Ever bought a bird from a smoker?

[LyzGrace]

I posted this on another thread, but it wasn't really relevant to the topic, so I thought I'd put it here...

I went out to visit a boy who was listed on a few websites and I broke down and went to see him.



He was, obviously, adorable, but this was our encounter:

He and his lady were out on the front porch when I pulled up. I get out of the car and walk up to the porch, within his sight. As soon as I'm about 10 feet away : ear-piercing screech.

"Oh, don't worry - he's just warning us you're here."

Stepped right up to me, let me carry him around their house, I pet his belly a little with my thumb, but didn't offer to do any more because I didn't want to freak him out. They walked me to the room his cage was in (along with about 7 or 8 various bird, mostly conures and cockatiels) and he screeched again.

"He just thinks you're trying to put him away."

Showed me his food, which was a processed, colored pellet and said they feed him mostly that, but give him some fruits and veggies, along with animal crackers, chex mix, cheetos, etc. Walked him over to his perch and he offered a few more screeches. No explanations by that time. We went back out to the driveway and I sat down with him and just talked to him and tried to see if he would warm up anymore. THEN both owners lit up a cigarette . I will say the house didn't smell like smoke and they stayed in the driveway, not coming especially close to him, but STILL.

He didn't say anything while I was there, but they said he said he mostly talks just in his cage when it's quiet. He let me give him a kiss before I left and by the time I got home I had an email from them saying that they really felt I would be a good fit for him and that they would come down on the price for me if I decided I wanted him.

So obviously, my red flags were his yelling (possibly from being caged in a noisy room?), his diet, and the fact that he lives with smokers. He's only 4, but the possibility of health issues really scares me. Do you think that rehoming to a quiet house without other birds and handling him would make him forget about screaming? What are the possible health problems he could have and, even if I had him vet-checked, do you think a vet would be able to pick up on them? Thanks in advance!

[kaylayuh]

I've never personally had a bird that came from a home with smokers that I'm aware of, but I would think an avian vet would be able to hear any respiratory problems the bird would have from living with smokers. Birds respiratory systems are much more sensitive than ours are, and I would imagine any damage done would be evident at this point. Again, I don't have any personal experience with this, so it's just conjecture.

Although, both of my parents were smokers and had a Moluccan cockatoo. They smoked in the room with him pretty frequently. I don't know if he had any respiratory problems, but he was a chronic plucker. Again, I wouldn't chalk that completely up to being smoked around as they were pretty awful to him aside from the smoking.

He's a lovely bird, though.

[patdbunny]

The few times you described that he vocalized sounds normal. If that noise and that bit of frequency is going to bother you/your household, you need to reconsider getting this bird or any other eclectus.

The smoking - depending how often they handle him, the nicotine can go into his blood stream through his feet and other skin off their fingers from my understanding. I don't remember all the other issues from living in a smoking household.

Right now might not be a bad time to find a good avian vet and tell them you're looking to get a bird and you'd like to discuss health concerns. The bird's diet sounds pretty horrendous.

[sidech]

I agree with patdbunny, the bird's diet is awful. The best time to introduce new foods to a bird is when they are young, maybe up to 12-18 months. By the time they are 4, it is not impossible, but probably a lot harder to change their diet.

I'm surprised he's not plucking in such an environment, with a bad diet and with smokers on top of that !

My Ekkie is very quiet, but he's only 7 months old. He's quite the blabber mouth though, he won't stop chatting (even though there is only very few words I understand for now). But my house is quiet.

So maybe if your house is quiet, he would quiet down also ?

If you get him, make sure they lower the price to cover the vet expense to have his lungs carefully checked, along with a complete check-up (ask your vet for the price in advance).

He's very good looking !

Good luck !

[liz]

Did he talk? Maybe he screeched because he had no words. Myrtle did when I first got her.

I posted this on another thread, but it wasn't really relevant to the topic, so I thought I'd put it here...

I went out to visit a boy who was listed on a few websites and I broke down and went to see him.



He was, obviously, adorable, but this was our encounter:

He and his lady were out on the front porch when I pulled up. I get out of the car and walk up to the porch, within his sight. As soon as I'm about 10 feet away : ear-piercing screech.

"Oh, don't worry - he's just warning us you're here."

Stepped right up to me, let me carry him around their house, I pet his belly a little with my thumb, but didn't offer to do any more because I didn't want to freak him out. They walked me to the room his cage was in (along with about 7 or 8 various bird, mostly conures and cockatiels) and he screeched again.

