"Mytoos.com"

[friend2parrots]

terrylmc, terri, and priceyboy, I agree w/ you - Ive heard lots of sweet things about toos too i've heard a number of success stories about deeply troubled rescued toos who, with love and care, have become really well adjusted and loving pets. i think pricey boy is right, the positive stories arent always publicized.

[Pricey_boy]

i bet theres 2 unknown success stories to every 1 horror story but who knows

[Grey_Moon]

I have to say though, guys, that I would rather the average layperson looking to make up their mind or to be enticed by a 'oh but it'll be so awesome!' tale would never find those two success stories. Because someone will read through 500 cautionary tales looking for the one who justifies the bad choice they're about to make.

Why?

I don't want anyone who's getting a too thinking 'enh, this will be easy! He'll be so cuddly and sweet!'
I want someone who's fully equipped to handle the worst case scenario and gets pleasantly surprised.

Why?

Because I know the second person can make the commitment and isn't likely to dump the bird when things get tough or when they get disappointed.

[pennyandrocky]

good point grey-moon. i've wanted a for many years but fortunately i didn't until mya.i would have made a huge mistake getting one years ago. i would not have been able to have my son because a defenseless baby would have been in danger. i worked alot before i became a stay at home mom so i would never have had enough time.mya fits perfectly into our family we all enjoy and her she seems to be very happy with us as well.

[Utoomom]

I actually love the site.

Why?

Precisely because its ugly, its blunt nitty gritty and it scares the crap out of most 'omg I wanna pretty bird' people and they never ever get a parrot---and I want it to stay that way.

I don't agree with some of the fine points of their opinions---but by and large I applaud them.

You have to understand these people work with and see every day the ugly results that pro-parrot ownership sites never ever disclose or they brush it aside with 'oh well that particular bird has a screw loose, or it was abused---but if you buy one of my premium handfed babies that'll never happen...' The birds that are locked in closets, torn from the wild, abused, neglected, tortured and those 'but I did everything right and loved him' birds who self-destruct simply due to the incompatibility of everything they are and feel with captivity.

They never tell you that you are purchasing a sentient intelligent being who is as intelligent as a toddler and keeping it in a cage for your enjoyment.

In humans we have another word for that---slavery.

It makes me sick.

But its an uncomfortable truth people can't accept.

I don't approve of keeping parrots in captivity---they should not be 'pets' (ie. animals we keep in whatever environment or manner to suit our whims in order to provide for our emotional needs).
But I realize that the captive birds here are by and large too stunted mentally, mutilated behaviourally and dependent to survive in the wild so someone needs to care for them.

I come on strong, and I'm not in a majority here or anywhere else. But no one here would tell me that I didn't adore Jacko--I do. I respect her and love her enough to feel this way.

They should have been left alone to be free.

No one should be continuing the cycle and buying more baby parrots.

You have a valid point indeed. However why did you decide on having a parrot?

[pennyandrocky]

i agree with grey-moon. some of us on here who have rescues like grey-moon and myself see the damage done to birds from irresponsble breeders selling to anyone with the cash to buy. my first bird was not really my choice he was an my uncle bought. when he got married he sent cebal to my grandmother who fed him seeds and bread and butter for a long time she was also a chain smoker. when she died of a stroke in front of cebal my aunt took her house. my mother went to visit months after she died, my mother's family is very dysfunctional, she asked about cebal and found my aunt put him in a closet so she brought him home. when she brought him through the door he was cmpletely gray and even had cobwebs hanging off him. we put him right in the shower and had to scrub his cage down outside.he still remembered us so it wasn't hard to handle him and get him back to health.then my mother gave him to my brother big mistake he's an alcoholic who was in a violent relationship.he moved back home with cebal but went back to his girlfriend and thankfully left cebal. but cebal was different this time he wouldn't come out of his cage unless lured out with food that he would grab and run back to his cage,he didn't know he could fly.my mother was complaining loudly about cleaning his cage so i told her move him to my bedroom and i'll take care of him. i worked with him everyday he even slept on an open door of a night stand next to my bed because he was so cage bound i just kept the cage door closed so he couldn't run back in. i took alot of bites but after a while he figured out it wasn't working. i taught him to fly but he never gained full flight because of wing atrophy. my brother came to visit thinking he would leave with cebal but when he saw how attached he was to me he told me i might as well keep him so i did for 17 years until i lost him 2 years ago.

