Choosing a Poi?

So I'm planning on adding another parrot to my little flock but I'm not sure which species I should get. The most "common" or the pois I were able to find on either craigslist/pet stores are: Red bellies, Meyers, and Senegals. I want a Poicephalus for their more laid backed and less clingly behavior (if anyone is wondering).

Bias and everything, how are your experiences with the different species? And if its no issue, would it be okay to say how much your bird was, I'm generalizing prices and adding up the estimated price for everything. I tried emailing the shop where I saw them, but they have yet to respond.

If anything, I have Pionus's (pretty much my favorite bird) on the top of the list. But they're extremely hard to find locally and more costly than I'd expect.

I have 2 sennies and here from a breeder they are around $400 and $600 from a shop. Same for red bellies.

I have a Sennie now and had one in the past. Completely different personalities. Both could be considered rescues though the present one is "official".

Kelly was a very very sweet bird after she learned to trust people again. Very gentle and quiet. She was a bit clingy and loved to perch on my shoulder for long periods of time snuggled up against my neck. Would go to anyone and quickly accept scritches from them. Never bit a soul except for me one time when I pushed her a little too fast when she was scared. It was just a "leave me alone!" type of bite.

Sidney on the other hand is an active, mostly independent, get into everything and moody little bugger at times. He has his sweet side and his has his raw vinegar side. When he is tired he likes to snuggle and get scritches. He can be extremely possessive of things he gets a hold of and will viciously bite if you try to take them away. He is also a bit female aggressive. I blame a lot of that on what little I know of his past, though.

From what I've heard, Sennies can be a bit aggressive towards other birds. Sidney demonstrated that quite clearly when it flew at and took my elderly Blue Crown Tootsie down to the floor with him. Fortunately no injury occurred. And I saw Kelly demonstrate some aggressive behavior towards some budgies one time. But as always, different birds will have different personalities. I've seen Sennies who are best buds with other birds.

Generally Pois are great birds. If I had the room and could spread enough attention around to 4 birds, I'd give serious thought to adopting another. I would not allow them to interact with your budgies or lovebird, though. For their size they have very powerful beaks and could easily injure the smaller birds.

I agree with James, spot on. I'd have a houseful of pois if I had the space and time. My Sydney is the sweet one. Sammie goes through phases of sweet and feisty. They have both tried to take on my mac. They've also both given me a good chomp when Zoe, the mac got too close while I was holding them

Good choice . Another Poi owner/lover here... I have a male Red Bellied and a male Ruppell's Parrot.

I got my RB from a bird store 20 years ago, (but prices haven't really changed much) and he was $650 with his starter cage, so he alone I believe was $500. More or less around $500-700 is probably your standard (smaller) Poi price, but it varies too by what part of the country you're in.

So Red Bellied's are common in Hawaii? I know they're not rare, but my vet (who sees only birds) says he rarely sees them. Maybe true in my area, I don't know. Surprising that not many Pionus are in Hawaii, and expensive? Pionus are usually pretty cheap on the mainland as far as parrots of their size go.

I am a Poi lover for many good reasons, and the only negative I can think of, is that especially the mature males can get crazy hormonally and bite VERY hard for their size. As James said, they have large beaks compared to the size of their body. Male Red Bellied and Senegal have the reputation. As far as color goes, my personal faves are the Meyer's with a slightly more turquoise tint.

I have a Sennie and a Ruppells. My Sennie is a young female and is very sweet and cuddly with me but is scared of other people. She is a bit clingy but can play on her own as long as I am not within her reach.

She is very aggressive towards all other pets and is very stubborn if she has decided she wants something. She is very active and loves to play.

I got her for $200 from a family that bought her from a breeder and after a week they decided birds were not for them. In my area they generally sell for 350 - 200.

I have had my Ruppell's for less than a week, but it seems like she will be very sweet and cuddly. Being a more rare poi she was 750.

I have a female Meyers Parrot who is 1 years old. She was 3.5 months old when I got her and she cost me $699.00. She is a total mama's girl and wants to be with me 24/7. When I first got her,I was told Meyers were not one person birds. That couldn't be farther from the truth. She has been socialized with the whole family from the day we brought her home an besides my oldest son will not let anyone else hold her but me. She is such a sweet girl and I love her so much. She is the best purchase I have ever made.

RavensGryf said:

So Red Bellied's are common in Hawaii? I know they're not rare, but my vet (who sees only birds) says he rarely sees them. Maybe true in my area, I don't know. Surprising that not many Pionus are in Hawaii, and expensive? Pionus are usually pretty cheap on the mainland as far as parrots of their size go

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There is a pet shop here who sells Red Bellies, and I saw a craigslist posting with a dramatic price difference.
The pet shop sells them for 700 while the craigslist posting had one for 300! :20:
Based on that price, I'd snatch her right up, but I'd want to wait for another year to save up at least 5-600 dollars for everything.

I remember there was a lost poster for a pionus near Makiki but they mightve found their pet. The only breeder for Pionus' that I am aware of lives on Maui and I honestly wouldn't ship pets IMO.

And thank you for all your responses, this past week has been really stressful and emotional for me. But during that time I continued my research and continuously read through your comments over and over again and settled in on a Senegal!!!

I'd love to meet one personally, but I'm still looking for a breeder. A shelter is out of the question because again, the only shelters are on Maui and the Big Island .

One last thing. It would mean a lot if you guys could help me contact a breeder . (But I'll be waiting a while until I can get a job and financially support my future/current birds).

Sennies are great little birds, which is why they're popular I love their striking yellow eyes against the gray. It's so pretty.

