by Pajarita » Thu Jul 28, 2016 11:27 am
Welcome to the forum! I hope we can help you.
Now, the first consideration is your allergies. Have you spent any time at all in the same house with a parrot? Because there are lots of people that are allergic to them, especially cockatiels - so, the first thing I would recommend is that you do just that and see what happens before you actually get one. Second is the fact that you have a baby and, I have to tell you that small children and small parrots usually don't go together because, although it can happen, usually, little parrots will not choose a small child to bond with. Large birds seem to be much more tolerant of children but their beaks are so big and powerful that I would never have, say, a cockatoo, a macaw or even an amazon if I had a small child. And whether the bird actually liked and even loved the child makes no real difference because the thing with parrots is that, sooner or later, ALL the humans in the house will get bit. No two ways about it as this is not a matter of 'if', it's a matter of 'when' and even a small parrot can make a BIG booboo in a small child. This is because parrots don't bite only out of sheer aggression, they will hurt you just trying to hang on to you if you move too fast or, when they love you, as a way of letting you know there is danger. And what we consider danger and what they consider danger are not the same things! To them, all unfamiliar people or animals are dangerous, unexplained noise are dangerous, unfamiliar places are dangerous, etc (parrots are prey animals, not predators like dogs and cats so they react completely differently to the same stimulus). And, if they bond with you, they will bite you as a warning when the other members of the family approach you just to keep you in line so you don't pay attention to them because, as far as they are concerned, they are all a threat to their relationship with you and to be kept away from you (and that will, most definitely, include your baby!). As to the species you mention... well, I would say that cockatiels are out of the question because of their dander; IRNs don't do well with first timers as they require steady, constant and experienced handling or they 'revert'. As to a kakariki... well, they are not loud at all so that would work for you living in a flat. And they are usually sweet-tempered but they are aviary birds and that means they are VERY active, needing a HUGE cage and infrastructure that would prevent their escaping (they are fast, fast, fast and can go through a door barely opened like lightning!). The 'aviary' designation makes them not too good at been human companions because, when they reach sexual maturity, they will become aloof with their owner and will need another bird to be happy and this is nothing that anybody can change with training or impeccable husbandry, it's the way nature made them and hard-wired into their brains. But, if you have the room and the infrastructure for two of them (the cage you mention would not work with these birds, not even with a single one, they need, at least, 1 meter long cages -what we call flight cages), they can have very good lives with humans. But, if I were you, I would not hope for a cuddly companion or one that will interact with your baby, even if you wait 3 or 4 years - it's not going to happen because all the bird will want to do by then is fly around and spend time with its mate (and that's why they are called 'aviary' and not companion birds).
