# It's Officail



## Artenius (Dec 13, 2010)

WOOT! I am beyond happy, for the second time, I am getting a new cockatiel. After many weeks of debating with my family I am finally come to an agreement. I have rung up the pet stores, they have heaps of cockatiels in right now and many large cages. Is a 3 feet (wide) x 3 feet (length) x2 feet (high) large enough for two cockatiels. I am considering a cage already because they said, that they guarantee that the beautiful cockatiel I will be buying next weekend will be in perfect health and that they will pay any vet bills if anything arises in the next month because promise there is no need to quarantine her. What do you guys think? I have checked these guys out since this is where Leif was bought and as I checked all of the cockatiels then, they were all in great health, clear full eyes, clean shiny coat, couldn't feel the chest bone (forgot what it is called). Also the environment is clean, whilst loud at the same time because there are many birds . What do you guys think? Should I still quarantine them? I really need to know if this would be an issue. I am just so excited .


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## Renae (Feb 9, 2008)

You still need to quarantine regardless, just because a bird looks healthy, it doesn't mean it is, and they hide illnesses. It worries me that they are telling you not to quarantine, they obviously don't quarantine, which is more of a reason why I would.


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## lperry82 (Aug 2, 2010)

Thats good news


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## Artenius (Dec 13, 2010)

**** it.... I really should quarantine...I just dont have the kind of money for another single cage. I am really pushing for my second cockatiel and a really good cage for the two. And I can't not get a second because Leif is getting very lonely when I leave for VCE. This is a hard situation. >.<


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## Artenius (Dec 13, 2010)

Also, the "bird expert" who I was talking to, (saying I dont need to quarantine) said that he had around 80 birds at his house and he couldn't afford to quarantine either. He bought all his birds through the store he works at, (which I will buy my cockatiel from) and said that he had no problems. What if I bought my cockatiel then took him to the vet for a check up on any hidden diseases, then could I bypass the quarantine? My parents thankfully usually pay the vet bills because we have so many different pets that are vet does it all in bulk-kinda-thing. I really and truelly want the best for Leif, and my soon to be cockatiel, but I am stuck in a hard situation...


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## Evelyn (Feb 22, 2010)

You can put the Leif in the new cage, and the new baby into the cage you have now, till the month is up, that way you have the bigger cage for both, after the quarantine..


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## Artenius (Dec 13, 2010)

Oh yeah.... good point....man I feel stupid right now, why didn't I think of that? Thank you, now I will quarantine her/him. That leads my to my next question, I know he is a pied, but can anyone decipher what gender Leif is or give a list of list of things that I can use to tell his gender. I want to do this so I can get a cockatiel of the opposite gender to hopefully breed one day. Leif by the way has no song he has sung yet, although when I am out of his room he loves to whistle and chirp. Picture of the inside of his tail feather is attached. This is now, when he is around 6-7 months old. I am very happy that now know that I can quarantine. If I ever that the option to, I would have because I trust you all. Thank you


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## Daharkaz Angel (Aug 31, 2010)

lol more pics could help.. =)


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## Artenius (Dec 13, 2010)

Here are some more, sorry . Also the "bird expert" at the shop (a different guy from the one who said no quarantining) said that he believed he was male because he had a very good temperament. He told me that young females who bite if someone placed a hand over there wings, while Leif didn't. I think this is a bit over exaggerated or something because he would be sinch to tell a bird gender that way, because to what I know, some species include pied are very hard to sex.


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## Belinda (Oct 9, 2010)

And don't forget they may not get along, even for the first little while - so you may need to house them in separate cages for a bit - or even longer. Perhaps they'll never want to share the same cage... but hopefully they will  Just something else to consider (sorry!)


