Hi guys!
I just realized I?ve never really made an actual formal introduction of myself or my birds, so here it is!
My name is Ria, I?m 19, and I live in NYC, working as a full time nursing student. A few facts about myself: My favorite color is blue, I love animals of all kinds, I draw and write sometimes when I can, and I love being close to family. Just to name a few.
I joined this forum to expand my knowledge on birds since they are one of my passions, and I love sharing bird content and these little moments that my birds show off that I find to be cute and corky. All while adding some twists to my short videos.
I grew up loving animals in general but birds were never in my mind until my dad gave me a magazine about all these cool animals and exotics. Even pets. I stumbled across the pet bird section and was sort of curious. I was also intrigued. I?ve never really thought that birds were pets since I was only 11. The picture was showing some budgies and I thought they looked pretty cool. I read through the information and details regarding budgies and I was hooked from then. Being at a young age and very impressionable, I started looking into budgies more online and even scrolled through YouTube videos of others owning budgies. It was a cool experience to just find out more about them. I even told my parents about possibly owning a budgie one day, and also my birthday was coming up so i really wanted to hint at them what I wanted for that special day.
And behold. I finally got my first budgie. Of course my parents got him from a pet shop and I wasn?t thinking about where he came from, but more of the fact that I finally had a cool pet. A budgie was not my first pet, but at that point, I had wanted one for awhile. I loved that day going forward. I was still pretty young. Back then I didn?t do as much research as I should have. I was one of those kids that owned a bird and put them in a small pet store recommended cage, had cheap plastic bowls, few plastic toys, and the poor guy never got to see an avian vet, as I did not know that ?bird doctors? were even a thing.
I named him Owen. Owen was a blue budgie with some stripes and he looked pretty young. From what I could tell. I even took videos of Owen and pretended that we did YouTube together. He would come out of the cage and fly around my room a lot. And he would chase me sometimes which I found to be adorable. My intention of providing for Owen and giving him a lot of love was in the right place, however my husbandry was not equipped enough to be deemed proper care for a budgie. So obviously, never seeing a vet and all and having a poor diet along with that and limited space, he did pass away a year later when I was 13.
I searched and searched for what I could have possibly did wrong when he passed and found a ton of information online and including this forum regarding his cause of death. I was so unaware of what I found out but going forward I learned a lesson and Owen was my first, but he served as a symbol to me that research and proper information is necessary in order to fulfill another birds life.
So that?s where June, my sun conure, comes in. After 2 years of gaining more knowledge on bird care and proper diets for birds, I started thinking of getting another bird.
At the time, I didn?t know that pet stores aren?t the best place to acquire exotics, but I got June from pet land here in NYC. The first day, she was super scared and probably wasn?t hand tamed. I made sure that as I was trying to gain her trust, I was taking care of her properly to ensure her good health and happiness. I was 15, and more knowledgeable than I was at 11 or 12. I fed her chop, pellets, and some seeds. I even harness trained her so she could go outside with me sometimes. And I even gave her a large cage to sleep in, since she stayed out most of the day. She was always eating, drinking, playing, and being active and she got annual check ups from an avian specialist so I was good on all this. However, at the time, I spent so much of my time researching husbandry information for my new bird that I completely left out on how to actually gain the trust and eventually bond with a new bird.
So therefore, I never really learned how to interact with a bird properly. Or in an appropriate manner so that she won?t get scared. But she was scared lol. She eventually just took a liking to my dad and now became extremely bonded to him, and her being a one person bird, I had to accept that fact that maybe even to this day, she may never actually truly bond with me or form a strong bond for that matter. And that?s okay. What mattered then to me was her optimal health and happiness. I loved her still. Even if that meant she probably didn?t love me back lol.
So then comes my umbrella cockatoo, Cody. At 18, I wanted to get another bird. At this point in time, I definitely knew what I was doing when it came to physically caring for my bird and emotionally too since I continued looking into how to get a bird to trust and bond with their human.
I was ready for another bird. I had my heart set on the umbrella cockatoo, and don?t worry, I researched heavily on how these birds were in terms of care, behavior, and medical needs. They were large birds and I was still hesitant to own one but I thought I was ready. These birds need a lot of time with their humans but still learn to be independent. I created a space where the bird would have a large cage to sleep and spend some time in, but also set up activities outside of the cage so that the bird can be independent in order to avoid dependency issues. But along with that, I also had a ton of time in my hands. Yes yes I know I?m a full time nursing student. But I do it through an online program. So I had a lot of time to spend at home and I thought an umbrella cockatoo could fit in with my personality and lifestyle. I was so ready.
