Where to get Songbirds?

[banuvatt]

Can anyone direct me towards a breeder who breeds specifically exotic songbirds(when I mean songbirds I don't just mean canaries, and finches.) I want to try to get a myna bird, and or African species of starling such as the golden breasted starling(also known as the royal starling.)

[Pajarita]

Songbirds? Hmm, they are both passerines (and both belong to the same family, Sturnidae) but I would not call all passerines 'songbirds'. I consider songbirds the birds that actually sing songs and neither of these birds really does - the Indian mynah has vocalizations that are actually VERY pleasant (doves and pigeons have very pleasant vocalizations that are not songs, too) - but the Golden Breasted Starling does not - AT ALL! They are beautiful though...

I don't know of any breeder but, in all honesty, even if I did, I would not tell you because I do NOT approve of buying captive-bred undomesticated animals with complex needs to keep as a pet. We might like it (I certainly would!) but it's not fair to the animal because we cannot give it a good life. See, there are animal lovers and then there are animal enjoyers and although ALL the enjoyers call themselves 'lovers', they are not. Let me explain: an animal lover is not somebody who keeps animals because he/she finds pleasure in them even though he/she does! - it is somebody who loves animals and keeps them because he/she wants to help them. They are part of the solution, not part of the problem and that's why animal lovers rescue animals in need - so they can better their lives. The animal enjoyer keeps them because he/she wants to. They like the animals and what the animals do for them so they get them regardless of whether the life they can offer is good or not - they are the ones that buy from breeders and breed them themselves. They might be very good owners but they are part of the problem and not the solution. See the difference?

Now, if we were talking about rescuing/adopting/rehoming an adult bird because it needs a good home... well, that's a completely different story.

[banuvatt]

Correct me if I am wrong but, didn't you purchase a pair of Brazilian cardinals? Songbirds that aren't canaries, and or finches you can't exactly find them in rescues. I know the term "songbird" isn't exactly accurate as crows, and ravens are members of the passerine order but, don't sing.

However, that besides the point I am not going to keep them like a Christmas ornament. I am going to try do everything I can within my power to make sure they have the best life as possible. I am not going to just jump in blindly, and get them without doing research, and preparation. I know that as pet owners it's our responsibility to make sure that the animals in our care we offer them the best life as possible. It's what we at least owe to them since we invited them into our homes not the other way around.

[Pajarita]

I did not get the cardinals as babies from a breeder - I got them as several years old adults from a NYC lady who had bought them from a breeder in California, got the male injured resulting in the loss of one foot and half the leg and no longer wanted them (I found them in CL). She also was into exotic passerines and beauty (she had gorgeous looking birds!) and, in truth, aside from the fact that she bought them for the wrong reasons from breeders and kept them all in 'custom' cages that were made out of wire mesh (which I HATE and which had caused the injury in the male!), she took good care of them... good diet, good light, large enough cages, etc. She no longer wanted the cardinals because they did not fit her idea of perfectly beautiful as the male had become 'defective' and was no longer 'worthy' of being in her collection. I did not even actually buy any of the canaries, either. I got them as a gift from the president of the breed club and, although they were supposed to have been all 'excess' birds (babies that had not quite gotten the high points necessary to be kept as show singers or breeders), I ended up with a couple of males from his own stock because he said he liked me and that I would take real good care of them but I suspect he did it because he found out who my husband was when we went to pick them up and I introduced them. But I would buy a baby canary from a breeder as long as the breeder was a good one. I would much rather get a 2 year old canary but if push came to shove, I would buy a baby because canaries are a domesticated species that could not make it in the wild.

I am SURE that you will try to give them a good life but that is not the point. The point is that, when you buy from a breeder, you are helping keep captive birds that should not be and putting money in the pocket of a bird exploiter - money that will keep him/her 'in business'. No demand = no supply. Like I said, if you could find an adult that needed a good home, it would be fine - it's the buying a baby that is wrong.

And make no mistake. We do NOT 'invite' pet birds (or any other pet, for that matter) into our homes. Invitation implies a choice on the invitee part - they can accept or reject the invitation. We do not give animals a choice, we force them to live with us and we do not even provide the environment and care that would keep them happy and healthy. It's not a matter of trying, it's a matter of not been able to do it no matter how much we try.

Mind you, animal enjoyers can be excellent owners! Most people in my family are animal enjoyers and they all take real good care of their animals and even try to help other animals, too. I have two children and a niece that got purebred puppies from breeders but I also have children as well as nieces and nephews that rescue, instead. Not everybody is an animal lover...

[banuvatt]

Well, I am not very interested in buying babies. I could buy an adult it doesn't really matter to me I could do either or. I will try to make sure that at least some of the animals I own are re-homes, adopted, and or rescues. I have a pair of dogs I didn't buy them. I got both of them from my uncle, my first dog she is from a litter my uncle's dogs had. My second dog was given to me by my uncle's brother which was originally from my uncle. I don't necessarily extremely care about breed my first dog is a mix pom/poodle, my second one is a purebred Pomeranian.

I am not exactly pedantic when it comes to conversations especially informal ones. You do make a point however, what I meant was that we welcome animals into our homes because we love them. Their beauty, personality, and so on. I try to help injured, and or animals in need when I can, it's just unfortunately things don't always work out as planned. I would even take in something like a pigeon which is a very underappreciated bird nicknamed popularly as "Sky Rat." Pretty much most animals are welcomed into my home even if it's hated throughout the US like European Starlings, or House Sparrows.

