New petco opening in my town

[ConureLady]

Hey everybody.
I'm a little upset.. theres a new petco opening in my town and its the first petshop here besides a tiny one about an hour away.
It really upsets me because its a super center, selling ALL types of birds.
I feel like it will be really bad. I've previously tried selling one of my conures (he was too bonded with one of the other conures, causing stress, which was alleviated when I got my third conure) and all of the people that wanted to buy him were plain stupid.
they just wanted him because hes cute, but didnt realize how long they live, how difficult it would be to get him to a vet (no one here specializes in birds)
etc..
most seemed like they were just collecting animals. some had ten cats, 5 dogs, six back to back children ages 1,2,3,4,5,6 etc..
and their number one question was always "does he talk?"
like that makes a bird worth having..

needless to say i kept my conure because out of the 300 replies, I didnt find a single responsible owner.

I am so afraid that this petco will just cause a lot of impulse buys.
and the worst part is, this petco will be sells all kinds of conures patagonian, dusky, sun, jenday, gcc, fancy gcc, they even announced that they will sell macaws, greys, pionus, eclectus, parrotlets, parakeet, cockatiels, etc..
I can guarantee you that after six months, there will be tons of people trying to rehome abused, neglected, plucker, non talking, mean birds on craigslist.

petco is a BAD idea for small towns like mine. we already have hundreds of pets dumped at our animal shelter a day.

i fear for these birds. and I also really want to post about it on rants and raves craigslist.. and on the pets section too..
am I wrong?
would it be mean of me to post on craigslist asking people to think before impulsive animal buys?

I used to bring my parrots everywhere with me in the summer, but then I started realizing how much harm I was actually doing. everytime someone saw my birds, they would go "wow, I want a parrot!" WITHOUT knowledge of what to feed them, how to train them, how much time and effort goes into a parrot, how expensive it would be to fly or drive them to a vet four hours away, all these people care about is having a cool pet and now these idiots will have access to buying them!!

 

[ConureLady]

I went ahead and posted the craigslist ad. Petco. So you want a parrot? Its long, but I make some very valid points.

"With a new petco opening in town, I want everybody to take a moment to think about the harm it could do to parrots. Think to yourself:

1. Can I afford $50 in millet every month, $50 in food every month, and $20 a day in fresh produce? A parrot can not live long off of seed. They require high quality food.

2. Can I travel if I have a parrot? Parrots require daily maintenance. Changing their water every day to stop bacterial infections, fresh food, and play time outside of their cage.

3. Can I pack up and rush my bird to the closet board certified avian veterinarian at the exact moment my bird has a blood feather or broken nail?

4. Do I know how to clip my parrots wings?

5. Can I provide the proper cage?

6. Can I afford enough parrot toys that i can rotate them out to keep my parrot happy?

7. Can I provide the right perches for my parrot? natural wood, rope, cement perches?

8. Do I realize that half of what stores sell for parrots are actually harmful? such as bedding that hosts bacteria, grit that causes bowel obstruction?

9. Do I realize that a parrot can live for a very very long time, and will be broken hearted if I rehome a bird that has bonded to me?

10. If I ever plan on traveling or moving, Is this bird allowed in the state?

11. Can I afford a play gym or play stand for outside of the cage use?

12. Do I have windows that will require me to buy curtains for? the number one killer of birds is a broken neck from flying into windows.

13. Do I use teflon pans? Can I afford to replace all of my pans to stainless steel?

14. Do I use household chemicals? Can I afford to buy bird safe chemicals?

15. Do I enjoy candles? You can not burn candles around parrots.

16. Do I wear perfume? You can not wear perfume around parrots.

17. Do I have other pets that can harm my parrot?

18. Do I have young children? Do I expect to have children later? Children can stress out parrots to the point they pluck feathers.

19. Am I these parrots forever home?

20. Is this an impulse buy?

21. If my bird has an emergency, Do I know bird cpr? Do I know how to stop bleeding? Birds arent like a dog. You cant use qwik stop on them, it will eat their skin.

22. Can I control my bird?

23. Do I know how to tame my bird?

24. What if my bird wasnt weaned correctly and has behavioral problems?

25. What If my bird attacks my friends, children, wife or husband? Most birds are a one person bird and will HATE anybody that tries to touch their person.

26. Can I handle the bugs that come with having a pet bird? If I get bugs, How will I get rid of them? You cant use any sprays or traps with a parrot in the house.

27. What if my parrot never likes me and is never hand tame?

28. What if my parrot never talks?

29. Am I willing to devote myself to a bird, unconditionally, for up to 40 years?

30. What if my parrot breaks a leg, wing, or worse, breaks their beak and requires $5,000.00 for a prosthetic beak and requires syringe feeding every two hours for the rest of their life?

these are all important factors that can happen very easily.

and These are just a few questions you should ask yourself. There are many many more, Parrots are not a low maintenance pet. Parrots require constant care and are a huge investment in time, effort, and money. They will continuously require hundreds of dollars a month in care.

