Sacred ibis

[Grimace]

Hey guys, does anyone here know anything about sacred ibis?
Was looking into getting one in 8 or so months once I move out and was hoping some bird people could give me insight since I am finding virtually no information on them.
Pretty much anything would be helpful!

 

[Betrisher]

Sacred Ibis are a protected species here in Australia, so there's no way you'd be allowed to keep one. Caging a gregarious species such as Threskiornis sacra seems a bit - not OK - to my way of thinking. Ibis, like most waterfowl, exist in large flocks. The individuals depend on the group for protection, direction to food and water as well as company during migration.

Considering the large size of a Sacred Ibis, you'd need to have an enormous enclosure for it to ensure good health, reasonable exercise and access to foraging activities. It seems highly impractical to me!

Of course, others may chime in with different opinions, but I reckon it'd be worse than unkind to be keeping Sacred Ibis as a companion animal.

 

[Grimace]

Sacred Ibis are a protected species here in Australia, so there's no way you'd be allowed to keep one. Caging a gregarious species such as Threskiornis sacra seems a bit - not OK - to my way of thinking. Ibis, like most waterfowl, exist in large flocks. The individuals depend on the group for protection, direction to food and water as well as company during migration.

Considering the large size of a Sacred Ibis, you'd need to have an enormous enclosure for it to ensure good health, reasonable exercise and access to foraging activities. It seems highly impractical to me!

Of course, others may chime in with different opinions, but I reckon it'd be worse than unkind to be keeping Sacred Ibis as a companion animal.

Why wouldn't I be allowed to keep one? I'm not in australia, and they seem to be legal and kept infrequently in a bunch of other countries. I've seen a few for sale around as well.

Isn't what you said true of most birds? I don't see why keeping an ibis would be any inherently worse than keeping a macaw or cockatoo or whatever else. It just (like any other bird) would require proper stimulation and etc.

 

[JerseyWendy]

Why wouldn't I be allowed to keep one? I'm not in australia, and they seem to be legal and kept infrequently in a bunch of other countries. I've seen a few for sale around as well.

Isn't what you said true of most birds? I don't see why keeping an ibis would be any inherently worse than keeping a macaw or cockatoo or whatever else. It just (like any other bird) would require proper stimulation and etc.

I can't think of a single parrot that has even remotely the same requirements as the Sacred Ibis.

Trish never said you weren't allowed to keep one. She merely stated that they are protected in Australia, and therefore cannot be kept as a "pet".

I'd suggest you find and talk to fellow folks in California who do keep these birds successfully.

 

[Grimace]

Why wouldn't I be allowed to keep one? I'm not in australia, and they seem to be legal and kept infrequently in a bunch of other countries. I've seen a few for sale around as well.

Isn't what you said true of most birds? I don't see why keeping an ibis would be any inherently worse than keeping a macaw or cockatoo or whatever else. It just (like any other bird) would require proper stimulation and etc.

I can't think of a single parrot that has even remotely the same requirements as the Sacred Ibis.

Trish never said you weren't allowed to keep one. She merely stated that they are protected in Australia, and therefore cannot be kept as a "pet".

I'd suggest you find and talk to fellow folks in California who do keep these birds successfully.

Yeah, thats probably a good plan.
I didn't mean the same requirements, I was just referring to the flocks and exercise thing.
Does anyone here know where I can find some good literature on ibis at all? I'm not having much luck with it. I always like to do a -ton- of research on an animal I'm looking into.

 

[jenphilly]

I hope you are just over simplifying your thoughts of having Sacred Ibis living on your property... These are not parrots, you could compare them to raptors and get a lot more similarities. Ibis are meat eaters, you will need to feed them baby chicks or fresh fish everyday. Sure there is a pellet out there that zoos use, but its still supplemented with fresh meat daily.

They also need a huge safe enclosure, like having a horse paddock, literally. But in that paddock, they need to have a pond or wading pool. And they apparently do not thrive as single birds, they must be paired and they typically only do well when in groups of pairs. So plan to get 4 or 6 of these guys. If you live on a farm, these might be a beautiful addition to rolling fields with a natural water source and trees, etc.

There is a forum on the internet for people who keep Ibis, but they are all outdoors. You might get alot more information about all the specifics you need to setup and such to provide a proper environment for such a large waterfowl type bird. But hope you did not have your heart set on this being a companion like a parrot....

