First Bird Trouble Deciding?

[gabbagabbawill]

I got a Sun Conure (see him in my avatar there) as my first bird and love him to pieces! I would never trade him for anything. Just make sure the bird you get is the one you want. I've always wanted a larger bird too, and love Blue and Gold Macaws but was intimidated by them before. Now, after having the experience with my Sun, I feel that I would be great with a Macaw... Maybe someday I'll have two birds....

I also believe that the longer they live the better... If you get a bird as a companion and you really love them, you'll never want to lose them. At least I wouldn't. Though, you probably want to make sure that you have someone to take care of him if you croak first!

[Coveysmom]

Our first bird and our second are white eyed conures. We just have the one now, but I wouldn't trade her for the world. She is affectionate, interactive, about the size of a Hahn's Macaw and can be a challenge. She is spoiled rotten, but there is nothing like getting a kiss from her and being told "love you." She play peek-a-boo, loves to help me do dishes (usually so she can take a bath in the sink) and loves to wrestle. If you get a bird, I would advise no more fostering cats. Also, do any of your dogs have a high prey drive? If so, you need to make sure to watch them carefully whenever the bird is out.

I know a lot of people wouldn't agree with this, but for your first bird I recommend keeping the wings clipped. You never know when I bird will startle and take off...with all of the animals you have it could just me a matter of time before the bird startled, flew somewhere in the house and one of the dogs got them. I'm not saying don't get one because of the dogs - we have two dogs - but those are things to think about.

Another thing to think about (I know this is long - sorry) is looking into whether a certain species of parrot is prone to laying an egg or getting egg bound. I've known people is pi's and senegals, red bellies, etc. that have had issues with their female birds getting egg bound. That is another nice thing about the white-eyed conure. Our vet told us he very rarely sees a conure that has egg laying issues.

Good luck on finding the bird. I, too, would look into rescues.

[GlassOnion]

If you have dogs or cats, don't clip the wings! Seriously, a clipped bird cannot escape from another household pet if it flutters to the floor. it's completely screwed if it happens to land within a dog's reach and you're not there to rescue.

I have a cat, and my birds would have been long dead if they couldn't fly away at any fright.