Jenypher
New member
- Nov 5, 2018
- 41
- 2
- Parrots
- 3 'tiels (Sophie, Peter and Melvin), 1 DYH Amazon (Baya), 1 Caique (Twenty), 2 Conures (Spider & Lizard), and 1 foster (Faust)
Hi All! I have three cockatiels. Two are older rescues, and one is a hand-reared baby from the local bird store.
We started our cockatiel journey with Allie, a beautiful white and grey baby, who was ALMOST ready to come home from the store when she died suddenly, breaking my son's heart. We got a conure instead (he wasn't ready to try another cockatiel just yet).
About six months later, we saw Peter advertised at the local animal shelter. I went to visit him and he did not like me at all! To be fair, he didn't like anyone. He had lived with a very old woman who died. Her son and wife took Peter in, but the wife started to have severe asthma attacks. I was told Peter lived in a small cage, and was on a seed diet. He was a mostly cage-bound grumpy old man with NO step-up and he was convinced I was going to eat him. After a few months, he began climbing out onto his cage door.
Fast forward six months. We boarded him with a friend, who has a flock and who was holding another rescue. They bonded! Suddenly, Peter had a girlfriend who just happened to be available for adoption. So, the day before we were set to bring home Melvin (my son was finally ready to try again on the baby cockatiel), we acquired Sophie. Since they bonded and she makes him SO happy, I didn't want to separate them. They have a nice big cage. He shows off for her. We recently discovered he can whistle and say "pretty bird" when he thinks no one is listening but his girlfriend. Sophie is desperately trying to get him to mate with her, but he is very "herp derp!" about the whole thing.
Finally, there's Melvin, the baby. She is adorable and just wants to cuddle, play, and poop on my keyboard whenever I'm typing. She's a stealth pooper - you don't see it happen - you only discover it when she's off to the next thing and you're like "WHERE DID THIS EVEN COME FROM???"
Here they are: That's Sophie on the cage door, Peter in the cage, and Melvin to the far right.
We started our cockatiel journey with Allie, a beautiful white and grey baby, who was ALMOST ready to come home from the store when she died suddenly, breaking my son's heart. We got a conure instead (he wasn't ready to try another cockatiel just yet).
About six months later, we saw Peter advertised at the local animal shelter. I went to visit him and he did not like me at all! To be fair, he didn't like anyone. He had lived with a very old woman who died. Her son and wife took Peter in, but the wife started to have severe asthma attacks. I was told Peter lived in a small cage, and was on a seed diet. He was a mostly cage-bound grumpy old man with NO step-up and he was convinced I was going to eat him. After a few months, he began climbing out onto his cage door.
Fast forward six months. We boarded him with a friend, who has a flock and who was holding another rescue. They bonded! Suddenly, Peter had a girlfriend who just happened to be available for adoption. So, the day before we were set to bring home Melvin (my son was finally ready to try again on the baby cockatiel), we acquired Sophie. Since they bonded and she makes him SO happy, I didn't want to separate them. They have a nice big cage. He shows off for her. We recently discovered he can whistle and say "pretty bird" when he thinks no one is listening but his girlfriend. Sophie is desperately trying to get him to mate with her, but he is very "herp derp!" about the whole thing.
Finally, there's Melvin, the baby. She is adorable and just wants to cuddle, play, and poop on my keyboard whenever I'm typing. She's a stealth pooper - you don't see it happen - you only discover it when she's off to the next thing and you're like "WHERE DID THIS EVEN COME FROM???"
Here they are: That's Sophie on the cage door, Peter in the cage, and Melvin to the far right.