[Pajarita]

If your aim is to adopt an adult bird that needs a good home, then all is well. Every animal deserves a good home! I've also had a large number of purebred dogs although only one was bought as a puppy as a birthday gift for my husband -and I almost divorced him over this! I did not speak to him for two whole weeks and, when I did, was to argue and berate him for wanting to buy a puppy. Eventually, I gave in because all the animals we had were brought in by me and he was (and still is) always very generous about paying the bills (we have HUGE vet bills) and this was the ONLY animal he had ever asked for and he had been asking for two whole years (he had always wanted a Golden Retriever). But to assuage my conscience, we made a deal and also adopted a little one from the local county shelter. And can you guess which dog ended up being my husband's love of his life? Yep, the one we adopted! And it worked out because, when we came out of the shelter after looking at all the poor dogs there (I cried the entire time), my husband got in the car, turned to me and said: "We will NEVER again buy a dog!" Sometimes, people need to be shown the misery animals go through to change their minds as to what is the right or the wrong thing to do. My husband was one of them.

And I've also had a purebred Pom as well as pom mixes - as a matter of fact, I have a pom mix right now: George. He is an old dog (15 - 16 years old) that has only two teeth in his mouth and a huge perineal hernia that was found on the street by a neighbor's children and, when they could not find the owner or anybody who knew him after walking around and knocking on doors for hours, another neighbor told them to try 'the bird lady' (all the neighbors bring me sick or injured animals). I told them I couldn't take him in, that my husband would kill me if I did when he came out to ask what was going on - but he knew because he came out saying: "No, no, no - no more dogs!" which only lasted until he walked close and saw George's mouth (it was summer and he was panting) and then he went: "OH MY GOD, look at this poor dog's mouth!". He knew, as I did, that if they called Animal Control, he would have been put down - he was too old and in too bad a shape to adopt out. He had few teeth left and the ones that were still there were, literally and without exaggeration, falling off his mouth (I pulled two of them that same day with my bare fingers) - he had a HUGE infection that had been there for so long (these dogs need dentals done regularly because they all have bad teeth), it was beginning to 'eat' into the bone (his breath was terrible!) so his teeth were all loose and moving back and forth (he kept on trying to put them 'right' with his tongue). I don't even know how he managed to eat with that mouth... Cost us over $2,000 to 'fix' him and weeks of recuperation and care. He is a yapper, pees all over the place (wears a diaper), needs to be fed soft senior food and treats only, and I constantly have to monitor that he is going to the bathroom without a problem because the surgery we did for his hernia did not quite work, it came back after a while (he is too old and the perineum tissue is too thin because they had not neutered him when he was young) and my vet said it would be too hard on him to do another one (he had a hard time recuperating from the first surgery - the incision was HUGE, poor thing, and he must have been in a lot of pain despite the pain killers.. he couldn't even walk, I had to carry him everywhere) and his heart is enlarged (because of the lack of dental hygiene for so many years) so all that can be done is make sure he is OK until he no longer is. But we love him! He is my 'crooked face little old man' and the Fuzzy Wuzzy Rolly Polly Georgie Porgie - and he loves having his back scratched. I call him 'crooked' because he has one ear up, one ear down and his long tongue hangs out on the left side (no teeth to hold in it) with a single fang sticking out from his lower jaw (one of his two teeth) on the other side. I you want a kiss from him, you have to put your left cheek to the left side of his mouth so he can lick you because he can't do it straight to the front

[banuvatt]

My purebred pom her name is Mochi(my sister came up with the name) although she can be a real big headache at times. She is a sweet, when she does something bad she will slowly walk up to you, and lay her head on your thigh. She absolutely LOVES ATTENTION if she sees you petting my other dog she will push her out of the way so she can get pets. Everyone that I know absolutely loves her(my best friend and also my neighbor absolutely adore her.)

When I was younger, animals loved to go into my house for some reason. When I was in fourth grade a Corgi tried to go into my house(my grandma wasn't going to have none of that lol.) Again in seventh grade another dog followed me home (a Weimaraner I believe.) A California towee went into my house, and a spent like 30 minutes trying to get it out of my house(it was hiding underneath the couch.) Here, and there lizards will be in my house, occasionally.

[Pajarita]

Yes, I have a couple of 'pushy' ones, too! The worst is Sweetie, possibly a Manchester or a Manchester mix, we found her on the streets, walking fast as stray dogs do, desperately looking for food (she was emaciated) and, although she was never aggressive, she was indifferent to people at the beginning but now she is as desperate for love as she used to be (and still is, to a point) for food. I can't bend over to talk or touch another dog because she gets in front of the other dog and starts crying as if she was being killed and jumping up and down in front of me so I would hug her and kiss her (I sing her the song 'Sweetie pie, honeybun...' - all my dogs have their own special song or phrase said in a singsong voice that I use when I pet them). I think she must have been used as a breeding dog (she 'marks' plus my vet said she had had puppies recently and had been starved for a while because she couldn't have gotten to be so emaciated -she was skin and bones- from being a few days on her own -stray dogs don't stay 'lost' more than a couple of days because people, a rescue or Animal Control pick them up quite fast in the city) and not given enough food or any love (she does not give kisses) and now no amount of either is ever enough for her, poor Sweetie...

One of these days I am going to post pictures of all my animals so you can all see my beautiful babies.