Hello All! New to the forum: and thinking of getting an Eclectus..?

[rbreck]

Keep in mind... I spend 1 hour a week preparing his food for the week and it cost approximately $20.00 per week. I only feed fresh fruits and veggies. Occasional eggs, chicken or whatever protein we are having for dinner. Last night, valentines dinner he sat with us at the dinner table ate shared our king crab legs! I have experimented with pellets and he starts flipping his wings and gets crabby within 24 hours, so I don't even try anymore.

When I got Maui I had no idea how much work an electus is! And messy! And expensive to keep. But this bird is amazing and talks up a storm... He must say 30 words-clear! He loves Everyone! So more than others. Anyone can hold him.

I feel like the luckiest bird owner. I was fearful of rescuing too because I didn't know enough to help a damaged bird. But now, thanks to Maui, the people on this forum and a TON of research - I will adopt my next bird when I am ready.

Enjoy the journey!

 

[Sterling1113]

Houston is a good 5 hours away from me. :c Unfortunately. I'll just keep an eye out for something local.

 

[MikeyTN]

When I went to pickup my ekkies I drove 5 hrs to pick them up. It was well worth it.

 

[Sterling1113]

I personally wouldn't mind, however my boyfriend has the vehicle, and it's a standard so he's the driver until he teaches me or until I get my own car. Plus it's a little two-seater coupe, so I feel like to go pick up something like an Eclectus we would have to borrow a slightly larger car just to have room for the travel cage.

 

[MikeyTN]

I drove in my suv with a brand new cage in the back, it's one of those tall cages. I'm pretty tall myself, I'm like 6' tall and I had to pull my seat up so the drive home was VERY uncomfortable with the steering wheel right in front of me driving like a old man sitting upwards and have my arm wrapped around the steering wheel. I had to stop several times at rest stops to walk around cause it was killing me. I was soooooo happy when I got home but then I had to install the cage by myself, that was NOT easy to do.....I had the birds in two separate cat carriers on top of each other with seat belt wrapped around them in the front seat. I talked to them all the way home.....

 

[Sterling1113]

Ahah that doesn't sound fun at all. Sounds like how I feel most the time we do grocery trips!
I'd rather not make that drive with bird in the car, as he'd probably be able to tell how stressed out I was. I have awful anxiety about getting into an accident whenever I have to carry anything in my lap while someone else is driving
All is well though. I'm not planning on actually purchasing a bird for a month or two, so I have plenty of time to search.

 

[MikeyTN]

I was trying to find a cage way before hand but I couldn't find one anywhere that I liked. So I got in touch with a distributor that a friend of mine knows and it was on the way there so I stopped by to pick it up. I had to get there super early cause they were leaving for vacation that same exact day. So I started driving at 7am and got home around 5pm so I made pretty good time...I know I drove too fast but mainly because the cramped seats was killing me....lol

 

[Anansi]

I've been doing *alot* of reading in between my daily chores (dishes, feeding animals, basic cleanliness.) and I've seen a couple threads involving Bixby They're gorgeous birds. My thing is I over-think too much, and when I find something demotivating it tends to sort of create a metaphorical fog or haze over the plus side.

Hey, Sterling. I can definitely identify with a tendency to over-think things. I was originally drawn to eclectus parrots because of a neighbor who introduced me to her gorgeous female ekky. To this day, she is the most beautiful parrot I've ever seen! Her plumage was the deepest of reds, outstandingly brilliant even by the already lofty standards of other female ekkies I've seen. Every feather strictly in its place, her array of feathers looking more like a luxurious coat of fur than anything else! (Unlike my poor, preen-challenged Bixby, who has a decided preference for the more tousled look- for which I've actually come to develop an appreciation, but I digress.)

Anyhow, upon doing the research, I went back and forth on whether to get a male or female. Females seemed to be considered the more emotionally... tempestuous of the two, but they were also generally considered the more cuddly and loving of the two. Males, on the other hand, were considered more laid back and playful, and a little less prone to hormonal nippiness.

So I wrestled back and forth with the decision, somewhat daunted by the prospect of potentially making the "wrong" decision with a companion that could potentially live well over 60 years! So I researched and researched what people said about each gender and finally decided to get a female.

Only to find that all my hand-wringing and nervous research flew right out the window with one look at sweet little Bixby, a spunky, ruffled feathered male. So go meet your potential bird. Chances are, you'll know the one for you the second you lay eyes on him/her.

 

[Anansi]

EDIT: And on the clipped wings topic, really the only reason I've ever clipped my birds wings is if they wouldn't socialize. For me, when I clipped my GCC's wings he bonded much quicker and now will be scratched and step-up to mostly anyone. Just waiting on those lovely flight feathers to come back!

As for clipping aiding in the socialization process, I can definitely see your point. Especially if you're visiting in the pet store while your parrot is being weaned. As some of you know, I had to put Bixby's harness on whenever I went to visit since I'd decided not to clip. Well, I definitely remember feeling a little jealous of the other visiting parronts who had decided to clip. The socializing process was easier for them, as they were usually met by uncomplicated joy whenever they would come to visit their fids. But my interactions with Bixby were a wee bit more.... complicated. He was happy to see me, but frustrated by me always draping that harness over his head. (The suggested slow intro approach to putting on the harness obviously had to be chucked out the window in this scenario!)

