Hi All,
New to the forum but not to owning birds.
and looking to learn and take advice before diving into owning a bird again.
my background.
when i was a kid my mom and brother brought home a Jenday Conure
To be honest i was very uninterested in having a pet bird in the house at the time.
noisy, messy things!
but as fate would have it Rolo took a shining to me.
years of the most fantastic friendship ensued. i really loved Rolo.
he did have a slight mean streak - he used to fly attack strangers. more so if they happened to be my GF
long story short one morning we woke up and it was clear Rolo was struggling to breathe, we rushed him straight the vet. and by the evening he was gone.
that was 7 years ago.
since then i have tried to fill the hole Rolo left with little success.
i bought a green-cheek conure Nikki a year after. Devil bird. acts normal, they savages you. hated everyone in our family. and everyone hated her due to her unpredictability.
she took a shining to a friend and was rehomed.
then as i was a student at the time i got a cockatiel named chip
.
super cute bird. very demanding in the "give me love department"
was happy to go to anyone and loved to play and whistle.
she loved my brother the most so was sort of adopted by him.
that said she was a family friendly bird. never bit once! it was like she never figured she should close her beak - not that i am complaining.
sadly she started laying eggs. we did everything we could to discourage it.
she passed on egg bound. very sad for us, broke my brother heart.
my wife, GF at the time(also studying) hand raised a budgie named Pringle.
this budgie was the most exceptional budgie i have ever met.
friendly to everyone, playful. and smart. really smart - at least for a budgie.
Pringle was an absolute treat.
Sadly we went on a holiday and left Pringle with her parents.
Her father did not notice Pringle had flown onto the floor and he did not see her and stood on her. needless to say, 1x holiday ruined.
to this day i am still to scared to buy another budgie as i am certain it could never live up to Pringle.
i then tried a lovebird - my first impulse buy.
super cute, but way way way to loving. they are called a lovebird for a reason!
Cupid took to trying to feed me. as i took him out he/she started to regurgitate food to feed. when i say i tried everything to stop this behaviour i really mean it. it got so bad Cupid started to regurgitate everything he ate onto his own back. he would do this til he was so weak he could not stand.
i took him to a specialist who paired him with another lovebird and from what i hear that worked. only catch was i lost my bird to the specialist.
i was not so happy about this, but Cupids health was at risk.
Finally there was Chuckles - a Sunburst Conure
.
a lovely bird that my mom adopted around the time i got Nikki (the green cheek).
Chuckles did not like me, to be fair it was because i clipped his wings and did his nails. a job i did happily to ensure no resentment was channelled towards my mom.
Chuckles was happy to sit with me, and did not like me taking him out the cage. but you could see he associated me with an activity he hated.
6 years on my parents started travelling more, and Chuckles got somewhat neglected on the interaction side. i was no longer living at home, my parents were not there. so Chuckles spent long periods with a minder.
In the end i stepped in a found him a new home.
at the time i had just rehomed my lovebird, and had totally lost interest in birds having lost Pringle and Chip, followed by rehoming my lovebird.
in hindsight i really should have taken Chuckles myself, it would have taken some time and dedication buy i'm certain i could have got him to trust and love me more. that said, my wife would have murdered me - she is not a fan of a screaming bird (part of a conures nature).
all of the above was a good 4 years or more ago.
i have always wanted another parrot. my wife's attitude is simple - NO BIRDS. until recently. i was told i could get a budgie if i really wanted a bird.
i have a large house on a 1 acre plot
2 beagles, and a mini dachshund. (all of which have known parrots)
funny, our beagle bailey actually found an escaped(or released) budgie in a park once.
she did absolutely nothing to it!
she looked at it, then at us and sat down.
the bird was clearly used to hands but not friendly.
i put up signed and a week later we had found the owner.
to be fair to the owner, for the time we had the budgie, i have never found a bird that wanted to be outside more than this one.
it only had one goal, and it spent every second of every day trying to get "away" or outside. it could spend hours running up and down the window sill.
one day i made sure its wings were clipped and let it go where it wanted.
you have never seen a happier budgie cruising around on the grass.
when it was time to go back inside it took me the better half of 10min to catch him! outside was all it wanted.
that leads to me now. 4 years on.
in that time i have suppressed a deep and lingering desire to own a parrot again.
many times i've researched and read and looked. but never pulled the trigger.
so far i know the following:
1. i want a challenging bird. or at least a bird more challenging than a budgie or cockatiel
2. small/medium size is good. Conure size and up, but smaller than an African grey.
3. if i get a conure my wife WILL kill me. something relatively quiet then.
4. i work. so i away during business hours. i need a bird that can entertain itself for 6-8 hours while i am away without developing anxiety issues.
5. i'd like a bird that can go to everyone. i know this is hit and miss, but if there is a strain that is better at this than most, i'd go for it.
6. i love a bird that loves to be loved. cuddly is important to me.
7. and the reason i have not pulled the trigger yet. family. in the next 2 years i hope to start a family of my own. the 2 legged, 2 armed mini - me kind.
based on that and everything i've read, i keep coming back to the Meyers Parrot. they sound fantastic by the write ups and info on the net.
but i read them with a pinch of salt as every writeup on almost any bird seems to read the same.
so here i am looking for people with more experience than me to help guide my decision.
the catch with a Meyers is they are not readily available in RSA.
a Jardine parrot is though.
parrotlets also look rather interesting, but then again so do alexandrine parakeets.
Sorry for the long post!