"He just thinks you're trying to put him away."

Showed me his food, which was a processed, colored pellet and said they feed him mostly that, but give him some fruits and veggies, along with animal crackers, chex mix, cheetos, etc. Walked him over to his perch and he offered a few more screeches. No explanations by that time. We went back out to the driveway and I sat down with him and just talked to him and tried to see if he would warm up anymore. THEN both owners lit up a cigarette . I will say the house didn't smell like smoke and they stayed in the driveway, not coming especially close to him, but STILL.

He didn't say anything while I was there, but they said he said he mostly talks just in his cage when it's quiet. He let me give him a kiss before I left and by the time I got home I had an email from them saying that they really felt I would be a good fit for him and that they would come down on the price for me if I decided I wanted him.

So obviously, my red flags were his yelling (possibly from being caged in a noisy room?), his diet, and the fact that he lives with smokers. He's only 4, but the possibility of health issues really scares me. Do you think that rehoming to a quiet house without other birds and handling him would make him forget about screaming? What are the possible health problems he could have and, even if I had him vet-checked, do you think a vet would be able to pick up on them? Thanks in advance!

[zazanomore]

CHEETOS?! Why on earth would anyone feed their birds those.

I know that Captwest smokes (evidence in videos).

[LyzGrace]

Well I emailed the lady and told her that I wanted to take some time to make a decision and I asked about her smoking. She told me they "never smoke around any of their birds or dogs" and only did during my visit because they were nervous (?).

Regardless of whether or not they sat puffing in the bird's face, I'm sure it's experienced some sort of second- or third-hand smoke in the years that it's lived there. I'm torn between wanting to get the bird out of the house and wanting to avoid taking home my (kind of) first parrot with respiratory and lord-knows-what-else-problems because of its terrible diet and home environment.

Also, a note about my screeching concerns - I'm totally aware that birds yell. Back home my family had an Amazon that would go on 10-15 minute rants that were so loud you couldn't be on the phone anywhere in the house. If I were by myself and living in a rural area I would make no qualms about it. My problem is that I live in a townhouse in a pretty close neighborhood and would absolutely not be able to forgive myself if I took a bird home, built a relationship with it, and was forced to give it up because of action taken by neighbors. I don't think the amount of noise that this little guy made would be much of an issue, but I don't think we could afford to let it get worse.

Thanks again, guys! I'll be sure to let you know of any developments =)

[patdbunny]

If you have concerns about the neighbors taking action about the noise, check with your local noise abatement authorities and find out what's all involved. For instance, I lived smack in the city of San Diego with neighbors all around me. I had a lot of birds. If you want loud, go stand in front of an M2 which is one of the many loud birds I had. I was told by the City of San Diego that they take no action unless three different neighbors, whose properties touched mine all complained. I had an apartment building next door. The city considers an apartment building 1 complaint even if all 15 apartment households complained. So, basically my neighbors were SOL and had to listen to my noise.

Do you rent? That's a whole 'nuther story. Your landlord might be able to evict you based on nuisance.

[LyzGrace]

If you have concerns about the neighbors taking action about the noise, check with your local noise abatement authorities and find out what's all involved. For instance, I lived smack in the city of San Diego with neighbors all around me. I had a lot of birds. If you want loud, go stand in front of an M2 which is one of the many loud birds I had. I was told by the City of San Diego that they take no action unless three different neighbors, whose properties touched mine all complained. I had an apartment building next door. The city considers an apartment building 1 complaint even if all 15 apartment households complained. So, basically my neighbors were SOL and had to listen to my noise.

Do you rent? That's a whole 'nuther story. Your landlord might be able to evict you based on nuisance.

Sweet!!! I hadn't even thought of that... I do own my house, so no landlord problems. I'll definitely have to check into that. Honestly, in my metro-atlanta neighborhood, I ought to be more concerned about people breaking in and throwing things at it than going to the authorities. Thanks for the idea!!

[coral]

i just wanted to comment on the part of the diet my little guy was fed nothing but pellets from his old owner for four years and he pretty willingly tries everything especially peppers and stuff like that. and about the noise im sure your neighbors wont really care, its like a barking dog. and about the smoking my grandmother smokes but not around my bird, i have no control over what she does obviously or she wouldnt smoke at all and ive had his lungs checked because of sneezing and my avain vet said he was fine and just keep away from the smoke. she said shes had people come in with parrots that coughed up a cigarette butt so it could be a lot worse.. good luck let us know how things work out!