# please don't judge me



## Hellena (Feb 11, 2013)

I feel awful posting this and feeling the way I do, but I feel like I'm reaching my absolute limit....
I love my birds and have owned cockatiels in the past but it has been many years since I just got back into them. I started owning them again about a year and half ago, after not owning them for about 7 years. My cockatiels are hand tame with wonderful dispositions and I'm fond of them. I treat them well and they have the sweetness in them to prove it. However, I'm so tired of the cleaning, the poop, the molting with the feathers all over the place, the stuff stuck on my newly painted walls, and the flying off the playtop when something spooks them then pooping on my rug or wherever they attempt to land. I have a big house, 3 kids, and a job, etc. like a lot of us do. I know I'm not an expection to that. And we all have messiness as bird owners. I'm just so tired of vacuuming again after I just did it the previous day, and scrubbing the poop off the cage crate and seed catchers again. I feel like I spend more time cleaning up after the birds since it is multiple times a day and that it cuts into my time with my kids and personal responsibilities. I never realized how much cleaning up after is required with birds, especially if you have more than one. 
I'm starting to resent it because I'm just so sick of the mess. Sorry if I offend anyone but it's how I feel and I'm venting. I used to be concerned about posting something like this but I'm not anymore, I'm just sick of the constant mess. 4 birds are a lot to clean up after!! It's my fault, I bit off more than I can chew and should have known better.


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## Darkel777 (Jun 7, 2013)

4 cockatiels is a lot for one person, you might just consider rehoming one or two so your life is a little easier.


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## Hellena (Feb 11, 2013)

Darkel777 said:


> 4 cockatiels is a lot for one person, you might just consider rehoming one or two so your life is a little easier.


It is, as I'm finding out more and more. My husband does not like birds too much and has no interest in socializing with them or helping with cleaning. But I'm fine with that. I hate cats and would not have anything to do with it if he had one, so I understand. My 14 year old likes the birds but said they are mine so he won't clean their stuff either. My other kids are 4 and 6 so they are too young. So yes, it all falls on me and it is tremendous cleaning.


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## karendh (Mar 25, 2013)

So sorry to hear that you are getting to the end of your patience and I do sympathise. These little birds create such a lot of mess for their size. Luckily, I only have the one!!

As for cleaning up after pets, it's always mum who ends up doing it no matter who claims to own them within the family. The kids always start of with good intentions but it doesn't last. Husbands are usually the pits when it comes to any cleaning!

It sounds like a good idea to reduce your flock if you could find good homes for a couple of your birds because it's not nice for you to end up resenting them and then probably feeling guilty because you do.

Make a decision that it right for you and in the end, it will be right for the birds.


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## tweetsandsarah (Mar 27, 2014)

I just wanted to say that for me, there is no judgement because I understand when pets become more of a burden than a joy. At one time we had six dogs and it was just too much so we had to find a new place for some of them. I just want you to know you're not a bad person for having the feelings that you do because it IS a lot and it is frustrating, I'm sure.


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## sarah (Jul 11, 2011)

Hey don't be hard on yourself. I'm sure you are taking care of the humans in the house as well so taking care of the birds is an additional burden. I agree with others about rehoming them. If they don't you much joy that's probably the best option.


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## Apfelschorle (Feb 23, 2014)

Hellena, you shouldn't feel guilty at all for feeling the way you do... I've had my two birds for a month and it's really caught me off-guard just _how much_ de-poopage is involved, and how no matter how many times I sweep the area around the cage, there's always millet scattered all over the house!! It really is hard work, especially if all the cleaning up's on your shoulders. I can't even imagine how time-consuming it is with double the number of birds (and three kids thrown into the mix)!

Anyway, this might be a little 'out there' piece of advice, but after the first few weeks of having the birds I decided I just couldn't cope with spending literally hours a day sweeping the floor... sooo I invested in a roomba (a robot vacuum cleaner)! It has really provided welcome respite from constantly running around the house with a dustpan and broom - you can leave it running around the house to tackle stray seed husks/missed bits of dried poop, and get on with other things in the meantime. 

Of course, there's no cage paper-changing robot, or wet poop-cleaning up robot, but it's a huge help nonetheless! The birds also seem to enjoy watching it at work... I can see their little heads following it across the room


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## Tacotielca (Dec 3, 2013)

I understand. That's why we only have one.


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## TamaMoo (Jan 12, 2014)

I agree with the rehoming, and feel that as obvious as it is that you have a caring heart, you'd see they had good homes.


