Howdy!

[Leah00]

Hello! My name is Leah. I live in southeast Missouri with my husband and two young children (5 year old boy and almost 3 year old girl). I've always loved animals. My current pets are:

Jasper the 3 year old "short haired" Havanese
Buttercup the 2 year old Olde English Bulldogge
Gus the 8 year old Weimaraner (he's not mine, he's a foster dog)

Artie the 10 year old orange tabby cat
Mugatu the 6 month old brown tabby (my love!)

75 gal fish tank with assorted fishes

And newly acquired 2 cockatiels. Their names are Tayshaun and Wallace. Haha. If anyone is a basketball fan, we named them after 2004 Detroit Piston players. A few years ago we had another pair of cockatiels that were named Rip and Chauncey. Lol.

Anyway, I love birds. Sadly, I'm not really a big fan of cockatiels. We just seem to collect birds that no one else wants. Someone gave us the birds and cage for free after they got sick of taking care of them. Which is how we've gotten most of our previous birds.
We've only had one hand fed bird from a breeder. That was our dear yellow sided gcc, Kiwi. He was a great bird and so beautiful. Unfortunately we only had him for a little over a year before he died after getting tangled up in his bird hut one night when we weren't home. It was terrible.

I think that the only reason I'm not a fan of cockatiels is that I've always taken on older adults who haven't been handled or treated well. So then I get them and they are pretty much done with humans. Lol. I read about how sweet tiels are supposed to be but I haven't had any luck. I did half tame one of my old senior tiels years ago after the other one died but sadly he didn't last much longer.

Now these two I've only had for about three weeks but they aren't big fans of me. Lol. They seem to like it when I whistle and talk to them. They climb close to me and talk back but as soon as I open the cage door it's all hissy and scared.

I'm really, really wanting another hand fed bird sometime soon (but not too soon). I'm thinking a Quaker. I don't mind noise and they seem to have the personality I'm wanting.

Sorry for the book!

 

[Blueridge]

Hi Leah welcome to the forum! I don't have much to say but I'd just like to tell ya that quaker parrots are freaking awesome.

 

[Leah00]

That's what I hear!

I love that your have a Rocky quote in your signature and I guess you named your bird after him. We had an old dog that we named Rocky. We adopted him shortly after I sat down and watched all the Rocky movies! Haha.

 

[Terry57]

Hi Leah and welcome! I think it's wonderful that you take in birds that no one wants

 

[antoinette]

Welcome to our wonderful forum Leah
Your hands sure are full, how do you cope?
Please post some pics !!!

 

[Leah00]

Yes, my hands are full but I enjoy it. My husband helps out a lot too. We rotate who's turn it is to feed animals or put kids to bed. Haha. If it's my turn to feed, it's his turn to put kids to bed and vise versa.

It is nice to take in birds that no one else wants...most of the time. It can get slightly irritating when you feel like you can never get what YOU actually want because your hands are full with everyone else's cast offs. I know that might sound awful but it's hard sometimes. Right now I desperately want another sweet hand fed baby but I can't because it just took in these two tiels.

 

[Leah00]

Jasper the Havanese


Buttercup the OEB


Artie the orange


My sweet baby Mugatu. (He's quite a bit bigger now!)


The cockatiels

 

[MikeyTN]

Welcome to the forum!!! I'm a huge fan of Cockatiels and curious why don't you like about them??

Quakers are wonderful birds to have around too, I miss mine everyday.....

 

[WesselG]

Hi Leah

Welcome to the forum.

It's great to see someone else that run a zoo, hehe. I have 3 dogs, 2 cats and 5 Indian Ringnecks.

I've also somehow ended up with IRN's over the years that either someone didn't want or that escaped from previous owners and somehow found their way to me. It's challenging to those birds used to you but with lots of patience it can be done.

Wessel

 

[TessieB]

Howdy! You have a house full dontchya?

 

[Leah00]

Welcome to the forum!!! I'm a huge fan of Cockatiels and curious why don't you like about them??

Quakers are wonderful birds to have around too, I miss mine everyday.....

I have no good reason for not liking them. I've just never had one that was really tame and enjoyed handling, mostly because I've always had older birds that haven't had the best start. I'm sure that if I met one who was super loving and sweet I'd change my mind.

 

[Terry57]

All of your animals are stunning! Thank you for sharing the pictures!

 

[Crazy]

Welcome to the forum! The pictures of your cats made me squeal, I love love love cats!
In my experience with cockatiels, I've met only one sweet, cuddly tiel named Cupcake. She belonged to a friend who handraised her. But I agree, a lot of the tiels I know aren't the friendliest, but I still love them!
I myself have 2 dogs and 1 bird.
Teddy the Maltese / Yorkie mix,
Skippy the Mini Pinscher / Dachshund mix,
and Sunshine the Parakeet!
I'm looking to get another bird, however. A green cheek conure !
Hope you enjoy it here on the forums, friend.

 

[Leah00]

The tiels in my life just haven't seemed to have much personality. I'm not trying to offend any tiel lovers though because I know I have a limited experience. When I read about them it seems like they are supposed to be super, sweet, lovable birds.

The kitten, Mugatu, is my darling. Him and his 3 siblings were found taped up inside a cardboard box thrown in a ditch. They weren't even weaned yet. A friend took them in and I helped her out a little with them. I ended up falling completely in love with that kitten and my husband surprised me by getting him for my birthday.
He's the sweetest cat I've ever met. He was neutered last week and the girls at the vet kept going on and on about how much they loved him.