My daughter’s teacher has a cockatiel and she has fallen in love with this bird. She wanted one badly and I told her it was ok providing that she saved up the money and did research on their care. Well, she did. I was impressed with her diligence!
Long story short, she purchased the cockateil and because she is 12, I knew this bird was my responsibility, too. I love animals, so no problem. We put his cage in a draft-free area. He had food and water, toys… Everything he could ever want! I have never seen my daughter so happy with a pet, not even our beloved dogs! She cleaned his cage without being asked, etc. He was a cute fellow and I liked him loads, too.
You’ll notice I’ve used the past tense. Less than a week, and he died. He was chirpy and playful one night. In the morning he seemed sleepy. Then an hour after going to work, my mom texted my to tell me he died. :eek:
Telling my daughter was so hard. She was heartbroken.
After researching this, the only thing I can think of was he had a bad heart. I was angry with myself for not checking for the policy. We did what I thought was the right thing: going through a shop that specializes in parrots and birds and raised the birds themselves. I was pretty much told “too bad”. I have since called places further out and all have a 3-4 week healthy bird policy.
So tell me about your cockatiel. Are they a delicate bird? I found someone who has cockatiels and currently has eggs. We could bring one home in late December or January if all goes well. My biggest fear is that this happens again. I’d never want an animal to go through any pain!
First off I am so sorry to hear about your daughter’s bird. That is so sad, and it must have been really hard on her.
It is probably too late, but you could actually take the body to the vet and have an autopsy done to determine the cause of death. This could be useful to find out if there is some environmental issue. (In her research, did you daughter learn about non-stick surfaces ?)
I had a cockatiel for some 18 years (got him when I was 12 as well). It was my first bird, and after doing some research, I did quite a few things wrong, but he was still happy and healthy. My impression was that he was in no way “fragile”, and managed to do well despite my screw-ups.
They are really great parrots/pets. Mine was very attached and affectionate to me. If you do your research and find a reputable breeder, then I think you’ll be able to find a good one.
Feel free to PM me if you have any specific questions.
I got my guy when he was about a year old and he lived for another 16 years. He was always hand shy but still loved attention. He didn’t talk but he could whistle like a champ! I taught him to whistle “La Cucaracha”. If you would kiss someone in front of him he did the “wolf whistle”.
I never closed the door on his cage. If you get another one please don’t keep him locked in. Birds need to fly. If you can’t live with that do not keep a bird.
Cockatiels are also notorious for creating a houseful of dust. They shed a ton of these teeny tiny feathers that will leave a dusty film over everything. Be prepared to dust and vacuum often.
Aside from the initial cost of the bird and cage upkeep is inexpensive. Birdseed is cheap and a few treats now and then won’t break the bank.
Cockatiels are great pets. Get another one and take good care of it and enjoy your new companion. Good luck!
Yes, we knew about non-stick pans. We don’t have any, so that’s not a problem.
I didn’t take the him in for an autopsy and it’s a bit late now. His wing has been clipped. Do you suggest to not do that? I’m not bothered by the dust, I have two dogs. He was in a closed cage during the day, but the second she came home from school he was out, usually on her shoulder. I didn’t think it would be safe to have him free if nobody is home. Is that a problem? It’s a large cage.
My friend has a friend that has had cockatiels forever. She told me she has some eggs due to hatch. She will send us weekly pictures and we can go see him.
I never thought I was a bird person, but this guy won my heart.
(Just to be sure - no non-stick surface on your iron as well ?)
There are differing schools of thought on clipping wings or not. First off, if you do get a baby, when it gets “of age”, you definitely need to let it learn to fly. This has been found to be a very important development (psychological) step for parrots. Once he’s flown for a few weeks, then it is okay to start clipping his wings. The point is, if you get an infant, it needs to at least learn to fly even if he doesn’t get the chance that much afterward.
I, myself, did not keep my cockatiel’s wings clipped. He got pretty adept at making his way around my house, or various apartments. I did worry that he might escape and just take off, though.
With subsequent parrots, I’ve kept their wings clipped, however. There are a number of arguments for doing this and they all relate to the bird’s safety. The main ones:
houses tend to have more confined spaces so the parrot may end up smacking into something and injuring itself
the possibility of escape. Basically if a parrot the size of a cockatiel or less escapes, it is pretty much cat fodder. Unless, really well trained, if the parrot escapes and ends up high in a tree, you may injure yourself trying to get it.
The general consensus among parrot owners is, unless you have an aviary for the bird, keep the wings clipped.
I used to do the “in the cage while I was away, out of the cage while I was home” routine with my cockatiel, and that seemed fine. Leaving the bird out while no one is around is asking for trouble (again for the bird’s safety - getting into some spot where it gets stuck, for instance).
