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i want to get a parrotlet

Acediaaa

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i've begun the journey towards getting a blue female p'let. i've done a lot of research, but i feel like i haven't had enough. all of the supplies i need will be around $300, but what about the bird? is there advantages of having a female p'let vs a male? what about advantages of a male? i know that they're feisty birds that want to take on the world, i know their basic diet, i've learned a lot. but if you have/had a parrotlet, could you give me some advice? how much money should i save up? (small reminder that i'm a minor and have been wanting a bird for almost 2 years. the want for a bird raised a few months ago. my parents said that, if i can save up enough money, i can more than likely get a bird as long as it doesn't get too big.) i already have $135 (was originally $145, but my mom borrowed $10 and stILL has yet to repay me lmao) saved up, but how much more should i get? i've seen parrotlets on a spectrum of $50 to $600, so i probably have a while to go. i understand the hassle and risk of having such a small bird, (rest in peace, zeeby. you were too ambitious for your own good) but i really doubt it's as bad as some people say it is. i really want the bond. i really want the bird. i want the personality and the happiness to see me. we have cats, but i feel underappreciated by them. i love them a lot, so it's kind of sad to watch them demand for affection but turn around 2 seconds later to go eat. i want a pet that will just hang out with me and give and receive a whole load of love. i can't have anything bigger than a parrotlet, either, so i know it'll be the perfect bird for me.
please don't undermine me for being so young and being so ambitious. if you have bad news, i prefer you rip off the bandaid so i can really know what i want to get into.
it would be much appreciated c:
 
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Shezbug

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As seen many times here before, it is not usually the issue with the cost of the vet bills as most birds owned by teens never make it to the vets to incur the bills.

Are your parents devoted enough to take you and your bird to the vet should the need arise? Will they be like many other parents and refuse or try to wait the illnesses/injuries out?
Who will look after the bird if you tire of the responsibility?
Does the whole family know about the changes your household will need to make to ensure the safety of your bird?
How will you keep the cats away from the bird while you are at school?
How will you keep the cats away from the bird while you are home?
Who will clean the cage each day and do they have a track record of giving up when life gets in the way or sticking with their chosen responsibility?

It is not just about money this owning a bird thing, it is about a complete change to your lifestyle.
You will need your parents to be as devoted to your bird as you are, they will be the ones who will need to drive you to the vets, to get bird food and toys and at the end of the day it is them who you will ask for a loan if the need arises.

Keep saving and researching and maybe involve your parents a little more in the whole process.
Please make sure you are over prepared so your bird never has to do without anything it will need.
 

sunnysmom

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We do have young members on here that are wonderful bird owners. So I don't want to discourage you but just give you some things to think about. A bird is really a family responsibility. Is your entire family on board? Because it means no Teflon pans, no candles, no air fresheners, no smoking, etc And those are things that the entire family has to commit to. Also, you have cats. Others here do to, but you need to take extra precautions to keep your bird safe if you have cats. Despite the "cute" videos people seem to like to post on fb, etc of cats and birds getting along, the reality is cats cannot be trusted around birds. Also, do you have a vet in your area? Are you parents willing to take your bird to the vet? And who will pay the vet bills. Also, what are your future plans? If you plan to go to college, usually you can't take your bird with you. Also, every bird is different. Some birds aren't cuddly. Just some things to think about.
 

Love My Zons

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Parrotlets are feisty and also independent too. Birds are not snuggly like cats or a lap dog. Some birds are snuggly, but not all.

Yes, Vet bills can add up. Wellness checks can be $150 to over $200.

Vet checks, blood work and illness even more. My example our 27 yr old Cockatoo became very I'll, very quickly. Trip to Avian Vet who charged for an ER call on a Sunday....$1150 later, she's gone.

So save up for an emergency fund. Not saying it would be that much just an example of a situation we weren't ready for! Thankfully we are older and well things pop up we could cover it!

I love parrotlets, had one live to be almost 16. So ask away :)
 

finchly

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The most wonderful bird I've had was a female parrotlet. She was a total love bug. Hand raised, never bit, and talked. She'd fly all over the house.... every so often she would fly to the office and demand head scratches. :)

I have both a female and a male now, not bonded, separate cages. Have had a couple others. I don't see a huge difference in the personalities but there is this. Around age 2, they make a decision to be either a pet or a breeder, and you better follow the bird's decision! My hen wants to breed but my male is total pet, hence keeping them apart.

Vet bills: Aside from their annual checkup, none of my p'lets have been to the vet.

