Lesser Sulfur Crested Cockatoo

[Navre]

At what age does a Lesser Sulfur Crested become sexually mature, or an "adult" bird?

There is a 4 year old female, with cage, who seems to love me, but I don't know if she is still in "juvenile" bird mode. She seemed a whole lot less friendly to other men who were around, and even a bit standoffish toward women.

If she is already an adult, and is showing an affinity toward me, I will consider taking her. She is for sale at a mom-and-pop pet shop. She is their only large bird, and while she seems loved, she seems to be fed only sunflower seeds. I know I can't take every bird in the world, and I'm just kind of thinking about it. I guess I just want to know if her affection toward me is real, or if it's just a baby bird thing.

[Wolf]

This species of parrot generally matures at about 3 years of age. I think that any affection shown by these birds whether they are adults or not is real.

[Navre]

Thanks, Wolf. I know it's "real," i just want to be sure it's not part of "baby bird loves everyone."

[Pajarita]

No, at that age and in the environment where she is kept, it cannot be 'baby bird loves everybody' but a word of caution with toos, they don't usually work out with little birds. It's not that they want to be mean to them, is that they have what I would call the bird equivalent of a 'high prey drive' in dogs - meaning, anything that moves calls their attention and they want to grab it. I am having a real hard time with mine, who is the sweetest, sweetest, sweetest bird ever! He never even nips and would not really hurt a fly if he knew what he was doing but he is VERY playful and has gone after every single little one of mine to the point that I have to take him out of the room to allow them out of cage time and have had to make a separation so he cannot reach their feet when they hang on to the bars of their cage because he hurt toes in two of them this way -he has also destroyed three flight cages by chewing the bars clean off them. As a matter of fact, this problem has so screwed up the dynamics in the birdroom that I am seriously thinking of rehoming him so he can go to a home where there are no other birds or only large birds.

With your GCC, if you want a larger bird, I would go for a gray or an amazon girl (not a male, they also go after the little ones only they only do it if the little ones happen to go into 'their' territory while toos think their territory is the whole house ).

[Navre]

I rehomed my grey to a house with cockatiels. I know she claimed a few toes from the cockatiels.

I don't really WANT another bird right now, but you know how it is. A cockatoo would be last on the list, being a powder down bird and being, well being a cockatoo and being super needy, but this bird seemed to really like me. As much as I'd rather not buy from a pet store again, a 4 year old bird at a pet store almost feels like an adoption, just one I'd pay a bunch of money for.

Someone near here was rehoming a rose breasted cockatoo who needed a male primary care giver. I was proud of my self because I didn't even go to see her. I know better.

I couldn't even consider any other bird until all possible health issues are worked out with Ocean, anyhow.