Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I work full time in a Pet store, so I do know some stuff about Cockatiels. But now that im thinking about buying one or two.
The many reason I want a Cockatiel is that, when i graduated Highschool I had Reptiles Bearded Dragons. After thinking what i wanted to do for a career I set my sights on the Millitary, and time went on I still wanted to head this way so I found a Home for my one year old dragon. and countinued to pursue my way into the army.. Time went on from that.. and I figured, that the army isnt what i wanted to do after all, I wanted to do somthing in mechanics since i was a kid, also loved all types of pets so I woulda took a carreer in that. But now I have signed up for college in Auto Mechanics. And now at work thinking,(again i work in a pet store)about getting another pet, since I will be home to take care of it. So im looking to get a Cockatiel, not just any.. the cockatiel I work with daily. Hes a troubled bird, dealing with the stress.. hates everyone.. and a very paranoid bird. he gets cleaned every day, New shaving, water, seeds hulls are blown out and fesh seeds put in if need be. But he is still scared of people, Hissing very common, never handled since he was brought in. At first i heard he was nicer.. and loved to come out.. to the point he would try to come out without permission, diving for the open door when some ones in the cage, but now he runs/trys to run at the other side of the cage if its opend, I duno why. havent been there that long.. He stoped using his cuttle bone at one point in the last few months, but I at least managed to get him using that again, still beak might be a bit long, he eats fine drinks. But also i have noticed sneezing in the last week, every day he has a short fit once or twice, Hes a great looking bird besides some feather pulling on his tail.

I started research a few weeks ago, wanting to tame him so he would be bought, nothing worked. So i'd love to take him home, hed be a great pet if tamed.

I was on the internet today, saw a ad for a cockateil for 100 and a larger cage for 200, and I was thinking I know cockateils like to be in pairs, so if i bought that would they get along? The Cockateil for 100 is tammed sings, does tricks, would he rub off on the other bird? If you dont reconmend getting 2 males I'll still stick with the one at my work, be about the same to set up for one as it would for the both since the other one is 300 (with cage food toys etc), and the one at work is 70,
But if i just get the one I do get discounts on food, toys, cage, etc.

Help me out.. i'd love to get a cockateil, and tame him.

Why don't you just get a hand-fed baby and train it from scratch? It sounds as tho the one at the store will be quite a challenge for you to tame. Are you up to all the patient effort and time that it will take? Only you can decide that....

IT sounds like the one you work with really needs a loving caring home. Sandybeth is right though in that only you can answer whether you have the time and patience to tame him. It will be a lot of work and you will probably take a lot of nips but if you don't mind that it can definitely be worth it.

As far as getting another one I would really suggest starting with only one. You can always get another one later on if that is what you decide. Adding two birds at once is going to be stressful both to the birds and possibly to you. It is possible for a tame bird to help another wilder bird settle down. Sometimes seeing a tame bird worked with and handled will calm the other one and help it learn trust. Other times it can promote jealousy in one or both. Two males can usually get along fine without any real problem but it will depend on the individual bird. Also even if you did buy them both especially for the first 60 days or so they would need to be quarantined from each other in separate cages in separate rooms of the house. They would also both need to be checked over by a vet and given a clean bill of health before introducing them to each other which will bring up their cost even more. So again I would suggest only one to start with and then deciding from there.

A hand fed or well socialized baby is definitely going to be easier and more fun from the beginning but it is sometimes worth the bites and time to get an unfriendly one to be a welcomed family member.

I think it's great you want to adopt a bird. Working in a pet shop may help some, however, most have a bad reputation because they're clueless as to what some bird species even are, let alone advising how to care for them. Not saying your shop is such one, but if you only just started working there, get opinions from other places including the net, not just your shop on proper care of this bird.

A re-homed is a great deal harder to care for, never too late to re tame though. If you're prepared to put in the work with him then GO FOR IT!!

Those who advise against getting re-homed usually wouldn't do it themselves, this doesn't mean it's the wrong thing to do. i can understand about the hardness of the work & would hesitate myelf with a larger parrot, but not a cockatiel, there is a difference in the 2, but you do need to put in the hard work to achieve a tame bird again.

I don't understand what the problem is with having a parent reared bird either. They tame as well as hand reared, I know, I have both. If you are commited enough then there is nothing wrong with either parent reared or re-homed birds for a pet, they certainly deserve the break. They tame just as good as a hand reared bird. The only single difference between hand & parent reared is the time it may take to tame. That is the ONLY difference, however my tiel (parent reared) tamed in the same time as my hand reared parrot, so that also says it's to do with the indevidual bird itself, nothing to do with how they were reared. People also don't realise hand or parent reared makes no difference in a new household, they all still have to get used to it & adjust accordingly & in their own sweet time, the time for this depends on the bird itself & the patience & care the new owner has for it, not they way it was reared.

If he was friendly but now isn't, it's possible someone has come into the shop & stirred him up, banged on cage, poked at him etc...Tiels are naturally nervous birds so some kind of disturbance from a shop browser can easily turn them into nervous pickers. If he's a feather pickeer, he needs to get out of that shop. Most birds if featehr picking continues for too long then it goes from being a nervous behaviour to a bad habit. Once a habit it's VERY hard to break.

Tiels use cuttle bone ONLY when they need it (unless destroying it), a small bone can last a very long time & if they don't need it, they simply won't eat it until they do. It's rich in calcium & occationally a good beak grinder. Although they file their beak on it, most of the time it's only eaten or played with (destroyed), you can have one last a couple of years in a cage. Beak trimming is usually helped by having chew toys & chew sticks & the correct perches. Cockatiels are of the cockatoo family & LOVE to chew things to bits! They particularly love small hard nuts like gum nuts & bottlebrush nuts.

How often is he sneezing? Tiels will sneeze when they have alot of dust around (they're a dusty bird) & during molting & preening. If their is no discharge after a sneeze & the sneezes aren't continual then he's probably fine. If their is discharge or his nostils look like their something blocking them or continually sneezing then he should go to a vet asap.

The feather picking will be his behaviour from not currently being happy. the key their is to get him out of the envoronment he's in now. He may not tame so easily at the moment if he's in a pet shop full of all sorts of people & other birds & animals, too many distractions, too many people doing different things to him or with him. Tiels thrive on routine.

A pair getting along depends on them, like us, they have to like each other. It will also be extremely hard to tame him if he's paired up with another.

You can pair him, see if they get along before housing together, but you run the risk of not having tame tiels. It's not as easy as one rubbing off on the other. If housed together you continually need to keep them tame & from bonding so much to each other that they don't want anything to do with you. A tamed bird housed with another is more likely to rub off & bond to the other tiel & not keep tame with you without alot of hard work. ThThat can be just as hard as getting a re-homed single one to care for.

What ever you decide look around the net more about tiel care etc. There is plenty of info out htere. You do seem to know what you want & what you're doing.

If you decide not to buy him then your shop need to be vigilant about who does buy him. If he goes to any old home that is just looking for a bird & doesn't do a little research, not only will they be in for a rude shock, but the bird will certainly become very self destructive.