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Small pets

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Budgie/ Cockatiel/ love bird ?

4 replies

66babe · 29/07/2025 17:27

Hoping for some advice .. no specialist knowledge or experience so not considering anything big or exotic but about to change jobs , be working from home and dropping hours .. don’t want any more cats , dogs now they’re all passed away , considering something easy to look after , will interact with me , can spend time with , bit of a companion
Would 2 be better and if 2 will they still interact with me or just 1 and I am the company , so far my research ( you tube and google ) I’m leaning towards a cockatiel . Any advice or thoughts please ?

OP posts:
Springadorable · 29/07/2025 17:30

Definitely two. They are very very social and it's cruel to force them to rely on another species for companionship. Also they really should have free flight, so are you happy for them to poop on your furniture? As caging them isn't great.

66babe · 29/07/2025 18:06

Yes , happy to clean up poo if I need to lol
Do some breeds free poo more than others ? My nan’s cockatiel always pooed in one place

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Lifesaidyes · 29/07/2025 21:13

So parrots (all of the birds you mentioned are small parrots) can actually be more complicated to care for than people expect

They cannot just eat seed. They require a balanced diet with vegetables, sprouted seeds and legumes, a little fruit, flowrrs and herbs, microgreens and a small amount of seed mix (pellets are also a good addition to their diet - if you don't feed these then unless you can provide a really good variety of fresh foods you should add in Avimix vitamins to their fresh food)

They also need to be free flying around the house for as much of the day as possible, the cage is their bed ir safe space the same way a crate would be for a dog

They need lots of toys, foraging opportunities and mental stimulation. They also bite when they don't want to do anything you want them to do

Your house needs to be free from toxins. This means your non stick pans need to go (your air fryer and baking tins also usually have telling coatings so will need to go), no plug in fragrances, no fragranced sprays or diffusers, no candles. Your cleaning solutions also need to be avian safe - we now clean the whole house with just f10 (i have budgies, Australian King Parrots and conures)

All of the above can kill a bird quickly or cause severe respiratory distress

Birds pluck their own feathers when they are stressed, caged too long or don't have enough to keep them busy

The birds always do best in pairs

Avian vets are few and far between and expensive - you need to get insurance for them through exotics direct

66babe · 29/07/2025 21:17

That’s really helpful , thank you
Yes definitely considering the smaller options , am happy to do the work and have feeding and environment appropriate
I would plan to have the bird free during the day and only caged for bed or not safe to be out
Interesting about cleaning products , will keep that in mind .

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