Hi guys!
So yesterday I went to a pet store to get food for my fish and I couldn't help but look at the birds. There was this one cockatiel that ran up to the side of the cage and attempted to follow me through the glass. I am a sucker for friendly birds, and this one was so cute that I stared at him or her for a long time before asking an employee if I could hold him. (Not sure if this bird is a male or female but I don't like calling birds "it" so i'm just going to say "him")
The employee told me that the cockatiels that I was looking at were not friendly because they were not hand fed and tried to direct my attention to another cage with a lone tiel in it. I looked at the bird in front of me, who was trying to climb the glass to get onto my presented finger, and asked if I could try to hold him anyway.
The employee was shocked that he was so friendly and could not believe it when the bird did not even try to fly away, but instead calmly perched on my arm.
I was hooked from that moment on.
Baby tiel came home with me, and he is just the cutest thing ever. He reminds me of Blue when he was young.
I have him set up in a completely different room as Blue, for the sake of quarantine. My hope is that eventually they can be introduced and get along. I would never cage them together, as Blue is very territorial of his cage, and I know that he would not enjoy sharing his space. I know that it is a very real possibility that they might not get along, especially since Blue is a feisty parrotlet. I am going to take it day by day.
I have a few questions for you guys. This bird is already so different than Blue that I feel inadequate at reading his body language and vocalizations. He seems to be incredibly friendly and somewhat awkward and bumbling in his movements. He seem to be more comfortable on me than in his cage, and when he is in there and sees me he tries to get out, almost frantically.
One thing that he does that I do not understand is bob his head when I talk to him and let out a dinosaur-esque trill. It does not sound like any other cockatiel noise that I have heard so far. It almost reminds me of a baby bird noise, but the people at the store told me that he was a few months old (they did not know his exact birth date). The head bobbing confuses me. Blue has never done this.
If you guys have any advice for me, about anything at all, I would greatly appreciate it. I genuinely adore this forum and love reading all of the posts on here.
I will attach a picture of the new young tiel, it's not possible to tell their gender until their first molt, right? Or am I wrong?
I tried to post a video of his head bobbing/dinosaur squacks but I cannot figure out how to do it on here.
Here he or she is! (Sorry about the long winded post)
(Ps. I am holding millet to try to coax him into eating, is that wrong? Blue is not interested in millet at all but I thought that Cockatiels loved it)
So yesterday I went to a pet store to get food for my fish and I couldn't help but look at the birds. There was this one cockatiel that ran up to the side of the cage and attempted to follow me through the glass. I am a sucker for friendly birds, and this one was so cute that I stared at him or her for a long time before asking an employee if I could hold him. (Not sure if this bird is a male or female but I don't like calling birds "it" so i'm just going to say "him")
The employee told me that the cockatiels that I was looking at were not friendly because they were not hand fed and tried to direct my attention to another cage with a lone tiel in it. I looked at the bird in front of me, who was trying to climb the glass to get onto my presented finger, and asked if I could try to hold him anyway.
The employee was shocked that he was so friendly and could not believe it when the bird did not even try to fly away, but instead calmly perched on my arm.
I was hooked from that moment on.
Baby tiel came home with me, and he is just the cutest thing ever. He reminds me of Blue when he was young.
I have him set up in a completely different room as Blue, for the sake of quarantine. My hope is that eventually they can be introduced and get along. I would never cage them together, as Blue is very territorial of his cage, and I know that he would not enjoy sharing his space. I know that it is a very real possibility that they might not get along, especially since Blue is a feisty parrotlet. I am going to take it day by day.
I have a few questions for you guys. This bird is already so different than Blue that I feel inadequate at reading his body language and vocalizations. He seems to be incredibly friendly and somewhat awkward and bumbling in his movements. He seem to be more comfortable on me than in his cage, and when he is in there and sees me he tries to get out, almost frantically.
One thing that he does that I do not understand is bob his head when I talk to him and let out a dinosaur-esque trill. It does not sound like any other cockatiel noise that I have heard so far. It almost reminds me of a baby bird noise, but the people at the store told me that he was a few months old (they did not know his exact birth date). The head bobbing confuses me. Blue has never done this.
If you guys have any advice for me, about anything at all, I would greatly appreciate it. I genuinely adore this forum and love reading all of the posts on here.
I will attach a picture of the new young tiel, it's not possible to tell their gender until their first molt, right? Or am I wrong?
I tried to post a video of his head bobbing/dinosaur squacks but I cannot figure out how to do it on here.
Here he or she is! (Sorry about the long winded post)
(Ps. I am holding millet to try to coax him into eating, is that wrong? Blue is not interested in millet at all but I thought that Cockatiels loved it)