| Is A Bird Right For Me? (Page 1) |
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| 1. Can you handle messes? Birds are NOT clean pets. They make a HUGE mess! They throw food, water, wet food, dry food, seeds, seed hulls, shred paper, get feathers everywhere (especially during molt), leave beak marks in wooden furnishing if not supervised, poop on the carpet, get poop on the walls, on you, get wet food on the ceiling, if they break a blood feather during a night fright there will be blood on the wall, carpet, ceiling, you name it. Birds cannot learn to be clean. They will forever stay messy! 2. Can you handle loud noises? Even small birds like budgies, finches, cockatiels, can make a huge racket when they feel like it. When they're REALLY loud, you can hear them everywhere through the house, even with the door to their room shut.You can hear them outside and I bet the neighbours would hear them too. They squak, chirp, sing, and whistle on and on. Healthy birds make a lot of noise. 3. Can you deal with biting that may draw blood? While budgies and cockatiels are well behaved most of the time, even the sweetest bird can bite. They bite for various reasons: Being startled, frightened, spooked, angered, a bad mood, illness, injury, or just to say "Hey! I don't like that! STOP IT!" You need to know how to NOT take a bite personally. There is always a reason, and 99% of the time the bird gives several clear (in bird language) signals that it is upset or frightened. If you fail to read their body language, you'll be told to back off the way a bird knows how: with a bite. 4. Can you handle a 10-30 year commitment? Barring untreated illness, accedental death by injury, or cancer, a well cared for budgie can live for 10-20 years; a well cared for cockatiel can live for 10-30 years. 5. Can you handle regular vet costs? Emergency vet costs? Vet visits are not optional. When a bird starts showing signs of illness, they are already critically ill. Birds hide their illness for as long as possible, so once you notice your bird acting funny, every minute counts. This means you will HAVE to pay for emergency visits to the vet. Regular vet visits range from $10-$30 depending on the vet. A bird should be seen by an avian vet once per year. A sick bird should be seen by an avian vet imediatly. Emergency or off hour vet visits can shoot up to over $600. But that depends on the hour, the day, or how sick the bird is.This is something every bird owner should plan for. Bottom line: If you can't afford the vet, you can't afford the bird 6. Do you have time to prepare a good diet for your bird everyday for the next 10-30 years? A good diet dosen't mean "refill with seeds" or "refill with pellets." Birds need a variety of food to fill theiir diet. This means a high quality seed mix, a high quality pellet, and a variety of fresh greens, vegetables, sprouts, grains, breads, and fruit. Every day. Regardless of whether you feel like preparing it or not. 7. Can you afford a good cage, good food, and a neverending supply of good toy? Plan on spending at least $100 for a good moderatly sized cage for a budgie. The MINIMUM cage size for a budgie is 16 inches square. This means the $20 or $10 "starter kit" cage is not big enough. Even if the pet store said it was good enough, it will not do. The cost of good food ranges from $20-$60 per month. A good pellet will cost you between $14-$30 for a 5 pund bag (this will lat the budgie 1-2 months). A good seed mix will cost betwen $8-$15. Cheap seed is not a good thing to feed to your budgie, most of the seeds are dead and starting to decay. Cheap seed is also most likely to have seed moths. These moths don't hurt anything, but they do get rather irritating really fast. Toys can easily cost a small as well. You can make your own toys or order from places online to get a better price. In a pet store, expect to spend at least $6 for their cheapest (and sometimes not very safe) toys. A single bird needs at least 3-4 good toys. Bored birds are unhappy birds, and they'll let you know through noise, aggression, and sometimes budgies will feather pick out of bordem. 8. Are you able to/willing to put the birds health and happiness and "social life" before yours? This means you can't take long vacations without it, be away for days and time, or leave the bird home alone for 8 hours while you're at work or school, then expect to come home that evening or just come home and fall into your bed. You bird will want, need and deserve attention whether your tired, sick, overworked, or want to go out or not. 9. For those who rent: Will the Landlord or neighbours be able to deal with the noise or mess? Did you hear me earlier when I said birds are noisy and messy?!? You might not mind, but your Landlord/neighbours might. |
| Is a bird right for you? Only you can decide this, however the way you answer these questions can indicate if a bird fits your lifestyle or not. |
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