Advice Needed.

I am looking after a cockatiel for one of my teachers. His name is Izzy. He was about 1-2 years old when he was bought from the pet store. He bit and attacked anyone who came near. I can only guess what his life was like before that. I am guessing he is a pearl ( the mutation disappears after a year or two in males ) and was hand reared for his colours. When he lost the pearling, I am guessing that he was sold to the pet store. My teacher purchased him as a class pet. Unfortunately, she knew ( still does ) nothing at all on pet birds and their needs. He was fed bread and was kept in a tiny travel cage for a few days before she got him seed and a cage. As a class pet, I kind of assumed he had a larger cage at home. I took him home for the weekend, about two years ago. I took him into the bathroom, and, I can still remember perfectly, he climbed up to my shoulder and nuzzled my cheek. I am crying as I am writing this. He had previously attacked anyone who had got near him. In a few minutes, I'd progressed to neck scratches. In the past few months, I have started to alter his diet ( I didn't before because he isn't my bird ) by picking out the sun flower seeds and giving him fresh gum leaves. Now I have him at my house again and I need to start to change his diet and convince the teacher to a) get him a bigger cage and c) let him have a healthier diet.

I have heard of cockatiels living up to 30 years of age, and, personally, I am not sure my teacher will keep him that long. Izzy has no toys or mental stimulation. My heart is breaking just watching Izzy sitting in the cage on the same perch, for hours. It isn't my teachers fault, she just doesn't have a clue about caring properly for Izzy. I have tried to correct her. At school, I play with him until the bell and train him. Sometimes he is left at school over the weekends. I'm not sure what I can do to help really.....

You are such a blessing Ratzy, need I say more
Do you have any video's of your budgies in their cage, playing etc?
Perhaps try showing her how happy and carefree the budgies are, flying around, playing and getting great exercise.
Show her a link pertaining to their diet etc. Mention to her, that you gave Izzy some fresh gum leaves, saying HE LOVED THEM, eat till there was no more left. Mention to her, how healthy they are for Izzy, and you reckon he actually looks healthier since eating the leaves.
Try the above, you have nothing to loose
Good luck

Thanks, Ant. I'll try that. For now I'm letting Iz have some free flight time.

I suppose trying to educate an educator can be a tough job but I think your the right girl for it Just keep pushing at it, I'm sure you'll get your way eventually

Ratzy, I'm so happy that you're doing this for Izzy. The poor thing needs help.

Keep up what you're doing. Giving him the gum leaves, and completely omit all sunflower seeds from his diet.

Have you noticed, does he seem overweight? I'm wondering that, because of what his lifestyle has been most of his life. Sitting in a cage all day eating nothing but seed is a close equivalent to a human sitting on the couch eating french fries. Seed itself is not bad to offer, just the amount he's currently eating is very unhealthy. Try weaning him onto a diet of about 50-60% vegetables. If you can afford it, perhaps find him some cockatiel pellets that aren't terribly high in artificial ingredients.

After that, consider saving up to buy the new cage yourself. You can still ask her, but I honestly doubt she'll agree on buying him a bigger cage. Try taking him out to play as much as possible, he's going to need some more exercise.

Since I've had the pleasure of owning these wonderful birds myself, feel free to ask any other questions!

Thanks, guys. I've been giving him exercise for the past few months by letting him fly around, so he isn't drastically overweight, though he is heavier than is usual for a cockatiel. We have absolutely NO pellets over here so I'm going to try to sprout some seeds for him. I have enough for a bigger cage for him, but as I may need it for Marigold ( as I mentioned in my other topic ) I will see. He is one of my best birdie friends, I would adopt him if I could. If that option is ever viable, the owners will be asking me first. I am very good at dealing with teachers, having two as parents. About to go find some more gum leaves for him. I'm also going to hide some greens within the leaves. That is how I got my budgies onto greens in the first place ( sorry about font, don't know how that happened ).

I know that www.cockatielcottage.net has a lot of good helpful information on it you can either print out some pages from there to give to your teacher or refer her to the site yourself