Pet Demographics

[Michael]

I'm curious about the distribution of members of this forum as pet owners. I find myself talking strictly from a bird owner only perspective but I do notice others bringing other pets up in many discussions. I wonder how many multi pet vs birds only members we have here.

So please vote and let us know. Also specify in your comments if you started on birds or other pets led you to birds (like collecting a little of everything, so a parrot just happened to be another exotic pet to get).

[Rrrma]

Currently I have 5 birds and 2 dogs.

I can't comment on which came first, as I can't actually remember what my first pet was. It was either a rabbit or a parakeet... but I was very very young. My parents started an inhome pet rescue when they first got married, so I grew up around multiple animals of multiple species and I really enjoy their company. There were a few rescues that stayed with us, but most were rehab'd and rehomed.

I've personally had dogs, cats, fish, rabbits, turtles, snails, frogs, and of course birds. As I've mentioned, the majority of my pets are second-hand.

I've always been a bird person though. I've studied them in the wild, sat and watched them for hours, learned their calls, and obsessed over learning more and more information. Birds are awesome.

[MandyG]

Growing up my family had a number of different animals. We had hamsters, turtles, fish, dogs, cats, canaries and doves. I also spent hours bird watching with my Grandma and the birds always fascinated me. I loved how our canaries sang but when we were taking care of the doves (they were my aunt's) that's when I really fell in love with birds.

Once I lived on my own I never thought of getting another bird. I simply didn't know much about keeping them so they didn't cross my mind. Over the years I got my own horse, two dogs, fish, gerbils and started fostering dogs for a local rescue. Then one day I was thinking of the pair of doves we took care of and I started researching about them. One door opened to another and after lots of research and planning my Amazon joined the family. I've always just felt happier sharing my life with animals and I was eventually able to rediscover my childhood love of birds.

So I guess for me it's a little of both, I started liking birds when I was young but as an adult I owned many other animals that eventually led me to owning a parrot!

[Nathaniel]

I just put a deposit on a red-bellied parrot so...

I also have:
2-dogs
2-cats
17-poison dart frogs
2-softshell turtles
3-ocelot geckos
14-neon day geckos
1-reticulated python
1-western hognose snake
8-garter snakes
1-albino monocled cobra
1-spectical cobra
2-green vine snake
2-jacksons chameleons
2-bearded dragons
1-chinese water dragon
1-nile monitor
If you can't tell, I just adopted a ton of reptiles from the previous owners of the house I just moved in

Freshwater Fish include:
Arapiama, Piranha, Gar, Bowfin, Angelfish, Discus, Black ghost knife fish, Platy, Swordfish, Mudskippers, Neon tetras, Zebra danio, (16)Zebra pleco(I am especially proud of these), other pleco, cory cats, Fire mouths, Various african cichilds, a new koi pond, Asian red-tail catfish, Giant gourami, other tetras, Hatches, Glass cats, Kili fish, Betta, Sturgens, silver and black Arowana, Kuhlii loaches, Stingrays, and on and on.

Marine fish:
Dwarf seahorses, Cape seahorses, Tigertail seahorses, Blue striped pipefish, Aligator pipefish, Clownfish, Tangs, Grouper, Dwarf angels, Angels, Dragonets, Lionfish, Sharks, Stingrays, Wrasse, Hogfish and Hawkfish, basically alot.
*I also have a variaty of invertabrates and corals.*

[lainmai]

Past Pets:

3 cats (Ralph, Samantha, & Pocky)
1 German Shepard (Kora)
1 Lovebird (Kiwi)
84832826475987 Betta fish (not really, have had much less but they seem to only live a year or two at best & at one point I had 5 males and 4 females)

Current Pets (family):

2 Cairn Terriers (boy is mine, his sister is my moms but we don't dare separate them @ 11yo) (Zeke & Zoey)
2 Horses (1 TB, 1 QH) (Rusty & Rosey)

Current Pets (personal):

1 Betta fish (male) (Daisuke)
1 Senegal (Tobi)
2 Pacific Parrotlets (Midori & Minoru)

[Ben]

I expect my Senegal this weekend.

He will be kept in our lounge along with my daughters Hamster and my partners Guinea pig. I'm fairly sure he will establish himself as King relatively quickly.

[ptuga72]

We have 4 parrots currently residing in our home, 1 eclectus, 1 gcc, and 2 cherry-head conures which are fosters. We also have an old, lazy, cross-eyed himalayan cat.

My family always had cats or fish. I've always fancied myself a cat person. When my hubby and I first bought our condo (before we married) a friend needed to rehome her kitty, so we took him. Then we had fish as my hubby was a marine biology major long ago. After the fish died (now I know why marine bio didn't work out lol) it was just us and Kitty. But once we got Jake, I was hooked and now know that I am definitely a BIRD person

[bmsweb]

Only Birdies for us, but we did have Fish some years ago

[Natacha]

I have a cat on top of my 6 parrots.

As a kid, I wanted all kinds of pet, although wanting a cat or a budgie was always on top. Since we moved a lot, my mom didn't really want another pet...but that changed when we took in a stray cat, in no way feral, who needed a home and who was most likely abandoned when her previous owner(s) moved (we found her a month or so after the peak of moving season in Quebec). So I guess a cat came first, although I really really wanted a budgie as well

[lzver]

Just the 2 (soon to be 3) birds for us. I grew up with dogs my entire life and still love them, but don't have a desire to own one at this point in my life.