Well, I have more sad news to report.
First, we had to give Pichu up for adoption… after trying to work with this parrotlet for nine months, he is still a biter, not to mention that he still bullys the other birds around. When we did the research a while back before aquiring him, the resources said that parrotlets are very spirited. That turned out to be a great understatement. We gave him to the Arizona Humane Society, with the assurance that he would go to a loving home.
Second, Athena went back to the bird store today. We were assured that, since this bird (a Bourke’s Parakeet) was more of an “iffy” choice, we could give her up if it wasn’t working out. Mind you, this kind of thing is a rarity among pet stores, but we are regular customers and the store owner understands that we are good to our flock. She was just anti-social to us and the other birds and we had tried for a month to hand-tame her.
Now, we still have four good birds that we wouldn’t give up for the world. Also, after talking with my other half, we decided more stringent choices needed to be made if we should get another feathered friend. I advocated visiting the creature at least several times at the store to make sure that the bird gets used to new contact, along with further research than we have done in the past. Any reputable pet store will allow this, usually with a deposit… ones that don’t, stay away! Hopefully, we won’t get another bird for some time (although I personally wouldn’t mind a Quaker parakeet!) but knowing my wife… sigh! We do, however, have a nice sized store credit towards another feathered friend or supplies… so it’s more or less her decision. I will keep this blog updated on our thoughts about this…