Price: Depending on where you are in the country it can be high but heavens don't pay $600!! I have paid $50 to $250 for mine. The female I liked so much was $60.
 

Acediaaa

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thank y'all for the advice! i realized a lot.
1. i'm probably not going to end up getting a bird.
2. i won't be able to save up enough money (bc nobody wants to buy some art from me oof)
3. my parents have a record of not wanting to take pets to the vet.
4. i can't drive.
5. i get stressed out easily, so i have a feeling i'm going to break down if the bird were to need surgery or something.
6. i researched! the nearest CERTIFIED avian vet is about 2 hours away (lucky me)

anyway
at least i tried and was dedicated enough. i don't think a bird is suitable for me anymore.
 

Shezbug

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You are very responsible for thinking of all these things @Acediaaa. Maybe one day when you are a little older with your own licence, car and money you may decide the time is right for you to think about a companion bird again. I applaud you for being responsible and mature enough to take all these things into account. Enjoy your freedom and health and worry about tying yourself down with responsibilities once you have done all the fun things that go along with being young :)
 

Marvel_ous

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Kudos to you for your open mind!! I am a teen like you and GAHHH I WANT A PARROT SO BAD, but my parents want me to wait a year or two until my puppy (Connor) is grown up. In my mom's words: "I am all animaled out". Maybe wait a few years until you are in a better parrot-owning situation. Until then, possibly satisfy yourself with volunteering at a parrot rescue!! Hope to see you here again!
 

Love My Zons

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Well maybe help at a rescue if you have one nearby?

Maybe adopting a bird? You have some options. But save your $ as you earn to support it's upkeep?

Best of luck! ;)
 

Acediaaa

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i live in a really small town. i'd be lucky if there was an adoption shelter here lmao. other than that, thanks! i think i get ahead of myself sometimes, but i've learned from my mistakes.
i'll probably come back to avian avenue screeching about how i finally got a bird in a few years.
 

NirAntae

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Just to add my two cents.

I don't think a bird is entirely unrealistic. A driver's license first might be a good idea if your parents aren't keen on taking pets to vets when needed, though. A 'certified' avian vet isn't always needed for everything, many vets will see birds for general wellness checks and the like, and refer you to certified avian vets if and when a problem arises, so you may not be looking at two-hour-drives constantly. (You would have to call and ask vets in your area if they see birds.)

However, given what you say you are looking for, I personally don't think a parrotlet is the right choice for you, and here's why:
Yes, some of them end up total love bugs. However, chances are higher that you will end up with a tiny taskmaster with an attitude more like your cats - they will come for attention now and then, then turn off without warning and that's that... oh, and probably nip your fingers in the process.

Don't get me wrong, they're great little birds. But they are very challenging, and take a lot of patience and know-how to get them even close to cuddly - and even then may well never be.

A much better first bird, in my opinion, is a cockatiel. They are almost universally friendly as long as they have been hand raised and haven't been mistreated, and as long as you are calm and patient it's not hard at all to have a friendly companion who will hang out with you like you were speaking about.

Of course, this is just my opinion. :) But I know if my first bird, in my teens, had been a parrotlet instead of a cockatiel... I probably never would have gotten another bird, instead of a happy 20+ year history with birds in my life constantly.
 

Known Space

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I know you've come to your conclusion already and that you've very responsibly refrained from it. But while having a parrotlet at your age is of course fun, you would have to miss out on so many experiences because of it. They require structure and rhythm that could kill any sort of fun or experiences that you otherwise would have had. I'm 29 now and even I feel limited by it. I'm fine with it, because I love my parrotlet and it doesn't feel like a sacrifice. But I feel like at your age, it's better to be able to live on a whim now that you still can. Nights out, haning out, all nighters playing video games, etc. These are all invaluable experiences. And while you can still ALWAYS get a parrotlet when you're older (and I hope you will at one point, they're really so amazing), you can't relive your teen years.
 

Acediaaa

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my dad actually suggested a cockatiel instead of a parrotlet in the future. i've been contemplating it and doing research. they're probably better for me, in all honesty.

