Lonely Parakeet

[monateru]

My parakeet Turkey lost his father and lifelong best friend a while ago. I have been trying to find a similarly aged male parakeet to be a potential best friend ever since. The option of going to my local pet store and buying a "male" young parakeet is always there. Id rather avoid that since it means at some point in the future I will be right back in this situation, with a middle aged bird who has no friend. And also because I very much do not want to breed parakeets and the idea of ending up with a female sounds like a disaster.
But at what point do I give in and buy the young male from the local pet store?
Currently my bird is doing ok. He is not pulling feathers or being otherwise destructive. He still sings. He still gets enjoyment from his usual favorite activities like watching video games and playing our silly games ("weeeeeee upside down bird" is his favorite). He has become a bit obsessed with me, but that was expected. I just know he is lonely. Despite my hermit nature, I do have to leave the house sometimes and I know he suffers for those hours I'm gone. And Im no substitute for a bird best friend even if I am home and with him almost all the time.
Do I keep up with my search for similarly aged male, or do I give in and get him a spry young friend who will be in exact same situation as him in 5-10 years?
Curious to hear others thoughts!

 

[Caecilius est in horto]

Just remember, sometimes they won't bond to a new bird and will instead be agressive. I personally would not recommend going to a pet store chain like petco or petsmart if you do want to get a new bird. If you can find a bird store near you, sometimes you can find older birds there that have been surrendered. Bonding with an older budgie can be really difficult. I'm sorry for your loss of your other budgie.

Just remember that a new budgie might not make him less lonely, they might become rivals instead. If you want a older budgie, you can find surrenders that are older.

 

[monateru]

Just remember, sometimes they won't bond to a new bird and will instead be agressive. I personally would not recommend going to a pet store chain like petco or petsmart if you do want to get a new bird. If you can find a bird store near you, sometimes you can find older birds there that have been surrendered. Bonding with an older budgie can be really difficult. I'm sorry for your loss of your other budgie.

Just remember that a new budgie might not make him less lonely, they might become rivals instead. If you want a older budgie, you can find surrenders that are older.

Yeah I'm looking into surrenders before all else. My localy owned pet store is generally the place that handles those for exotic pets like snakes, lizards, fish, and birds. I surrendered my ball python and entire snake setup there a few years ago after I tried snake keeping for 2 years and decided it wasn't for me. Got a pic of my snake in his new home 2 months later, it was a really nice experience. Ive been in contact with that same pet store about taking in a mature male parakeet if they get one. They are also the sale point for local breeders, so they would be who I would go to if I gave in and bought a young male.
I'm prepared for the introduction of another bird to be a long and difficult process. I have a second cage ready and would place them across the room from each other. Probably cover one cage as I give the other special attention, until I move them closer and can multitask one hand in each cage lol! Im ready for it to take months. And I'm ok with them never being best friends, as long as Turkey has another bird to chat to during the day.

edit: fixed typos, also yeah i hate petco/petsmart. bad animal husbandry (i used to keep betta fish so dont even get me started on that lol) plus they dont even have good prices on anything except the dollar a gallon tank sales

 

[kme3388]

I’m sorry you are in this situation.

I myself am in the same boat with my sun conure. He’s about 5 years old now. His bonded mate died 5 months ago. I tried to move him into my large parrot aviary so he isn’t solo, and that went downhill. Now he’s solo again.

I did consider adopting from a shelter to get a parrot around the same age as my sun conure. Shelters also help with compatibility. If I didn’t already have 2 large parrots that are high maintenance I would. My issue is I’m at capacity, and vet bills for my one parrot add up.

I hope something in here helps you.

 

[Jcas32]

I’m so sorry for the loss of your older budgie. I have been in the same place as you of getting into the constant cycle of a younger budgie who outlived an older budgie. This last time, I actually got two young budgies when one of my older ones died as company for the remaining older bird so when she died, they would have each other. In my case this worked because my older budgie was a pretty independent female and I knew she just needed a companion or two not necessarily another bird to truly bond with. I don’t know if that would work well in your case.

If you live in the USA, the website Petfinder can be a good resource for rescues in your area. It’s a site where rescues and shelters all over the US can post their animals who are available for adoption. You can set the search to look for just birds within a certain number of miles from you. That’s how I found one of my birds and they often have birds of various ages since the site has listings from many different rescues and shelters. It might be worth checking out if you are in the US!

 

[monateru]

I’m so sorry for the loss of your older budgie. I have been in the same place as you of getting into the constant cycle of a younger budgie who outlived an older budgie. This last time, I actually got two young budgies when one of my older ones died as company for the remaining older bird so when she died, they would have each other. In my case this worked because my older budgie was a pretty independent female and I knew she just needed a companion or two not necessarily another bird to truly bond with. I don’t know if that would work well in your case.

If you live in the USA, the website Petfinder can be a good resource for rescues in your area. It’s a site where rescues and shelters all over the US can post their animals who are available for adoption. You can set the search to look for just birds within a certain number of miles from you. That’s how I found one of my birds and they often have birds of various ages since the site has listings from many different rescues and shelters. It might be worth checking out if you are in the US!

I really like the idea of getting two younger birds. I hadnt thought of that! Its probably true that my bird would be unlikely to really bond with another bird in the same way again. He just needs a flock to be with. I might go with this option.
As for petfinder and rescues; I live in a rural area so petfinder is full of chickens only LOL! The nearest rescues iare a days drive away, and they require home visits to adopt. Its more common to find abandoned birds on facebook marketplace unfortunately. Theyre usually always in pairs as well. I might take in the next pair I see on there!