# Pros. and Cons



## tweetycockatiel

Hey everyone.

I just want to know what's the pros and cons of having a cockatiel in your family.

please post your suggestiong list of pros and cons here,

it might help for the people who are planning to get cockatiel on their homes.

just wondering


tweetycockatiel


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## Mystified

I'll list just a couple each to get you started off

Pros
Good company
Entertaining

Cons
Getting pooped on all the time
Night frights that scare me just as much as them when they injure themselves


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## MeanneyFids

Pros:
Something to care for that can be a fun challenge 
Something to listen to, if you have a male.
Something to keep you company, no matter what, not judging you.
something warm to keep on your shoulder whether it suits you or not.
you can nearly always feel happy after getting it a toy it really likes.
you can never be bored of these birds.
some can talk, even if they never do, its fun talking to them in the hopes they MAY repeat what you say one day.
its a pet that most people dont think of right away when people ask about cuddly pets, therefore unusual to most people (especially those who think birds are evil)
They're calm and generally laid back compared to other birds, such as budgies and lovebirds.
If you own cats, they arent likely to be scared to death like a finch, canary, or budgie.


Cons:
Nightfrights, as mentioned above.
Possible noise complaints if you live in an apartment with neighbours who complain bout anything.
Biting, from taming the bird if parent raised or through mood swings.
Teenage Stage, worse in males than females.
Getting screamed at in the ear when the birds on you shoulder.
Poop, poop, and poop.


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## Annie

Pros and cons? I think the pros are pretty much covered by DallyTsuka . 

Sunny is good company, esp. at night, during that one hour when I like to relax a bit in front of the TV before going to bed and when I'm muddling about in my room. And I think the biggest pro is that he has brought a new dimension to my relationship with my dad who lives with me because we refer to Sunny as his grandson, and our mutual love for Sunny has brought us closer. My dad acts like he doesn't really care about Sunny but in fact he is crazy about him!  

The biggest con for me is that I make cards as a hobby and it is just so hard to make cards when Sunny is constantly around to chew up and destroy my beautifully-crafted masterpieces  (I naively thought before that Sunny could be playing quietly in a corner by himself when I'm making cards. Ha. ) That means when I want to make cards, I can't have my stuff all laid out on the table uncovered (esp. not my impressive pressed-flowers collection ), and it does put a kink in my card-making ventures if you know what I mean. :wacko: And I don't have the heart to lock him in his cage when I'm at home because I want to give Sunny as much freedom as I possibly can. But unless you do papercrafts like me you should be fine. I'm fine with the pooping because we have hardwood floors so I'm used to cleaning after him and constantly sweeping up pellets from the floor of my room where his cage is. So again, unless you're a real cleanliness freak, if you can put up with the pooping then it's not a big problem.


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## tielfan

Pros: sweet loving birds with softy fuzzy heads to pet
Cons: everyone has mentioned the poop, but there's also food debris and feathers on the floor plus the cockatiel dust (powder down) that they produce

Obviously everyone here thinks that the pros outweigh the cons!


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## Siobhan

Cons ... um, can't think of any! Sure, they're messy. but that just comes with having an animal of any kind. Yup, noisy too, but I love to listen to him. And yes, he poops on me at least once a day. I choose to consider that a sign of affection. 

Pros: Endless! He's sweet and cute and entertaining and loves me back and he sings and he greets me with "pretty baby!" when I come home and he watches TV with me and lets me scritch his head and kiss him and sometimes he kisses me back. And even though he should be having teenage issues by now (he's 10 months), he's not.


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## Belinda

I'd have to add the a con would be their vet bills can be expensive and they do consume time and can be demanding little critters.

But the pros are that I love her, she's so adorable and funny so none of the above sounds like a big deal, and I'm happy to spend time, money and energy on her.


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