Finally getting my bird!

[Matthew1987]

Hello all,

I am not new to parrots, but it has been quite a while since I have had one. I used to have a beautiful Eclectus, but due to a move overseas, I was unable to keep him. We also fostered a military macaw for a while when I was a child, and I had a couple parakeets as a child. While living overseas my other half had a beautiful little lovebird. But alas, this bird was not mine.

For the last three years, since I moved back to the states, I have been wanting to get another parrot, and have been yearning to get one. Not knowing my future, I decided it was best to hold off... But... I moved to Las Vegas a year and a half ago, have established myself here, have a great job, a very nice apartment, until I purchase my house, and have decided this is where I will be planting roots.

The other day I went to all the different bird stores in my area, and I found some beautiful little senegals (as I live in an apartment I thought this would be a good choice after A LOT of research), and a gorgeous little red chested senegal. I did not purchase the bird yet, but today I ordered a massive cage large enough for a macaw, tons of toys, and different trinkets for the cage, and on Wednesday I will hopefully be going to pick out my little guy (or girl).

I am very excited, and I cannot wait for everything to come in. Once I have everything set up and get my new little fid in his home, I will take lots of photos.

 

[Puck]

Welcome to the forum! It sounds like you will make a great parront. I can't wait to see pics of the cage and your new friend once you pick them out. Are you definitely going with senegal?

 

[Matthew1987]

Welcome to the forum! It sounds like you will make a great parront. I can't wait to see pics of the cage and your new friend once you pick them out. Are you definitely going with senegal?

Thanks. After all the research, I really want a bird I can bond with, that isn't going to be too noisy for apartment living (it is a pretty sound proof apartment), and full of personality. So I am thinking a senegal may be one of the best for this. I was also looking into rainbow lorikeets...

In reality, I am not 100 percent certain, but I will be going back to these few places on Wednesday, and the intent is to find a fid. I will not be picking one out unless I am 100 percent certain the bird I meet is the bird. At this point though, I am pretty set on a senegal.

What would you suggest?

 

[Puck]

I think a Senegal sounds great! Picking a fid is such a personal thing, there's not a lot of suggestions I ever feel comfortable giving. I think the best part is that you're going to meet them--I've found that's the very best way to find your perfect match. From what I have heard of Senegals, they sound like a good place to start at the very least. Best of luck in your search!

 

[BeatriceC]

Congrats on deciding to finally get another bird! And good luck on your search!

Senegals are great birds, but they can be very noisy. My senegal is almost as loud as my macaw, and definitely sings more than her. To give you an idea, a funny story from shortly after we brought him home:

Now, so you understand the distance and space involed I must tell you that I live in an upper middle class neighborhood with 3500+ square feet houses on builder's 1/3 acre lots. So huge houses (mine is 4200 or 4700 square feet depending on which set of plans you believe), on relatively large-for-suburbia lots. About a month after we brought Leo home we were chatting with our next-door neighbor and I asked him if he'd met our new bird yet. My neighbor's reply was "Nope, but I've heard him!" Now my little guy may be louder than most, but it's still a possibility that you'll get an individual like mine. Also, he doesn't really scream, he sings, so it's pleasant. It's just loud and high pitched, so sound travels.

 

[Puck]

To be totally honest, I have yet to meet a type of parrot that is really and truly an amazing "apartment bird". I think it's one of those things where a bird can be less loud than another, but none of them are quiet! Honestly I think that's one of the traits that lands so many birds on Craigslist--people don't realize that like you said, Beatrice, pretty much all of our lovable fids have the lungs of a macaw or a too or any other large bird when it pleases them! They expect dogs to be noisy, but think birds will be quiet. HA! I can get my dogs to shut up. Every bird I know thinks they are a Hollywood director and that my life is their movie with their script!

I did read Sennies are less loud than a lot of types, though, so I would think for it to be a stereotype there has to be some truth to it... Maybe when you go to meet them you could spend some time hanging with them and get a feel for their noise level? I know my sun conure was a noise machine and so far my Rosie has been pretty quiet, so a lot depends on the individual bird (though those actually are the stereotypes for those particular kinds!)

 

[SirEdwin89]

I can only speak from personal experience myself, as I've never even seen another sennie in person outside of my own. Baby is the only one of our fids that I would say is actually legitimately quiet. Not that she doesn't make noise, she vocalizes all the time, but it's never what i would consider loud or disruptive by any means. Mostly whistles and clicks and chirps at average human whistling sound levels.

Just goes to show how completely different birds of a feather can be. Mine is at the entire other end of the spectrum from BeatriceC's for example, i'm pretty sure my Macaw poops louder than baby vocalizes.

 

[wrench13]

Lorikeets, while being really colorful, are fruit eaters and the poops are as one would expect from a bird that eats fruit. And a lot are flingers when they eat.

Sound levels are an individual thing. My Maxie ( a Brotogeris parrot - tiny about the size of a parakeet ) was loud and had an annoying idle squawk, and when he was pissed off, a really loud 'chirip chirip chirip' as he paced back and forth in his cage. I had a Quacker parrot, Brody, who was pretty quiet - just a mean bird to everyone in the family ( rehomed after 1+yr ). My Yellow nape was actually pretty quiet with the contact calls and crazy Amazon talk. Salty, a Yellow Shoulder 'zon, is quiet all day except for a session ( 30-60 min usually) in the late afternoon, and when he is in the mood during those sessions, can make the windows shake. SO the point being in all this, each bird is his own man when it comes to noise. And that is one of the hardest things to try and train out of a parrot, and some calls, like a contact call, it is impossible nor should you try.

I am a Amazon fan, and folks who have the smaller Amazons, like myself, Birdiegirl ( red fronted 'zon ) and those who have Panama 'zons, dont ***** about noise.