Try birdbreeders.com They are a huge resource, and many of us have used it with success. Can I ask the reason you can't just go to the big island or Maui?

RavensGryf said:

Try birdbreeders.com They are a huge resource, and many of us have used it with success. Can I ask the reason you can't just go to the big island or Maui

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Ive been using that website to compare prices mostly, but Ive only found a limited amount of breeders in Hawaii in general, none breeding poicephalus' but I was tempted getting another lovebird.


And I get airsick very easily. and im not sure why, but I think the plane ticket could be used for an emergency vet check up/help with the cost of the bird. I'm also a minor...(surprise!) so I have to have my feet planted in Oahu unless my mom (she has been catching up on her work) or another guardian comes with me. And I personally don't like shipping birds/animals in general because I wouldn't want them to get too stressed, however, I just might have to.
Plus, the quarantine laws--why I left my dream of owning a Vasa, or Caique, and any other bird I really liked haha

I've had several birds shipped in the past. It's common practice. The birds are always fine . That way, it really opens up a lot more possibilities for you.

If I were you, I'd get one shipped. The breeders do it all the time and they know what they're doing. Usually by Delta airlines "pets first" program. Never had a problem, and never heard of anyone having any kind of 'problem' with shipping.
Just make sure it's a reputable breeder. Most have websites, and you can call and talk to them. Or let us here see the website if you aren't sure and need another opinion. There are some well known, quality Poi breeders on the mainland.

RavensGryf said:

I've had several birds shipped in the past. It's common practice. The birds are always fine . That way, it really opens up a lot more possibilities for you.

If I were you, I'd get one shipped. The breeders do it all the time and they know what they're doing. Usually by Delta airlines "pets first" program. Never had a problem, and never heard of anyone having any kind of 'problem' with shipping.
Just make sure it's a reputable breeder. Most have websites, and you can call and talk to them. Or let us here see the website if you aren't sure and need another opinion. There are some well known, quality Poi breeders on the mainland.

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I actually started thinking of shipping since a few breeders had them for a cheaper price (yes, budget is kind of in the way) and the shipping fees where still relatively cheap. But my main concern was the quarantine laws which requires a few hundred extra dollars for the hold and also, they will be away for a few days to a week without any outside time--so thats the root of the fear of shipping for me.

There is a website I'm not too sure about, I don't really want to name the website but its on the Big Island, they're the only one who I can find that sales Senegals.

I didn't think about the quarantine. Hawaii is strict. I guess they don't want any disease decimating the native populations, but then I'd always worry about them picking up a disease in the quarantine station instead!

I'm always surprised when I hear that Hawaii doesn't have much of a variety of parrots since you would think it would, being a tropical place. Isn't that ironic? When I think of Hawaii, it's tropical flowers, palm trees, and PARROTS!

What is it in particular that makes you unsure about this breeder on the Big Island?

RavensGryf said:

I didn't think about the quarantine. Hawaii is strict. I guess they don't want any disease decimating the native populations, but then I'd always worry about them picking up a disease in the quarantine station instead!

I'm always surprised when I hear that Hawaii doesn't have much of a variety of parrots since you would think it would, being a tropical place. Isn't that ironic? When I think of Hawaii, it's tropical flowers, palm trees, and PARROTS!

What is it in particular that makes you unsure about this breeder on the Big Island?

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I would have thought so too, the only place with a lot of free roaming parrots is in Manoa.

What makes me unsure is mostly just not being able to visit, and finding myself with a parrot that hasn't actually been hand reared, and its stated in their Bill of Sale that all sales are final and isn't responsible for any difficulties.

Importing a parrot from the mainland to Hawaii is incredibly expensive and hard to do, even if it is a legal one here in Hawaii. It is also a lot of extra work for the breeder and the vet, it is very difficult to find a vet willing to do what needs to be done, and to find the vet and the breeeder in the same place? I wouldn't count in it. It is only about $60 to ship inter island though, through aloha air cargo.

Also, a lot of people don't know that simply buying a hand raised parrot isn't the same as buying a tame one - ask the baby's budgies who were i quarantine with me while being hand fed! So much more goes into it than that, I really do hope you are able to find a breeder here on o'ahu that has what you want so you can go see it.

Also, Hawaii has no native parrots, though there is talk about declaring IRNs native now that the wild population has been here for so long. It is the wild parrots that make it so hard to bring birds over, and why so many species are illegal. For example, you cannot bring IRNs to the island, or even ship them between islands anymore.

SilverSage said:

Also, Hawaii has no native parrots, though there is talk about declaring IRNs native now that the wild population has been here for so long. It is the wild parrots that make it so hard to bring birds over, and why so many species are illegal. For example, you cannot bring IRNs to the island, or even ship them between islands anymore.

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That finally makes sense, I've seen green parrots flying around all the time but I had no clue which species they where, and I never they became illegal. I've only heard of quakers and parrotlets(?)

IRNs, Quakers, Parrotlets, Caiques, Linnies, just a bunch of them! It is kind of sad that people's irresponsibility in the past is keeping us from having these birds as pets now, but there is nothing we can do about it now except insure that our birds never add to the wild population.

SilverSage said:

IRNs, Quakers, Parrotlets, Caiques, Linnies, just a bunch of them! It is kind of sad that people's irresponsibility in the past is keeping us from having these birds as pets now, but there is nothing we can do about it now except insure that our birds never add to the wild population.

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CAIQUES!? Ah man, I guess my dream bird stands

It is a shame, I really hope that the list stays as it is