Should I get a bird?

[MissDiealot]

Hey everyone!

I've been a lover of parakeets and parrots for a while now and have been dreaming of getting my first pet parrot/parakeet.

I am currently a highschool sophomore student and lately I've been really looking into getting a budgie or cockatiel (they're my favorites <3) but I'm not sure if I should get one yet due to school and only being able to spend just 3-4 hours with my bird at best each day.

I'm planning on quitting school as soon as I am old enough (that being just 7 months from now) because of my career choices and beliefs, so I reckon I will have more time with my bird then.

I am aware that owning a bird costs alot of money but I'm prepared and I earn enough money each month to afford food and toys for my bird.

My grandmother (she used to own 2 canaris but her dog ate them) told me that it's better to get 2 bird because they will die of loneliness otherwise.

So, what do you guys think? Should I get a bird?
I appreciate any type of advice/answer I recieve <3

Cheers!

 

[ParrotLover2001]

They will not die of loneliness if kept alone. It is better to keep one bird as long as you have time for that bird, that why the bird bonds to you and not another bird. I find Cockatiels more needy than budgies, although I've only ever had one cockatiel. Elvis is much more needy than my budgies, but he is also less active than my budgies.
Cockatiels (based on my experience) form stronger bonds than budgies, and seem to enjoy their human companions company more than budgies do. (That's the reason I got a cockatiel) but they are also louder and messier than budgies.
As long as you have done your research, I don't see why you shouldn't get a bird.

Sent from my Galaxy s8

 

[PrimorandMoxi]

I would say first DO NOT quit school.
If you like birds,
why don't you think about biology and maybe becoming an avian vet or something.
Everyone on here is always looking for a great vet and they make a ton of money.

Owning a parrot is so much work.
Most of us try not to let them get eaten by the family dog.

I wasn't responsible enough until I was in my late forties.
and I decided that I never wanted to go on vacation, ever again,
and I wanted to vacuum six times a day,
and wanted to prepare elaborate meals for exotic creatures,
and that I loved vet bills, occasional biting & screaming
and that it would be a useful skill to learn to read bird droppings for health issues.

think about putting all of this time and money into your education.
your future.

 

[itzjbean]

Hello and welcome, I see you are from France, greetings to you from the Midwest USA (Iowa!

I also second NOT quitting school - (why do you want to quit? A GED is important and will enable you to get into college if you so choose, and most jobs require a GED at the least, in the US at least)

As for wanting a bird.... I have owned one budgie and several cockatiels in my life and I have enjoyed the cockatiels more, but it just comes down to personal preference. I own two cockatiels, a mated pair that had babies last Spring for me. I think cockatiels in general are great for a beginner to birds because of their size, friendly/forgiving disposition and are relatively easy to train and gain their trust.

When I was in high school, I also fell in love with parrots and got myself a baby Jenday Conure. He was so sweet, tame and loved behing held and was easy to train. He had a heck of a scream, though, and eventually as I got older, I got more involved in activities (on the swim team, spending time with my boyfriend and friends, etc) and eventually I went to college and had to rehome him due to my parents not wanting to take care of him.

I always advise students thinking of getting into the parrot world to really think about their future -- as a high school student, you have a lot of change ahead of you -- graduation, possibly college, career, etc, and to bring a bird into a situation with so much change about to happen, you may find yourself with less and less time to spend with your bird.

That's great that you can afford food and toys for your bird every month, but unfortunately these costs are only the beginning. AA good, sturdy cage for your bird is also a necessity, as well as perches and possibly a playstand for them to play on when outside of the cage. Also, any new bird should be brought to a Certified Avian Vet to get an exam to make sure it is healthy. This can cost around $100 + just for a checkup, not including if your bird were to come down with an illness and need medication.

Also remember that birds like cockatiels live a long time, something like 15-25 years. In this span of time, a lot could happen, especially to a young student venturing out into the world on their own. What if you want to travel? What if you want to go on vacation with family and friends? What happens to your bird? Just things to think about.

If you are committed to this new responsibility, are willing to sacrifice time to spend with your bird every day and interact, and can make sure you are providing the best life for your bird possible with the necessary means of taking care of it, then I don't see why you shouldn't get a bird. You can find a bird through a rescue in your area, a breeder or a pet shop.