Good Luck!

 

[Scott]

Welcome to the forums, and congratulations on the decision to have a companion bird! Sounds as if you have a great foundation, good luck with your search. Remember that often the bird will choose you!!

 

[Kiwibird]

Welcome! Sounds like you'll be well prepared to bring a new friend home

Just a tip, but make sure if you are getting a smaller species that the bar spacing on your cage will be suitable for the bird you get and not too wide. Generally, large macaw size cages have bars spaced wide enough a smaller bird could get a head caught between them. You can find lots of info on here about proper bar spacing for any species you are interested in

 

[Flboy]

Welcome! Ditto on cage bar spacing!

 

[Matthew1987]

Thanks all for the replies, and the bar spacing suggestions. I was so excited about that cage I completely forgot to look at the bar spacing. I immediately cancelled the order and got a more adequate home; smaller, but more adequate.

 

[Kiwibird]

Good thing you caught it before it shipped! A smaller, cozier home that is safe will be much better than a large unsafe one. Plus, you might even have a little extra to spend on something extra special for your bird.

Must say though, judging from this forum and others I'm on, it seems some cage manufacture somewhere would get the hint a lot of small-medium bird owners want large parrot sized cages for their birds with the appropriate bar spacing for the smaller guys. Doesn't make sense why there isn't at least a couple on the market. My amazon was in a transitional cage for a few years with 5/8" bar spacing and it is VERY noticeably different to his "single macaw" cage now with 1". For an amazon, 1" is safe, but I could completely see a conure or similar sized bird getting the head stuck and XS guys like parakeets just squeezing right out.

 

[BeatriceC]

Good thing you caught it before it shipped! A smaller, cozier home that is safe will be much better than a large unsafe one. Plus, you might even have a little extra to spend on something extra special for your bird.

Must say though, judging from this forum and others I'm on, it seems some cage manufacture somewhere would get the hint a lot of small-medium bird owners want large parrot sized cages for their birds with the appropriate bar spacing for the smaller guys. Doesn't make sense why there isn't at least a couple on the market. My amazon was in a transitional cage for a few years with 5/8" bar spacing and it is VERY noticeably different to his "single macaw" cage now with 1". For an amazon, 1" is safe, but I could completely see a conure or similar sized bird getting the head stuck and XS guys like parakeets just squeezing right out.

I have Goofy in a "single macaw" cage and Charlotte in a "double macaw" cage, and I'm of the opinion that both of them are barely big enough. I've been searching for a bigger cage for Leo, but running into the bar spacing issue in the larger cages as well.

 

[BeatriceC]

I can only speak from personal experience myself, as I've never even seen another sennie in person outside of my own. Baby is the only one of our fids that I would say is actually legitimately quiet. Not that she doesn't make noise, she vocalizes all the time, but it's never what i would consider loud or disruptive by any means. Mostly whistles and clicks and chirps at average human whistling sound levels.

Just goes to show how completely different birds of a feather can be. Mine is at the entire other end of the spectrum from BeatriceC's for example, i'm pretty sure my Macaw poops louder than baby vocalizes.

I'm perfectly willing to believe that *most* Sennies are on the quiet side, but birds, like humans are individuals, so I like to warn people that senegals like Leo exist. That bird can rupture eardrums when he gets going.

 

[CDavis]

Have you considered a pionus they are known to be very quiet and very fun I would talk to one of the moderators about them I think ravensgryf has a one or two

 

[Matthew1987]

Welp, I went into the store today to see if I was able to do anything with this birdy. The worker there is kinda rough with the birds, so he was quite scared. I finally put him back in his cage, let him calm down for about a half an hour while I went to grab a soda at the convenient store and make some phone calls, and came back to him. He still seemed a little scared, but he allowed me to reach into the cage, pet his head, and his beak, which is something he wasn't allowing the lady working there to do. I took this as a good sign, and I went for it.

I had seen him a week ago, and I was captured by him. I am going to be working with him over the weeks/months, to see if I can gain his trust enough to let me pick him up. But if not, I will be happy having him, and giving him little head scratches from time to time. Since being here in his new home, the last some odd hours, he has fluffed up more, and looks healthier and less scared. I am so very excited.

 

[Terry57]

Awww, I'm so excited for you! I bet you will forge a wonderful relationship with him

 

[SirEdwin89]

I can only speak from personal experience myself, as I've never even seen another sennie in person outside of my own. Baby is the only one of our fids that I would say is actually legitimately quiet. Not that she doesn't make noise, she vocalizes all the time, but it's never what i would consider loud or disruptive by any means. Mostly whistles and clicks and chirps at average human whistling sound levels.

Just goes to show how completely different birds of a feather can be. Mine is at the entire other end of the spectrum from BeatriceC's for example, i'm pretty sure my Macaw poops louder than baby vocalizes.

I'm perfectly willing to believe that *most* Sennies are on the quiet side, but birds, like humans are individuals, so I like to warn people that senegals like Leo exist. That bird can rupture eardrums when he gets going.

Oh yes, absolutely 100%! And I think it's a great potential warning! that's kind of what I was aiming at with my comment as well, that you never *really* know what you may end up with due to the vast individualism within bird species.

Oh and Mathew what an adorable little guy, and a very nice cage for him and a lovely set-up. He is clearly on his way to being one happy little fid. I don't think you are going to have much to worry about when it comes to having a great relationship with your little guy. Your attitude is spectacular, the preperations you were making were spot on, you are hitting all the right notes, and your little guy is going to realize that! I imagine it won't be long before you are regaling us with delightful tales of your antics together!

 

[LeaKP]

None of my CAGs have ever been screamers, although I know they could give a loud shout if the mood struck. Birds often mimic the households they live in and the noise level of the house.