prismmoon
New member
- Apr 21, 2010
- 7
- 0
- Parrots
- Harley the blue and gold macaw and Sid the Goffin cockatoo
I've already posted in the cockatoo section, but I'll drop a hi here too!
My name's Sarah, I'm 24 and in Kansas City, Missouri. I'm a manager at a chain pet store and animals are my life, and recently 2 birds have joined my family's mini-zoo!
We have quite a household... myself, my dad, and my 16 year old little bro. 3 small dogs, a bunny, lizards, snakes, pet rats, fish tanks, a pair of button quail, and now we have Harley and Sid! It's a circus around here but we love it and I assure you everyone is spoiled rotten. My critters are my babies and it's important to me to give them the best life I can.
My dad had birds when he was growing up and always wanted a big bird, especially macaws. I tried to talk him into a cockatoo because they are my favorite, but after our trip to Belize last year where we got to play with macaws, he was absolutely dead set on one. So I made him do his research (Hmm, isn't that backwards?) and he decided on a blue and gold. We were going to either look for a baby from a breeder so we could raise it up ourselves, or talk to the local bird rescue, but while dad was looking for possible cages on Craigslist... up pops an ad for a blue and gold in need of a new home. We went to visit him and we couldn't resist taking him home.
Harley is a 12 year old blue and gold macaw, believed to be male. He was living with two college students in an apartment, being fed just seed mix along with Cheetos, goldfish crackers, and potato chips (Er... healthy?). He only had two toys an the boys thought rotating them meant... moving them around the cage now and then. He hated one of them and tried to attack him constantly, screamed all the time, was really in too small of a cage and kept breaking his tail feathers, an overall just wasn't working out. Who would have thought, huh? The guys meant well, but they couldn't take care of him right.
Harley hopped on my dad's arm right out of the cage, and Dad fell in love.
So we've had him about 3 months now, he has a brand new massive corner mansion of a cage, is eating Zupreem pellets and lots of nuts and dried fruits and is destroying all kinds of toys on a regular basis. He's definitely Daddy's baby and will sit and watch TV and share nuts for hours happily, preens his beard, snuggles his hand. He really doesn't like me, but that's okay. He's a good boy and we'll work towards more socialization. He laughs, says hello when the phone rings, beeps like the microwave, mimics the vacuum eerily well, and barks at the dogs. He seems very happy now, and is fitting in well!
So after we got Harley's new cage, we had his old cage just sitting around... too small for a macaw, but a great size for almost anything else.
I personally have always loved cockatoos. I knew I didn't want any of the bigger species, because I just don't have the time to devote to such needy critters and we already have Mr. Loudmouth making enough noise so while I can deal, I didn't want one with a reputation of constant screaming. So I researched and whittled my choices down to a rosebreasted (Which I adore! One day, maybe!) or a Goffin. Well, I found a breeder who'd recently purchased a 'breeding pair' of Goffins from a family who couldn't care for them anymore... and after getting them saw that they were both male. Some breeding pair. Since they were both in great shape and friendly birds, he split them up to sell as pets.
So Sid Vicious (What else do you name a bird with a punk mohawk?) has come to live with us a few weeks ago, and he's a delightful little guy. The breeder believed he's about 4-5 years old. He's been with us about 2 weeks, and is very friendly and silly and remarkably well adjusted so far. Lets anyone pet him anywhere on his body, loves head scratches, is really very quiet during the day... I love him! He's not sure about most toys unless he can shred them to bits (and then he likes to sit around with the pieces in his foot and scratch himself with him... I've never seen a bird do that and it's ADORABLE)! And he's not too into treats. But so far he's a loveable little goofball and I'm looking forward to being able to hold him and get him out more once he's more comfortable.
So those are our boys!
My name's Sarah, I'm 24 and in Kansas City, Missouri. I'm a manager at a chain pet store and animals are my life, and recently 2 birds have joined my family's mini-zoo!
We have quite a household... myself, my dad, and my 16 year old little bro. 3 small dogs, a bunny, lizards, snakes, pet rats, fish tanks, a pair of button quail, and now we have Harley and Sid! It's a circus around here but we love it and I assure you everyone is spoiled rotten. My critters are my babies and it's important to me to give them the best life I can.
My dad had birds when he was growing up and always wanted a big bird, especially macaws. I tried to talk him into a cockatoo because they are my favorite, but after our trip to Belize last year where we got to play with macaws, he was absolutely dead set on one. So I made him do his research (Hmm, isn't that backwards?) and he decided on a blue and gold. We were going to either look for a baby from a breeder so we could raise it up ourselves, or talk to the local bird rescue, but while dad was looking for possible cages on Craigslist... up pops an ad for a blue and gold in need of a new home. We went to visit him and we couldn't resist taking him home.
Harley is a 12 year old blue and gold macaw, believed to be male. He was living with two college students in an apartment, being fed just seed mix along with Cheetos, goldfish crackers, and potato chips (Er... healthy?). He only had two toys an the boys thought rotating them meant... moving them around the cage now and then. He hated one of them and tried to attack him constantly, screamed all the time, was really in too small of a cage and kept breaking his tail feathers, an overall just wasn't working out. Who would have thought, huh? The guys meant well, but they couldn't take care of him right.
Harley hopped on my dad's arm right out of the cage, and Dad fell in love.
So we've had him about 3 months now, he has a brand new massive corner mansion of a cage, is eating Zupreem pellets and lots of nuts and dried fruits and is destroying all kinds of toys on a regular basis. He's definitely Daddy's baby and will sit and watch TV and share nuts for hours happily, preens his beard, snuggles his hand. He really doesn't like me, but that's okay. He's a good boy and we'll work towards more socialization. He laughs, says hello when the phone rings, beeps like the microwave, mimics the vacuum eerily well, and barks at the dogs. He seems very happy now, and is fitting in well!
So after we got Harley's new cage, we had his old cage just sitting around... too small for a macaw, but a great size for almost anything else.
I personally have always loved cockatoos. I knew I didn't want any of the bigger species, because I just don't have the time to devote to such needy critters and we already have Mr. Loudmouth making enough noise so while I can deal, I didn't want one with a reputation of constant screaming. So I researched and whittled my choices down to a rosebreasted (Which I adore! One day, maybe!) or a Goffin. Well, I found a breeder who'd recently purchased a 'breeding pair' of Goffins from a family who couldn't care for them anymore... and after getting them saw that they were both male. Some breeding pair. Since they were both in great shape and friendly birds, he split them up to sell as pets.
So Sid Vicious (What else do you name a bird with a punk mohawk?) has come to live with us a few weeks ago, and he's a delightful little guy. The breeder believed he's about 4-5 years old. He's been with us about 2 weeks, and is very friendly and silly and remarkably well adjusted so far. Lets anyone pet him anywhere on his body, loves head scratches, is really very quiet during the day... I love him! He's not sure about most toys unless he can shred them to bits (and then he likes to sit around with the pieces in his foot and scratch himself with him... I've never seen a bird do that and it's ADORABLE)! And he's not too into treats. But so far he's a loveable little goofball and I'm looking forward to being able to hold him and get him out more once he's more comfortable.
So those are our boys!
