Budgie/Cockatiel Bombast (Rant)

[Nocturnal]

I always recommend cockatiels, green cheeks and lovebirds as "starter birds". Cockatiels especially as they just seem to be automatically sweet.

I don't recommend budgies for one reason. That is that they are nearly impossible to find tame and I never had any luck taming them. Training, yes, but never tame or enjoying being with me. People are more prone to get bored or be dissapointed with a wild budgie from the pet store than a hand tamed and hand fed bird of the top three I mentioned.

Not that I have anything against budgies, of course. I have two oldies left, chicks that hatched in my own bedroom. Their mom and dad and sister have already passed on.

 

[Wings]

Thanks for sharing your side of the story I wouldn't recommend them either, it's just hard to deal with them emotionally...as said in my thread starter, screams and bites aren't recognized people i've talked to say their budgies give them lots of "finger tests" with their beaks...it's biting... lol

 

[Kiryon]

@ DallyTsuka those pics are adorable =3 Your Tsuka is a fearsome little one. Oz has his moods too. He has the occasional biting rampage. I just put him in the cage for 5 minutes when it happens then take him out for a few minutes of cuddles and scritches before letting him go play wherever he wants.

 

[Wings]

aww thats cute

 

[DallyTsuka]

@ DallyTsuka those pics are adorable =3 Your Tsuka is a fearsome little one. Oz has his moods too. He has the occasional biting rampage. I just put him in the cage for 5 minutes when it happens then take him out for a few minutes of cuddles and scritches before letting him go play wherever he wants.

i wish it were that easy with Tsuka! but alas, it is not. we've tried everything, its just his quirk. we just learn when to duck

 

[Wings]

Haha, kudos to you for keeping such an aggressive bird! A lot of people would have gotten rid of it (sadly).

 

[Featheredsamurai]

My first bird was Rosie

I agree with smaller birds(especially budgies) being underrated. When I worked at Petsmart I HATED that these people weren't going to take their birds to get a new bird check up. I carried my vets information with me and handed it out with each bird sale. I always got the vibe of "I bought a $19-$21 bird for my kid, not to spend a ton of money at the vet" drove me crazy!

 

[Wings]

Reading that comment dropped my fate in the human race from 10 to...3...I can't believe people could put a price on a living, breathing...soul! Sickens me they won't take them to the vet. I wouldn't have sold them the bird, i would have rather been fired...i would have told them that too

 

[marjs29]

I agree with you. Parakeets and or tiels are Not throw away birds. Both species are very smart. Parakeets and a tiel I had several years back, both species understood two languages. They would let me know if they were not having a good day. My tiel Niko (RIP) would let me know when she wanted bread (whole wheat) and it had to be toasted or she would let me know when I would forget to toast it. Three days ago I bought a yellow and green parakeet. He already is stepping up and stepping down. I'm looking for a baby (hopefully) boy tiel.

 

[marjs29]

I would have said "yeah Mom, and I'm just your child". My son is no longer a baby, he's 22 yrs. old, (well to me he is my baby) so my birds and my dog are my babies.

 

[marjs29]

When my son was much younger and wanted a pet I would have him educate himself on what it took to take care of that pet. So before I rescued 3 parakeets, him and I read about what it took to care for parakeets. He helped take care of the birds. Few days ago he adopted "Peter" a green and yellow parakeet who already knows the step up and step down command, My son is now 22 yrs. old. I'm glad to see that he is a good pet parent. I feel that some people before they have children should read about what it takes to raise children, specially when it comes to discipline.

 

[marjs29]

Looong story short. About 4 yrs. ago my son rescued a gray cockatiel that landed on the roof of our house. My son named him Ty. Who ever had Ty, I'm sure never took him out of the cage. He attacks anyone who comes close to the cage. I've tired and tried to help him but to no avail. I will keep on trying. He has learned a few tunes, and as long as he is left alone he seems happy. It breaks my heart and it makes me sooo angry that people do not take the time to learn what it takes to care for animals of any kind. It saddens me to think that Ty does not know human touch or love. Please get me a tissue, : ( I will never give up on Ty.

 

[JerseyWendy]

I posted this before, not long ago, but I think it fits in here perfectly.

