Hi There....as I zooom thru the door sideways. ;-)

[liz]

Welcome to the forum.
There is nothing mean or sassy in Wolf. He usually has to clean up after me.

I took it as, Not knowing that a cockatiels was a parrot, you were still able to keep it happy and healthy for 15 years. You must have a natural instinct for critters.

[PattyB]

Hmmmm...well, since you mentioned it, I've been told since I was 5 that I did. One of the vets mentioned it and my dad told the vet I had been doing that since I was 5 and he brought home a wild cat from someone's farm... Or, maybe it's my Saint Franis of ASSISI medallion? Over the years, people have tried to give me allll kinds of animals, even one of our horses was given to us by my niece (she discovered boys).... Rosie's former owner was here yesterday and he seemed to be quite content with her new home. I just wish we had the new cage for her but the missing box won't be here until Tuesday...bah! He did get to see the playtop that's waiting for the cage that goes underneath it and he was pleased, asked if he could move in too...lol. Time to Zooooom again.....have a great day!

[Pajarita]

If I were you, I would not allow the previous owner to visit. It's stressful and painful for the bird. It's much better for them to do it cold turkey. This way, the bird suffers but, as the days go by, he first resigns itself to the loss and then starts bonding with you. The visits will just make the bird suffer and delay the final bonding with you (because, every time the previous owner comes, the bird will be reminded and want to go back with this person and, when he doesn't, he goes through the loss, abandonment, confusion, depression all over again - not good!). All my birds came from somewhere/body else and I always tell the previous owners this is the one and only immovable rule... I send them updates, pictures, etc but the visits need to wait until the bird 'feels' my home is now his forever home and that I am his forever human.

[shiraartain]

I love cockatiels! We had one until my sister developed allergies. My family stumbled upon my collection of videos and photos of him and my parakeet a few weeks ago and spent a good hour watching the clips. My parents love my current parrot, but insist that our cockatiel was sweeter and better. To be honest, I never thought of our cockatiel as a parrot either, now that I think about it. We did get him from a parrot store, but I stuck to cockatiel forums and didnt' consider parrot forums at all.

Patty, if you're good with technology, we would love to see pictures of your lovelie's sometime!

Also while I don't have much of an opinion regarding the visitations of the previous owner, I think if you do opt to go cold turkey visitation-wise, it could still work out fine if you sent pics and videos of her care to him upon request or otherwise

Welcome to the forum!

[liz]

None of my birds would want a previous owner to come and visit. Maybe Lola but it would hurt her. Her owner loved her but could no longer care for her but on the other hand she like being a real cockatiel. I guess it is like Rambo. He was loved and raised like a kid. I took him just to keep the kid from being sold to a stranger. He hid from her the first three times she came. The fourth time he decided she was leaving him here so he came out to visit but he would not walk her to the door. His new home was just so much more fun than the one she had.

[Pajarita]

Good for Rambo! I actually had the same experience with the couple of ex-owners that came to visit the birds after a while. Two birds kept on flying away to the other side of the room while a third one turned his back and kept on doing it every time the lady approached him.

[Wolf]

I have only a very limited experience with previous owners visiting birds that have come to live with me. In the case of my Grey, the previous owner only had her for about 3 months before admitting that the bird wanted nothing to do with them as she would bite them at every opportunity. . She has bit me a few times since then, but has always been pretty gentle about it, but this first time was the only time that her bites appear to have been due to anger.They tried to visit her once, and the Grey only turned her back to them and would not acknowledge their presence at all. When they left she bit me three times in quick succession. She did not draw blood but it was enough to say that she did not want this to happen again. This was the first time that she ever lashed out at me for any reason. The majority of the other times were all due to her dislike of remotes and telephones although I have no idea why she hates them so much.

[liz]

Rambo hid in a cardboard box. When I found him he gave me a look like begging not to tell on him.