Apples and Oranges

Hey guys! I'm new to this forum and I thought it would be a great place to ask for help on my final decision.
In my past and present I have had budgies and cockatiels.
Now, I feel like I am able to handle and give the proper care to a larger bird.
My options include the smaller Cockatoo's like the Citron, Rose Breasted, or Bare Eyed. And a female Eclectus, but I am also open to the males.

Research has been done on all of these and I am still open to suggestions.

Do you guys have a personal favorite based on your experience or the generalization?

Welcome to the forum

What a hard choice! All are very different. I love galahs, but they should be left fully flighted, as well as motivated to fly because of health issues. They are highly prone to obesity, fatty tumors, fatty liver disease, and heart disease. Galah cockatoo's are also known for being nippy. But the galah is my personal favorite, because I have one and I love her :heart:

White cockatoo's are very emotional, and can also be VERY loud. They are often extremely cuddly. Emotionally demanding, neurotic, and prone to self mutilation are three things a low quality breeder or pet store will avoid mentioning, but are very tragic characteristics the poor white cockatoos are famous for.

Eclectus have a specialized diet, they don't do well on pellets and should be fed a majority of fresh foods daily. a small amount of pellets should be fed, but the diet should primarily be fresh and some prepared foods. The eclectus are a lesser known species, but in recent years more research has been done to improve their life with humans. Eclectus used to be shown to have short lives, but we know much more about their diet today than 20 years ago.

All the birds you picked are great, and all have their own unique challenges.

A few more parrots you may find interesting
African greys(tenmeh subspecies, and Congo subspecies)
Alexandrine
Derbyan
Pionus(blue headed, bronze winged, maximillion, dusky)
hawk heads
amazons(lilac, panama, green cheek)
conures of all types
mini macaws
lories
king parrot

I did try look into Congo's but apparently they're very "suprising" which isn't a good fit for me, since I'm easily scared haha!

Possibly Eclectus' are more my type?

Is it (personally) true that the smaller Cockatoos have a "softer" volume, and are less demanding for a too?

My father in law has a Goffin. Yes when he talks his voice is softer, but his call is screechy and can get loud. He is also very demanding.

my friend had a goffins and he was loud, and very very very demanding. smaller species can still be difficult to live with.

i'd choose ekkies from your list personally, if i had to choose. i hear great things about them, but their diet is intimidating for some people.

I have an Eclectus and he is a wonderful bird. His diet is more demanding than my others, but he is so worth it! He is very independent, and not a cuddly sort of bird. He does like some snuggles, but is happiest when he is just hanging out with us
Looking forward to seeing what you decide on!

Choosing between those species I would go with RB2.

They are the easiest too to work with, for starters...

Cockatoos are loud... very loud. There are occasional ones that aren't but most are. In my opinion they are the most difficult bird to own and require the most care. I tried with a Goffin. I ended up rehoming him to a woman experienced in cockatoos because he was more than I could handle. I own a Macaw and don't have a problem...The cockatoo was over my head.

I recommend that anyone thinking of getting a cockatoo read this... All About Cockatoos - MyToos.com
It's honest and straightforward.

I live with a bare eyed cockatoo girl and she's not loud, no louder then the dang conures when they yell!!

She is not a screamer, only time she even does a flock call is when everyone away and when she hears the key in the front door. Then soon as she sees you, she stops calling and does he kissing sound and saying hello. Maybe she's an exception, but even Folger, the problem rescue bare eyed boy, my daughter is adopting is not loud or a screamer.

I think every bird is different, but bare eyeds are wonderful birds and if probably trained and socialized, they are awesome family members. I would definitely always have a bare eyed on the list of top feathered family members to live with!

I'm the one adopting Folger and if you are easily scared I'm not sure a white too is the one for you. Unless it is older and has no issues. Folger was brought back to the rescue the last time because he got hormonal during breeding season and would bite his owner who couldn't handle the posturing and the pain. (He bit me three times at the rescue breaking skin a bit on two of them. It hurts a bit but I have a fairly high threshold for pain.) White toos can be really very difficult even the smaller ones. Ivory came to us with issues but luckily not enough to be overly difficult. She's gotten a little grumpy lately but I just grabbed her beak and told her to stuff it pretty much.