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## roxy culver (May 27, 2010)

And if that does happen like Belinda says, you can place the smaller cage on top of the larger one so that it doesn't take up added space! Pieds are almost impossible to sex because they all look the same. What you need to look for are heart wings, beak banging, whistling, etc. And the grabbing around the wings? Um, well, ALL of my birds are accustomed to and don't mind that. My hubby does it to them as a trick kind of. He's never taught them anything, he just picks them up like that to see which ones kick and which ones don't then calls it doing the Lonestar (named after one of his brother's birds that doesn't move when you pick him up like that.) I would say try to get Leif DNA tested, its only $25 and this way you know 100% what to get as your next baby. Any idea what mutation you would like?


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## Artenius (Dec 13, 2010)

To Belinda... right now, I am try to focus on the positives and that Leif will atleast sleep with his soon to be new companion, I have got it in mind though, thank you for the reminder.
To Roxy Culver... okay, I thought that it would be alot more expensive to get that done, I will check around at my local vet to see the prices of that in my local area. Also been looking at plenty of mutations, I like the look of Lutino, but I must say that "Smokey" whiteface spangle was a breathtaking bird. Check it out...









Thank you both for responding


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## Belinda (Oct 9, 2010)

Wow, yep that's a nice bird. I want! I want!


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## Artenius (Dec 13, 2010)

Also does it take long to process the DNA? Say if I go in wednesday or thursday will I get it before the weekend? Sorry I am being very vaige, I am talking about the DNA sexing.


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## Belinda (Oct 9, 2010)

It took approximately 3 weeks for Arnie Bananie's results to come back. I think they said they had to send her blood sample to South Africa (?).


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## lperry82 (Aug 2, 2010)

I find when i go to hold them with both of my hands the girls will scream


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## roxy culver (May 27, 2010)

Girls also typically hiss but that's not 100% because I got a boy right now who hisses a bunch all the time, at EVERYTHING!!!! Even other birds lol. Very beautiful bird btw, quick question...edit the pic to put who's picture it is like if you got it off a website otherwise its copyright infringement!!! I always thought that was a silver? But I'm not very good at those rarer mutations.


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## Artenius (Dec 13, 2010)

Okay, will make sure to do that next time in case of copyright. I dont know about the actual name for the mutation, its just what I saw on the website, though I could be wrong, I didn't give it a second glance. Also I just held Leif, he sat there very silently and struggled allot, I hope that I can presume in most cases that he is a male. Otherwise I dont have the time to get a test like that as it seems. A s Leif is getting very annoyed that I am leaving him for long periods of time. I make sure that his water and food and toys are all in premo condition while I am away. Also Leif gets very distressed when I dont give him scritchs when I am typing on the keyboard, he will nuzzle his head between my fingers and if I dont give him one then he will start to bite. I love giving him scritchs but he is asking 24/7 and I can't keep up, I do need to type at some stage Leif . Its very cute though . He will also bite when he wants me to change positions. Is this biting all normal? Leif is just very strong willed, he will get what he wants, now! I still love him very much though but this is starting to become a concern if he is biting for attention. Is this because I am away for long periods of time. When I do get back I give him an hour or two of attention, but I take him to sit down at the laptop with my and this happens.


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## roxy culver (May 27, 2010)

He's probably trying to tell you that you're scratching in the wrong spot! Fuzzy will do this to me instead of moving his head like Cinnamon he bites at my finger until I get it right where he wants it then he settles down and lets me keep scratching. Now if it gets worse, like he draws blood, then its a concern. But you don't have to tolerate it, you can stop scratching and tell him no and only scratch when he doesn't bite this way it doesn't reinforce the behavior.


