Thinking of joining the community

[Sandy19]

Rabbits can be affectionate and don't need much interaction, but they need to be able to run around and play for at least a few hours a day. You can't keep them locked in a cage all day. You either need a fenced yard where they can't escape or a room that has been rabbit proofed from wires and other things they can chew on. They are easily litter trained because they actually like to go to the bathroom in only one corner.

I have two and they're fairly easy to take care of and don't demand my attention like a parrot would. But you do have to have a place for them to run and play.

 

[EllenD]

If you're determined to have a bird or birds, I suggest you consider an indoor aviary with a small flock of finches. You have plenty of room for a group if you don't go crazy and get dozens of birds, and there are a number of species that co-exist well. Lady Gouldian finches, in particular, are brightly colored and beautiful. They will live quite happily in an aviary setting with zebra or society finches, which are also lovely little birds.

An aviary of 1 x 1 x 2 meters would be of sufficient size that they would not need out of cage time, which would improve the problem with keeping turtles in the same room. Of course, your turtles really need daily cage maintenance and a thorough cage disinfecting at least once a week for their own sake - but that's a discussion for a different forum.

Finches in an aviary setting may not be quite so interactive as a parrot - though they definitely look forward to seeing the person who cares for them - but they are fascinating to watch. I suggest you get two Gouldian finches and no more than 6 society or zebra finches. If possible, stick to all males to prevent squabbling over mates and nesting sites. If your cage has a solid floor, you can probably also add a couple of button quail or diamond doves - but if so, reduce the number of zebra/society finches to four.

Provide lots of perches at varying heights at each end of the cage, but be sure to leave open space in the center for flying. Unlike parrots, finches don't climb cage wire... they have to fly from perch to perch. Provide numerous food and water stations as well, as some birds can become territorial. All finches appreciate areas to hide in their cage, whether made up of live or artificial plants, "huts" made of fabric or basketry, or simple bird boxes. It's best to have more hiding spaces than birds. Typically speaking, the more such places there are, the safer the birds will feel, and the less time they'll spend hiding. Please be sure to research any live plants you include to be sure they are safe - the birds will nibble at them if not eat them entirely.

If you google "mixed species finch aviary" you should find lots of pictures to show you just how amazing such a setup can be. Although you would still need someone to come in to change the water and replenish food when you travel, they would be much better suited to your situation.

Very good suggestions that were made earlier by others as well. Thank you for reinforcing a good idea and a happy compromise for the OP.

"Dance like nobody's watching..."

 

[EllenD]

I also agree that rats are a very good option, as long as you get at least 2 of them, you cannot have only 1 as they are very social animals. I already mentioned how incredibly intelligent they are, and they love to be held, cuddled, and can be taught tricks. If their litter box is cleaned daily there will be no smell, it's only scooping it out and adding litter daily, not a big deal. I would do some research on them before you just say "um, no" like you did.

I'm going to try to approach this differently than I have, though I fear you're going to just get a parrot anyway, and most likely something completely inappropriate like the macaws you were talking about, but I do give you credit for asking questions before just buying a bird. But as already mentioned by someone else you keep fully admitting that you cannot care properly for a parrot, then you go to the pet store and let a bird dealer tell you a cockatiel will be fine for you, which is completely wrong. Of course the person wanting to sell you the bird is going to tell you that it will be fine, he wants to sell you a bird! The advantage to asking members of this forum is that we are experienced and knowledgeable, we don't know you personally so we can take in the info you give us about your situation and tell you how we honestly feel, and we have nothing to gain either way.

I totally understand why you would want a pet that will interact with you and form a bond with you, and when you said what you said about your turtles ignoring you and only wanting food I then completely understood where you were coming from. But I also understood where you were coming from when you said that you had finished a project building the case for your computer or whatever it was, that it took a year and a half, and now you need something else to fill the few hours a week you have free, so you want a cuddly little bird that will bond with you and entertain you, and in your words "keep you busy". If I'm being honest with you, after I read that I got really, very upset. A parrot is not only a living creature, it's a living creature that has the intelligence and emotional needs of a young human child. It's clear that your knowledge of domestic parrots is limited, so I'm cutting you a break because I don't think that you had any idea what adding a bird to your life would involve, I think that you were under the impression that if you got a parrot you could leave it alone like you do your turtles, but that you would have the best of both worlds in that a parrot would just be happy whenever you decided to spend an hour or so with it, and that it would be affectionate and loving to you whenever you wanted it to be, but would be fine alone for 22 hours a day, and if it was an entire day, a few days, a week or more that you had to be away, then the parrot would be fine just like your turtles. You could just build an automated feeder for their food and water or have your "building manager" come in once a day and feed him while you were away for a week. Forgetting that this is entirely wrong regarding the parrot (in fact in the U.S. what you are talking about doing can be considered animal abuse due to neglect), I really don't think you're taking proper care of your turtles. But as already said, that's a topic for another forum.

