Greetings from Northern California

[TJinCA]

Hello All -

Greetings from the Bay Area! Had a little Peach Faced Lovebird until a couple months ago. Unfortunately we lost her to Liver Disease. Pretty devastating as she was truly a beloved member of our little family.

Wanting to get a new companion baby but going a very different direction, an Eclectus Boy this time! However, it is starting to feel like the search for the Holy Grail, LOL.

Who knew local breeders would be so hard to find? And fascinatingly, I am finding the web presence for bird breeders to be very limited. Dead link after dead link! Wow!

Anyway, just wanted to say hi! While searching and waiting, it will be fun to read the posts and continue to educate myself! Seems like a pretty community going on here!

Excited to explore!

[Wolf]

Welcome to the forum.

I am sorry to hear about the loss of your lovebird.

I know that you have it in your mind to get young bird that you can raise for yourself, but have you considered the possibility of adopting a bird from a rescue? Although some of them may have an issue or two that you might have to work with them on, they are pretty much what you see is what you get if they are already an adult and in my opinion there is nothing that compares with the bonding from a bird that chooses you. There are a lot of birds of many species that are in need of a good home that have been placed in rescues through no fault of their own. Unless you are dead set on getting a baby bird, adopting an adult bird may well be the best choice that you could make for yourself and it would be one more loving parrot that gets a good home.

[liz]

Welcome to the forum.

I have lost birds and know how hard it is to recover from the lose. I am sorry that you have to go through it. It is like loosing a baby.

My first bird, Amy, was basically a rescue from my sister who got tired of her. All of mine are rescues.


Rambo was about to be sold by his human after about 15 years of treating him like the baby in the family. His human got pregnant after 11 years of trying and wanted to clear the path for the human baby. I took Amazon Rambo, 2 Cockatiels Curley and Sunny and a little Chihuahua all at the same time from her. She considered it a rehome but it felt like a rescue to me. Rambo was my first big parrot and came with a big personality. He did not need adjustment time and just jumped into my critter household with excitement. He had never been caged and I did not get the cage he was used to keeping his stuff in so I put him and his stuff on the dining room table. He liked it with me and after a week with me his last human came to visit. He was very quiet which was odd for him. When I searched I found him in a little cardboard box hiding from her so she could not take him home.

I had two pair of Cockatiels and began to believe that Rambo should not be an only so I search for another and found her on CL where her human was trying to get rid of her fast. I called and was there the next morning to get her in SC from NC. She was 1 year old and had not been socialized so I knew it would not be as easy as Rambo. She was so scared that she would shake from fear if I just looked at her. She came from a very bad place. I treated her like a scared child and was rewarded with her progress. She is 6 now and so social that she will go to anyone, even repair men who need to come to the house, but not my 40+ daughter.

Since then I have only taken in Cockatiel rescues. Some that came from different homes were socialized but I claim them as rescues. Four came from a home that was tired of them. It was a mom and dad with two kids. The parents were somewhat socialize then neglected and the 2 kids had not been socialize at all. They came from CL.
I took in another from a woman who just found out she had cancer and wanted to rehome her before she got too sick to care for her. She had not been held or let to fly but loved the company of being talked to. She came from CL.

There are many parrots out there that need homes. They come with different stages of being socialized. Most I had to pay for because I was given all their stuff at the same time. The birds no longer had value to the owner so they were free to me.

Buying from a breeder or pet shop would be okay but would continue the breeding of the little ones when others are out there desperately needing homes. Please take into consideration that you have a bird waiting for you on CL or other sights.

I did not even want to get them from shelters since they were already safe in shelter. I was called by a shelter for my last one, Gimpy. He is handicapped with only one leg and the shelter could not give him the care he needed. He was in Virginia so my daughter traveled to get him.

I have other handicaps who came to me in a terrible condition. These little ones should never have trusted a human again but now are somewhat bonded to me. I get such joy from the little beings. They know where they have been and how they were treated and are grateful to be with me and the flock.

I rambled on too long for just trying to say that you can get a parrot that needs you instead of a baby that has a better chance of getting a forever home.

[liz]

There is a sight, www.rescueme.org where the last owner can give you info on the birds. They are good healthy birds that come from homes that love them and have put them up for rehoming because they cannot keep them anymore. I listed myself for 3 states, SC, NC and VA.

[Pajarita]

Welcome to the forum and my deepest sympathies for your loss. I don't know if you are aware of this but eclectus are the hardest parrots to feed right and that is the reason why they die so young and most of them from liver disease (usually in their 20's). The oldest eclectus in captivity is thought to be a 30 year old wild-caught (they are much, much, much healthier than any captive-bred bird) which lives in a zoo. Going from a lovebird (a granivore that stands high protein and it's an easy species to feed and keep healthy) to an eclectus (the most difficult species to feed in captivity and the most prone to liver disease), is a HUGE jump - have you considered that?

[TJinCA]

Wow, you all have really given me a lot to think about. Thank you so much for the thoughtful responses! Awesome and knowledgeable community for sure!

[Pajarita]

Mind you, I am not trying to discourage you from getting another parrot and I know for a fact that neither Liz nor Wolf are, either. But parrots are in huge overpopulation with thousands and thousands of birds in rescues sometimes waiting years and years for a good home - thus, the suggestion of adoption instead of buying a baby that would only contribute to the enormous problem we have. I mentioned the difficulty of feeding an ekkie because, sometimes, people are not aware of it as, of course, neither breeders nor petstores will mention it (no salesman is going to tell you that their product is so high maintenance as to be impossible to keep in good 'working' condition for long!). There are lots of species that are easier to keep - have you thought of a conure? I would not go with a GCC or any of the little ones because, unless there is somebody home all day long, they suffer too much been alone all day long (all parrots suffer alone but some are needier than others) but a larger one might work out. Also, how about a pair of a species that can be both companion and aviary? Like cockatiels or any of the grass parakeets? They are absolutely stunning birds in their beauty, smart, affectionate and, usually, very mild-mannered and, if you have a pair, they have each other when you are not there. AND they are not hard to feed right!