Keep us updated on what you decide! Again, welcome!

 

[gracebowen]

Let me be the third to encourage education. I know traditional high school isnt for everyone. My daughter is currently getting her GED and i plan on letting my son get his when he turns 17. I an then requiring an associates degree or at least an honest attempt at one.

I think you will do fine with a bird.

If you have allergies or asthma of any kind. I dont recommend a tiel. I have allergies and asthma. I got a tiel anyway. I cried when I had to rehome him even though I know he went to a great home.

 

[Katu]

Oh yes, please don't rule out further education. Even if you get the equivalent of a HS diploma for your country, like a GED, at least do that so you have more options in your life. You never know what you might want to do 5 or 10 or 20 years from now.

Also, please include the cost of regular avian vet visits into your calculations. All pets require even wellness checks, and if something does go wrong, it can be hundreds of dollars in bills for your bird. And it might happen more than once in a year, you never know. But it's part of bird/pet ownership that can't be overlooked.

I had a budgie and 2 cockatiels in the past. I loved my cockatiel (the last one) the best. He was a great companion and could do quite a bit of imitation, mostly whistling and a few phrases. Bonding with a bird is a special experience. They don't exactly love you unconditionally like dogs/cats. You have to earn your place.

 

[FlyBirdiesFly]

Again, do not quit school. I think 3-4 hours can definetly work for a bird, as long as you spend this much time with it every single day. When you mentioned the cost, you did not say anything about the cost of vet visits. If you can't provide vet care for your bird if it gets sick, you should not get a bird. Birds need annual checkups with an avian vet as well as an emergency vet if anything ever goes wrong. Birds live a long time, make sure you'll be able to take care of your bird for 10-15 years for budgies and 15-20 for cockatiels. What will happen to your bird when you go to college? Make sure you have arrangements for that kind of thing. As to which bird you should get, I have a cockatiel, budgie, and green cheek conure. Of all my birds, my cockatiel is the neediest. He demands to be with me whenever I'm home. My conure is needy, but can entertain himself while out of the cage. Both my cockatiel and my conure are affectionate and eager to please. My budgie is not really bonded to me and prefers to do her own thing. She likes to spend time in her cage, unlike my other birds. She is not really trainable and doesn't know any tricks. I'm considering getting her a friend since she doesn't really like me and I think she wants a companion of her own kind. So if you want a bird that loves to spend time with you and is trainable, I'd say go for a cockatiel, conure, parrotlet, or quaker. If you'd like a more independent bird that isn't demanding of your time, I'd say get two budgies.

 

[plumsmum2005]

Hi some great advice and just to second, third or even fourth - EDUCATION, EDUCATION, EDUCATION. It is harder to go back and try to re-do so take the opportunity now. Owning birds is something for later when life is more settled.

Hoping that some of us older (not sure about the) wiser owls can guide you?

 

[LordTriggs]

I'll say this as someone who didn't get into university (I believe that's the same as american college) get further in education. It's practically impossible to get even low level work without a degree now. Honestly wait until at least your mid twenties to get a bird at the earliest. there's so many stories even on here of people rehoming birds due to suddenly not having time or money when first moving out of their parents home. I can assure you I hated education, it completely failed me and left me in a position where I now have to learn everything now and will have to spend thousands if I want to educate myself which I would need depending on which route in life I decide to take. Sure it sucks but hey, it's free, and outside of classes you will learn a lot about life

 

[MissDiealot]

Hey!

Thank you everyone for your replies and advices~

Though about the school/education part I want to be a freelance illustrator or concept artist and I first wanted to get into art school, but I realised that art schools were located nowhere near my area, and that meaning I would need to spend most of my day just travelling and not studying, or even sleeping a normal amount like I should.

I live around people who currently have a stable source of income and who live a good life without even getting a degree or anything in the first place. Loads of celebrities as well have dropped out of school and such and yet, they're still very successful people.

A very good friend of mine was a complete drop out of school, he used to miss classes all the time and did what could be considered as "ruining his education" etc. But he has an amazing talent for art and has been noticed by people and now he draws concepts for projects he isn't even allowed to talk about and gains a fair amount of money. He had a passion for drawing and now it's paid him well.

