen to ANYONE @ ANYTIME. I own my own home, but...my husband has been laid off, & it was very tough. Almost lost our house.So in this argument, (being older,settled,own home) I disagree...what u have now, you could lose next yr, or have more...who knows!

the other ppl I see dropping off their birds are mostly just blankholes, they never REALLY cared for their parrot. they got it b/c they could & it was more like an accessory. HATE these ppl.
they too are @ least 25. The OP doesn't sound like this type of person.

So, my last thought is this. why not adopt instead of getting a baby? I have 2 rescues & they are amazing!!! I am so happy they are in my life!! i'm not sure where u live, but there are some wicked awesome rescues & stores/ppl that take in nice,pretty (even healthy) birds, but just cause they'r a bit older, ppl turn away where I work we got a moccolcan too, sweetest girl EVER, very healthy,all feathers , 10 yrs old (not old @ all old in parrot world) she had a great new home in 2 days!!! I really hope u might consider adopting. if u have a love for larger parrots, & are looking for quieter birds, have u ever considered ? these are very smart birds, just as or about IMO. & quietr too. also not as clingy. same goes for a Pieoness...( sp??) blue headed, white caped, bronze wing ect... (i'm such a bad speller!!)

[Nir]

this is also why i dont think age is what is important (as long as you are mature enough). There will always be reasons why not to get a bird and there are always obstacles at all ages. I had a job, was very well financially and had my own place and would have full control. But i too had been thrown all the reasons not to get a bird. But i think this process just lets the person know of all the possibilities that can happen. and if you still decide that you can handle it then you probably can because you have put in the time and effort to learn about all these things which shows that you will care for the bird. I will also add that i might have come of as i am throwing everyones suggestions/opinions aside but i really wasnt. similarly how everyone is saying that he isnt listening to us as well. So i think we should be a bit open minded and give him the benefit of the doubt that he has matured a lot and wont make the same mistakes he did in the past and that he will be a great parront. I also noticed he hasnt replied on this thread in awhile so i hope we didnt scare him away. last thing we want is for him to get the bird but then not come back here because he thinks we are all against him.

If you see your bird as a companion then all should go well. if you see him as just a nice view, something to show of,accessory then no matter what age you are, it will never go well. So again its all up to the op of if he can handle it.Only reason i said wait 1 year is because of college. This will be a hard year that he might be underestimating the difficulty of. we wouldnt want him to start doing bad in college would we! So i think its still best to wait 1 year and then make the jump.

[Shelby]

I know I underestimated the demands of college and the time requirements to get everything done! (I still did great though ) I laugh when my friends in high school complain about their workload.... It's a very busy time and I know I wouldn't want to be responsible for another creature's care. Mostly I'm worried that this kid will end up way stressed out trying to meet the demands of college and a bird at the same time.

[marie83]

Same here I've definitely underestimated the volume of work that college brings. I've had a lot of other issues to contend with like my mum falling very sick and quite a few other things but something would have had to give if I didn't have my boyfriend in order to give the birds what they need. They always have to come first no matter what.

As a result I'm really behind with my college work, I'm left with one more week to get 5 essays done- not easy (and I'm starting to think impossible) when you still have to give the feathered kids attention (despite the fact my boyfriend does all the feeding, cleaning, giving them time out the cages etc at the moment, they still need my attention too), look after family members and earn a living. If I didn't have my boyfriend I would have had to quit my course long ago. I'm determined to do it but I literally have no me time what so ever at the moment, I haven't seen my friends in ages, no time to watch TV or anything like that. This might not seem important but it does grind you down after a while.

My advice is to wait and see how you cope with college life and your course workload before getting a bird, especially one that's as demanding as a grey, trust me its not a matter of plonking it on your shoulder whilst you study, they simply wont allow you to get on with things 99% of the time.
Whilst Nir is right and there is always a reason not to get a bird and life can throw a great big truckload of spanners in the works at any time I do think that your college years is not the most appropriate time.

[Pajarita]

Yes, of course that there is no security in life, not when you are a teenager and not when you are an adult. And people are giving up birds like crazy because they ALL thought it was going to be easier than it really is. And they all had good intentions but they found out their intentions were simply not enough and, once the novelty of the exotic pet wore off, out goes the bird! The point is that going into a 50 year labor-intensive, time-consuming, super-expensive endeavor when you are 30 has a 75/25 chance of succeeding and that only if you REALLY love animals - while going into it when you are 17 doesn't get anywhere near those figures (I got married at 17 to the 'love of my life' and it only lasted 2 years). And that kind of odds are not good when you are talking about the happiness and welfare of a living, breathing, VERY sensitive (greys been a more than average difficult species to keep happy), sentient being.

I also know a young lady who has had birds for years (she started with tiels at 16 and she is now 22 and has graduated to conures) and is a VERY thoughtful and conscientious owner but she is the only one I know and I know A LOT of people who have birds...

