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Animallover_84

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Animallover_84

Postby Animallover_84 » Mon Sep 03, 2018 3:48 pm

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 :caique: and one black headed caique :bcaique: , 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
Animallover_84
Parrotlet
 
Gender: This parrot forum member is female
Posts: 11
Number of Birds Owned: 1
Types of Birds Owned: Black Headed Caique
Flight: Yes

Re: Animallover_84

Postby Pajarita » Tue Sep 04, 2018 9:41 am

Hi, Animal Lover, welcome to the forum! First of all, you need to pinpoint exactly what are the things that attract you to birds because the two species that you mentioned, budgies and caiques are VERY different from one another. Budgies are aviary birds [so they need to live with other birds of their own species in order to be happy] and VERY flock oriented [meaning that, although they don't do badly if kept in a bonded pair, they do much better if kept in a small flock which means the minimum of 6 birds, 3 males, 3 females]. They really do not require more than good husbandry: a large flight cage in a nice sunny spot next to a window, adequate food -whole grains, veggies and lots of leafy greens- and a strict solar schedule. On the other hand, caiques are companion birds and require A LOT of hours of one-on-one as well as the same things that the budgies require in terms of light schedule, diet, etc. with the only difference that caiques love fruits while budgies don't. Then there is cost. Budgies are inexpensive while caiques are not.

As to your having to leave the bird [this only applies to the caique because the budgies don't count on this] to go visit your parents, it's no problem. For one thing, parrots don't really like going to unfamiliar places and they would much rather stay in their own 'territory', and, for another, all you have to do is visit them when it's time for the bird to go back into its cage. That's what I do and it has been working very well for many years, my birds are healthy, they don't scream or bite and go back into their cages without a single problem. For birds, one of the most important things to reduce stress [captive birds are always very stressed out, no matter what we do or don't do] is to keep them at a strict schedule with every single day being exactly the same... just as they would do in the wild.
Pajarita
Norwegian Blue
 
Gender: This parrot forum member is female
Posts: 18701
Location: NW Pa
Number of Birds Owned: 30
Types of Birds Owned: RoseBreasted too, CAG, DoubleYellowHead Amazon, BlueFront Amazon, YellowNape Amazon, Senegal, African Redbelly, Quaker, Sun Conure, Nanday, BlackCap Caique, WhiteBelly Caique, PeachFace lovebird, budgies,
Flight: Yes


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