 

[Grimace]

I hope you are just over simplifying your thoughts of having Sacred Ibis living on your property... These are not parrots, you could compare them to raptors and get a lot more similarities. Ibis are meat eaters, you will need to feed them baby chicks or fresh fish everyday. Sure there is a pellet out there that zoos use, but its still supplemented with fresh meat daily.

They also need a huge safe enclosure, like having a horse paddock, literally. But in that paddock, they need to have a pond or wading pool. And they apparently do not thrive as single birds, they must be paired and they typically only do well when in groups of pairs. So plan to get 4 or 6 of these guys. If you live on a farm, these might be a beautiful addition to rolling fields with a natural water source and trees, etc.

There is a forum on the internet for people who keep Ibis, but they are all outdoors. You might get alot more information about all the specifics you need to setup and such to provide a proper environment for such a large waterfowl type bird. But hope you did not have your heart set on this being a companion like a parrot....

Honestly the carnivorous thing was a big part of why I liked them. I'd personally much rather deal with that, especially since I already order rodents/chicks/fish in large quantities, and breed a few large species of feeder roach.

Didn't know they needed to be in groups, thats good to know though, and will probably stop me from owning any. Out of curiosity, what forum is it?

Would anyone else have a suggestion for some other kind of carnivorous bird?

 

[JerseyWendy]

Vultures? JUST KIDDING!!!

 

[jenphilly]

It was an avicultural forum... was actually looking to see if they were legal without permits here in the states. Do a search for avicultural forum and Ibis, should come up.

Most parrots eat insects in the wild sometimes... we did give Ivory a super worm, she just bit the head off, that was it. I don't know of any pet bird that eats insects as a primary food source. Could be totally in the dark about what a blood thirsty little thing some species is, but think reptiles and snakes might be more up your alley

 

[jenphilly]

Vultures? JUST KIDDING!!!

I was gonna say a hawk Victoria would love to have a pet hawk.... even tho the two we met in Ireland were eating chicks that were about the size of the green cheeks!!! So definitely not a pet that could have shared play time!

 

[Betrisher]

If you do indeed have rolling fields with a dam or water source, what's wrong with encouraging wild birds to share your space? That would be a lot more noble (ie. providing them with feeding opportunities, water, a safe place to rest) than 'owning' them. Just because it's possible to purchase and have title to an animal doesn't always mean it's a good thing. Just saying...

As always, this is simply my own opinion and of course you will do what you want to do. But you did ask.

 

[Kalidasa]

If I had a shed or barn, I would love the share the space with owls. Not own them or anything, just making sure they have a good spot where they could raise their chicks, and I can enjoy having them around. They would be my owls, but not MY owls, get it?

 

[Betrisher]

Oooo! I am so with you, Chris! I love owls too!

In fact, that's what my family really enjoys: when native wildlife chooses to visit our place and stay a while. A few years ago, we had a Red Bellied Black Snake (venomous) living under our house. He was great! We hardly ever saw him, but we had exactly zero mice in the house that year. Sometimes he (Snidely by name) would come out and bask beside the garbage bin, so we would all have to hang on for ages before going out to the dunny. LOL! Eventually, someone would just have to go and so Snidely would be scared back under the house again. We also get bats in the palm trees at the edges of our yard. They're kind of gorgeous, but somewhat inconvenient because they gorge themselves on the orange palm nuts and then cr@p out the products all over my washing, my car and my dog! They're pretty noisy, too. But when you shine a torch up into the tree and the sweet, pointy little faces look down at you, they're just gorgeous. Sometimes, there'll be a little Mummy with her baby hanging on her front and that's beyond gorgeous!

Other interesting things that share our property have been Blue Tongue lizards that gave birth in the shed (and hordes of baby Bluey's kept turning up everywhere for weeks afterward). We also had a pair of Shovel-headed Planarian worms (which aren't all that uncommon, but you rarely ever see them because they live in the soil and a thing called Peripatus, which is the ancestor of all the jointed-skeletoned insects. I nearly fell off the dunny when I saw him scuttling across the floor! So, yeah, it's a real privilege when the wild creatures come to share with you for a while.

 

[RavensGryf]

I love the eerie look of Barn Owls... I also LOVE to see the Spoonbills at the zoo. They're so ugly they they're cute lol

 

[Grimace]

Unfortunately I live in the suburbs (albiet with a yard with more than enough room for a large enclosure or two), so the bird life here is basically limited to finches, house sparrows, and crows. The crows are pretty fun but I doubt the neighbors would be too appreciative of me feeding them constantly.