[Cockatielsongs]

Okay, so I read pretty much everything and if you want a bird why not? But you have to know odds are things will not go as planned. Im 13 and I raised my cockatoo on my own, tamed him trained him, took him to vets myself. but things went in directions i was never expecting, things happened. I do chores and work around the neighbourhood (as I cant legally work yet) but still I worked hard and every single dollar and cent went to the health and wellbeing of my bird. At one point I was struggling an awful lot trying to balance my homework, school, exams, cheer, my cockatoo and working to earn money out. Sure I worked through it all but there were times when I considered rehoming.

I guess what everyone is trying to tell you is that they want whats best for you and the bird. Things happen, times change, what if you lose interest after a while? What if you have to stop working or whatever to study? Who will pay then? Exams will take up most of your time maybe, what will become of the bird when you become too busy or leave for collage, who will look after and give the bird what it needs to be happy. If you still want a bird maybe a grey isnt the right bird for you. You could try another cockatiel?

[Nir]

Yes, of course that there is no security in life, not when you are a teenager and not when you are an adult. And people are giving up birds like crazy because they ALL thought it was going to be easier than it really is. And they all had good intentions but they found out their intentions were simply not enough and, once the novelty of the exotic pet wore off, out goes the bird! The point is that going into a 50 year labor-intensive, time-consuming, super-expensive endeavor when you are 30 has a 75/25 chance of succeeding and that only if you REALLY love animals - while going into it when you are 17 doesn't get anywhere near those figures (I got married at 17 to the 'love of my life' and it only lasted 2 years). And that kind of odds are not good when you are talking about the happiness and welfare of a living, breathing, VERY sensitive (greys been a more than average difficult species to keep happy), sentient being.

I also know a young lady who has had birds for years (she started with tiels at 16 and she is now 22 and has graduated to conures) and is a VERY thoughtful and conscientious owner but she is the only one I know and I know A LOT of people who have birds...

do you have any studies on how you came up with the 75/25. i dont know what the actual numbers are but from what feathermum said, that she sees more 30-40 year olds dropping of the birds then younger ones. Sure that might not be big enough database but since thats all we have in terms of actual numbers, i would think that the actual numbers are a lot closer then 75/25. Thats why i wouldnt disregard people under 30 so quickly since the failure rate of over 30 seems just as bad.

[Cockatielsongs]

Honestly i don't really think its about how old a person is. It's about giving time, love, dedication and care to a bird. Things happen in adults life that can make things difficult too, not just in a teenagers. Some younger owners care more about their feathered friend then some adults. It all should be considered vice versa. Some children treat birds better than some adults. What I'm trying to say is, no matter how old you are, things are going to happen, you meet new people, life goes on etc etc you just need to be prepared and understand that any bird is a long term commitment, and with a bird like a grey or something, even a life commitment, a commitment you cant just drop out of. A bird relies on its human companion for a lot of things and you cant just forget about that. If you KNOW that you CAN and WILL give a bird the beautiful and loving life it deserves then you can get a bird.

[Pajarita]

Yes, of course that there is no security in life, not when you are a teenager and not when you are an adult. And people are giving up birds like crazy because they ALL thought it was going to be easier than it really is. And they all had good intentions but they found out their intentions were simply not enough and, once the novelty of the exotic pet wore off, out goes the bird! The point is that going into a 50 year labor-intensive, time-consuming, super-expensive endeavor when you are 30 has a 75/25 chance of succeeding and that only if you REALLY love animals - while going into it when you are 17 doesn't get anywhere near those figures (I got married at 17 to the 'love of my life' and it only lasted 2 years). And that kind of odds are not good when you are talking about the happiness and welfare of a living, breathing, VERY sensitive (greys been a more than average difficult species to keep happy), sentient being.

I also know a young lady who has had birds for years (she started with tiels at 16 and she is now 22 and has graduated to conures) and is a VERY thoughtful and conscientious owner but she is the only one I know and I know A LOT of people who have birds...

do you have any studies on how you came up with the 75/25. i dont know what the actual numbers are but from what feathermum said, that she sees more 30-40 year olds dropping of the birds then younger ones. Sure that might not be big enough database but since thats all we have in terms of actual numbers, i would think that the actual numbers are a lot closer then 75/25. Thats why i wouldnt disregard people under 30 so quickly since the failure rate of over 30 seems just as bad.

I am going by the birds I get. I also get mostly 30-40 year old people bringing the birds but they had been bought for their children. The last 4 birds I got came from parents who finally convinced their kids to 'allow' them to give me the birds. One was given up because the mother developed an auto-immune disease and, although the bird belonged to the kid, she couldn't keep it because she was living with her parents - the other three belong to kids in college and the parents ended up taking care of the birds but the kids -who were not caring for them and some were not even living at home- still wanted the birds there.

Parrots have become relatively cheap and parents are now buying them for their kids not knowing how hard they are to care for.