New to the forum but not to owning birds.
and looking to learn and take advice before diving into owning a bird again.
my background.
when i was a kid my mom and brother brought home a Jenday Conure
To be honest i was very uninterested in having a pet bird in the house at the time.
noisy, messy things!
but as fate would have it Rolo took a shining to me.
years of the most fantastic friendship ensued. i really loved Rolo.
he did have a slight mean streak - he used to fly attack strangers. more so if they happened to be my GF
long story short one morning we woke up and it was clear Rolo was struggling to breathe, we rushed him straight the vet. and by the evening he was gone.
that was 7 years ago.
since then i have tried to fill the hole Rolo left with little success.
i bought a green-cheek conure Nikki a year after. Devil bird. acts normal, they savages you. hated everyone in our family. and everyone hated her due to her unpredictability.
she took a shining to a friend and was rehomed.
then as i was a student at the time i got a cockatiel named chip
.super cute bird. very demanding in the "give me love department"
was happy to go to anyone and loved to play and whistle.
she loved my brother the most so was sort of adopted by him.
that said she was a family friendly bird. never bit once! it was like she never figured she should close her beak - not that i am complaining.
sadly she started laying eggs. we did everything we could to discourage it.
she passed on egg bound. very sad for us, broke my brother heart.
my wife, GF at the time(also studying) hand raised a budgie named Pringle.
this budgie was the most exceptional budgie i have ever met.
friendly to everyone, playful. and smart. really smart - at least for a budgie.
Pringle was an absolute treat.
Sadly we went on a holiday and left Pringle with her parents.
Her father did not notice Pringle had flown onto the floor and he did not see her and stood on her. needless to say, 1x holiday ruined.
to this day i am still to scared to buy another budgie as i am certain it could never live up to Pringle.
i then tried a lovebird - my first impulse buy.
super cute, but way way way to loving. they are called a lovebird for a reason!
Cupid took to trying to feed me. as i took him out he/she started to regurgitate food to feed. when i say i tried everything to stop this behaviour i really mean it. it got so bad Cupid started to regurgitate everything he ate onto his own back. he would do this til he was so weak he could not stand.
i took him to a specialist who paired him with another lovebird and from what i hear that worked. only catch was i lost my bird to the specialist.
i was not so happy about this, but Cupids health was at risk.
Finally there was Chuckles - a Sunburst Conure
.a lovely bird that my mom adopted around the time i got Nikki (the green cheek).
Chuckles did not like me, to be fair it was because i clipped his wings and did his nails. a job i did happily to ensure no resentment was channelled towards my mom.
Chuckles was happy to sit with me, and did not like me taking him out the cage. but you could see he associated me with an activity he hated.
6 years on my parents started travelling more, and Chuckles got somewhat neglected on the interaction side. i was no longer living at home, my parents were not there. so Chuckles spent long periods with a minder.
In the end i stepped in a found him a new home.
at the time i had just rehomed my lovebird, and had totally lost interest in birds having lost Pringle and Chip, followed by rehoming my lovebird.
in hindsight i really should have taken Chuckles myself, it would have taken some time and dedication buy i'm certain i could have got him to trust and love me more. that said, my wife would have murdered me - she is not a fan of a screaming bird (part of a conures nature).
all of the above was a good 4 years or more ago.
i have always wanted another parrot. my wife's attitude is simple - NO BIRDS. until recently. i was told i could get a budgie if i really wanted a bird.
i have a large house on a 1 acre plot
2 beagles, and a mini dachshund. (all of which have known parrots)
funny, our beagle bailey actually found an escaped(or released) budgie in a park once.
she did absolutely nothing to it!
she looked at it, then at us and sat down.
the bird was clearly used to hands but not friendly.
i put up signed and a week later we had found the owner.
to be fair to the owner, for the time we had the budgie, i have never found a bird that wanted to be outside more than this one.
it only had one goal, and it spent every second of every day trying to get "away" or outside. it could spend hours running up and down the window sill.
one day i made sure its wings were clipped and let it go where it wanted.
you have never seen a happier budgie cruising around on the grass.
when it was time to go back inside it took me the better half of 10min to catch him! outside was all it wanted.
that leads to me now. 4 years on.
in that time i have suppressed a deep and lingering desire to own a parrot again.
many times i've researched and read and looked. but never pulled the trigger.
so far i know the following:
1. i want a challenging bird. or at least a bird more challenging than a budgie or cockatiel
2. small/medium size is good. Conure size and up, but smaller than an African grey.
3. if i get a conure my wife WILL kill me. something relatively quiet then.
4. i work. so i away during business hours. i need a bird that can entertain itself for 6-8 hours while i am away without developing anxiety issues.
5. i'd like a bird that can go to everyone. i know this is hit and miss, but if there is a strain that is better at this than most, i'd go for it.
6. i love a bird that loves to be loved. cuddly is important to me.
7. and the reason i have not pulled the trigger yet. family. in the next 2 years i hope to start a family of my own. the 2 legged, 2 armed mini - me kind.
based on that and everything i've read, i keep coming back to the Meyers Parrot. they sound fantastic by the write ups and info on the net.
but i read them with a pinch of salt as every writeup on almost any bird seems to read the same.
so here i am looking for people with more experience than me to help guide my decision.
the catch with a Meyers is they are not readily available in RSA.
a Jardine parrot is though.
parrotlets also look rather interesting, but then again so do alexandrine parakeets.
Sorry for the long post!
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