I eventually waited until the pandemic was at a low let?s say. So I could go into adoption centers and see the birds they have. I found Cody and absolutely fell in love with him. Maybe he didn?t fall in love with me at first sight but I certainly did.
Eventually I signed the papers and brought him home on March 30th of 2021. His gotcha day. I was so excited for this since I waited such a long time in the pandemic to get him home.
When I settled him in his cage, of course like most birds, he was extremely shy and scared. Every time I stood up or walked, he got frightened and did not want to do anything with me. But after some time, he eventually let me pet him on the head and that established the fact that no, I was no threat to him or his presence.
After that, we sort of ?got to know each other? more. Weeks went by, he would let me pet him more. A month went by, he would let himself step up onto me. Two months went by, he is on my shoulder just chilling. Three months go by, he is coming to me when I?m not even calling him over. Four months, he is finally letting all his guard down and comes over to cuddle, hug, or just chatter with me and talk about his day in his little cockatoo world. He even plays with June sometimes but is not really phased by her. Lol. Cody however is in the process of being socialized as he is only fully comfortable with me and my voice and touch. He may not have fell for me the first time, but gradually he started to do so and just showed me every sign and body language of ?I love you and never want to let you go? type of way. It was amazing. I felt special. And I?m sure he did too.
Now we have Cody and June and their crazy antics series. I then joined this forum because I still want to learn more and give people information from what I know as well.
Parrots to me are amazing and I wouldn?t trade them for anything else offered in the world or any other exotic. They?re unique, they?re not like cats and dogs although I love those guys too. They do not obey every command like dogs and to why aren?t necessarily ?mean? like cats haha. I love dogs and cats but birds have their own love language and born really strongly with owners. Not just anyone like a dog would. You have to work with them and know them and understand them at a whole different level than with your cat or dog. Or even other exotics. I love and find it amazing that large parrots can even outlive the human life span too.
Therefore, parrots just have a special place in my heart. And always will.
I just realized I?ve never really made an actual formal introduction of myself or my birds, so here it is!
My name is Ria, I?m 19, and I live in NYC, working as a full time nursing student. A few facts about myself: My favorite color is blue, I love animals of all kinds, I draw and write sometimes when I can, and I love being close to family. Just to name a few.
I joined this forum to expand my knowledge on birds since they are one of my passions, and I love sharing bird content and these little moments that my birds show off that I find to be cute and corky. All while adding some twists to my short videos.
I grew up loving animals in general but birds were never in my mind until my dad gave me a magazine about all these cool animals and exotics. Even pets. I stumbled across the pet bird section and was sort of curious. I was also intrigued. I?ve never really thought that birds were pets since I was only 11. The picture was showing some budgies and I thought they looked pretty cool. I read through the information and details regarding budgies and I was hooked from then. Being at a young age and very impressionable, I started looking into budgies more online and even scrolled through YouTube videos of others owning budgies. It was a cool experience to just find out more about them. I even told my parents about possibly owning a budgie one day, and also my birthday was coming up so i really wanted to hint at them what I wanted for that special day.
And behold. I finally got my first budgie. Of course my parents got him from a pet shop and I wasn?t thinking about where he came from, but more of the fact that I finally had a cool pet. A budgie was not my first pet, but at that point, I had wanted one for awhile. I loved that day going forward. I was still pretty young. Back then I didn?t do as much research as I should have. I was one of those kids that owned a bird and put them in a small pet store recommended cage, had cheap plastic bowls, few plastic toys, and the poor guy never got to see an avian vet, as I did not know that ?bird doctors? were even a thing.
I named him Owen. Owen was a blue budgie with some stripes and he looked pretty young. From what I could tell. I even took videos of Owen and pretended that we did YouTube together. He would come out of the cage and fly around my room a lot. And he would chase me sometimes which I found to be adorable. My intention of providing for Owen and giving him a lot of love was in the right place, however my husbandry was not equipped enough to be deemed proper care for a budgie. So obviously, never seeing a vet and all and having a poor diet along with that and limited space, he did pass away a year later when I was 13.