You mentioned your dogs. Something to consider when you get your next bird: put yourself in the bird’s position. You know the dogs likely won’t hurt the bird, but the bird doesn’t know this. And for all intents and purposes, those dogs look like “predators” (as do you, until he learns otherwise) to him. So to first get your bird acclimated to his new surroundings, keep him in a quiet place and keep the dogs away initially.
Not sure if your daughter came upon this, but cockatiels are prone to have “nightmares” or “night panics” and may freak out in the middle of the night. Mine would do this. It would be very random, and my initial thoughts were that he fell off his perch in his sleep and this freaked him out (but I later learned about these “night panics”). I would just need to turn on the light, let him fly a couple laps around the room, and then settle him down. Kind of scary, but once he saw things were okay, he would settle back down.
My cockatiel used to have the sound of our phone down pat, and when I was job hunting without a cell he took great pleasure in watching me nearly fall as I went running to the phone. Pure-D evil. His official name is Corvette, and he responds to it, but he and our collie were BFFs and Trilby knew him as Talking Bird, as if she knew the words and their meanings. It was weird, but Wife probably trained her and I know the dog seemed flabbergasted that a bird could talk. Weirder was when she would stick her snout up to his cage and he would trim her whiskers, and when he was loose they would nap together; note that this is the collie that kept the coyote and fox trash out of the neighborhood, but herded the Canada geese back into the park, as if they were domesticated, which was how they acted, as if they understood that killing her charges was anathema to her, and the cockatiel was another one of them. I don’t trust the Little Girls with Talking Bird because they would dearly like to kill him.
For entertainment he likes Jerry Springer and other shows where people fight loudly. He picked up Jerry’s “Be cool” when they fight, but thinks he says “Peek-a-boo,” which is also what he and I say to each other when it’s bedtime.
So, cockatiels and collies are too smart for their own good. That’s why I like budgies and cocker spaniels. Don’t like dumb animals that are smarter than me.
First off, what is this thing you call an iron?
Mine is not non-stick and when I do iron, it’s in my closet, far from the cage.
What do you consider to be a baby? I read it’s best to get around 12 weeks of age. So that still a baby?
And yes, the dogs were kept away. Whenever he was free, they were outside. When he was caged, they were either with me (my shadows one and two) or in the kitchen.
I have heard about night terrors. We had him nearish a night light because they said it helps.
Well since you can clearly afford to have all your clothes pressed professionally, then the non-stick surface isn’t an issue, and you can afford to buy all the best for your bird !
12 weeks is plenty old - like “pre-teen”. And the bird should have fledged (taken first flights) by then (be sure to ask the breeder if the bird did fledge - some breeders actually clip right off and the birds never take their first real flights).
I’ve not heard of the night-light. The sources I’ve received have indicated the opposite: a covered cage in a dark, quiet room for sleeping. Again, I didn’t do this with my cockatiel, but I actually have a separate sleeping cage for my current parrot. Also parrots need to get a good 8-10 solid hours of (undisturbed) sleep.
The reason for the covered cage is that parrots in the wild are flock animals. And in the wild the flock all sleeps together. Which means there are sentries on the alert throughout the night for predators. If something comes up, the sentries alert the rest of the flock. For a pet in the home, there is no flock or sentries, so the bird itself has to stay on constant alert. By removing extraneous light and noise, there is less that the bird has to be concerned with, so a better night’s sleep. And a good night’s sleep is crucial for the bird’s well being.
I’m pretty sure you’re joking (it’s hard to tell here sometimes), I said my iron was non-stick. I just don’t use it often because I steam or have clothes that don’t require it.
This is Crow. He’s been an old fat crotchety bastard since we got him. The most physical contact he will allow with a human is biting. He apparently wasn’t hand-fed. He hates all life (he’s named after the MST3K character, per my wife).
This is Bleecker (and me). He is occasionally tetchy (probably because he’s forced to share a cage with Crow) but mostly adorable and fun. He can sing the first bar of the Imperial March from Star Wars, though he usually gets distracted halfway and trails off into wolf whistles. He will eat any people food that he sees people eating (he’s totally uninterested when it’s just sitting on a plate, but the second it touches your mouth he’s all over it). Bleecker actually came to us as a “rescue” when our second cockatiel (a female named Raven, for the pro wrestler) escaped. We put out all kinds of “lost bird” ads and a woman called and thought she’d found ours. It turns out he looked nothing like Raven, but I agreed to take him since we had cockatiel facilities and she didn’t. About a dozen couples (it was always couples) came by to see if he was theirs, but he wasn’t. We never found Raven, and eventually we wound up adopting Bleecker (he’s named for the street in New York, again by the wife).
ETA: Forgot to offer advice. Everything I’ve read says cockatiels are fairly delicate, and my wife used to work in a pet store and said the same. For whatever reason, these two seem to be indestructible. Neither has clipped wings, since Crow won’t let us and Bleecker is able to fly without running into stuff. They do generate a shit-ton of dust. Crow is now about eight, and Bleecker is probably slightly older though we can’t be sure.
:eek:
