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Help me PLEASE!!! Deciding on a pet bird for my 14yr old

Macaws, Cockatoos, Greys, Poicephalus, Conures, Lovebirds, Parrotlets, Parakeets etc. Discuss topics related to specific species of parrots and their characteristics, mutations, pros, and cons.

Help me PLEASE!!! Deciding on a pet bird for my 14yr old

Postby alishabisha » Sun Dec 12, 2021 4:36 pm

Hello, my name is Alisha and I am new to pet birds in general. My daughter is 14 and really wants a Conure. I am getting her a bird for Christmas but cant find a Conure near by but I have found Quakers and Budgies. She has her heart set on a conure but dont know what is best and what I can financially afford and what may be best for a beginner. Anyone with any info or knowledge would be greatly appreciated. Only people I have talked to are pet stores, which are horrible places to buy anything in my opinion, and a few breeders. They all wanna make a sale n dont help my situation. Thank you so much!
alishabisha
Parakeet
 
Gender: This parrot forum member is female
Posts: 1
Number of Birds Owned: 0
Flight: No

Re: Help me PLEASE!!! Deciding on a pet bird for my 14yr old

Postby Pajarita » Mon Dec 13, 2021 11:06 am

Hi, welcome to the forum! Now, let me clarify something, quakers are conures. The appellation 'conure' is not an ornithological but an avicultural one - meaning there is no such thing as a bird that is called a 'conure' in science, people use it to describe a type of bird that has a tail that is as long or longer than the body and it ends in a point (you know, like a 'cone') so, although quakers are called 'Quaker Parrot', they are also called 'Monk parakeet' and parakeet and conure are, in this sense, synonyms (normally, we use conure for South and Central American birds and parakeet for African or Asian species - don't ask me why because I've never been able to find out :D ).

Now, to decide, you need to take into consideration whether the bird will be alone during the day and whether you can keep it at a strict solar schedule (because if you don't, the quaker will scream A LOT when it becomes overly hormonal and the budgies will reproduce non-stop). You did not mention cockatiels but I am sure you can find them in your area because, like budgies, they are pretty ubiquitous everywhere and that is the species I would recommend. Cockatiels are the sweetest-tempered of all parrots, they are pretty, smart, they can learn to talk and the male will learn to whistle VERY well and do very well when kept in a pair. I LOVE quakers (I was born and raised in one of the South American countries where they come from) and they are one of my favorite species but they can be bitey and very loud if kept alone all day long. A male/female pair of budgies will also do well but they are difficult to train to the hand because they are very flighty and they are SUPER opportunistic breeders so it will be difficult to keep them from doing it all the time -which is VERY unhealthy. One would be tempted to keep just one budgie or one cockatiel but, in truth, it's cruel to do so because they are aviary species (not companion) and although they can learn to trust and love their human, they are never really happy unless they have a companion of their own species.
Pajarita
Norwegian Blue
 
Gender: This parrot forum member is female
Posts: 18701
Location: NW Pa
Number of Birds Owned: 30
Types of Birds Owned: RoseBreasted too, CAG, DoubleYellowHead Amazon, BlueFront Amazon, YellowNape Amazon, Senegal, African Redbelly, Quaker, Sun Conure, Nanday, BlackCap Caique, WhiteBelly Caique, PeachFace lovebird, budgies,
Flight: Yes


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