i also don't really go out that much or do much in terms of hanging out with friends. i've become fairly introverted over the summer. i moved to a new school at the beginning of the summer and haven't been doing anything throughout. i'm constantly in need of a distraction, because sometimes i get extreme paranoia out of nowhere. i go through really bad depressive spells where i have no motivation to do anything. i won't get up until i feel the starvation. it's bad, and my family doesn't give me any motivators, even when they know i'm in a state of mind that's so bad that i seclude myself to my room. being alone has become both negative and positive for me. it's negative, because my thoughts swirl in my head. but positive, because i get to comfort myself in the only ways i know how. i'm a really ambiverted person who doesn't have much to do except eat, sleep, and scroll through instagram. i'm absolutely obsessed with animals, and therefore when i'm around them i feed off of their positive energy. i understand that i need to "live life while i'm young" or whatever, but doing so has ended up causing me certain degrees of mental damage. i've built walls and dropped people out of my life because of these damages. the only way i ever get happy again is through animals. when we had bunnies, i had to get up every morning and feed them and clean their water bottles. after school, about every other day, we had to clean the cages. just being around them and being able to watch them eat treats was an instant mood lifter. depression runs on both sides of my family, so yeah, i probably have it. whenever these spells of depression come around, i'm literally the worst person to be around. looking at pictures of birds and watching them be silly (and annoying) is much different from having one perched on my finger.

oi i went into a dark place while writing that. but yeah, i'm a huge animal person and i love walking up to animals and giving them scritches and a treat (if i'm able to.) because animals always have a different energy than humans. cats, dogs, bunnies and birds? almost always positive. i can tell when they're sick or frustrated. i can tell when they get obsessive or depressed. i can tell a lot of things from hanging out with an animal that trusts me.

my family (primarily my parents) didn't listen to me when 2 of our bunnies got sick and they died. they were both really miserable and already on their last limb. i suggested putting them down, BOTH TIMES this happened, but they didn't want to take on the fee. it's heartbreaking to see animals die, but when they're suffering and constantly in pain? the pain needs to stop. they refused to take the bunnies to the get no matter what i said. they both suffered for about 4 days, if not more. i could tell they were both slowing down, but they fought to get better. they failed, and died a slow and painful death. if i could've changed anything in that situation, it would be what i did. i pleaded and begged to take the bunnies to the vet when both of them were sick, but i should've shifted the perspective from "sick bunny" to "sick child." i would've said, "mom, the bunny is sick. probably dying. what if that were me? would you just stand by and watch as i rotted away painfully? what if i got out of a failed surgery and couldn't even breathe on my own. hades is struggling to breathe on his own. mom... stop the life support. i'm done for, it's okay." and by that point, either one or both of us would be in tears. guilt tripping. the greatest way to get into a parent's mind. if she didn't listen then, i'd still press on. i should've slept by the cages at night and comforted them. i should've done everything that i could've. but i sat back and watched while they died. there is no way in hell that i'm letting that happen to my cats or any future pets that i get. i will scream until it's through their heads. if that didn't work, i'd literally sit outside their bedroom door at night preaching my points until they realized that being ignorant toward animals that you love and care about is PUTRID. i wish that my parents had similar values that i do, because then we wouldn't have that many dead bunnies. it's depressing how often i go overlooked. i don't know if it's because i'm only a minor, the youngest, that i'm a girl, or some other reason. i need to stop being overlooked before a pet needs to be rushed to the vet and dies in my arms again. i will do whatever it takes if something like that happens again. i swear, my parents have such ignorant brains that they're hardly accepting of me. "you're gay? alright that's fine, but don't go telling me you're 'trans' or 'nonbinary.'" i get it. they believe biology and chromosomes over how much it can damage a person and their confidence in their identity if they're misgendered. you can see the temporary faulter in their eyes. in some people? they get emotional when misgendered. in all honesty, sometimes i feel like the people who get misgendered on purpose. i get so overlooked and ignored that i give up until i need to scream for their attention. my dad brought up my starvation earlier today, because my starvation is associated with my depression and how i'm struggling to deal with myself at all. my parents don't give me good vibes or good energy like the kind i get from animals. they're either neutral or negative. most of the time, it's negative, because they don't listen. our cat luna overheats. she's a street cat and her tiny body can't handle the amount of food she's taking in. i've suggested a total of 4 times that she needs a slow feed bowl, but they don't listen and she ends up puking everywhere. it's not the food either, she eats just fine without any issue until she gets too protective over her food and scarfs it all down. i raise my voice at my mom once after luna vomits everywhere? she shakes me off before following me to my room and telling me to drop my attitude, when she's the one who is being rude about an animal's health. i get it. it sounds like i'm being an angsty teen who hates her parents for their absurd moral beliefs. but trust me, live in my shoes for a day. you won't get the reality if you just meet them. they tend to put on a facade, and i have learned to too. i have the facade that i'm happy and positive and bubbly or whatever. which, sometimes, is true, but most of the time, completely false. my parents aren't abusive in any way. they just turn a blind eye unless it's convenient for them. i get these moments of "just fricking run" in my head but i'm brutally dragged back to reality by common sense. i want to run so bad but that won't benefit me in any way. i'll end up having nowhere to turn to and nowhere to hide. i'm naive, i know, but my parents aren't the people they attempt to be. i'm sure they think they're great, and i'm sure other people think they're great, but really? they're not.

okay small rant done. sob story done. i'm sorry for ranting, but i'm really angry rn so i need to cool off. idk how, because my cats are off running around.
 