I'm not sure what your home setting is but if you do decide on a too than make sure to socialize it the way you will the rest of its life. If you aren't going to be home a lot then it needs to know how to forage and self entertain. If you are going to be home a lot it still needs to know how to do those things because life sucks and you never know if you will have an emergency that takes a lot of your attention. Also, you will need to make sure that you have people other than just yourself handling the bird. You don't want the too to become over bonded and aggressive to everyone else. And if you get a baby chances are its going to go a bit crazy on you during maturity. If you are easily scared or can't handle pain than this might be an issue for you.

I feel like I'm preaching or something weird but just not sure if you come across some of this in your research! If you are ready for a too than I would go with a galah, goffin, or bare eyed. I've heard the galahs are the least crazy of the toos....

If you are ready for a larger bird than what you have had but still on the smaller side and don't mind noise (which I'm guessing you don't based on the too choices) a sun conure is awesome! Mine is very cuddly, friendly, funny, and slightly destructive.

Another galah guardian here, and they really are delightful birds. My galah's bad qualities are largely related to how easily stressed she is - she doesn't make a fuss or throw tantrums in the way the white cockatoos are reputed to, but it's obvious when she's stressed and painful to see her scared or miserable, and it's very hard to get her to do anything new and unfamiliar. I'm cautious of claiming that galahs are an 'easy' cockatoo - they strike me as still being highly strung, emotional birds and mine was, shall we say, a very steep learning curve for a beginner - but they're well worth the effort it takes to care for them properly.

On the upside, she's quieter than any other bird I've spent time with - in fact, all the galahs I've met have have seemed noticeably quieter than the LSCs and Bare Eyed / Corellas I've come across. She was initially extremely nippy, but has calmed down with me and generally behaves herself in that respect (still needs to be closely supervised around strangers though!). She's never drawn blood on me either, and when she takes a stab at someone you get the impression she's making a point rather than trying to do any damage. She's also incredibly loving and affectionate but perfectly capable of entertaining herself when I need to do other things, and extremely sociable and happy to be around different people, so she has plenty of great qualities!

I have to admit I did not read all the posts before casting my vote for a bare eyed, tho I still stand by that vote

But Riddick07 (who is my daughter if you haven't guessed that one), did read everything in all the posts. I have to agree with her 150%, if you are easily intimidated by a bird, then any bird with a decent beak could be a problem. The real terror in our home is the little pineapple green cheek girl, she is not mean, but just a brat who loves to bite me just to see me jump (like last night, she was all fine and normal self, she landed on my shoulder to see what we were doing with trimming cockatiel nails and the little bugger nipped my ear). She does not bite to draw blood, just seems to find it so funny. I am not scared of her, but not a fan of her bites, she is kinda like a little pitbull, when she wants to bite, she will grab and do everything but alligator death rolls!! Anyway, point... if you show fear with any of the cockatoos, they will literally terrorize you, showing fear or hesitation is the worst thing for about any bird to see. You need to be the leader of the flock which means keeping them down the flock pecking order and that means needing to work thru bites.

Any bird can bite... and they all have their own measure of pain, be it small slashing or pinching type beak or a larger bird with a mashing type pressure.

I think you would do yourself a huge service to find a rescue and volunteer for several months. Get yourself hands on education for handling all types of birds, experience a bite or two (its gonna happen, this way there will be others around for support and advice), and you never know, you might find your new best friend waiting for you in the rescue!! If its a sun, galah, bare eyed or the world's most loveable amazon, never know!!

Good luck with your search!

Ah didn't see the question about if the small toos are demanding. Ivory is the worst in the house. She needs to constantly either be out or on us. She can't handle being in her cage when we are home. A lot of her issues are from being rehomed and how they treated her in the first home. She no longer HAS to sit with us. In the beginning it was like she couldn't control it and if she wasn't with us she went into a panic. Now she can sit on her cage or in the bathroom all day without an issue. She still can't be in her cage if we are home. We are hoping that will fade but don't have high hopes.

