Why Is It Always the Quakers?! A Craiglist Rant

Because I am a giant masochist I was browsing "parrots" in Craigslist (always a painful thing to do), and I couldn't help but wonder: Why the HECK are there always at least 5-10 Quaker parrots living in tiny, dirty looking cages in my search results?

I mean, seriously, I know they're not huge birds, but WHY do so many people keep them in barely-big-enough-for-Budgie cages? Heck, when I took Sammy home he was living 24/7 in the cage that I used as his sleeping cage. It was easily covered with a throw rug at night--that's how small it was. Heck, I used it as a travel cage to the vet. Yet his previous owners had him living in it all the time. It's no wonder these people don't have good relationships with their SUPER SMART Quakers when they practically keep them locked in a shoe box.

Yeah, yeah, I know that all birds on CL are bad off, but the number of Quakers ALWAYS up for rehoming who are living in TERRIBLE conditions really gets to me. (And it really scares me that these horrible photos are probably the best images they could get of the poor birds.) It's like just because they are a parakeet and not a bigger parrot, they aren't as important as other birds and are more easily cast off. I mean, I see the occasional conure and amazon and CAG, but every single time I look at Craigslist, there are TONS of Quakers, and NONE of them look like they are living happy lives with loving parronts. I really wish the Quakers' average price point was just a couple hundred dollars higher, because then maybe people would think twice before impulse buying them and having to rehome them on Craigslist in a week.

Sorry, I just had to get that off my chest after getting all teary eyed over another half a dozen birds. I have GOT to stop looking under "parrots" on CL. This is going to kill me.

yah if i had the money time experience and room i would probably buy all of them but thats never going to happen ,sniffle,.

I agree with you both!!

If you want to do something constructive, you could always join the local bird club and help them educate people in the proper care of birds. A lot of time, it's just ignorance and not an active meaningful abuse. And not all CL birds are neglected and abused. It's merely a method of advertising a bird that needs a new home (there are so few now that newspaper ads are no longer a viable option for people). Several of our really reputable breeders use it to place their birds. A lot of time when I see ads like that on CL, I send the poster an email giving him/her resources to help place the bird or KEEP the bird if there's a problem. The local bird club is a good place to point them and maybe even this forum.

I hear you! By the time I finish a CL browsing, I am usually hyperventilating!

It's like that for cockatiels and lovebirds in my city breaks my heart.

Michelle, I agree, I think in a lot of cases Quakers are rehomed again and again for several reasons. The name itself, Monk Parakeet, is misleading, Quakers aren't budgies. The initial price of the bird is low so it's easy to purchase one on a whim, the grinning salesperson at the local petshop will sell you a Quaker, a cricket cage, a couple pounds of cheap seed, cute toys and accessories and send you on your way when the only reason you went to the store in the first place was to pick up fish food. Then you take your strange new pet home, open the door of the cricket cage and OOPS! By then your Quaker is highly motivated to take your face off, or your child's face. Ahhh, but they are so small and adorable, who knew the viscious little boogers would make you bleed then giggle about it and yell, Ouch!

Of course that's just conjecture on my part. Thankfully, lots of pet store employees know something about the avians they sell, cage size is a different matter, it irks me to no end that they sell these tiny cages to people who aren't aware their new pet needs far more space. I'm sure Craigslist is a good thing in some areas, but sadly, Craigslist in the DFW area is not on that list in most cases, only my personal opinion.

Sad but CL is bad here also. There is one guy trying to trade his parrots for a go-cart and a gun . Serious.

We have an Amazon, riding mower swap here!

Kyoto said:

It's like that for cockatiels and lovebirds in my city breaks my heart.

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Yep, same here. Just terrible.

I was browsing craigslist the other day and found a quaker that was listed as an "Amazon Parrot". Yes, really.

That's a good one! In the owner's defense, the Quaker may be telling everyone he's an Amazon!

jensea said:

I was browsing craigslist the other day and found a quaker that was listed as an "Amazon Parrot". Yes, really.

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Our local Petco had a Quaker listed as 'fancy green cheek conure'
I had a bit of fun with that one!
OT, They have a beautiful Rosey Bourke at the moment, darling little girl!

It sounds like these guys are all otherkin. #tumblrjoke

A) People suck. I spent 8 years as an investigator for the SPCA, and that's about the only thing that explains what people do animals.

B) Having just rescued my first parrot ( Although I understand they're like potato chips, and you can't have just one....), a Quaker that's been largely ignored and neglected for the last few years, found on CL, I'm choosing to think of CL as an opportunity for folks like us to rescue the poor dears.