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## Artenius (Dec 13, 2010)

Today is the day I got my second teil, she is a reverse pied and looks beautiful even if he is a bit rugged because she is in the middle of her molt, but before I tell you about that I will address another concern. That being quarantine, many people said I should, but after a lengthy discussion with the bird expert at the shop I decided against it. Call me lazy, call me stupid or uncaring, but it is my opinion to not quarantine her. The shop has had her for around 2-3 months now, she has been in peak physical condition and if she has any hidden diseases then why would I pick it up in the months quarantine because its hidden... if I am wrong, please slam me with all your reasons, I may be making a stupid mistake. Hopefully if this doesn't create a biased impression of me I would like to come to the more serious matters. That being that my female cockatiel as beautiful as she is had got a very, very bad bite. She has bitten me twice now, both drawing allot of blood. I have finally only just been able to get her into her massive cage for the two of them with a very long stick and allot of patience. She is incredibly scared. While she was out, I offered her some millet on the floor, she didn't take anything as I was expecting. She is right now in her cage. Leif took great interest in her, he walked up to her and started trying to preen her, she took this badly. But since it was in the middle of her molt she shed a feather and Leif has been noring on that for the last hour. Leif will be staying in his old cage for now since my female cockatiel is still very nervious. Leif was hand raised unlike her, so its going to be a big challenge taming her. What do I do now? I will post pictures later. Also please dont be mad at me for not quarantining, I love both cockatiels very...allot! I just want to make sure Leif doesn't start getting bored in a month so he starts things like feather plucking when I am away for many long hours at VCE. As well as the bird expert at the shop presented some impressive arguments.

<Pause>


Thank you.


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## Renae (Feb 9, 2008)

Congrats on your new Cockatiel. 

If you aren’t going to quarantine, you *still *need to take the new Cockatiel to a certified Avian Vet and have her tested for all avian diseases as well as get a complete check up.


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## scattrrrd (Feb 2, 2011)

From those pictures, I'd say Leif looks pretty female... barring under tail, and not having a predominantly yellow face give you a pretty good indication.

As for not putting your new bird in quarantine, although I can understand where you're coming from with the pet shop attendant telling you that it's been there for "a few months" and has seemed to be in good condition, I still question this "expert". You said the pet shop was very noisy because there were a lot of birds, so who is to say that he's kept any watch on this one particular bird for long enough to notice any signs of disease? Birds are VERY good at concealing illess because if they show any signs they're weak then they turn into food for predators.

I seriously suggest you do quarantine your new bird, not only for the safety of the new one, but also for Leif. You need to watch for so many things, not just what you call "hidden diseases".

You'll need to take the new 'tiel to be tested for Chlamydia too, as well as looking for mites/lice which is very common in pet shop birds because it spreads so easily. Mites are also quite hard to see with the naked eye.

Another reason for quarantine is that you'll need to keep an eye on stools, if you have two birds in the same cage you won't know who's stool belongs to which bird, so any diseases may go unrecognised.

Please take this into consideration, ultimately it is upto you but there are many people who will disagree with you on this one.


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## Renae (Feb 9, 2008)

What I found extremely weird is this

First Artenius said:



Artenius said:


> they guarantee that the beautiful cockatiel I will be buying next weekend will be in perfect health and that they will pay any vet bills if anything arises in the next month because promise there is no need to quarantine her.


And then Artenius said:



Artenius said:


> Also, the "bird expert" who I was talking to, (saying I dont need to quarantine) said that he had around 80 birds at his house and he couldn't afford to quarantine either.


So if this so called “bird expert” can’t even afford to quarantine their OWN birds, how are they going to pay for the vet bills? (they could be looking at $500+) They are contradicting their-selves and are full of crap.. sorry, but I don’t believe anything this person is saying, they are bringing birds that could have gawd knows what diseases into their home, they have what, 80 birds? and they have not quarantined ANY of them. It sounds like a fire waiting to start.

ETA: I thought I would add this.. 

I got a Bourke Parakeet, Bobby, a few weeks ago, the man assured me when he dropped Bobby off that he was very healthy and had been very well taken care of. I did have Bobby in quarantine and Bobby was great, he was chattering, jumping around, eating well, poops were good. But, not long after he started settling in (a weekish later), he started acting off, his poops were lime green, he started breathing heavy, he acted really sick and lethargic.. took him into the AVs he ended up having Psittacosis (Chlamydia). Stress is what brought it on, moving from one place to another, different environment and such. 

