A few weeks ago we made the decision to bring a new member into our family. Obviously nothing TO BIG :) – I am kinda done with the idea of a cat (after the horror I experienced with Cat Scratch and an infection in my lymphatic system)… and im allergic to dogs, so there really aren’t to many other great options that don’t involve hair or vet bills :) – and I really had no desire to get a bunny or hampster. No offense but they don’t interest me in the least.
What did interest me was a bird.
Initially I had my eyes on a bird called A Pine Apple Green Cheek Conure. My Dad use to breed conures and Cockatiels growing up… I have lots of fun memories of him hand raising the babies… and I just recall it being really cool having a bird.
A conure these days will run you around 200-500 dollars though… and the more I looked into it the more I was a bit unsure about it, one for financial reasons but also because conures or any parrot, tend to be very loud.
So! Instead, I went with a type of bird we have experience with and got Bella.
Bella is a pied cockatiel. She was hand raised (meaning after about 2 weeks of age with her mama, she was then fed by humans, with a birdie bottle aka a syringe). This ensures the bird will be friendly, otherwise they are mean.
Bella we got at a small local pet shop off a road called Bell’s Ferry. Which is where we got her name from :) – We happened to find a large cage for $15.00 right down the road from the pet shop. It even came with stainless steel bowls! It was a steal no doubt.
We got Bella set up in her cage, using cheap dowel rods from the craft store and real limbs from the trees in our yard… Within a week she was use to us and our boys loved her. Because we believe she is a female she is “quieter” than a male would be. Which is what we wanted. :) Cockatiels will learn to whistle some and on occasion can talk… but its rare.
They are sweet and social…
A few weeks after we got her we decided to get her a friend. We realized within a week that was a bad idea though… she got very clingy to her new bird mate, who we called Edward… he was a beautiful male cockatiel! What was more important though to us was to have her “want us” more than him… and we just saw that if we kept him it would result in a “mating pair” rather than a fun pet for our boys. So Edward went back to the pet store… and honestly when we dropped him back off he seemed relieved HAHA!!
A neighboring pet store we also discovered has lots to see… but really outrageous prices… SO, we shop at the “smaller store” but do enjoy visits to the fancier pet store, where our boys enjoy holding snakes, playing with puppies, birds and more.
Got to admit, I enjoy going to pet stores too :)
This snake below looks like a heart no? :) I thought so.
… and yes, those are Owens hands holding the snake.
Caleb wants to be a herpetologist, a guy who studies snakes.
Im not against that… His daddy however isn’t to thrilled ;-) – he hates snakes!
I am sure that snake would love to get a hold of this next lil dude…
Owen loved these!
Reed wasn’t sure of any of it :)
*and yes, to those curious who have read my blog for many years… we did at one time have a cockatiel when Caleb was 4? Something like that… we however lived in a very small parsonage and the cockatiel we had was a male and got very loud… being in a small house with small kids who napped with a loud bird was not a good combination… so at that time in our life having a bird was not a great option. However if you have a fairly good sized home or a home where the kids rooms are far enough away from the bird that a few whistles wouldnt wake them, then by all means go find a hand fed cockatiel, they really are awesome pets!!
- To those concerned with cost. A cockatiel is typically $75.00 – hand fed. The cage like I said cost me $15.00 – included bowls. So roughly a $100-125.00 investment. The cool thing about birds is you dont typically ever have to take them to a vet. No shots needed!! no fixing needed :) and best of all to feed these lil dudes it only cost like $25-50 a year! Its a very cheap pet to have. You just have to learn to be creative with making toys for them and perches. Oh and for the bottom of the cage we use walnut, which last forever and is easy to clean out (kinda works like a kitty litter, only way less gross).