I searched and searched for what I could have possibly did wrong when he passed and found a ton of information online and including this forum regarding his cause of death. I was so unaware of what I found out but going forward I learned a lesson and Owen was my first, but he served as a symbol to me that research and proper information is necessary in order to fulfill another birds life.
So that?s where June, my sun conure, comes in. After 2 years of gaining more knowledge on bird care and proper diets for birds, I started thinking of getting another bird.
At the time, I didn?t know that pet stores aren?t the best place to acquire exotics, but I got June from pet land here in NYC. The first day, she was super scared and probably wasn?t hand tamed. I made sure that as I was trying to gain her trust, I was taking care of her properly to ensure her good health and happiness. I was 15, and more knowledgeable than I was at 11 or 12. I fed her chop, pellets, and some seeds. I even harness trained her so she could go outside with me sometimes. And I even gave her a large cage to sleep in, since she stayed out most of the day. She was always eating, drinking, playing, and being active and she got annual check ups from an avian specialist so I was good on all this. However, at the time, I spent so much of my time researching husbandry information for my new bird that I completely left out on how to actually gain the trust and eventually bond with a new bird.
So therefore, I never really learned how to interact with a bird properly. Or in an appropriate manner so that she won?t get scared. But she was scared lol. She eventually just took a liking to my dad and now became extremely bonded to him, and her being a one person bird, I had to accept that fact that maybe even to this day, she may never actually truly bond with me or form a strong bond for that matter. And that?s okay. What mattered then to me was her optimal health and happiness. I loved her still. Even if that meant she probably didn?t love me back lol.
So then comes my umbrella cockatoo, Cody. At 18, I wanted to get another bird. At this point in time, I definitely knew what I was doing when it came to physically caring for my bird and emotionally too since I continued looking into how to get a bird to trust and bond with their human.
I was ready for another bird. I had my heart set on the umbrella cockatoo, and don?t worry, I researched heavily on how these birds were in terms of care, behavior, and medical needs. They were large birds and I was still hesitant to own one but I thought I was ready. These birds need a lot of time with their humans but still learn to be independent. I created a space where the bird would have a large cage to sleep and spend some time in, but also set up activities outside of the cage so that the bird can be independent in order to avoid dependency issues. But along with that, I also had a ton of time in my hands. Yes yes I know I?m a full time nursing student. But I do it through an online program. So I had a lot of time to spend at home and I thought an umbrella cockatoo could fit in with my personality and lifestyle. I was so ready.
I eventually waited until the pandemic was at a low let?s say. So I could go into adoption centers and see the birds they have. I found Cody and absolutely fell in love with him. Maybe he didn?t fall in love with me at first sight but I certainly did.
Eventually I signed the papers and brought him home on March 30th of 2021. His gotcha day. I was so excited for this since I waited such a long time in the pandemic to get him home.
When I settled him in his cage, of course like most birds, he was extremely shy and scared. Every time I stood up or walked, he got frightened and did not want to do anything with me. But after some time, he eventually let me pet him on the head and that established the fact that no, I was no threat to him or his presence.
After that, we sort of ?got to know each other? more. Weeks went by, he would let me pet him more. A month went by, he would let himself step up onto me. Two months went by, he is on my shoulder just chilling. Three months go by, he is coming to me when I?m not even calling him over. Four months, he is finally letting all his guard down and comes over to cuddle, hug, or just chatter with me and talk about his day in his little cockatoo world. He even plays with June sometimes but is not really phased by her. Lol. Cody however is in the process of being socialized as he is only fully comfortable with me and my voice and touch. He may not have fell for me the first time, but gradually he started to do so and just showed me every sign and body language of ?I love you and never want to let you go? type of way. It was amazing. I felt special. And I?m sure he did too.
Now we have Cody and June and their crazy antics series. I then joined this forum because I still want to learn more and give people information from what I know as well.
Parrots to me are amazing and I wouldn?t trade them for anything else offered in the world or any other exotic. They?re unique, they?re not like cats and dogs although I love those guys too. They do not obey every command like dogs and to why aren?t necessarily ?mean? like cats haha. I love dogs and cats but birds have their own love language and born really strongly with owners. Not just anyone like a dog would. You have to work with them and know them and understand them at a whole different level than with your cat or dog. Or even other exotics. I love and find it amazing that large parrots can even outlive the human life span too.
Therefore, parrots just have a special place in my heart. And always will.