Jasper, one of my Cockatiels, passed away last year from Chlamydia.. he was far too gone, the AVs tried everything, but nothing could be done, he couldn’t fight it.

Please keep a very good eye on BOTH of your Cockatiels, because the new one might look okay now, but like what happened to me, after a week or so they could suddenly start showing signs of illness. They go down hill so fast.


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## scattrrrd (Feb 2, 2011)

P.S, 80 birds? Either they'd better be tiny finches or this person had better have a HUGE property. I wouldn't trust an "expert" who can't afford to quarantine, (what's one separate cage cost these days anyway). Nor for the fact he's obviously buying too many birds at one time. They have a name for that.


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## Artenius (Dec 13, 2010)

First of all, Solace, the bird expert as not I call him, but as the store refers him as to, he said that he personally couldn't afford to quarantine all his birds (out of his own money) but the store would pay, should I say, for the vet bills. He wasn't meaning it literally, it was a "figure of speech", that he believed that this bird was in such good health that there shouldn't be any problems. Should she actually need to see a vet, I do not know if he would comply with what he said. Other than that I am sorry scattrrrd and Solace, I will be taking her my female cockatiel to the vet as I planned. I am inexperienced to when it comes to taking care of birds and I should have complied with quarantining, I have just been working with this guys for several months now with my cockatiels and he has a great wealth of knowledge about birds. Although I will say that he appears to handle birds rougher than how I would. And in the fluster of getting a new cockatiel (which is no excuse), I believed him. I am socailly "challenged", so it makes me very hard to judge personalities. Especially ones that are talking about things that I have very little experience dealing with. I am very sorry that I am jeperdising the health of my cockatiels now that I look at it from a logical point of view. The bird handler, lets call him, when I started to argue that I should quarantine from what you guys have said he simply called you "oppinions" and I should have realised. I got very flustered and over excited about cockatiels that I trusted those suspicious and didn't face a logical track. The cockatiels have been together for about 3-4 hours now, is it to late to quarantine them? I only hope for the best of my friends.


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## scattrrrd (Feb 2, 2011)

I completely understand where you're coming from, I took advice from the pet shop attendant when I got my 'tiel too, it's all about experience and learning as you go, which is why this forum is so great. 

It's not too late to separate them, and infact would be a good idea, especially if the new one is a little stressed due to changing locations and such. 

Hopefully all will be well with your new bird and congratulations! Enjoy them as much as you can!


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## Artenius (Dec 13, 2010)

Quickly, when you say separate that means, into different rooms? Just moved her out now, in the new cage. Leif will stay in the old small one D: . It would be allot more convenient that they were both in the same room. But I understand if otherwise.


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## Artenius (Dec 13, 2010)

Also here are some pictures of the new cage and female cockatiel. Apparently her feathers are all rustled because he is in the middle of molting. Please tell me this is right and the store bird keeper was telling the truth or if there is something wrong. This was the only bird that looked like this at the store (at least out of the cockatiels, I didn't check the others). I just loved her yellow colouring, she even if she looks like she just got out of bed looks amazing to me.


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## lperry82 (Aug 2, 2010)

When moulting they do look rough lol and she is so adorable 
There is no need to quarantine if both of them have already met in the same room 
I only can suggest get her checked over by the vet and keep close eye on her and her poop
Has anybody got pics of abnormal poops as it might help others what to look for


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## scattrrrd (Feb 2, 2011)

Good idea on the poop pictures, I don't have any of when Pat had weird poop, but the most normal would be an upright ball with equal parts white and green to be the majority, it's not unusual to have a weird poop every now and again, like when Pat gets out of the shower she does this nasty water poop, but when it's constantly runny, the green is too bright or it doesn't hold it's shape that's usually a sign of illness. 

Artenius, you don't necessarily have to keep them in separate rooms, but opposite sides of the room would help. Also make sure you get her checked by an avian vet as that is ultimately the best way to make sure.

