Young Uns

[Michael]

I'm actually kind of curious about this. I've been noticing that quite a few folks on here are in the 18-30 age demographic. In fact I'm surprised to find that many are 18/19 because that's a tough age to own a bird with focus on studies, finding work, etc. Furthermore, if it weren't for the fact some of you listed your age in the profile, I wouldn't have realized that you were that young because you sound like very mature parrot owners that take wonderful care of your birds (not that it's impossible for an 18 year old to care for a parrot, but I remember lots of 18 year olds that could do nothing beyond play games and be fed by their parents).

So I would like to know two things. First off, what proportion of this forum membership is under 30? Second of all, why do we attract so many young parrot owners. I think it's one of three things. Either it's 1) because a lot of young people are buying parrots these days, 2) because mostly the young people are the ones going online to learn about their parrots, or 3) because I started this forum and after seeing my videos, young people gravitated to me and other young people to talk to. So no offense to all our old fuddy duddies, but I generally believed it was 50+ people that tended to own parrots. So what's the story here? Is it pure coincidence that there's a lot of young people on this forum or anything more to it?

[notscaredtodance]

I think your second choice is the most likely. Working at the pet store, I see mostly older people owning parrots. And I think the larger demographic of parrot owners is of older people. But the larger demographic of internet use, and more specifically forum/youtube/blog use, is anywhere from 14-24. So of all the parrot owners, its the younger ones that use forums to ask questions and learn information.

Which is good. Because books go out of date quickly, internet articles tend to be either very biased, or not have in depth information at all. Forums tend to be the most up to date, unbiased, and most in depth about any questions owners have. And. If the questions aren't answered, they can ask them and get an anwer!

And I went off topic. Anyways. Yes. More parrot owners are older. But more parrot owners also feed seed based diets and use corn cob bedding because they don't know any better because they don't keep up to date with bird world.

[lzver]

I fall into the 'Over 30' Category.

I'm not sure why the younger crowd is gravitating towards this message board ... could be because of the Kili videos. The other option mentioned is the younger crowd spend more time on the Internet. But I am on other mailing lists and they tend to be dominated by people that are in their 30's, 40's, 50's and older.

[Banksie]

Bloody kids on their interweb-jiggers! The should be outside playing. In my day, all we had was a cup and ball and we'd play with it for hours. We made our own fun etc. etc.

I am approaching retirement at the princely age of 32.

[skeetersunconure]

well im probably one of the only 13 year old kid with a parrot on this forum so why did i want one well alot of things first off i love all animals... alot and we didnt have alot of pets at the time haha anyway i'll be honest i thought it would be cool to have a parrot, i thought i could handle the work involved, some of my fiends parents have parakeets that keep dying and never handled and i thought that was cruel and i wanted to have a parrot to prove that they are more than a pretty cage bird. and again i really thought i could handle it and that it would be a fun experience i also did like how they could bond with people and how you know i could have it for a big chunk of mylife basically a lifelong friend. i didnt see kilis videos until after i made the descision i wanted a bird but those videos were pretty cool to me and i never knew that birds could learn tricks so that made me excited and i got skeeter for christmas and he has really been a really good pet. i would never mistreat an animal and if i couldnt of handled it i wouldnt have gotten one and i try to spend alot of time with him and sometimes its hard to give up several hours of my day to play with him but i mean he's by buddy so i guess hes worth it just kidding he is

[Natacha]

I'm approaching the 30 mark but am still underneath it.

I got my first bird at the age of 21 I believe.

[Kim S]

I'm 26, my bf is 33. I got my first bird when I was 9 or 10 I think. But that was the family budgie. Does that count?

The first bird I owned for real were my aviary budgies and cocatiels (still have most of them) back when I was 21. My bf and I moved in together and I always wanted an aviary. Since he loves animals as much as I do it wasn't a big deal. Since then we off and on had budgies and tiels inside, mainly for socializing before moving to their owners.

We also had kakariki's (new zealands parakeet) and regent parrots. Both behave themselves in aviaries and go together brilliantly with budgies and tiels (if you don't breed them).

But I digress...

[entrancedbymyGCC]

I laughed when I saw the dividing line set at 30, as in "never trust anyone over 30". You HAVE to be young to think "over 30" is geezerhood. Gads, I'm 49, you best start calling me Methusalette!

Here is another simple explanation -- the younger one is, the more likely one is to turn to the Internet for information and to be comfortable interacting socially online. Since I'm a scientist I hooked into it early, but I think those of us in our mid to late 40s were kind of on the cusp of comfort with modern media and that it's an increasingly rare and motivated population that is truly comfortable with it as one goes from 40s to 50s, 60s, 70s, 80s...

[HyperD]

26 and a half Earth years here

[bmsweb]

Gads, I'm 49, you best start calling me Methusalette!

Bugger You beat me I'm 45 going onto 46 this year