My friend visited the other day for the first time since I brought my baby quaker parrot Diva home. Me and him got into quite an argument. Diva was been her usual little lovable playful self stuck to my shoulder and lap chattering away and playing with me and her toys. I was talking about how she's the joy and love of my life and how shes filled the gaping empty hole left behind since i lost my elderly dogs and showing off all her tricks shes learned her large assortment of toys and treats.
My friend just blurted out when was I getting her a friend and I mentioned she was probably going to just be a lone parrot or at very least lone for a year until she completely trained before I would maybe consider adding a companion for her. I explained how with a friend she would likely loose her bond with me and be harder to train and how. she's enough of a handful by herself.
My friend attacked me saying I was selfish and cruel how parrots need to be in pairs at the very least and how her attachment to me is not healthy because it's only because she hasnt got another bird that she has to be over attached to a human and I can never meet her mental and social needs without another bird for her. He said birds should have a large large cage be in pairs get some out of cage time daily and humans should be hands off and just enjoy watching the birds be birds with each other.
Diva has also started saying hello not very clearly but you can tell its what she's saying and he got even more annoyed at this saying he hates talking parrots because it's them been forced to try and communicate with another species because they don't have another companion of their own species.
We agreed to disagree finally although I could tell as he watched me and her play for the rest of the day he was very much not amused especially when I put her into her cage so I could make dinner and she screamed he muttered she wouldn't do that if she had another bird.
His words have made me doubt myself. Diva is my first parrot, Im a introvert whos very much an animal lover over people and treat my pets like family. Diva is my baby girl and extremely spoiled. Because I'm so introverted I work from home selling online because I can't stand working in the workplace around people all day long and I rarely leave my apartment except to the corner shop to get milk. Diva has various playarea set up, a extra large cage filled with toys and a smaller sleep cage in the hallway.
She's rarely in her cage normally out with me and interacted with and played with all the time. I'm not completely ruling out ever adding another parrot if I did it would definately be another quaker parrot and it would have to be another Dna proven female because I definately don't want the two of them breeding. For now though I would just prefer to focus on my girl and her training. I've always had dogs and with dogs having two young puppies at the same time it's usually leads to littermate syndrome where they bond with each other more than their owner and are hard to train.
Am I being selfish wanting to keep my little girl all to myself for a while or maybe even for ever. She shows no sign of unhappiness and my lifestyle means she's always with me never left for long periods of time but is my friend right is her love and bond with me only because shes deprived of other bird company and she has to make do with me. Is she secretly unhappy.
My friend in question has birds he's got two blue crowned conures and two budgies he's had since they babies his girls aren't at all hand tame. He has two massive joint double flight cages filled with toys one for the conures and one for the budgies and cages are open in the morning so they can fly and play around the house they pay him no attention at all they're not frightened just have no interest in humans and won't perch on a human. The most work he's did with them is their trained that when he puts their food in the cage he whistles and at the sound of that whistle they all fly into their respective cage awaiting their food to be put in. Their not badly treated he grows numourous micro greens and sprouts and spends hours sometimes making up fresh chop for the birds the cages are cleaned always and he does towel them and take them into vet checks frequently to ensure their in good health. They're very happy busy little birds with numourous toys and enrichment they just have zero interest in humans at all although no fear.
I understand how he gets enjoyment out of purely watching them be birds any time I've been at his house I've loved watching them play and preen each other but the bond I have with Diva I love more and I'm really not keen on adding another bird just yet because my clever girl is learning so much verbal commands and tricks and I love our snuggles and tricks but am I been selfish should I get her a friend
My friend just blurted out when was I getting her a friend and I mentioned she was probably going to just be a lone parrot or at very least lone for a year until she completely trained before I would maybe consider adding a companion for her. I explained how with a friend she would likely loose her bond with me and be harder to train and how. she's enough of a handful by herself.
My friend attacked me saying I was selfish and cruel how parrots need to be in pairs at the very least and how her attachment to me is not healthy because it's only because she hasnt got another bird that she has to be over attached to a human and I can never meet her mental and social needs without another bird for her. He said birds should have a large large cage be in pairs get some out of cage time daily and humans should be hands off and just enjoy watching the birds be birds with each other.
Diva has also started saying hello not very clearly but you can tell its what she's saying and he got even more annoyed at this saying he hates talking parrots because it's them been forced to try and communicate with another species because they don't have another companion of their own species.
We agreed to disagree finally although I could tell as he watched me and her play for the rest of the day he was very much not amused especially when I put her into her cage so I could make dinner and she screamed he muttered she wouldn't do that if she had another bird.
His words have made me doubt myself. Diva is my first parrot, Im a introvert whos very much an animal lover over people and treat my pets like family. Diva is my baby girl and extremely spoiled. Because I'm so introverted I work from home selling online because I can't stand working in the workplace around people all day long and I rarely leave my apartment except to the corner shop to get milk. Diva has various playarea set up, a extra large cage filled with toys and a smaller sleep cage in the hallway.
She's rarely in her cage normally out with me and interacted with and played with all the time. I'm not completely ruling out ever adding another parrot if I did it would definately be another quaker parrot and it would have to be another Dna proven female because I definately don't want the two of them breeding. For now though I would just prefer to focus on my girl and her training. I've always had dogs and with dogs having two young puppies at the same time it's usually leads to littermate syndrome where they bond with each other more than their owner and are hard to train.
Am I being selfish wanting to keep my little girl all to myself for a while or maybe even for ever. She shows no sign of unhappiness and my lifestyle means she's always with me never left for long periods of time but is my friend right is her love and bond with me only because shes deprived of other bird company and she has to make do with me. Is she secretly unhappy.
My friend in question has birds he's got two blue crowned conures and two budgies he's had since they babies his girls aren't at all hand tame. He has two massive joint double flight cages filled with toys one for the conures and one for the budgies and cages are open in the morning so they can fly and play around the house they pay him no attention at all they're not frightened just have no interest in humans and won't perch on a human. The most work he's did with them is their trained that when he puts their food in the cage he whistles and at the sound of that whistle they all fly into their respective cage awaiting their food to be put in. Their not badly treated he grows numourous micro greens and sprouts and spends hours sometimes making up fresh chop for the birds the cages are cleaned always and he does towel them and take them into vet checks frequently to ensure their in good health. They're very happy busy little birds with numourous toys and enrichment they just have zero interest in humans at all although no fear.
I understand how he gets enjoyment out of purely watching them be birds any time I've been at his house I've loved watching them play and preen each other but the bond I have with Diva I love more and I'm really not keen on adding another bird just yet because my clever girl is learning so much verbal commands and tricks and I love our snuggles and tricks but am I been selfish should I get her a friend