IN general, students of any sort should not be contemplating owning a parrot. Parrots do well with stable environment, with s set routine. Students have little time to set aside EVERY DAY for parrots, and your environment will change a lot before you settle down in a house or apartment. It will not be fair to the bird, and you will likely surrender the parrot or re-home him because conditions will not allow you to keep him.
May be harsh words, but we have seen this happen time and time again. At best, a cockatiel can be considered, but anything larger is not a good mix for a student.
This may be true for most cases, but depending on how far you are willing to go will change that. I am a student in high school and have 4 parrots, I dedicate all most all of my time towards them and use most of my earnings for them. They are my pride and joy and i don't intend on re-homing them.
I think it's also tricky to say.
- I studied in one of the best universities for my major - it happened to be on the other coast, which I wouldn't have thought of doing if I had my ekkie (going between states can be tricky depending on your bird and just flying/cross-country driving is a huge hassle and potential stressor for a bird). That university provided me such great opportunities I would never have had if I stayed on the same coast nor if I had to match my schedule to my ekkie's timing.
- I didn't plan to get into a long-distance relationship during university, but I did because I had the chance to study abroad, which I wouldn't have done at all if I had my ekkie because who would be willing to take proper, loving care (not obligatory care of 'my child has dumped her bird with me').
- Then I moved overseas and it was the best decision for me, but I wouldn't have if I had my ekkie. The pain of paperwork, quarantine, etc would be just too crazy. And I would have missed out on such a huge, impactful part of my life that caused so much personal growth.
- And I got so lucky with my partner, who never thought of having a bird ever. I'm so fortunate he understands that I'm a country girl, that I'm more comfortable and happier with animals than humans, that living in the city drives me crazy. But I met him before I met Cairo, and I told him from the start that this little guy would be a solid third-wheel/forever toddler in our relationship. And already within 2+ weeks, our relationship dynamic has changed just because of this ekkie - it feels like we literally adopted a child. I gave my partner full veto; if he said that adopting an ekkie wouldn't work for us, then I would accept it because at least it would be before we adopt, not after Cairo became part of the family. If I had to enter into a new relationship and Cairo was part of the package, no doubt I would miss out of wonderful relationships with amazing humans because I'd choose my fid every time.
- In addition, I'm a huge introvert. I have no doubt that if I were an extrovert, I wouldn't be able to handle balancing my extroverting needs of connecting with others and Cairo's constant need for attention. I don't see friends during the workdays AT ALL because Cairo needs to be fed, giving attention, and put to bed, so happy hour drinks are nonexistent. And over the weekends, I'm constantly choosing Cairo's sun time over meeting up with friends. Friends have to visit me, not me to them, which means I'm an unbelievably inconvenient person to be friends with. And when friends visit me, most of the time it's working with Cairo to be ok around strangers, which means quality friend time is quite limited. So long coffee chats and late night boardgames are days of the past. But that's just how Cairo is, and I'm his parront, so I have to abide by it.
- I'm glad I didn't have Cairo when I went through financial and medical troubles a few years back. My medical bills were a bit crazy, and my functionality was barely there. I needed a friend to come in just to feed me. If I was stable enough with a proper job and medical insurance, I would have be able to handle having a parrot at the same time. But I was still a student with a part-time under-the-table job and not living with my family. I was struggling to put food on the table and roof over my head, getting desperate for gigs. No place for a bird to be in - I would have been making a choice to feed him instead of myself. And if he got into a medical situation, I don't know what I would have done. I'm so glad now I've relative job security and enough savings to cover both Cairo and myself should anything happen. It's enabled me to not hesitate taking him to the vet, and every time I go in, I can comfortably say, "Whatever it takes for him to be healthy - you need a few grand, ok." If I were a student, I would be stuck in a hard position I wouldn't wish on anyone.
- The only thing now is I'm staying on a rental property that doesn't allow pets. So every day, I'm worried about being kicked out and finding a place that'll take us in within a short period of time and within our budget. Hardly any landlord wants to have a pet destroy their property. That's my biggest regret with Cairo - not providing him that stability enough for him to have a good cage and familiar environment as a constant. I wanted to wait until we moved to a pet-friendly place, but it was so rushed - his previous family's need to rehome him within a 2-3 days - that I wasn't able to provide it. If he didn't need to be urgently rehomed, I would have waited a year before adopting.
All that being said...
I was a precocious high schooler, went to university when I was sixteen, moved overseas by myself when I was eighteen, thought I was responsible and knew everything (and tbh, I was a pretty decent kid, fairly responsible), did all my research before I made any decision. I know I wouldn't have been able to swallow a pill that said, "You're too young to adopt." But I'd sure try to tell my younger self, "You've got a lifetime. In time, you will be the center of a bird's life, so don't mess it up. You can play risky with yourself, but not when another life is involved." But I was a stubborn kid and wouldn't take 'no' for an answer, hence the crazy move to the other coast and to another country
