Most ridiculous reasons for rehoming?

[Michael]

Miajag, honestly. Do you think the kind of people who are buying their kid a bird (because they didn't want the mess of a dog) can comprehend the social complexity and difference between a single and pair of birds? If you add a store policy to that, they don't even have a choice but falling into that mean duo trap.

I think the reason lovebirds have a reputation for being really mean and aggressive is because everyone keeps them in pairs. Why would they ever want to interact with humans if they already have each other? Why should the human bother keeping the pet if they can't even interact with them?

[miajag]

Sounds like we agree with each other; most people are uninformed and thus will be disappointed when the pair of lovebirds or whatever they get don't socialize well with humans, and this can of course lead to problems. I even said in my post that the store policy was silly. All I'm saying is that it's also silly to make a blanket statement that birds should never be kept in pairs. It depends on your priorities and desires as a bird owner. I'm pretty sure there are several posters on this site who have paired birds and are perfectly happy with them and have acceptable levels of interaction with them.

[Kathleen]

When I was much younger my father bought a pair of budgerigars for my brother who had wanted them. I don't know the exact details of why he bought a pair of birds but I think that it is highly likely the employees at the store convinced him to buy a pair of budgies.

My brother of course became uninterested in the pair of budgies, but I was always intrigued by animals. I remember looking on the internet trying to figure out what to do and how to train them, resulting in the wrong information and several mostly unsuccessful attempts to have them step on my hand or a wooden perch. I always made sure the birds were given food and water because my dad had gotten a small book about basic care for budgies and I tried to follow the instructions of the book. The book didn't explain much about training and taming and I think that's why I searched on the internet.

I really had no chance of being able to play with these birds for several reasons. These birds were most likely parent raised and they were completely untame. They were poorly raised and I'm sure they had no social interaction in a pet chain store like that where I have seen the birds being caught with small nets instead of being handled properly by employees. My brother was even younger than me and his friends would mess around with the birds, such as try to poke the birds, tap on the bird cage and make a lot of noise.

I noticed that with the pair, one of the birds was a bit less aggressive than the other one. I was able to have one of the birds step on my gloved hand or on a perch but the other would always watch and always bite at my every attempt. Additionally, when you are a child, your hands are smaller and a budgie bite hurts a lot more.

I think even if at that time I had a parent raised budgie, it would have been a better situation to just have one budgie instead of a pair. One budgie would have been more interested in social interaction from me.

Fortunately, I learned a lot about parrots and then I got another budgie last year. I knew the proper techniques and I got a single budgie instead of a pair who also happened to be hand raised. It was fairly simple for me to tame and train Duke and I really, really enjoyed the parrot owning lifestyle when I had it.

It's wrong to preemptively ruin the relationship between owner and pet just in case. I can see how this would be an advantage for the store because they can trick people into buying two birds and make more money off of one customer. I think this policy just encourages people to re-home a pair of birds because they won't be able to enjoy it. I really think it's unfair to take advantage of people who are interested in parrots but don't know enough about it.

[Michael]

I even said in my post that the store policy was silly. All I'm saying is that it's also silly to make a blanket statement that birds should never be kept in pairs.

My point is that if uninformed people cannot be stopped from buying parrots, then they should at least be told to buy just one. Then they would at least have the potential to become informed at some later point and develop a relationship with it. If they buy them as a pair, they are preemptively being set up for failure. Even when they watch my videos about target training, buy a book, or watch a dvd, they will end up disappointed because the paired birds are much much harder to tame. The store policy is not silly, it is commercial. I completely understand that the store makes beans on the birds they sell so getting two out at once is all the better for them. However, I am very disappointed that the concept that small parrots should be bought in pairs is the prevailing policy.

I have experienced and heard many success stories with solitary parrots. I have not heard a single success story but lots of failures where they are kept in pairs. Of course I would not necessarily count where there was initially one parrot which was well socialized by itself and then another added at a later point. But I really have not heard a single success story where the owner had a wonderful interactive relationship with a set of parrots that came in a pair.

[Natacha]

I also agree that selling budgies and lovebirds only in pairs is a totally archaic way of thought.

