Reptile & Amphibian Forums

hi i am looking to get a cockatiel(male) what size cage should i have? also what kind of toys should i put in there for him and whats the best way to get him to talk? also if you have a talking cockatiel please let me know how you got him to talk and what words he says. thank you all so much and im a new member.

Min cage size is about 24x20x16inches but I would recomend a much larger size if you're not going to let your tiel out on a regular basis. This size is ok for tiels who are rarely in there. What I did is got my tiel the minimum cage size & also bought him a playgym. He spends most of the day out of the cage & only sleeps in the cage. I also have various swings (homemade) etc scattered through the house, this also keeps him occupied.

So you're getting a male? If you get a definate male it would already have to be mature & have his first molt, no less than about 7 - 8 months old. If your tiel is younger than that you can't tell male from female unless the seller has taken it to the vet for sexing. So be careful of what they tell you, they can say what they want just to sell you a bird. It would be wise to have a good look around first & let the bird choose you. If you decide on male because they're more chatty, this isn't neccessarily true. It depends on the indevidual itself. Generally they learn all the same, males can sometimes be noisier, females cudlier, but most of it all depends on the character of the bird. One way to tell male from female sometimes before molt is there characteristics. Young male tend to show off & display male showing off behaviour. They can also be quite boystrous when young.

Toys...well that depends on the bird. They all have their preferences. Most like paper to shred, bells to make a racket with, wood, bark, anything they can make a mess off really. I don't recomend plastic as they can choke on it if they manage to tear it off. They have also been known to choke on string & rope. Most bird toys are made with this so just keep an eye on your bird when he does chew on it. If you really have to have a male don't get a mirror for him, this'll make his behaviour worse & can become hostile towards you at times. I let Cricket have a little time infront of the bathroom mirror but as soon as he starts to be naughty he's outa there & the door is shut! Crickets fav toys are homemade, paper & my cat toys. The best thing you can do is try everything you can think of. It's also a good idea to buy more toys than you need & change them around once in a while. This'll stop your bird getting bored.

Talking...again it depends on the indevidual. Cricket just picks things up within days. Others you need a little persistance with. About 10min at a time maybe twice a day should do. He should be on your finger & paying attention. If he's not paying attention he's not interested & you won't get very far. You can teach him what ever you want to. There's no words they can't try & say. Cricket says hello, hello cricket, come on, come on cricket. scratch, kiss kiss (all of which he learnt himself) because he screatched horribly he got taught to wolf whistle & whistle really nice tunes. If they don't learn to whistle nicely most male tend to screatch & it's not nice.
Here's a really good website you can read up on.
Good luck!
http://www.birdsnways.com/wisdom/
http://www.birdsnways.com/birds/ideas.htm
http://www.birdsnways.com/birds/recipes.htm
http://www.plannedparrothood.com/plants.html

"So you're getting a male? If you get a definate male it would already have to be mature & have his first molt, no less than about 7 - 8 months old. If your tiel is younger than that you can't tell male from female unless the seller has taken it to the vet for sexing."

There is, actually, one more way to tell the sex of the `tiel. With sex-linked mutations, based on the genetic history of the parents, some breeders can tell the sex of the bird with 100% accuracy as soon as the bird starts to feather in. For example, if I remember properly... pearl is a sex-linked mutation. If you breed a pearl male with a normal female and get some pearl babies, those babies are definately female. And the normal babies are definately male. (...I think I got that right. It`s been a while since I studied cockatiel genetics). You need a breeder who knows the genetic make-up of his breeding birds and who has a good knowledge of genetics for this to work, though.

And you can`t ALWAYS tell this way. (For example, breeding a pearl to a pearl will get you ALL pearls, and you`ll have no idea which sex they are).

& other great forums

http://windywing.9.forumer.com/
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http://www.parrotlinks.com/forum2/