Are Red bellied parrots rare as a pet?

[SilverSage]

In my home town as well. It poses a new set of challenges though, the biggest one being other birds and bugs.

 

[EAI]

Yup yup yup. Almost always available in Hawaii, people seem to trick Craigslist by adding "weaned baby birds need to be rehomed" rather than "weaned baby birds for sale" as sales aren't allowed. I see at least 1-2 postings a week on average.

What I don't get about the guy asking for hand rearers is that he posted that a month ago! How is he keeping the babies alive if he needs someone to hand feed them?!

Over the 15 years I've been alive there I found it quite rare to find birds but after just these past 2 months WOW, there are people who "mass" produce birds in horrible conditions. Don't get my started on the dogs and cats.. The only thing worse than that are the people fighting over Craigslist!

 

[Colorguarder08]

Hawaii is a small place and it is hard to get birds here, and very expensive and tedious. So what is here is here, and gets bred and bred and bred and bred! So yeah, we have tons of red bellied parrots, IRNs, cockatiels and thousands if not millions of lovebirds. I think I mentioned once before that a could of times I have seen them being sold literal
Ly by the hundreds on craigslist. That is lovebirds, not RBPs. One guy had over 200 and his ad specified 'must take all' people get a few, toss them in a cage or aviary, and 'let nature have her way with them.' Because of the weather it is pretty easy to keep birds alive outside here, so people don't even have to keep them in the house. That is another part of why we have feral populations of IRNs, macaws, and greys, too. I heard a rumor about come cockatoos, but I am not sure of it. Our local pet store had no fewer than 4 RBPs when I arrived, and they have at least one right now, I don't know if it is the same one or not. I have seen them on craigslist quite a few times, including twice 'for hand feeding' which might have been the same guy.

That reminds me of an ad I found on craigslist while searching for a breeder before finding the one I got Riley from. There was a person getting rid of their entire aviary of over 40 tiels 20+ budgies and a few finches. None of the birds were ever handtamed just left in an outdoor aviary their entire lives. I have NO idea how they survived winters unless it they were all huddled into one big pile because I know last year there were days it was 18 degrees outside and then of course the snow and ice. The place I was working this february had a solid inch of ice during the snow this year.

 

[SilverSage]

I am not sure how cold the Australian grass lands get where tiels and budgies come from. AEI he wasn't pulling them until he had a buyer, I looked into them for a client.

 

[RavensGryf]

Hawaii is a small place and it is hard to get birds here, and very expensive and tedious. So what is here is here, and gets bred and bred and bred and bred!

Ah, so THAT'S how Hawaii has tons of RBP even though they're not super common in other places. Interesting...

Makes me sad, the conditions that birds are so often kept in over there, and how irresponsible many people are about breeding! I'm sure more "accidental and backyard breeders" than professional breeders with a legitimate business.
...and here we think of Hawaii as a tropical paradise with beautiful "exotic parrots" not thousands of overcrowded, overbred, and possibly diseased Lovebirds

 

[SilverSage]

Basically. It was a harsh reality check.

 

[95talongirl]

Very interesting, indeed. But it makes sense... As shipping anything to Hawaii is a lot more.
And how lucky are you, silversage, for getting to live there!!


On a side note, RBP are so cute! I enjoy reading about them.

 

[SilverSage]

yes, shipping is a lot harder, but birds are exceptionally hard due to the strict quarantine laws and procedures, it is incredibly complicated, difficult, and expensive to get birds here, and that is assuming the bird you want to bring over is even legal, which many are not.

 

[veimar]

Hmm - I just saw one on CL on Saturday and made a call. The owner seemed to be nice and the price was fair ($300). But I haven't done too much research about them - I hope someone else might be better for him.

 

[Colorguarder08]

yes, shipping is a lot harder, but birds are exceptionally hard due to the strict quarantine laws and procedures, it is incredibly complicated, difficult, and expensive to get birds here, and that is assuming the bird you want to bring over is even legal, which many are not.

I have heard it's like that with all pets being brought into Hawii. I may be wrong just going off of what I was told by my cousin who used to go there every other year. He told me that if you move there and want to bring your dog it has to be quarentined for 30 days in a government facility. I don't know if that's true or not but it's what I have been told.

 

[EAI]

yes, shipping is a lot harder, but birds are exceptionally hard due to the strict quarantine laws and procedures, it is incredibly complicated, difficult, and expensive to get birds here, and that is assuming the bird you want to bring over is even legal, which many are not.

I have heard it's like that with all pets being brought into Hawii. I may be wrong just going off of what I was told by my cousin who used to go there every other year. He told me that if you move there and want to bring your dog it has to be quarentined for 30 days in a government facility. I don't know if that's true or not but it's what I have been told.

Something along that line. I haven't read much of importing domesticated canines and felines but there is a quarantine for them as well. I think they are held at the airport in a controlled environment for a week-month to clear out anything. But those might be the least expensive animal to ship over.

 

[SilverSage]

Bringing a dog or cat requires a strict schedule of shots and blood tests, and then a 120 day (4 month) quarantine period, which you can either do in your home before arriving, or in the quarantine facility which is currently being investigated for animal abuse. But the bird process is much more difficult and expensive.

 

[Colorguarder08]

Wow that's crazy its not like that with any other state.

 

[SilverSage]

Because Hawaii is surrounded by ocean they have a unique opportunity to protect the local animals. It is also a very delicate ecosystem that has already been damaged. Hawaii is 100% free of Rabies and the West Nile Virus, and they intend to keep it that way. That is why the dogs and cats have a Rabies quarantine protocol, and why the birds have a West Nile protocol, including being shipped in mosquito proof containers. In the end it is for the health and safety of the people and animals living here. Other states don't do this because it wouldn't make any sense, since rabid raccoons and West Nile carrying mosquitoes cannot be stopped at the border of other states.