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## Hellena (Feb 11, 2013)

Apfelschorle said:


> Hellena, you shouldn't feel guilty at all for feeling the way you do... I've had my two birds for a month and it's really caught me off-guard just _how much_ de-poopage is involved, and how no matter how many times I sweep the area around the cage, there's always millet scattered all over the house!! It really is hard work, especially if all the cleaning up's on your shoulders. I can't even imagine how time-consuming it is with double the number of birds (and three kids thrown into the mix)!
> 
> Anyway, this might be a little 'out there' piece of advice, but after the first few weeks of having the birds I decided I just couldn't cope with spending literally hours a day sweeping the floor... sooo I invested in a roomba (a robot vacuum cleaner)! It has really provided welcome respite from constantly running around the house with a dustpan and broom - you can leave it running around the house to tackle stray seed husks/missed bits of dried poop, and get on with other things in the meantime.
> 
> Of course, there's no cage paper-changing robot, or wet poop-cleaning up robot, but it's a huge help nonetheless! The birds also seem to enjoy watching it at work... I can see their little heads following it across the room


That is funny!


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## Hellena (Feb 11, 2013)

I just rehomed one today to a very nice man with a wife and 8 year old boy. They really want a bird and seemed very nice. I sold him a cage too for a very good price in order to ensure that the bird would have an appropriate cage and everything. He was very gracious and the bird seemed fine in his presence. It is more of a relief to be down to 3 cockatiels. 
Still a lot of mess with 3 though but will see how it goes with the ones I have.


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## CaliTiels (Oct 18, 2012)

Which one did you rehome?


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## Hellena (Feb 11, 2013)

Maple, b/c she never seemed to really care if anyone was around or not and seemed pretty indifferent. The man that bought her just sent me a photo of her sitting on his sons shoulder. They both seemed very happy together. Definitely a good rehome! Not that I would have it any other way though.


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## Peaches&Me (Oct 30, 2013)

Apfelschorle said:


> Anyway, this might be a little 'out there' piece of advice, but after the first few weeks of having the birds I decided I just couldn't cope with spending literally hours a day sweeping the floor... sooo I invested in a roomba (a robot vacuum cleaner)! It has really provided welcome respite from constantly running around the house with a dustpan and broom - you can leave it running around the house to tackle stray seed husks/missed bits of dried poop, and get on with other things in the meantime.


Ooh that's so interesting.
I have been looking at getting one these but they have had mixed reviews and are pretty expensive in the UK so I didn't want to make a costly mistake  although they are supposed to work well how do they cope with seeds on the floor, lots of vacuums just sort of move them around, does the Roomba actually pick them up? And I'm wondering about the aspen too, would it pick that up or scatter it?


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## Ziggibaby (Mar 26, 2014)

I could never ever rehome any of my boys.

Personally, I started with Ziggi and realised the mess was pretty much none 
Then I added Charlie and the mess is a little bit more so I'm not getting a third. Therefore I won't need to rehome any of my babies.


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## Tisena (Sep 28, 2013)

Ziggibaby said:


> I could never ever rehome any of my boys.
> 
> Personally, I started with Ziggi and realised the mess was pretty much none
> Then I added Charlie and the mess is a little bit more so I'm not getting a third. Therefore I won't need to rehome any of my babies.


Well...we're gluttons for punishment. Think cockatiels are messy? Try having two bunny brothers! THATS MESSY! And they team up with the naughtiness. In comparison the cockatiels are angels haha! We don't mind too much because all of our pets lovelyness outweighs their messyness atleast a hundredfold, even if they do pull my laptop keys off *coughSamcough*


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## Apfelschorle (Feb 23, 2014)

Peaches&Me said:


> Ooh that's so interesting.
> I have been looking at getting one these but they have had mixed reviews and are pretty expensive in the UK so I didn't want to make a costly mistake  although they are supposed to work well how do they cope with seeds on the floor, lots of vacuums just sort of move them around, does the Roomba actually pick them up? And I'm wondering about the aspen too, would it pick that up or scatter it?