 

[ruffledfeathers]

I ADORE budgies. They are one of my most favorite living things. I have been 'mocked' for that many times, as if it's so silly of me. My budgie was one of the most amazing animals i ever knew. He was extremely intelligent and had an amazing vocabulary. He even went as far as to apply words to situations in which he never heard me use them (i said "hungry?" every day when i fed him and he saw me cooking and flew into the kitchen and said 'mommy hungry'....no joke....i was glad there were other people there to witness it and i got to see their jaws hanging down in amazement).

For the right kid, i think they can make a good pet, with parents who obviously supervise and make certain the bird has what he needs.

OH, and about the vetting? Yeah, so many people think it was so cutesy or crazy of me to spend as much as i did and have my budgie admitted to the bird hospital for days. ("He only cost $15--why are you paying all that for a vet for him when you can buy a new one??") It would make me so mad i could spit.

My wish is that they were bred a little better and not so inbred and prone to disease. I am 'scared' to get them because even my Percy died by the time he was 7, even with all that vet care.

 

[Jowelbg]

It bugs me SO much that people don't think budgies or parakeets are parrots. I don't believe in birds for kids . I believe in the adult caring for it and the kid saying its theirs .

I agree with this when it comes to all pets. My wife got a cockatiel at the age of 10. Her parents watched her like a hawk *buh-dum-ching*. As my wife got older, Sweetie slowly became her bird. She was an excellent pet and I was happy to know her for the last 5 years of an 18 year life span.

I wasn't aware how much personality budgies had until I got onto this forum. It's great to hear all the stories.

We need to form a Parrotforum hit squad. We can locate the ppl who are neglecting and abusing animals and put bird seed in their chocolate milk, or something equally as devious.

 

[davisn456]

My first pet birds were cockatiels. They were sort of a rescue situation. My cousin was leaving for the military and left his birds with his mother. She had little to no interest in them, so they basically stayed in the cage all the time. I was 14 at the time, and had been around them a little, so I thought I'd try to take care of them. Granted, I didn't know what I was doing, but I learned. The female (Rocky) lived to be 26 years old, and Sam was somewhere around 19. I had them for about 15 years.

My experience with them was pretty good, although neither of them were affectionate birds. They were what I'd consider typical "pet store" birds, the ones that are packed in a cage and have little to no need for human contact. That had always been my experience too with parakeets. They were just "bulk" birds that were sold pretty cheap, because they had no personality and were just living decorations.

My attitude has changed a lot over the years. While my preference probably still isn't to have a parakeet, my third bird (Zoot) taught me a lot about how different birds can be. He was a stray, showed up at our house one day while we were outside in the yard. He was very affectionate, loved to be petted, and loved as much attention as you could give him. That turned me completely around on my opinion of birds.

I totally agree that cockatiels and parakeets shouldn't be sold as throwaway pets, and people should do their homework before adopting any kind of animal. Parakeets especially shouldn't be for younger kids because they're relatively fragile as well. I can't even begin to tell you how many people came into the pet store where I worked to get a replacement parakeet because their kid broke the bird's neck, drowned it, or some other horrible thing. I turned them all away.

It may sound silly, but I even have the same feeling when it comes to fish...they shouldn't be throwaway pets. A goldfish may be able to survive in a bowl, but that doesn't mean it's a good environment for it. If you're going to have a pet, do it right. The experience is better for all involved, and the pet will be healthier and happier.

Others may disagree with this, but in my experience, whatever training that pet store workers had was more about pushing product/pet sales than actually understanding how to match pets with their owners. The owners didn't really care about that as long as they got their money, and of course we didn't accept returns on animals. I can go in my Petsmart and probably buy a parakeet and a hampster with one cage and not be questioned as to whether or not I'm putting them together. The sad thing is that some people don't know any better.

 

[Birdlover11]

I posted this before, not long ago, but I think it fits in here perfectly.

Wendy , that just made me start tearing up ! That is so right , they should put that in pet stores everywhere . Wish I could hug it as a poster

 

[JerseyWendy]

Wendy , that just made me start tearing up ! That is so right , they should put that in pet stores everywhere . Wish I could hug it as a poster

Maheen, you can save it and print it as many times as you want.

 

[Wings]

I loved that 'i am a little bird" my budgie sat still and just stared at it..(rare), like she somehow knew what is said and why I cried during it. I wish that somehow these little birds stopped breeding so readily, and their prices raise a lot higher, just so people would respect them and care about them as much as people do macaws. <3

 

[Wings]

With your permission may i make that into a poster to hang over my budgie's cage/aviary?