Hello!

[cholla46]

Hello there!
I am cholla46 and I am new to this forum. I have one male grey cockatiel named Teddy, who I have had for about half a year and is estimated to be between 8 months to a year old. The uncertainty...well, frankly, the pet store we bought him from was a bit suspect, and although we had a blood test done and are sure he is a male, he still looks a little duller than you'd expect and is definitely still heavily molting. Teddy is just recently getting the bright orange cheeks and yellow facemask. I also had a male grey in the past, Charlie, who was a rescue. Sadly he passed away after about 5 years of ownership from what we suspect was a structural defect in his lung sac. I am working on getting Teddy another male cockatiel to have as a buddy, partly because I'm a bit busier with college than I'd like to be and partly because we recently upgraded to a humongous cage...although I'm sure Teddy loves the room, it can easily fit another bird in there and it almost looks a bit lonely. We have somehow accumulated two cages that are nearly as tall as me, and two smaller ones to boot...so we have room.
At any rate, I look forward to being a part of this forum Have a nice day/night!

[Wolf]

Welcome to the forum.
I think it would be great to get a companion for Teddy, and it will make his life much better to not be alone. I think that your reasons are all wrong, but getting him a companion is the right thing to do. To me the right reasons would be because I wanted another bird and because it would make Teddy a happier bird.
These are just my thoughts on it, and I mean you no disrespect by them.

[liz]

Welcome to the forum.
I think they are good reasons. He needs a buddy. It is easier to raise two kids. One is always wanting you to come play with him. There is room.
Might I suggest a rescued bird. They are everywhere. Craigslist is loaded with them. I get notifications from rescue groups all the time.
On Craigslist I look for the ones that are just too cheap or have a minimum right up. These are the most needy.

[Pajarita]

Welcome, Cholla and Teddy! Whatever the reasons, it's GREAT that Teddy will have a companion. Tiels are VERY flock oriented and so mild-tempered that they always get along with other tiels so you should have no problem. I second Liz's recommendation wholeheartedly! Please do consider an adoption or rescue. There are so many sweet birdies out there without a good home that buying a baby and putting money in the pockets of people who exploit them seems a sin to anybody who loves them.

[cholla46]

Welcome to the forum.
I think it would be great to get a companion for Teddy, and it will make his life much better to not be alone. I think that your reasons are all wrong, but getting him a companion is the right thing to do. To me the right reasons would be because I wanted another bird and because it would make Teddy a happier bird.
These are just my thoughts on it, and I mean you no disrespect by them.

Ah, I guess I figured it was obvious I wanted another one as well lol. I just personally feel like it's irresponsible to take on more pets than you have the means to, even if you have good intentions. I've seen a lot of people take on birds or other animals that flat out don't have room or money for, and so I decided to make it clear that wasn't the case, if that makes any sense. He's very sociable and, as others have mentioned, they are flock animals, and I feel like he would enjoy a companion. He's pretty attached to me and my sister to a lesser degree, but she doesn't live with us right now, and I feel like it would be healthy for him to develop a bond with another bird. I suppose I should clarify that he does get plenty of attention, and is by no means neglected, but I feel like he would benefit from more and different types of interactions.

As for the rescue issue- I've looked into that, but for whatever reason the area I'm in doesn't seem to have many bird rescues to begin with, and the ones that are tend to have larger birds like macaws. I'm fairly suspicious of using things like craigslist and the like...I understand these birds need a home, but at the same time you never really know what you're getting. I adopted a dog once under similar circumstances, and when I actually went to pick her up she was EMACIATED. She's happy and healthy now, but it was just a really difficult situation since the guy was acting like this was a minor issue and the whole thing was just really sketchy, and I'm not sure I'm cut out for that sort of situation. I'm also not sure I have the time to rehabilitate a bird with serious mental or physical trauma, due to school.

[Wolf]

I am happy to hear that you had the right reasons in mind as well, I keep hearing the reasons that you originally gave and then hearing about the bird being rehomed or being neglected to varying degrees, so I am glad that those were not the only reasons.
Most bird rescues are much different than the ones for dogs and cats, in that most will try to match the bird and person and usually have requirements to weed out the wrong type of people and they also tend to not adopt out birds who are too traumatized to be a good companion without major rehabilitation. Totally different ballgame. Oh, and most will take back a bird if it doesn't work out.

[Pajarita]

I understand you had a bad experience with CL and, unfortunately, it is true that there are lots of those in that medium but it doesn't have to be that way. I went to pick up a budgie last night that I found listed in CL and the people were lovely and quite concerned about the bird.