Cockatiels. My roommate kept them and at times I had 9 cockatiels in my apartment. Very cute and loving for the most part.
Aww... That is really sad.Originally posted by: zippy
My best friend just passed away a few weeks ago.Parakeet named Zip - I had him since 3rd grade, we got him March 17, 1994 - he lived to be 9 years and 3 months old - June 27, 2003. He was the absolute greatest. He was extremely sweet and friendly, almost never bit, and loved getting kisses.
Here's a picture of my little buddy: Zip
Anyway, sorry to get off topic but this thread reminded me of him.
Lots of good information here - don't dismiss parakeets though, they're great.
The one that lived the longest.. She died recently, I don't remember when we got them.. I was around 11, and am 22 now.. so that's 11 years. Her common name was "momma bird", cause she had several clutches of babies in her younger years.. But her "real" name was Jaws. :Q She wasn't the friendliest of birds. She would bite anything she could, and I mean HARD.. drew blood a few times. Had to wear leather gloves to clip her wings, lol.
Her mate, which was the best parakeet we ever had, died a long time ago - about 6 years.
Something must've happened to him, got sick and didn't realize it or something.I agree, parakeets can be very rewarding.. just make sure you handle it all the time, or it may be skittish. If you do ever have a parakeet, make sure you drape their cage with a piece of clear plastic, and if the cage is large enough (ours is like 6'x 4'x3'), a light. They do not like drafts of air.
I wasnt dissing the parakeet, just in my mindset, a parakeet isnt a parrot-like bird,ya know? I also wanted to get back here and tell
Murpheee that bit of info about the cage being one of the most imortant things to get for a bird. Bigger is definitely better and buy as mucxh cage as you can afford.
One other topic I was remiss in telling about was the food issue: Stay away from the seed based diets! I give my birds Zupreem pelleted food. Check out the link and you will see what my amzon looks like. Also it looks like they have a faq on exotic birds that may be of help to you.
If you get a bird that is young and raised by a breeder, you can get them on a pelleted diet much easier than an older bird that has been given seed most of its life. Pelleted food looks like dry cat food but in pretty colors and fruit shapes. Birds are notoriously picky eaters and they sometimes root around their seed cup to find the one specific item they want. With the pellets, my amazon will not touch the orange round pellets, while my grey refuses to touch the green ones. Either way, they are eating all of the other ones and get their nutrition they need. There has been an ongoing debate as to whether exotic birds can get " addicted" to bird seed diets. I would probably agree that a bird given a mixed seed diet will invariably choose one seed, most likely sunflower , and eat that exclusively. Not a very healthy diet in anyones book.
Chemicals are another subject to be careful of: Even perfume or cologne can be toxic to your bird. As well as cleaning sprays and polishing sprays.
Funny story that rblowdoe reminded me of: I was at Busch Gardens in Tampa and they had an exotic bird display and had their lorikeets in a big round drum-looking cage. I went over to them and stuck my finger into the cage and damn if about ten of the birds came hopping, like grasshoppers over to me for some loving. Damn funny birds. Murpheee if you decide on getting a bird , by all means look into a lorikeet also. Especially the rainbow lori.. Neat and fun bird.
Peace
Lounatik
Murpheee that bit of info about the cage being one of the most imortant things to get for a bird. Bigger is definitely better and buy as mucxh cage as you can afford.
One other topic I was remiss in telling about was the food issue: Stay away from the seed based diets! I give my birds Zupreem pelleted food. Check out the link and you will see what my amzon looks like. Also it looks like they have a faq on exotic birds that may be of help to you.
If you get a bird that is young and raised by a breeder, you can get them on a pelleted diet much easier than an older bird that has been given seed most of its life. Pelleted food looks like dry cat food but in pretty colors and fruit shapes. Birds are notoriously picky eaters and they sometimes root around their seed cup to find the one specific item they want. With the pellets, my amazon will not touch the orange round pellets, while my grey refuses to touch the green ones. Either way, they are eating all of the other ones and get their nutrition they need. There has been an ongoing debate as to whether exotic birds can get " addicted" to bird seed diets. I would probably agree that a bird given a mixed seed diet will invariably choose one seed, most likely sunflower , and eat that exclusively. Not a very healthy diet in anyones book.
Chemicals are another subject to be careful of: Even perfume or cologne can be toxic to your bird. As well as cleaning sprays and polishing sprays.
Funny story that rblowdoe reminded me of: I was at Busch Gardens in Tampa and they had an exotic bird display and had their lorikeets in a big round drum-looking cage. I went over to them and stuck my finger into the cage and damn if about ten of the birds came hopping, like grasshoppers over to me for some loving. Damn funny birds. Murpheee if you decide on getting a bird , by all means look into a lorikeet also. Especially the rainbow lori.. Neat and fun bird.
Peace
Lounatik
I've owned a couple of amazons and a female red-sided eclectus. The eclectus was by far the coolest bird and a great parrot to own. Take Lounatik's advice; he knows what he's talking about.
The only point I see worth adding is ...
The beaks, while they can draw blood and hurt like a biatch ... can also take a finger off ... they're EXTREMELY powerful.
I've always wanted a big bird ... very expensive though ... must-refrain ...
Cockatoo's are the sweetest, like Lounatik said demand a lot of attention. I'd probably get an african grey if I were to get one.
Oh, and birds sh!t about every 20 mins. Don't be surprised by this, be prepared
The beaks, while they can draw blood and hurt like a biatch ... can also take a finger off ... they're EXTREMELY powerful.
I've always wanted a big bird ... very expensive though ... must-refrain ...
Cockatoo's are the sweetest, like Lounatik said demand a lot of attention. I'd probably get an african grey if I were to get one.
Oh, and birds sh!t about every 20 mins. Don't be surprised by this, be prepared
LOL, yeah they sh!t alot. My eclectus was great though. She went to her cage to sh!t if she was roaming around the house or if she was on my shoulder, she'd give a little nip to my ear to let me know she wanted to go. I like to think I trained her that way but it was more of something she did on her own. Awesome bird; the most affectionate bird I've ever seen and very sociable. Here's a pic of an eclectus. The male is the green one. I had a female very similar to the photo, very scarlet and a little more purple than blue in the chest. I think the eclectus is the only parrot where the male and female actually appear different colors.Originally posted by: Blieb
The only point I see worth adding is ...
The beaks, while they can draw blood and hurt like a biatch ... can also take a finger off ... they're EXTREMELY powerful.
I've always wanted a big bird ... very expensive though ... must-refrain ...
Cockatoo's are the sweetest, like Lounatik said demand a lot of attention. I'd probably get an african grey if I were to get one.
Oh, and birds sh!t about every 20 mins. Don't be surprised by this, be prepared
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