So our bonding went a lot more slowly. It was frustrating at times, especially while watching everyone else have all of these amazing breakthroughs with their own fids, but I wanted to give him the chance to fledge while fully flighted. And in the end I feel it was worth it.

Please don't take this as me weighing in on the To Clip Or Not To Clip debate, btw. It's a personal choice, and I know many who do clip have reasons that feel just as compelling to them. Just sharing my personal experience is all.

 

[Sterling1113]

Yeah, I see people say pretty frequently that if you're serious enough in your search the right bird will sort of "fall into your lap" so to speak. So that's what I'm hoping for. I myself for the life of me can NOT get my flighted White Eared conure, Kiwi, to wear a harness, or anything for that matter! If she thinks you're putting anything over her head/under her wings she's gone in a flash.

However the younger male Pineapple GCC, Loki, is still clipped from when he was younger and just hasn't gone through another molt yet. And he will wear ANYTHING! He loves napkins and paper towels, so something like a harness (Or a cape when we're feeling silly ) is totally a-okay with him.

I'm not sure if that's related to the clipped and un-clipped scenarios they're in, but it's just what I've noticed. We did manage to get a hand-made harness on Kiwi once with a bit of patience, but she made it clear she wasn't fond of it by leaving it in pieces on the floor. What a moody birdie.

*Back to the getting-a-cage-topic: I'm already looking for a large cage and I've got my eyes on a large metal cage (That's on wheels, so that's nice.) on Craiglist. It's large enough to house a macaw/U2 based on what I've seen, and he's letting it go for $150. So I might jump on that while I can, then I just gotta worry about finding the companion!

 

[MangieSun]

If you decide to go with a hand raised baby from a breeder and are ok with shipping, i wanted to share a reputable breeder with you. This is where I got my bare eyed cockatoo from. Luckily it's only a half hour drive for me so I was able to go meet the breeder and pick up Jasper. But these two guys are super nice and full of information and they ship out of Sacramento. They take their job very seriously and I am very very happy with Jasper's upbringing. I know they have a couple female eclectus now and another that should hatch any day per their website.
Eggsotic parroting
http://www.eggsoticparroting.com/

 

[Anansi]

A macaw sized cage for $150?!? Sweet! What dimensions?

 

[Sterling1113]

THANK you for the breeder info!! I definitely appreciate it, and am becoming more open minding to having a bird shipped, and anyone recommended on this forum I'd like to assume is trustworthy

And I don't know the dimensions, they aren't posted in the ad
but here's a picture, you can see how large it is.

Just in case anyone is local to me, I'm located a little bit outside of Dallas TX, but most of the breeders are closer to Austin, Houston, and San Antonio :C

 

[drlisaort]

Welcome to the most awesome forum! I see you've gotten a great deal of superb information already so I'll just share a few things based on my experience with Oliver.

Like you, I am no stranger to birds but I was to the larger parrot. After endless hours of research and careful deliberation, I settled on a male Eclectus for all the reasons you stated, and never looked back. I bought him when he was five weeks old and visited until he was five months old and came home.

Oliver was clipped at the breeders (Charlie) suggestion after his first flight. I really wanted him flighted but went on to clip him two more times. As his wings were growing in I decided to let them be until he started flying every chance he got all over up and around the house making some amazing landings. It was awesome and breathtaking until he crashed in the sliding glass doors (that are marked!) and was in a daze for quite some time and on another occasion he nearly flew out the door when my husband was grilling (I live in Florida where we are in and out alot!). Yesterday, with great trepidation we went off to see "Uncle Charlie" and he got his toes clipped, wings clipped and beak shortened. :31:

On a lighter note, Oliver is the most amazing parrot ever, he is loving, entertaining, talks, and very quiet. Hands down, he is totally awesome!

Lisa

 

[Sterling1113]

Wow, MangieSun!
Lovely selection, very jealous that breeders in Cali keep their websites updated. The one I was looking at last night seems like it hasn't been updated since late 2010
That price difference between Texas and Cali though.. Hah. That might be what gets me.
Most the time(If you can find one for sale!) you can find an Eclectus for ~$800 and a Goffin/Rose Breasted for ~$600-$900 D:

 

[MangieSun]

That's California for ya. Lol. Everything seems more expensive here. I was lucky though. My bare eyed was $775 because he was a couple months past weaning. . I would have paid more for him though since the breeders seem wonderful and I knew I was getting a socialized, healthy baby. And yes, they are excellent at updating their website! Very helpful.

 

[Sterling1113]

Well I'll just have to keep checking back, and perhaps looking at other breeders websites to find a different price range.

 

[Terry57]

I would definitely get the cage! sometimes that is the hardest part is finding a good cage for a reasonable price Think of all the fun of setting it up in anticipation of getting your new baby!

 

[Sterling1113]

If anyone has any other breeder websites that they've used and can be trusted, you can either send the link in a PM or post it here. It would be greatly appreciated

 

[Terry57]

Kind of hard to tell how wide the cage is from the pictures. Ekko's cage is 48" wide. That doesn't really look like a big enough cage for a macaw, and may not be wide enough depending on what kind of eclectus you decide on. I guess a lot depends on how much he would be out of the cage as well.