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TikiMyn

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It is okay to rant! If you can secure that you can take your bird to the vet, in all honesty I can say I it would be perfect for you to adopt an older (rescue) Tiel. I was a little younger then you when I bought an abused cockatiel and was in a dark and abusive place at that time as well. Tiki(the cockatiel) helped me so, so, so much. He was my light:heart: He passed away after 2-3 years sadly, but he brought me so much joy and taught me a lot as well. Now I am 18 and have two lovebirds. They are such a joy, and without them I don’t think I would have managed. The only thing that you would need to look into I think, is cost. You can make a lot of toys yourself which at least my birds love, but you do meed good quality food and fresh veggies. Are your parents okay with you storing fresh chopped vegetables in the freezer? That is an easy way for you to give him fresh food on a daily basis. Also, the vet as you Said. I have taken my lovies in a lot over the lost couple months, they are going to the vet today again because of suspected respiratory problems. One time Henkie got really sick one time and had to stay at the vet several day, the bill(drawing from memory here not entirely sure) was about €300.
The reason I suggested an older bird, especially one that has a not so good past, is because I think you Will love working with him. It Will take time and patience but it is so rewarding when you see them blossom and start to enjoy life. That is Maybe what I loved most about living with Tiki. Showing him the world step by step:)
 

finchly

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Hey @Acediaaa you will find that there are lots of people here who identify with you. Depression, parent issues., gay/transgender ... we’ve got ‘em!

I think you would absolutely love to have a cockatiel. I have 2 girls. They are a joy. They’re funny and gentle, and even when they come to you not having been handled they’re usually easy to convince that on the shoulder is the best place to be and scritches are heavenly.

You’ll definitely need to save your own funds for the vet and be sure the parents are on board with taking him/her in if needed.

I think for many or maybe all of us here on AA our birds lift our moods. Not only that - they are our friends/family. Good luck as you make your decision.

:sadhug2:
 

Acediaaa

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thank you :)
i haven't really had a place to let all my feelings out. i can't really turn to friends anymore, since they're all back in school. when we had bunnies, i'd cut up some veggies and save them in the freezer, so i'm sure they won't mind. i've been looking into rescuing tiels and i really wouldn't mind getting an older one. i establish emotional connections very quickly, so it will be tough when it comes time to let it go, (accidental reference) but i'll still be able to make memories with it! i was actually wondering if anyone had advice on what to do about blood feathers and molting. i can deal with shedding cats and bunnies, but am still concerned with feathers. i understand pin feathers a bit, but not all that much..? also, i'm really awful in stressful situations, so plucking a blood feather will, inevitably, be difficult for me. i've also heard that if i seem stressed by a situation, a bird can get stressed from me?
 

finchly

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They definitely can feel our emotions!

As far as blood feathers, I’ve had birds for years and never dealt with one. So I would say it isn’t as common as you’re thinking. Maybe you could have a parent help if that problem came up.

Molt just happens. The feathers float all around the floor lol. They do get a little grouchy when they have pin feathers (wouldnt you, with pins sticking out of your head?) but usually they like for you to gently scritch and help remove the sheath. Also there are special supplements you can feed during molt to help it along, plus you can give them baths to help soften it.

Good for you looking into rescue! With luck you could find a ‘slightly’ older bird and they can live into their 20s so — you might have a long time with it. :)
 

NirAntae

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You sound very much like I did at your age, on so many levels. (Although my mother was almost as big a softy about animals as I was... and in an effort to prevent our house becoming a literal zoo she helped me to volunteer at the local animal shelter :rofl:)

Blood feathers are something to be aware of and to educate yourself on how to deal with them, in case it ever happens, but chances are better than even that you will never need that knowledge. 20-ish years with birds and I have had one blood feather damaged, and it wasn't a full break so it just welled one good drop of blood then stopped. The ordeal was over long before I was finished googling how to deal with a bloodfeather if you don't have styptic powder on hand XD

As for molts, they are only stressful if you let them be. Like finchly said, they just happen. Feathers everywhere, moody bird, but nothing to worry about, and taking care of the pinnies on their heads for them actually provides a wonderful bonding opportunity. :)
 
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