Expectations

[roxynoodle]

What were your expectations when it came to choosing companion parrots?

Did you have any unrealistic ones?

I thought this might be a good topic, especially for new parrot owners, and those considering getting a parrot. I might be one of the unusual people here in that my parents decided to get a bird right before I was born. As a newborn, I doubt I had any expectations of anything other than that someone would feed me and change my diaper :th_biggrin:

But, I think this is a good discussion topic for most parrot owners :)

[DQ IT]

When I got Pogo, I hoped he would talk but knew he might not. He did. I didn't realize the depth of the relationship we would have and how smart and interactive and funny he would be.

When I got Quack, I knew she might bite but thought I could use hand held perches to pick her up if she did. She was terrified of them and flew in circles. I didn't expect her bites to be any harder than Pogo's which rarely broke skin. Quack would grind through the skin, possibly waiting for a reaction that I tried not to give at first.

I expected Tiki to be quiet (as "advertised") and she mostly is but is the loudest of them all when she calls/screams.

I didn't have any expectations of Itsy as I was just birdsitting her at first and kept her when I realized how sweet and easy and quiet she was. :)

[Blackhawk007]

I originally just wanted to have another companion that would hang out with me on my desk each day. Teka serves that very well. It seems that he loves to be on one of the many stands that we have on or near my desk. We knew he would be a "me" only bird when we got him because he would attack anyone at the rescue, even Jenna when she asked me to try getting him out of the cage there. This video is just minutes after I met the "aggressive" parrot.
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Because Teka was attached to me from the begining Jenna wanted her companion parrot. After a few months we saw the same rescue had Ruthie available. I followed her story there for a month. Then we found out that the rescue was bringing her along to a pet expo to "display" at their booth. We drove the 2 hours to meet her and had an even better experience than I did with Teka. Then another month went by. We spoke about her regularly. Then we just decided WTH, we already have everything we need for her and we can't stop talking about her. So we went up to hang out with Ruthie again, and she decided it was ok to move in with us. This video is what I woke up to the first morning she was with us. Keep in mine she is much friendlier with Jenna than she is with me.
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But with that, we did research a ton. I then met with local people that were selling their fids. I met with them for interaction not to purchase. Then I spoke with a few rescues for interaction and networking. One happened to be close to me and I had no clue. They ran their rescue out of their home and invited me in. After spending the day with them they recommended another place that was much larger. We went to that one to try and get used to handling different size parrots. That's when Teka stepped up and refused to leave my arm. So because of him I only met 2 parrots that day, out of the 50 they had. The first was a DYH that tore my fingers up as Teka watched. Then Jenna said " hey this one looks cute and is the only one that hasn't made a sound". The rest is history, they own us. Each day they remind us of how great our decisions were.

[Debra]

I don't know what I expected. My teenage daughter saw two parakeets in the store and asked her grandfather if he'd buy them for her. So, here comes Fodien and Tor. Not long after that, she asked him to get her a couple of tiels she had seen. Again, here come birds (Sydney and Bloke). That started the whole thing. She got tired of taking care of them -- teenage life got in the way (think drivers license and car) so I inherited them. As far as the rest that came afterwards, all I expected from them was the love that I knew I'd feel for another living being. I hoped they would love me back -- and they all have except for one but we're working on that.