[greytoonus]

I can understand the motivation behind this site. Birds are a heck of a lot more work that most people think they are, and when you get into something as sensitive and volatile as a cockatoo, the stakes are that much higher. My own experience with cockatoos is 50/50 hit and miss.

Shelby is my first cockatoo. All the reading and personal anecdotes stated that the rose breasted was one of the more laid back and quiet of the cockatoos, which was exactly what I was looking for. I got Shelby straight from the breeder as a fully-weaned youngster and seemingly the perfect little rosie. However, after the first few days of settling in, my "quiet and laid back" bird was anything but. He was noisy and hyperactive, always startling at everything and seemingly unable to sit quietly in one spot. I drove an hour to the avian vet and had a complete exam with blood work and cultures to see if it was a physical thing. Everything came up normal. He continued to be hyper and overreactive and scream constantly regardless of where he was or who he was with. We very nearly got evicted from our apartment due to his non-stop fits. I actually had to money-bribe our neighbors to keep them from filing repeat complaints. Then the plucking started. Another trip to the vet for an exam again revealed a physically healthy bird. He had a big cage and more toys than the pet store and lots of time out that he started to refuse to take. He became cage-bound and he would bite. Really effing hard. I tried every piece of advice and suggestion I could find. Nothing worked. We finally moved into a house with enough space between us and the neighbors that at least he could shriek his lungs out all day and we wouldn't get evicted for it, although it still did a number on my and my husband's nerves.

Over the past five years or so ago he started to mellow out a little, at least as far as the noise. He usually only screams during the flock sunrise/sunset times, or when he gets wound up playing with his bell. He is, however, still nervous and cage-bound and given to fits of hyperactivity followed by periods where he will simply sit in one spot for hours and not make a sound. When I leave his door open he will sometimes come out and sit on top of the door, but he will still bite viciously at any attempt to get him to step up. He's also plucked smooth as a baby's bottom along the front and shoulders. I call him my nude-breasted cockatoo. The follicles are damaged from years of diligent and aggressive plucking and no longer even get pinfeathers. However, he is also sweet in his own way. When he's in his quiet moods he will allow me to scritch his head for a bit, and he LOVES to have conversations. He speaks Shelbese so I have no idea what he's saying but he adores it when people speak to him and he earnestly and enthusiastically speaks back. He's as good a companion bird as he's capable of being and I have come to simply accept and respect that, but he's sure not what I thought I was getting when I bought that sweet little bird seventeen years ago.

On the opposite end of the spectrum is my bare-eyed, Seraph, who is pretty much the poster child for everyone's dream cockatoo. She is affectionate and cuddly and outgoing but also able to entertain herself. She prefers me but anyone can hold her once they've made her acquaintance. Her favorite phrase is, "Hi, Sweetie!" which she will repeat at ascending volume until someone says it back and then she makes this adorable "awww!" sighing noise. She is in perfect feather and has been an absolute angel for her entire twelve years (*knock on wood*).

So I have have experienced both sides of living with a 'too, and when people meet and fall in love with Seraph I always make sure to point out that Shelby was "supposed" to be the same way and is always a possibility.

(edited for typos)

[Eric&Rebecca]

We would really love a Triton Cockatoo but we have always agreed this will be when we can really provide for it properly and we have had more experience with larger birds. Cockatiels are the same family but CERTAINLY NOT the same bird. All birds require so much love and attention but toos are definitely something you need to research alone for many years before even considering purchasing/rescuing one.

We have many friends with toos who are luckily very experienced and can provide for their toos so they have offered to have us 'bird sit' (under STRICT superivision) in a few years to gain experience before having our own.

I'm glad people are bringing attention to the difficulties of toos because it does help however I think they are going to get an unfairly nasty reputation. The majority of these cockatoos probably aren't nasty by nature but are just the result of ill-educated owners who think they know. You can't blame a bird for defending itself its the humans that are doing it wrong!