She's beautiful by the way!


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## roxy culver (May 27, 2010)

What a gorgeous bird...she looks like she's molting so no worries there. If you're going to quarantine her, keep them in separate rooms and wash your hands inbetween each bird until you can get her checked by a vet. Once the vet does the tests and says everything is good, then you should be ok to put them together. You can try introducing them again after that and see how they get on. The cage looks nice and roomy too!


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## Artenius (Dec 13, 2010)

Thank you both. Yes I will be making sure that I taking both down to our local vet which I have rung up and have confirmed that they have the right facilities for birds and have had plenty of previous experience with birds. Otherwise I have to travel around an hour to get to an avian hospital, but maybe that is better. Travel further and stress more or travel 5 minutes to smaller vet clinic? <Please insert opinion here> 

Otherwise they are both on either side of my room which is around 3-4.5 meters. I wish to keep them both in there because that is where I usually reside reading and completing homework as such and it keeps my younger destructive taunting brother out of his reach, I am not being biased because I am an older brother but from past experiences with chickens.

Now for the epic challenge of taming my female cockatiel... which I will need to name. I am thinking of 'Pascal' because she of her sweet nature at the moment . I mean that both sarcastically and because she is a real beauty . Anyone have any tips on where I should start, Leif was already hand tamed when I got him. I know about the Pearl trust exersize video which I found very helpful with Leif but is there something I should do before this because she is complete untame? I know I shouldn't have got her untame but she instantly caught my eye and I love a good challenge .


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## Artenius (Dec 13, 2010)

But just reading Roxy Culvers message I have will split them into different rooms immediately. I only just put them back in the same room just this morning.


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## Artenius (Dec 13, 2010)

Sorry dont mean to be posting so many posts, I should just remember to complete them all in one but I forget :3. Anyway I would just like to confirm that her droppings look fine from what images I have seen on other sites.


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## scattrrrd (Feb 2, 2011)

I take my 'tiel to an avian vet which is about a 40 minute drive from my house, though sometimes I have to take her on public transport so if she gets too stressed I pay a little extra to have her stay the night at the clinic, which could be an option to look into. Avian vet is always a better option, but if it's not possible then make sure you find a really reputable vet who has dealt with birds before and has the correct diagnostic equipment. 

With taming her it'll take a great deal of patience. Do you know how old she is? You can try associating your presence with food which you should perhaps feed through the cage wires initially, let her come up to you. That's a start, then you can move onto letting her climb onto your finger and rewarding her with a chilli or sunflower seed (max 10 sunflower seeds a day). 
Just make sure you let her decide what she wants to do, and if she ever gets scared or flustered STOP straight away. You don't want it to go backwards!

Good luck!


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## Artenius (Dec 13, 2010)

Thank you scattrrrd, I think I will take them both to a proper avian vet. Either way Pascal (name in progress) is around 6 months old as this should be her first major molt the bird keeper explained. I have been able to gently, using a piece of dowel able to get her onto a small stand I made for her. After that I have been talking to her gently and offering millet and grass seed. She occasionally takes a nibble at either, though she still seems very frightened, but she seems like that all the time anyway. Is this the right thing to be doing?


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## roxy culver (May 27, 2010)

Yes that's a good start...when she's in the cage, you can drop bits of millet into her food cup but make sure she sees you do it. This way she associates you with good things! I like to sit on the floor near their cage and read out loud to them. It gets them used to the sound of my voice. In fact, they're so used to it that when they get scared or have a night fright, it usually my voice that settles them down. So keep up the good work! O and if you forget to add something to a post you just submitted, you can click the edit button and add whatever it is you forgot.


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## Artenius (Dec 13, 2010)

Okay thank you roxy culver, I will remember that last point... and keep working with Pascal... how does that name sound?


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## roxy culver (May 27, 2010)

Its a cute name, I really like it!


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## lperry82 (Aug 2, 2010)

Its a nice name


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