These birds can do very VERY well as single bird if they are provided with the proper care and love. My Piper is the perfect example of this and I don't think she is missing anything. I had my mom's lovebirds here for a couple of days and although she does hang out with them, she would much rather spend that time on me too (in the end I have all three lovebirds on me since the other two follow her anywhere).

I also would not buy from a store that would force me to buy birds in pairs.

I've had people look at me funny when I say I have a single lovebird, thinking they should be kept in pairs and I do explain to them that it is NOT a necessity (I do explain why and what is involved with keeping them as single pets).

[windharper]

I can't agree enough with what's already been stated. I think the upgrading reason is hands down the most absurd. As if it is a fashion statement and last year's fad is something to be disposed of!

I believe that sometimes people are after the bigger bird because they think it can "do" more. Yet, if someone doesn't like how it's going with a smaller bird, why do they think a bigger bird is going to work out better? I'll go a step further to say that if they are unable to train a small bird to do what they want, why do they think they will be able to train a larger one? I think it all comes back to undereducated owners or owners that believe that having a bird is like have a dog or cat or goldfish!

On the talking issue, which is the one I would rank as 2nd most ridiculous...about 3 or 4 months after I got Tamber, he is going through his morning talk-up-a-storm session and out of nowhere says, "Happy birthday, happy birthday, happy birthday..." in a lower male sounding voice.

Neither me nor my husband taught him this. I can only imagine that some guy figured he'd buy someone the pretty green bird for their birthday if the bird could say, "Happy birthday." Evidently, Tamber never said it in front of him or I would never have gotten my wonderful companion!

Deb

[sift]

Michael...

First of all, I'm not saying that the STORE policy is MY policy and I'd appreciate it that you keep that in mind before being ignorant. I do not forbid the sale of single birds to appropriate homes. If and when I am approached by individuals who are interested in a small bird (i.e. a budgie or a lovebird) and indicate that they have time to spend with it and want it to be a bird that they can interact with on a daily basis, I gladly sell the single bird. As I mentioned previously, I think that a lot of what the company was thinking was stemmed from a desire for "damage control". If I had to choose between sending one bird home or two birds home when the family has already stated that they don't have more than an hour (or less) to spend with the animal then I'd send the two birds (when I don't outright refuse the adoption, that is). I already know that they aren't going to be spending adequate time with the birds to have them be hand tame and friendly so why would I deprive the poor things of any social interaction whatsoever? There are also people who prefer not to handle their budgies or lovebirds and would like to have a bird to look at and listen to instead of a bird to handle. In those situations I think it's beneficial to the birds to be kept in pairs as opposed to individually.

Anyhow, a friend of mine has four cockatiels and a single lovebird that all live together in the same cage. They are all hand tame, they all willingly visit new people, and they are all quite well-adjusted. I think that she would have felt equally as imposed upon if someone had suggested to her that she NOT have multiple birds. She is also proof that multiple birds can become hand tame and friendly just as much as individual birds - the success story you had yet to hear, if you will.

I think that people need to be realistic in their desires and keep the animal's best interests at heart. Period. End of story. If that means that one bird goes home with a family then that's cool. If it means that two go home, then that's cool too.

[Kathleen]

If that is the case, why not just refuse to sell birds to the people who don't have time for a pet at all? Because that wouldn't be in the store's interest. That's why. The store wants to make a profit by taking advantage of people.

[miajag]

Assuming the owners aren't going to give the bird or birds enough attention regardless (which, let's face it, is probably the case with a majority of parrot owners), would it be better for a parrot's overall health and happiness for it to be alone or to have a cage mate?

This is not a rhetorical question -- I don't know the answer and I'm curious about what people here think.

[Michael]

Are you asking being cooped up in a cage all its life but with a mate vs. being alone but spending a lot of time out of cage with human attention? That is a very interesting question and I doubt anyone can really know the answer. Some people may claim that even their paired birds prefer to be out with the human but that could be biased cause the bird was raised that way rather than naturally choosing between both. I don't know which is better for the bird, however, I do know that it is better for the human if the bird wants to spend time with him and interact.

For anyone who would rather have the opposite, a bird that requires no attention or interaction at all, rather than buy them in a pair, perhaps you should consider a nice parrot poster?

http://www.allposters.com/-st/Parrot-Po ... 14277_.htm

That way when you get bored, you can take it down without doing any harm and put up something else.