And I do believe I have that passion as well! I have plans and determined to make the best out of this passion that I love~

So, sorry to dissapoint you all but I think I'm going to keep my decision on leaving education behind. I might change my mind, but for now I'm set on that uvu

Back on the actual topic subject!

I know vet costs can go from 70$ to 300-400$ (from what I researched) and I'm pretty sure I am earning enough for now to make sure I can pay for the vet!

I'm pretty sure I can handle the daily cage cleaning, making sure my bird has a good diet and stays healthy, give him a bath, let him do exercise, and other daily grinds.

I think I might wait until I am out of my parent's house to actually get a bird, I realised that they wouldn't be a fan of having a bird yelling in their house, despite.. Never actually being in it?

They're just like that, I don't understand them sometimes.

Again, thanks everyone for your replies, I appreciate it <3

Cheers!

 

[plumsmum2005]

Sorry you have dismissed the education advice but hey you're young LOL.

Hate to burst any bubbles but I have shelled out approx £2k on vets fees alone in three years and they will continue. Add to this a couple of cages, fresh foods, pellets, toys, perches, carriers, playstands oh and what are holidays?

 

[LordTriggs]

Hello there, now I'm going to raise some points here with stuff you said to possibly give a reality check I needed when a bit younger. So apologies if I appear as rude, but you need to seriously think about this stuff.

Though about the school/education part I want to be a freelance illustrator or concept artist and I first wanted to get into art school, but I realised that art schools were located nowhere near my area, and that meaning I would need to spend most of my day just travelling and not studying, or even sleeping a normal amount like I should.

I know about 10 artists who all work freelance. Only one of them does art as a full-time job, make-up art to be exact, they went through 5 years of UK college followed by 3 of university and they currently earn slightly more than a mcdonalds worker. If you're serious about wanting to do that then you need to think about moving. You can't stay at home forever with your parents.

I live around people who currently have a stable source of income and who live a good life without even getting a degree or anything in the first place. Loads of celebrities as well have dropped out of school and such and yet, they're still very successful people.

A very good friend of mine was a complete drop out of school, he used to miss classes all the time and did what could be considered as "ruining his education" etc. But he has an amazing talent for art and has been noticed by people and now he draws concepts for projects he isn't even allowed to talk about and gains a fair amount of money. He had a passion for drawing and now it's paid him well.

And I do believe I have that passion as well! I have plans and determined to make the best out of this passion that I love~

Those parent's/older people would have gotten those jobs in a different time when the world had more money and less people working so people with less education were given jobs with decent pay, and to top it of things were insanely cheap compared to now,

Your friend got lucky, simple as. He had talent and someone noticed who wanted to pay him to work, you can't plan for luck, if you could I'd be a musician right now touring the world! Take a look at tumblr/deviantart, there's millions of talented artists on there who don't do art as a career, the odds of being plucked out of that into a career is billions to 1. Sorry to smack that idea down but it's the truth. The exact same thing goes for celebrities, even they themselves say it was dumb luck they got that job that made them famous.

I know vet costs can go from 70$ to 300-400$ (from what I researched) and I'm pretty sure I am earning enough for now to make sure I can pay for the vet!

I'm pretty sure I can handle the daily cage cleaning, making sure my bird has a good diet and stays healthy, give him a bath, let him do exercise, and other daily grinds.

$70 would be for a dog going in for a yearly check-up. ask people here about their birds, a single illness can cost them easily a thousand dollars. If you can pull that out of the ether along with paying bills and all that then please teach me that trick, it would be pretty handy. honestly, for most birds daily stuff is easy. It's why it's daily.

I think it's a good decision to wait as you have done. Let yourself become an adult, figure out your life and settle. You don't have to be 50 to own a bird, I'm 24 and now is feeling like the right time for me. I've been out of the parent's house for nearly a year now and have let my life settle, you need to do the same for yourself

 

[Kiwibird]

You will presumably not buy your own home straight after leaving your parents home and rentals are often not thrilled with the idea of birds, which may limit your options of where you can rent and you may be on the hook for pet deposits, pet rent and/or required to carry a pet insurance rider on your renters insurance policy. Generally, the smaller the bird the easier to find a place willing to rent to you. Staying in the budgie/cockatiel size range is a wise choice. You may also wish to consider a parrotlet, a less well-known species more known for their "big bird" personalities.

