Hello!
Figured it was time to introduce myself…sort of… (I feel the need to apologize in advance for the spelling errors, grammatical errors and so forth. English is not my native language).
I currently don’t own any birds but I´ve been thinking about getting parrots for many years. I´ve probably thought about it for at least 15 years or so…probably closer to 20 years.
One of the main reasons that I haven’t gotten any birds yet is that for about ten years I had a special needs dog with a lot of issues (both health and behavioral) that required a lot of me. I didn’t feel as though I had the time for birds during his lifetime. My dog sadly had to be put down about two years ago, due to a suddenly occurring health issue with a very bad prognosis.
I currently have two dogs, but they are “normal healthy dogs” (not special needs dogs) and therefore I feel, that I have the time for parrots; for the first time in a long time.
Another reason (probably the absolute main reason) …the thing that has been keeping me from getting birds all these years; is that my dad is allergic to feathers/feather dust or down? Something to do with birds anyway. My parents used to have birds (when I was born/a very young child) but they sadly had to rehome them because of my dads’ allergies.
I was only able to move away from home a few years back (due to insane prizes on apartments/houses and extremely few rentals in the area where I lived); which obviously meant that I had to wait with birds. I was finally able to move to a rental apartment in another area of the country a few years back...and it´s only after the death of my dog, that I’ve been able to start seriously thinking about getting birds.
I´m still a bit hesitant about getting birds because of my dad´s allergies, since I often go to visit him (and my mom) in their house. We live close to each other, because they also decided to move (away from the area in which we used to live in). I´m a bit concerned that it will cause my birds distress to have to stay home when I go to visit my parents house and equally concerned about my dad´s health if I where to bring the birds. Since parrots are so extremely social animals, I would feel bad to leave them for several hours when I “hang out” with my parents (my dogs always come with me for example) ...but obviously I wouldn’t want to cause my dad any problems…
Anyway…my favorite birds are budgies/parakeets and caiques. I fell in love with a caique (black headed) in a pet store when I was a child (or possibly in my early teens). He was the “mascot” of the pet store and was not for sale, which meant that I could visit him many times. He totally charmed me and I have never been able to forget him and every time I´ve been reading up on different bird species; caiques has been the one that I keep coming back to and the one that I compare all others to. Budgies/parakeets has also always been there as a species of interest, they are so adorable and charming little birds…but at the same time they aren’t caiques… I´m considering getting both species, but if I decide to only get one species (and two birds) it will be caiques, anything else is just not going to happen. My dream is to get one white bellied caique and one black headed caique , they are both so cute and charming.
I hope to get some of my questions about what it´s like owning parrots etc. answered here on this forum and also hope to get a bunch of useful tips on toys etc.
Yours Sincerely/Animallover_84