What about kookaburras? Does anyone have any experience with them? They seem like they do pretty well in captivity. I know they can be pretty loud, but most of the things I'm reading are saying they only tend to get super loud when they hear other kookaburras. (I don't mind occasional noise, I just would like to avoid a bird that's screaming all day)

 

[jenphilly]

If you live in the burbs, the first I would do is check with local ordinances. Keeping waterfowl or any other type of bird may be restricted. I remember when I was a kid we had 2 ducks and that was actually a huge stink over having ducks in the burbs.

Most places have animal ordinances for anything out of the ordinary. And if you are in the burbs, be very careful about the noise, cause upset neighbors can result in your animals being confiscated, so before you do any other homework, the first think I would do is contact your local animal control services and get specifics about what you can and can't keep specifically to exactly where you live...

Out of curiosity, why are you so intent on keeping unusual birds as pets? If you have a great interest in unusual birds, have you thought of a career in animal conservation or zoology, etc?

 

[Mekaisto]

Hi, I've worked with both ibises (scarlet, not sacred) and kookaburras, so here's my opinion

Ibises do need to be kept in groups, and they STINK. Anything that eats fish does not smell good. We fed our ibises pellets as well as meat, to supplement their diet. I'm not sure how they're kept privately, but I expect privately owned ibises don't have the best nutrition, or oversimplified nutrition.
They also like to have open water to wade in, so you'd also need a big pool of water with a soft bottom of mud, to help prevent bumblefoot.

As for kookaburras, they will call whether or not there are other kookas nearby. I've worked somewhere where there was a single laughing kookaburra, and it always called a couple of times in the morning (between 4am - 6am) and again in the evening. Other than that, it was pretty quiet though. Blue-winged kookaburras are quieter, but they will still call in the morning and evening. Kookaburras, in my experience, can be friendly, but are similar to raptors in that they don't really see you as a friend or companion, they just see you as a source of food. They will also attack anything that moves, so you need to make sure you keep rodents out of the aviary/flight. Rodents who have eaten rat poison will kill a kooka.

It's fine to want an 'interesting' or 'exotic' pet, just keep in mind that there's usually a reason they're uncommon. It may be because they are hard to keep, have difficult nutritional requirements, or need to be collected from the wild.
But good on you for doing some research and trying to find out more

 

[Grimace]

Ooh, thanks! Yeah, that would definitely rule out the ibis then.
I just have a huge thing for carnivorous/fish eating birds haha. I think i developed that through the various outings for all my marine bio and aquarium science classes. (I'd get a cormorant in a heartbeat if there was a way to)

The only regulation on bird laws here is you can't have poultry birds, and of course all the falconry laws and restrictions. I'm trying to avoid anything too loud anyway though, as thats the main thing keeping me away from parrots. I don't mind noise one in a while, but I would really like to stay away from anything that makes a -ton- of it, or anything with really shrill screams or whatnot.
Kookaburras sound like they might be alright, I'll have to try to find more information on them. Does anyone know anything about hornbills? Specifically the red bills?

Sorry for asking about a ton of different birds, I just want to make absolutely sure when I eventually try getting something I get a species that fits well so its best for the bird.

 

[jenphilly]

My only experience with hornbills are two birds at the rescue.... grossly messy, and I mean grossly... I don't think the toucan is overly loud, but he takes up a literal corner of the room, probably 6x8 size. The smaller (can't remember specific) is more shrill, but equally as gross messy.

Don't assume all parrots are noisey... We have 10 birds and live in a condo, our neighbors have told us they had no clue we even had birds and that includes two bare eyed cockatoos and a sun!

Good luck with your research!! I hope you find a perfect match!

 

[Grimace]

My only experience with hornbills are two birds at the rescue.... grossly messy, and I mean grossly... I don't think the toucan is overly loud, but he takes up a literal corner of the room, probably 6x8 size. The smaller (can't remember specific) is more shrill, but equally as gross messy.

Don't assume all parrots are noisey... We have 10 birds and live in a condo, our neighbors have told us they had no clue we even had birds and that includes two bare eyed cockatoos and a sun!

Good luck with your research!! I hope you find a perfect match!

Thanks c:
Why were the hornbills that bad? Did they just have liquidy poop from eating so much fruit, or was it something else? I'm looking at hornbill care right now, and some videos of people who own the smaller species and these guys have really caught my eye. They seem much friendlier and more interactive than kookaburras and ibis and whatever else would have been.

(its also nice they seem to be decently available and I can actually find care information)