I also want to speak as someone now approaching 30 who did not go to college (nor did my husband). We met in high school and made a mutual decision on the matter, seeing as neither of us had parents to pay. It was actually one of the better choices we made, as we are not saddled with crippling student loan debt like many of our peers. We actually own a home and besides a mortgage, are debt free while many people we graduated HS with have had to return home to live with their parents at 29/30 years old and STILL can't get a job beyond food service/retail even with bachelors and masters degrees! My husband is now in technology and I do various freelance work online. When you have skills and drive, you can succeed. That said, we both put our time in at soul crushing retail and restaurant jobs for years after high school and used our free time to acquire skills without formal education. Lots of sacrifice and careful budgeting in the beginning because the jobs a HS graduate gets are not well paying. No one even hires dropouts anymore.

It would be wise for you to finish high school or obtain a GED because it could take a while to get your self driven career off the ground. It's a free few more years of education to get that diploma, take advantage of it. Use that time to build your portfolio and start positioning yourself for your self made career choice. You will also appreciate having that diploma should business ever become slow and you must pick up a part time job to make up the difference. Always good to have a contingency plan.

 

[sonja]

This is going to sound harsh but I want to be crystal clear: for gods sake do not drop out of school. It will be the biggest mistake you ever make and you will spend the rest of your life trying to make up for the choice.
Do you know the likelihood of "making it" as an artist, or a celebrity?? Almost 0. You say you have passion - that's great - definitely cultivate it. But do you have talent? Great talent? The luck to be one of the very few people who can support themselves even with great talent?
I'm going to vote against all of the others and say you should not get a bird. You sound extremely immature - and that is in part due to your age, we've all been there. But your reasoning for quitting school - long drives? Other people have money? You have no concept of how life works and how your life will go if you quit school and if you could flash forward 10 years from now and re-read your words you would see just how far from reality your choice and reasoning are.
If you are still reading, again, I'm sorry to be so blunt. But please take it as caring enough to try to stop someone from making an enormous mistake, not as me being "mean".

 

[MissDiealot]

@sonja, no offense taken! I completly understand you're only trying to help and I greatly appreciate that. I consider myself to be chill, I don't get angry when people sound harsh when they try to help me. I may not be super talented but I consider myself to be decent, and I've been improving alot over the past few months, but hey I'm nowhere near a professional artist for now. ( https://orig05.deviantart.net/8a82/f/2016/320/e/f/ef2fdc2d2b065a4287596b23aaf6c201-daom9c3.png , https://pre15.deviantart.net/c14e/th/pre/f/2017/156/c/c/too_slow__by_missdiealot-dbboh8o.png , https://pre02.deviantart.net/40e1/th/pre/f/2017/208/6/4/64eac47e6cb523812673763fd2e72e96-dbhwpo8.png )

I know having an art career is really hard to build because of the kind of market it is, and I know it takes years to build a career when you actually earn min wage or like @LordTriggs said, just above a mcdonalds worker. Luck is no thing to rely on, I'm very well aware of this haha. I want to learn how to make a career like that work though, I think I just need some time to figure it out.

As I said I'm going to wait until I have settled in my own life outside of my parents. I probably am not in the right state of mind yet anyway. I suppose I'll stay there and try and figure out some reliable way of income for later on.

On a side note, the lucky friend I have is turning 21 this year, so he's not that old. He got the job when he was 19, so as long as I'm aware he got it in the same rough time as we're living in.

Though I'm not sure what a GED is, the french degree/schooling system is way different than the UK/US one, so I'm assuming it's basically the same thing as the baccalauréat? Don't know, still had no idea US made sophomore students graduate lol, it's weird from an outsider view. No offense though!

Anyway, thanks for the concern, appreciate the advice like usual

Cheers!

 

[gracebowen]

In the states is basically takinh classes and testing out of high school. If that is an option for you whatever your country calls it please take it at least.

 

[gracebowen]

I dont think you have it. Please finish high school.