Buying a second green cheek??

[Behxo]

Hello, here to hopefully get some insight on something that I have been thinking about for a month now. I am a new parrot owner, and I currently own a female yellow sided GCC named, Bowie who will be turning 1 year old on 9/30 :] I have two very large cages for her, one at home and one at work since I take her with me to the office every day. She is basically with me 24/7 unless I have errands to run or hang out with friends on a weekend day.

A few weeks ago, I visited my local Petco where I bought Bowie on 4/15 and saw that another GCC named Terra who was there the same time as Bowie, was still at the pet store. It made me very sad to see that, knowing that this poor thing has been stuck in the same place for a year now with no owner to give all of the love and affection he/she deserves. :[ Her price has gone down a lot, and when I was purchasing new toys and food for my GCC, the man who sold me Bowie said that he would sell me the other birdie for an extra %50 off. This store seems to take well care of the birds regardless, the cages are always clean, with toys and food but rarely human attention which I'm willing to work with. I took my Bowie to the vet a few weeks after purchasing to make sure that she was good to go, and everything checked out so I'd expect the same for Terra.

It is tempting, but I have a few worries on my mind that keeps me from doing so. My current bird is pretty well trained. I have almost 100% potty trained her, she has curbed her biting habits (still little accidents now and then, but she is doing well) and is eating fruits & veggies along with her pellets. I feel confident enough to be able to properly care for a second one, but I worry about:

- Having her be a male or a female. If male, I don't want them to be mating or if Terra ends up being a female if they would end up fighting a lot. Like I said, the cages I have for Bowie are large, I don't have room to purchase more cages but is plenty big for two conures to comfortably fit. Unfortunately, for some reason the pet store doesn't supply gender information so I must order a feather test to have it determined.

- If the birds get along swimmingly, that Bowie would suddenly lose interest in me and would rather be with Terra and both of them ultimately not caring to be with me much.

- If Bowie ended up being territorial over her cage and not wanting to share, or just ending up hating Terra all together.

I would love to have some advice offered from people that have experience with owning multiple birds, thank you!! :07:

 

[GaleriaGila]

Wow...
Fortunately (unfortunately?) the Rb is so aggressive and territorial that I've never even dared to think of another bird...
Every concern you cited is legitimate!
Many here have found that they have to separate birds permanently... some have been fortunate and multiple birds get along.
Good for you for reaching out!
Good luck!

P.S.
The Search Engine Tab above is a great resource... I suggest taking a tour...

 

[LordTriggs]

It's not a great idea as you have yourself stated you don't want any mating. they will try to get it on no matter what sex, but you are at risk of babies and as I assume they're siblings it can cause some real problems, like still births and deformed chicks so bad they require euthanizing which is not something I'd like to be forced to do. Stores don't gender babies simply because it costs money! Why spend money on something many people don't care about and for the ones who do they can spend the money. all about that profit profit profit. They probably say to everyone that they'll give 50% off. They're no longer worth a profit to them so they need her gone as she is just a drain on resources.

Secondly you say you don't have enough space for a second cage. Did you know when bringing a new bird into a home they need to be quarantined for 30 days in case of illness? They hide it pretty damn well. Also what happens if either one decides they don't like the other? How do you stop fights? Some birds can be terrible with others and can attempt to kill any other bird they get to, what do you do if one of these 2 decides the other needs to be murdered? Also are you prepared for the opposite where they like each other so much they decide they don't want you around any more and become aggressive to you. Do you have the time to give the 2 of them their own amount of attention? A second bird makes the effort/time/money go up to 3 times more than a single bird.

Lastly you're current one is only 1. You've not even experienced the "joy" of puberty and hormones yet. Just remember most birds become rehomed by the age of 2. There's a reason for it aside from boredom. Some can turn vicious in that time and they go through hormones at least once a year.

so for now, no it's not the right thing, despite them still being there. The right family will come along for the, they just need to decide someone who's a bit birdbrained is their person and then BAM! new friend and a new home

 

[Behxo]

Thank you for the advice, and yes I've considered all of those questions hence asking some of those in my original post. I'm not one to jump on buying another pet and normally sit on it for months, weighing all of my thoughts/options. So no worries! I'm not going to make any terrible decisions for what could happen, I just thought I'd get an opinion from more experienced owners. I think I'll take a look at the search engine as I'm still curious to read about other's experiences with this, although I'm most likely not going to get Terra as there are too many "what ifs" with how he/she will be with Bowie.

 

[wrench13]

In a word , no. Hey if your independantly wealty, or retired and well off, and devote 1/2 the day to one bird and the other 1/2 day to the other, can afford 2x the food bill, 2x the vet bills, 2x cages , 2x the toys, go ahead, but be aware they can HATE each other, and maybe hate you for bringing a second bird into the house. DO people MAKE it work? Some do, most dont. Love your little conure, you have a lifetime buddy.