The bottom line to your entire situation is that your current work schedule and lifestyle makes it impossible for you to not only own any type of parrot (finches/canaries aside) and provide the bare minimal care it requires to keep it alive, but you will not achieve what it is you want to begin with. I say this because what you desire is a pet that will bond with you, be affectionate with you, and that will love you and be excited to see you, but if you actually were to go out and buy a hand-raised, already tame baby parrot or adult parrot that was tame, after a few weeks of living locked inside a room alone for days, weeks at a time with basically no interaction with you or anyone else, and most likely a lack of proper sleep because you don't get home until after 10 at night, that tame bird you bought will most definitely turn into a timid, scared, unsocialized parrot that is afraid of physical contact, and most importantly to me, it will have developed psychological issues that cause it to self-harm. The number one reason parrots pluck themselves and self-mutilate is because of exactly what you are talking about doing. Someone that has the money to buy a parrot but not nearly the time to keep one goes out and buys one and proceeds to spend little to no time with it, disrupts it sleep (when exactly are the 2 hours you say you have per day for a bird if you work from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m.?), and in a very short amount of time the bird starts to pluck and self-mutilate, then it starts to run away from the owner, and all people, then it starts biting people, then it becomes very aggressive, then it is rehomed. So you would be eliminating exactly what you seek by getting a parrot and not providing what it needs.

As someone else already wisely said, "The problem is that you want an affectionate, cuddly, loving pet, but the entire reason birds are like this is because they spend most all of their their lives and time with the person that they love. It's not unconditional I'm afraid.

With birds you get what you give.

"Dance like nobody's watching..."

 

[ashraful]

@ellen
I can understand clear what are u saying and trying to do. I agree that i am not suitable for taking care of such affectionate birds or other pets. When i posted about buying one i was around 80% sure that i would buy one . now am almost bellow 10% that i would get a bird or any other thing than fishes. actually found something that can make me busy for sometime and not a living thing ( i mean its living but not animal) . And you are right that all i was looking for is a project or something . So am going to research about aquaponics. Trees i don need to pet them just change the chemical and stuff ( not sure yet ). Well as the bird thing like competently away still would say about the room its 100% silent and none goes or no noise happens there except the air pump which dosen do more than 60 decibels. And again am getting more fish ( feeder i will bread them for my turtle )
And for my turtles only thing they are lacking now is bigger space which am making now. Else they getting UVB lights , Proper Temps , Daily lights , different types of food ( they don eat veggies tho ).
But as much as i would really love to have i can realize any living animals are not good for my time constrains . Thanks all tho stoped me form becoming a torturer.
oh damn people around me also tells me i act like a kid . am almost 30 you know . not a kid . sad really sad.
Just to add the pet dealer who told me about the macaws is a distant cousin who heard that i was looking for one . and the pet store i go for my turtles supply ( am currently changing them to 90 litter tank to 120 gallon, so i kind of require somethings to decorate it or something else) they always see me looking at the birds so normally they offer .
And i cant do smelly and furry. Even none goes in that room without me but when am around my nephew sometime follows me so something furry might be bad for him (allergy )And again have bad really bad tolerance for smells of rabbits ( a guest house i stayed once had them).
And
@rescuebird
Thanks for finding out something that would be fitted with my lifestyle. may be will think about it but may be in distant future.
Birds of prey is a no no actually cause providing them fresh food when am not around will be problem. And they don't need to be colorful . i like owls. there are few holes in the side i live of my apartment ( the toilets have permanent false ceilings. in where 1 owl lives and there are almost 100+ doves in there living. I feed them sometime aswell . doves not owl . its hard to see them .