gavagai
New member
Hello. I recently got a green cheek and a quaker after being without birds for about five years. I'd had birds for eleven years before that. I gave up my last two (a Senegal and a lovebird), to a retired guy when I moved abroad in a move that I thought would be permanent, deciding that that was preferable to putting them through quarantine or leaving them with my mother (who didn't give them all that much attention) for an indefinite period of time.
Prior to that I lost a sun conure to a bacterial infection in college despite following the vet's instructions for preventing them, and I lost a lovebird to egg block in high school. (I did feed her egg biscuits and destroy her nests, but she built a new one while we were on a two-week break.)
I don't blame myself for either of those deaths, however when I was just starting out I lost a budgie and two lovebirds which I do blame myself for to various degrees, though I don't want to get into those details now. In the case of the lovebirds I also partially blame the sparsity of good resources at the time. However I learned, and didn't lose any birds to avoidable causes after that first year and a half. Also after my first three months with birds every bird I've had has been a rehome. (I like the idea of suporting responsible breeders, but I also like having birds whose personalities are well-established, even if that means it's sometimes difficult to correct their bad habits.
After I moved back to the US three years ago, I waited two years until I was confident I wouldn't end up giving them up again before I started looking at parrots and another year after that before I finally got more.
I expect to be in my current apartment for the next five years at least, and I may get more birds in that time. I may even buy a bird from a breeder; iris lorikeets, lineolated parakeets, and Pacific parrotlets all seem like appealing, apartment-friendly birds which are rarely rehomed. That's a ways away if I do; first I have to figure out birdsitting, and I'm working with the quaker on her diet and the green cheek on his biting, both of which will take time if I can fix those habits at all.
Eventually, I would like to have a house in the country with a large yard (I'm from the country originally), and breed parrots and softbills, especially those that are rare in aviculture. I'd also like to have a couple more birds as pets then, including some that for various reasons (OK, noise and lory droppings) are not suitable for apartments.
I joined another parrot forum a couple days ago, partially to talk to other people who are into birds, partially because I may want advice on behavioral modification (I've read a lot of books on it, I have some experience with my Senegal, but both of these birds are middle-aged and fixed in their habits), partly because I believe in doing a lot of research around birds before doing anything with birds, and I'm thinking about the future.
Any rate, I shared everything that I said here and a fair bit more besides, because I believe I should be honest about every aspect of my history with birds. I'm good with them now; I've read a lot since before I had them and and I've recently started correspond with aviculturists, and of course I learned from experience, but I got there in a way that I'm not entirely proud of.
That forum made it very clear that they believe I'm unqualified to have birds. Because I gave up birds I got when I was a child rather than put them through a quarantine? Because I had a multiple fatalities on the early part of my learning curve, as an 11-year-old in the nineties? I'm not sure, but they weren't shy about telling other people they weren't cut out to have birds either, people who'd done their research and didn't even have those things against them.
As they continued to make unwarranted assumptions about me, often assumptions which directly contradicted what I'd written, I decided that this wasn't a community of people I wanted to be a part of, even if any of the people attacking me knew more about parrots than I do, which is something I saw precious little actual evidence of. In fact, I don't think any of the unsolicited advice they gave 28-year-old me (except "you're not ready for birds," which I wouldn't have listened to), which have helped 11-year-old me avoid the mistakes I did make before I made them.
I googled to see if there were other parrot forums and of course this one turned up. I also found this (and I can't help but wonder if the author is describing the same place I am), which suggests that you guys might be somewhat less patronizing than the people on the other forums, so here I am.
Prior to that I lost a sun conure to a bacterial infection in college despite following the vet's instructions for preventing them, and I lost a lovebird to egg block in high school. (I did feed her egg biscuits and destroy her nests, but she built a new one while we were on a two-week break.)
I don't blame myself for either of those deaths, however when I was just starting out I lost a budgie and two lovebirds which I do blame myself for to various degrees, though I don't want to get into those details now. In the case of the lovebirds I also partially blame the sparsity of good resources at the time. However I learned, and didn't lose any birds to avoidable causes after that first year and a half. Also after my first three months with birds every bird I've had has been a rehome. (I like the idea of suporting responsible breeders, but I also like having birds whose personalities are well-established, even if that means it's sometimes difficult to correct their bad habits.
After I moved back to the US three years ago, I waited two years until I was confident I wouldn't end up giving them up again before I started looking at parrots and another year after that before I finally got more.
I expect to be in my current apartment for the next five years at least, and I may get more birds in that time. I may even buy a bird from a breeder; iris lorikeets, lineolated parakeets, and Pacific parrotlets all seem like appealing, apartment-friendly birds which are rarely rehomed. That's a ways away if I do; first I have to figure out birdsitting, and I'm working with the quaker on her diet and the green cheek on his biting, both of which will take time if I can fix those habits at all.
Eventually, I would like to have a house in the country with a large yard (I'm from the country originally), and breed parrots and softbills, especially those that are rare in aviculture. I'd also like to have a couple more birds as pets then, including some that for various reasons (OK, noise and lory droppings) are not suitable for apartments.
I joined another parrot forum a couple days ago, partially to talk to other people who are into birds, partially because I may want advice on behavioral modification (I've read a lot of books on it, I have some experience with my Senegal, but both of these birds are middle-aged and fixed in their habits), partly because I believe in doing a lot of research around birds before doing anything with birds, and I'm thinking about the future.
Any rate, I shared everything that I said here and a fair bit more besides, because I believe I should be honest about every aspect of my history with birds. I'm good with them now; I've read a lot since before I had them and and I've recently started correspond with aviculturists, and of course I learned from experience, but I got there in a way that I'm not entirely proud of.
That forum made it very clear that they believe I'm unqualified to have birds. Because I gave up birds I got when I was a child rather than put them through a quarantine? Because I had a multiple fatalities on the early part of my learning curve, as an 11-year-old in the nineties? I'm not sure, but they weren't shy about telling other people they weren't cut out to have birds either, people who'd done their research and didn't even have those things against them.
As they continued to make unwarranted assumptions about me, often assumptions which directly contradicted what I'd written, I decided that this wasn't a community of people I wanted to be a part of, even if any of the people attacking me knew more about parrots than I do, which is something I saw precious little actual evidence of. In fact, I don't think any of the unsolicited advice they gave 28-year-old me (except "you're not ready for birds," which I wouldn't have listened to), which have helped 11-year-old me avoid the mistakes I did make before I made them.
I googled to see if there were other parrot forums and of course this one turned up. I also found this (and I can't help but wonder if the author is describing the same place I am), which suggests that you guys might be somewhat less patronizing than the people on the other forums, so here I am.