The smaller toos can be just as demanding and needy as larger ones. If you get a baby you can socialize it the way you want but you will still go through the maturity faze which isn't usually all that fun. If you have seen pictures online than you can see the little toos with the same issues as a large one. Neurotic and psychotic. Plucking, mutilation, screaming, biting, aggression. These are all issues that are common across the board with the white toos. I'm not sure but it might be less so with galahs. Honestly I know little about galahs.

I don't want to scare you away from a too but want to be completely honest and realistic about the possibilities. For all I know you are a perfect home for a too!

Here is Folger the Bare Eyed I am adopting. He has had it rough in life but want to show you a little one with the same issues as a big too.


And my mothers Ivory! Only issue was twisting feathers under her wings that we were able to resolve with redirecting and the velcro bird that is pretty much resolved. She did bite at first but that went away pretty fast and it wasn't harsh bites.

I hope you figure out who is the best fit for your family! I love the toos so far and this forum is great for info if you decide to add one to your family

riddick07 said:

I'm the one adopting Folger and if you are easily scared I'm not sure a white too is the one for you. Unless it is older and has no issues. Folger was brought back to the rescue the last time because he got hormonal during breeding season and would bite his owner who couldn't handle the posturing and the pain. (He bit me three times at the rescue breaking skin a bit on two of them. It hurts a bit but I have a fairly high threshold for pain.) White toos can be really very difficult even the smaller ones. Ivory came to us with issues but luckily not enough to be overly difficult. She's gotten a little grumpy lately but I just grabbed her beak and told her to stuff it pretty much.

I'm not sure what your home setting is but if you do decide on a too than make sure to socialize it the way you will the rest of its life. If you aren't going to be home a lot then it needs to know how to forage and self entertain. If you are going to be home a lot it still needs to know how to do those things because life sucks and you never know if you will have an emergency that takes a lot of your attention. Also, you will need to make sure that you have people other than just yourself handling the bird. You don't want the too to become over bonded and aggressive to everyone else. And if you get a baby chances are its going to go a bit crazy on you during maturity. If you are easily scared or can't handle pain than this might be an issue for you.

I feel like I'm preaching or something weird but just not sure if you come across some of this in your research! If you are ready for a too than I would go with a galah, goffin, or bare eyed. I've heard the galahs are the least crazy of the toos....

If you are ready for a larger bird than what you have had but still on the smaller side and don't mind noise (which I'm guessing you don't based on the too choices) a sun conure is awesome! Mine is very cuddly, friendly, funny, and slightly destructive.

Click to expand...

Yeah, maybe too's aren't for me..yet. Defiantly thinking about a galah!

Terry57 said:

I have an Eclectus and he is a wonderful bird. His diet is more demanding than my others, but he is so worth it! He is very independent, and not a cuddly sort of bird. He does like some snuggles, but is happiest when he is just hanging out with us
Looking forward to seeing what you decide on!

Click to expand...

Maybe owning an Eclectus will better prepare me? The only issue is that if there's still fresh veggies I'll have to eat them!

Agh! Why can't we have them all???

jenphilly said:

I have to admit I did not read all the posts before casting my vote for a bare eyed, tho I still stand by that vote

But Riddick07 (who is my daughter if you haven't guessed that one), did read everything in all the posts. I have to agree with her 150%, if you are easily intimidated by a bird, then any bird with a decent beak could be a problem. The real terror in our home is the little pineapple green cheek girl, she is not mean, but just a brat who loves to bite me just to see me jump (like last night, she was all fine and normal self, she landed on my shoulder to see what we were doing with trimming cockatiel nails and the little bugger nipped my ear). She does not bite to draw blood, just seems to find it so funny. I am not scared of her, but not a fan of her bites, she is kinda like a little pitbull, when she wants to bite, she will grab and do everything but alligator death rolls!! Anyway, point... if you show fear with any of the cockatoos, they will literally terrorize you, showing fear or hesitation is the worst thing for about any bird to see. You need to be the leader of the flock which means keeping them down the flock pecking order and that means needing to work thru bites.

