Where we live we can't have a dog or cat, but a bird would be ok. An old roommate of mine had a cockatiel and I seem to remember it having quite a bit of character, always wanting to be "in" on the action and such, not just a decoration in a cage.

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We can't even have a fish tank of any size, unless we put up $200 deposit. Not even a goldfish bowl.

Cockatiels can be very fun and affectionate birds. IF you get the right bird. Make sure the bird is a male. They are much more vocal and animated. We used to have a cockatiel named Pierre that could speak french, and would walk around on the kitchen table. If we didn't let him have bread crumbs, he would limp for sympathy!

Also, make sure your bird is a hand-fed baby. Makes them much more approachable. Get a book from a pet store about cockatiels.

If you get one, you should name it TAISTY. lol

Budgies/Parakeets here.

Our last one would sleep with one of our miniture tea cup poodles at night, Fifi. Those two got along so good. Both are gone now, rest their little hearts. Miss em both and all the rest of our/my pets. <shedding tears>

PS In "Readers Digest" a few years back, read an article about a "stray" bird, I think it was a Cockatiel. Gave its life to save the family, little girl if I recall correctly. Might have to visit Readers Digest online. About 1995 up.

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"The PRE10DR"

[This message has been edited by JSocha (edited 02-16-2002).]

Stimpy, that's hilarious. I had a couple of ferrets that would do stupid things as well, we are looking for something like that.

I have a cockatiel, his name is Piekny (Polish for beautiful)...I only got him last November but he already acts like he owns the house. Chirps and squawks like crazy if no one lets him out at least a few times a day, he swoops in and attacks our cats (who are deathly afraid of him now), he'll sit on the fans and fly from blade to blade till the fan actually looks like itz on, he throws food all over the floor from his cage so I have to sweep a couple times everyday, and he squawks the most and the loudest early Saturday and Sunday morning...alwayz making sure I'm up at a decent time . But they really are adorable things, pretty affectionate and tame (Piekny loves having his head and belly scratched), and they can be trained to leave and go back to their cage at will.

And one last story...I walk into the house one day, and there's my dad standing in the middle of the diningroom, holding a piece of bread in one hand and the cockatiel standing on it eating the crumbs. Slowly, there's a piece of bread in the other hand coming down on top of the bird, and my dad's face coming closer.

We have a cockatiel. His name is Zeek. We've had him about 4 years. He was a baby from 2 that my parents had. Friendly bird and is quite vocal. We had another one with him named Spaz who ALWAYS screeched and picked on Zeek. We looked in the cage and saw only Zeek. Spaz was dead on the bottom of the cage with blood all over the place. Looked like Zeek got tired of being picked on!

Cockatiel,budgie and quaker parrot here. Cockatiels are very affactionate and playful. Tweety likes to talk and sit on my shoulder and play with my hair and earrings. The budgie is a great talker (quite colorful laguage I might add). The quaker is very comical but can be very annoying with his loud squacking. You can't go wrong with a cockatiel or budgie tho'!

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'84 Indy w/66K actual miles, second owner

Also: 84SE, 87GT and 88GT

Good time for this question. My boyfriend and I are looking into getting a bird. Cockatiels are VERY loud... if you live in an apartment, I understand the wanting to have a bird, but you might get complaints of the noise. Other than that, they *are* very affectionate and loving. Some you can teach to talk, others are just chirpers. If you want a bird that talks and doesn't squawk as much, You'd have to upgrade to a little bit of a bigger size. Right now we're looking at a Sun Conure that is at a local pet shop. Infact, I just bought the cage on E-bay today. They can be taught to talk, not in complete sentence's, but they can say Hi and simple things like that. If you want a talker that can talk in complete sentences, go for an African Gray, just plan for it to live longer than you if you get it as a baby, they can live up to and past 85 years old. The sun conures live about 45 years. There are also different types of Conures that you can check into. Sun's are VERY commical and try to please their owners. THe only down fall is that sometime Sun's get attached to only one owner, not both. Whatever kind of bird you decide to get, make sure you get it as a baby and if possible, hand fed. It is more likely to be friendly and not anti-social. Gee, I love working at a veteranarian

For more info on Conures or any bird, search through www.google.com and it will bring up tons of info on the little critters.

Here's a pic of the type of one we're looking at...

I just walked into the kitchen and found my cockatiel sitting in the cat's food dish, eating the leftover tuna! And now there's tuna bird prints tracked all over the fan blades....ewwww.

I think you guys just want an excuse to post the word "c**k " And most are pink, not "teal"

[This message has been edited by REDHOTT88 (edited 02-17-2002).]

Imagine that... I posted twice about Alvin in one night. He's getting to be pretty popular.

Cockatiels are very personable. Alvin would just love to be with me all day long. But I don't clip his wings so he only comes out of the cage when all the ceiling fans are OFF! Which is rare.

I love letting him sit on my shoulder, but I don't like the little stains he leaves behind! LOL... He talks and whistles catcalls... He's pretty funny... He says, "Whatcha doin'?" and "Pretty Bird". Sometimes his whistling can get annoying, but I put up with it.