hi! Lil’ kid me would love to take care of a canary, but I have some questions;
1. Which gender is more cuddly/ talk/sing better?
2. How much of what food do they need daily?
3. How messy are they? Can they be potty trained?
4. Do they need pairs?
5. How long can they be left alone?
6. What are your experiences with Canaries?
They both gave you good answers and I'll add with my experience:
...
1.) None like to cuddle, they are not birds that like to be handled, even if they warm up to you. Getting to close does make them anxious. However, some of my birds don't mind being a bit close, some are braver than others. My first Canary would call and chirp at me to get my attention, now that he has an wife he's a bit more cautious now. The males sing, the females make attempts at singing when they're bored and it's adorable.
2.) Canary/Parakeet mixed seed diet, you can find at your local PetSmart. I fill up the whole cup that comes with the cages, they eat pretty fast. Then blow the empty seed shells out and add more. They need to have access to food all the time. And I mix in vegetables and treats with their food. They love broccoli and lettuce.
3.) Very messy actually, it is one compromise you have to make but the trays aren't difficult to clean. Once every few weeks I will clean the whole bottom of the cage too. They can't be potty trained of course, lol.
4.) Highly recommend it, our first Canary was a young male who would sing all the time in hopes of finding a mate. He would chirp at me to get my attention and fly from one side of the cage to the other to follow me while I'm walking towards my kitchen. He was closer to me than and would do back flips off the cage when I brought him fresh food and water. However, he was somewhat sad and clearly wanted a mate or at least interaction with another Canary. So I got him a female Canary and put her in her own cage, he was singing to her while grabbing on to the wires of the cage with his wings spread out(this is how they sing to a mate when they first see them).
Eventually they had their first clutch of eggs and he was chirping very happily one morning in a way I never heard before. He was happy to finally have a mate and I even filmed that moment on my phone. I would upload it if I wasn't speaking to him like a little baby in the video.
5.) You need to change their water often if it gets dirty. I would definitely leave them alone for a whole day. I always change the water in morning, afternoon, evening and before they sleep. Also the food if it needs to be. And give them a daily bath. If they are males together they might not get along so be careful of that.
6.) So the male canary and his wife had 7 children in two separate clutches. All these children survived and are around a year old or more now. Four of them are two separate pairs(they're married and mate), while 2 other girls are single, lol. But, one of the males does mate with those two as well. I have three cages splitting them up or else the 3 males fight a lot. Our friends want us to give some away or raise another clutch for them but I'm hesitant about that and prevent that from happening because whatever children are born in my house become part of the family and I won't give them away.
Some people think these birds don't require much attention and that's wrong and contributes to the birds getting sick early in their lifetime. I notice many bird owners don't even have their birds on a normal sleeping schedule and keep them under unnatural lighting well into midnight. That bothers me as well. They are great and very cute birds and will make their owner happy as long as one takes good care of them.