Any bird can bite... and they all have their own measure of pain, be it small slashing or pinching type beak or a larger bird with a mashing type pressure.

I think you would do yourself a huge service to find a rescue and volunteer for several months. Get yourself hands on education for handling all types of birds, experience a bite or two (its gonna happen, this way there will be others around for support and advice), and you never know, you might find your new best friend waiting for you in the rescue!! If its a sun, galah, bare eyed or the world's most loveable amazon, never know!!

Good luck with your search!

Click to expand...

I wouldn't count myself as intimidated by birds, most likey, they'll just take me by surprise. Being bitten isn't a big deal.
I'm still looking for (even a small) bird shelter to help in, but the only one I know is around 2-3 hours away.

riddick07 said:

I don't want to scare you away from a too but want to be completely honest and realistic about the possibilities. For all I know you are a perfect home for a too!

Here is Folger the Bare Eyed I am adopting. He has had it rough in life but want to show you a little one with the same issues as a big too.


And my mothers Ivory! Only issue was twisting feathers under her wings that we were able to resolve with redirecting and the velcro bird that is pretty much resolved. She did bite at first but that went away pretty fast and it wasn't harsh bites.

I hope you figure out who is the best fit for your family! I love the toos so far and this forum is great for info if you decide to add one to your family

Click to expand...

Awwww, a beauty no matter what!

And thank you for being honest, and realistic, thats why I turned here. All I got from live chats and MD Birdfarm and Petco were "Cockatoo's are the best pet".

Kinda skeptical about getting a Too but hopefully my knowledge and experience will grow and my mind will change

Jayyj said:

Another galah guardian here

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Do Galah's self mutilate as easily as the white too's?
Not saying I'll cause them to do that, just very scared that it might happen and I'll always be blaming myself for that.

The small white Toos are not quite as a problem with plucking as the big Toos. Not that they won't hesitate to pluck when neglected, stressed or unhappy, even the small Toos can be neurotic... but Folger for example, looking at his photos, you have to understand what this poor guy has been thru in life, at least 8 homes but likely more. He was physically abused and even kept in a closet at one of his 'homes'... So can't blame the poor boy in the least. He has a wide array of issues, but he has so much potential and is such a funny guy... While Folger would not be a good step into the smaller Toos, if you happened across an Ivory, she would be a wonderful example of a rescue or rehomed bare eyed. She came home with some issues, she was not 'abused' but was neglected and had been cage bound for quite some time. She would bite, but not to draw blood, more to convince you that it wasn't time for her to go back to her cage. It hurt a bit, but it was clear she was not being mean and we just had to work out and earn trust, and since she has not bitten, tho any bird can be startled and bite out of a knee jerk type response. But after just months, she is a whole new bird, no longer super dependent and clingy and absolutely a major cuddle bug, loves to be loved. And is happy to hang out on her cage and even has been going in for naps, which was a shock the first time (I literally checked her to make sure she was not showing signs of being sick!!).

Its a shame there is not a rescue closer, that would be such a great experience for you. But honestly, the more we read your responses and hear more from you, I think you'll be a great home for any bird that you connect with. The fact that you're here and asking questions is a great indicator that you'll look for answers and help and not just jump into getting a bigger bird. I hope you find a great match, no matter what type it is, I think a bird will be very lucky to share a home with you!

I've seen more eclectus and greys that were pluckers than galahs, but any parrot species has examples of pluckers in their ranks. I sympathise with your concerns about it - Alice's first moult took five years off my life, I was so stressed at the sight of feathers at the bottom of the cage every day. There's unfortunately no guarantee a bird won't pluck but the odds are certainly better with a small too than one of the large whites, and lots you can do along the lines of properly socializing and encouraging the bird to entertain itself to reduce the chances of it happening.