My new boy!

wilykit

Thought I would take this opportunity to show off my gorgeous boy Nedry - he is 8 weeks old and I got him yesterday

Here he is....



He is currently settling in, wondered if any other cockatiel owners had any useful tips and advice? Want to give him the best

xx

scaredy_cat

you should talk to Amistupid in the MSE Arms.

he has a grey Cockatiel and a budgie.

wilykit

Thank you x

Fire_Fox

He is a perky little chap!

con1888

Aww he is lovely.. sorry I have no advice as never had a bird.. kind of scared of them but love to look I have a tattoo of a bird which is a bit ironic me being scared.

pinkcandyflossprincess

he is amazing:) he looks very healthy
zooplus has some great little bits in the bird section to break bordom:o
my best tip would to introduce fruit and veg early as its hard to get an older bird to adjust....no avacodo or apple seeds though as both are poisonous.
any more in depth knowledge is best left passing messages onto to my daughter as she is the bird queen.she studying to be a zookeeper and wants to specialize in parrots etc..we have two rosellas& zillions of lovebirds

wilykit

Thank you

I put some sliced apple and grapes in his dish and he had a little nibble, I got him some bird treats today and he has been munching those

He is still wary of me but will sit on my hand, shoulder etc.

xx

amistupid

I'm not an expert but I've had a couple of cockatiels, I adore them.

I'm retired and spend most of the day at home so I let my cockatiel and budgie out of their cages most of the day. My cockatiel, Horace, spends a lot of time sat on my shoulder.

As for general tips.

Handle them a lot, the more the better.

I've found they like a lot of sleep , about 10-12 hours day. Whatever room you keep the bird in make sure you close the curtains at night or put a big towel over the cage or it'll wake you squawking at daybreak. Keep them away from draughts.

Bathing. Mine's a scruffy little hound and won't bath in a bowl. He'll still on the bar above my shower door and get 'steam' cleaned and when it's warm I use a very fine spray, like mist, from a bottle on him.

Diet. Most say a mixed diet of seed and fresh food fruit and veg, my eats nearly all seeds he's not keen on fresh food but he seems perfectly well. Of course make sure there's plenty of clean water.

They get bored easily, so give the bird lots of love and attention, they can be so cuddly when they're tired. Some talk and most imitate noises, My first one talked, this one doesn't, but he whistles loads of dfferent tunes I've taught him. Like any animal the tone of your voice is so important, they canpick up when you're stressed.:)

They can get a bit aggressive and bite you, there's ot a lot you can do about it, after all we all get grumpy don't we. They can also get possessive about the strangest things, mine has a thing about mugs an gives me a peck eveytime I pick mine up.

It is difficult to sex young birds but I've found as a general rule the more orange their cheek feathers the more chance it's a male. Mine have both been males.

The only fault with them is they squawk if they don't get any attention, be patient and don't lose your temper. I've found if you cover the cage you a couple of minutes they quieten down.

Keep the cage clean, I use old newspaper at the bottom of mine and change that every other day, I clean and disinfectant the cage every week. They like chewing things so put wooden toys or toys wih pieces of string hanging from them in it's cage.

I think you chosen a wonderful pet, I believe they can live for fifteen years or more I can't believe how intelligent and affectonate they are, mine is more cuddly than a cat or dog. He's always doing something to make me smile.

I've done several youtube clips of my birds, here's one showing you cuddly mine is. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yW45U8e3Md4

Best of luck, if you get an problems don't hesitate to contact me.

Adey.

Pechow

Cute, I also have a lutino male cockatiel, he's hanging out on the back of my chair right now having a nap.

Aside from the good post above, do you have any specific questions about anything? Just hints and tips is too general for me to think

wilykit

Thanks for all your replies

I dunno really, just any useful little tips that people thought might be useful

I looked on the internet at toys as I went to the pet shop today and the bird toys were pretty rubbish! I am sewing lots of odd things onto a towel for him to play with when I get him out - he was playing with my beads earlier on and he loved them. So I will get some big buttons etc and put them on
x

Pechow

Good toys can be hard to find, I agree! I get mine mostly from Amazon, and you can find the odd good one around other places every now and then. No mirrors ever though. For homemade things, he currently has some rolled up kitchen roll tied in a knot on the side of his cage to nibble, a toilet roll held in place by a stirrer stick woven through the bars, and more sticks woven through the bars in different places. He likes nibbling on an eggbox lid, and I've used the bottom part to make a sort of foraging toy before-like you can scrunch up newspaper balls (or tear strips up and scrunch them up a bit) and put them in each egg holder, then put some seeds in there for him to dig around and find.