Watch and see, after about six months of having a Petco in Soldotna, you will start seeing people list parrots on craigslist because they couldnt put the time into training their parrots and the birds are mean, feather pluckers, didnt talk so the owner lost interest, their child lost interest or was afraid of the bird, and so on.

It took eight years for my parrot to speak, he is extremely tame but still bites whenever he chooses, and six months for my other parrot to become tame enough to touch..and she still bites."

 

[khaiqha]

Though I support your overall gist, I question some of your numbers. For instance, how did you arrive at $20 a day in produce for a bird? Even my friend's macaw couldn't eat $20 worth of produce a day.

Also, I highly doubt the number one death of pet birds to be from flying into windows. I would love to see a study prove me wrong. I've always wondered why people clip birds' wings in the name of safety instead of taking steps to secure their home for a flying creature.

But yeah, many people rush into getting a pet without doing any type of research. If only people did the same amount of research they did on their electronics as they did with their pets, animal shelters would be hardly needed.

 

[ConureLady]

in Alaska, our food costs way more than other places.
its about $5.00 just for one apple, $3.00 an orange, $12 a bag of grapes, $10 for four bell peppers, $4 an ear of corn, $20 a watermelon.. so on..
realistically, I spend about $20 every three days on produce for my fids.

and as for the neck breaking, my vet told me that..so maybe its inaccurate.

 

[Helitorian]

If a parrot is properly introduced to a window or mirror, they're smart enough to realize that they can't go through it. My room is seperated by a sliding glass door and my Jenday knows when it is closed and when she can fly through the small gap I leave to test her flying agility. She's pretty damn good at it but then again she enjoys tapping her beak against the glass like a woodpecker. She knows its there.

 

[Riio]

in Alaska, our food costs way more than other places.
its about $5.00 just for one apple, $3.00 an orange, $12 a bag of grapes, $10 for four bell peppers, $4 an ear of corn, $20 a watermelon.. so on..
realistically, I spend about $20 every three days on produce for my fids.

and as for the neck breaking, my vet told me that..so maybe its inaccurate.

I was wondering about the cost of food also, and wowza! That is a ton of $$ for fresh stuff, I do NOT envy you for that! Overall good post!

 

[Trina]

I so dislike petco and petsmart. I only go there to buy dog food. One time while i was at petsmart I saw a GCC ohh she was cute she had a bad wing clip but boy did she like looking at my sun conure and he liked her to. I am one to not buy birds from these places. My conure i purchased from a pet store however its a mom and pop avian only pet store in the middle of no mans land. All the birds if clipped have good clips and if they are babies they are not clipped and they tell you why and explain why not to. I really like the woman who owns it she is knowledgable to and doesnt let people buy little bitty cages for bigger birds.

There are a bunch of birds here for rehoming, I saw some ads that say bought but conure is way to loud. At least when i bought mine the woman made it known this bird is loud and can annoy you I believe she said it about 3-4 times..

I saw an eclectus ad last week that broke my heart a male plucker has no green on his body over grown beak and they wanted 500 and would not come off of that price at all, I would have loved to have him but I cant pay that much for a bird that probably has health issues that needs vetting, the avian vets are not cheap I do not think people realize that anyone that buys a bird if they have other birds the 1st stop is the vet for a well check and tests to make sure they are healthy

 

[FineFeatheredFriend]

I think your Petco is super cool. I have never been to one that has such variety of different birds. When I take my birds out for walks I do get stopped a lot by strangers asking all the same questions. I use this as opportunity to teach people the pros and cons of bird ownership. I personally prefer going to a breeder buy not everyone has access to one. As pet owners we should not only keep a postive attidude towards our pets but also towards our fellow human beings. Peace.

 

[FA22raptero]

I hate pet stores (the large chains) with a passion. Small locally owned businesses can be good with the right owner. The best, as always, are breeders who love their birds and give you a significantly lower price, along with great advice and all the other goodies. This, however, is just my personal opinions. Local pet shops can provide the best service, and larger chains can often give you great deals/ideas/advice on hardware.

 

[truste]

$5 for ONE apple?! Holy wow! ...then again, I guess every place comes with its own expenses. I can get an apple for under a dollar here in NYC, but I'm paying 1350 a month not including utilities for one small room in a building built in 1880.

On a related note: I love going to petco to watch their birds play. The prices on their birds are ridiculous though.

 

[tab_xo]

see i dont even like our small local business..
we have one pet shop in our town, they sell a few birds- budgies/lorikeets/finches..
but then all they have for sale for them is bird seed... thats it :/

 

[FA22raptero]

$5 for ONE apple?! Holy wow! ...then again, I guess every place comes with its own expenses. I can get an apple for under a dollar here in NYC, but I'm paying 1350 a month not including utilities for one small room in a building built in 1880.

On a related note: I love going to petco to watch their birds play. The prices on their birds are ridiculous though.

My apple cost $2500... oh different apple... See what I did there? what can I say i'm a funny guy...