My boyfriend and I had been wanting to get one for ages, but never really had a good pretext until now  The robot vacuum cleaner we have isn't technically a roomba - it's actually a Samsung Navibot (i.e. a fake roomba - 'froomba'), and it works really well on the normal bits of cockatiel-generated mess. The only thing it sometimes misses is shredded paper from one of their toys, but it usually gets them on the second go. So all in all, whilst it doesn't have quite as much suction as a regular vacuum cleaner, it's still enough to suck millet/seeds up as opposed to just dragging them around the floor! Another bonus; it's a lot quieter than a regular vacuum cleaner. It does have trouble getting into the corners (its rotating brushes can't quite reach them) but luckily the birds prefer to chuck seed husks into the centre of the room anyway! I can't tell you how well it works on aspen... mostly because I'm not really sure what aspen is 

I know they come in a range of prices... our was mid-range and cost the equivalent of around £300 (but we got it in Switzerland, and everything's more expensive here). So all in all, I'd definitely recommend it! For me personally, it was admittedly costly, but not at all a mistake


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## CaliTiels (Oct 18, 2012)

Ziggibaby, I do have to agree. Beaker was neat, and then I added clumsy Jaid. Oh boy, you should have seen the mess he made falling off everything when he was still a baby. That kid was filthy. And don't forget blood everywhere from snapping all his blood feathers.

I am about to add a conure to the flock in about 5 or 6 months. I can't imagine the mess it will make


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## Tisena (Sep 28, 2013)

I want to add a quaker to my flock or another budgie....but in an ideal world a quaker 

But I want my grandma to be better first


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## Baby Eagle (Feb 13, 2014)

Hi, I'm new here, but I've been lurking a bit to look up info., refresh my memory on things I've forgotten or just to see what updates there've been since I had my first (and only other, for all intents and purposes) cockatiel back in 1991.

I know what you mean about all the extra work with the birds. Although I'm getting reacquainted with all the bird care and cleaning since my hubby got me a cockatiel this past Christmas (we went to a local bird store and Candy Cane picked me out on Dec. 20th and came home with us on the 21st. She's a DNA-sexed, whiteface), it's a different situation now. Last time I had a cockatiel it was before marriage; I was attending college & living at home, but it was when I got engaged, had to quit school and go back to work full-time that I, unfortunately, had to bring Baby and her two chicks to a friend's pet store and ask him to rehome them ONLY to a good home. It practically broke my heart, but I couldn't leave them home all day in a cage that was too small - while I was in school, I had more free time and Baby was out of her cage most of the day. (I had 'borrowed' a friend's male cockatiel for a few months to breed Baby).

Now I'm married with three kids, two dogs and two cats. My husband knows I have my own system with the birds so he doesn't touch Candy or our newly acquired (still in quarantine) DNA-sexed male Lutino minion, Larry Bird. My 17 year old son doesn't do ANYTHING for the animals. He only likes one cat and barely pays attention to him! My 15 year old has claimed one dog (though she's good with the other one, too, and will pet one cat sometimes. I should mention that the other cat is basically feral and I'm the only one who can pet her with any regularity, but I still can't pick her up after a year and a half). My daughter, however, hates the birds. My eight year old LOVES the idea of the birds and was looking forward to playing with Candy, but I think, even after several warnings from day one, she moved too quickly and now Candy resists going to or staying with her and will peck at my daughter. Also, if Candy is on my daughter's hand or shoulder, as soon as she sees me, she immediately flies to me. So my daughter has become frustrated, claims the bird hates her and now doesn't really like the bird. In all fairness, Candy is quickly becoming a one-person bird.

While I'm enjoying the birds, and since I have such a large cage for Candy the mess isn't very bad (I believe the dogs have been "cleaning up" any seeds, pellets or other foods on the floor!), I still find it overwhelming often. Every weekday is the same thing: get my 8 year old ready for school (the teenagers and hubby have already left the house), and as soon as she's on the bus, I let the dogs out in the backyard, feed the cats, feed the dogs, feed the birds, clean the cages and try to spend some time with each bird out of it's respective cage. At this point the morning's half over! I'd really love to rehome the cats, but I'm met with resistance. Thankfully, since the birds have come to the house and nobody else cares for them, I no longer clean the litter boxes!

I really do want to rehome the cats. We adopted them a few years after we lost three other cats that we had had from kittens (one lived to be a week shy of 18, the other passed at 17 and the one we bottle-fed and raised passed at the age of 16). I just don't have the bond with these cats like I did with the others and I feel like I'm CONSTANTLY on guard protecting the birds from the cats. I hardly go anywhere with a bird without a spray bottle also!

I don't know if that helps you at all, but I can relate to being overwhelmed!

(Sorry this was so long.)

- Baby Eagle
aka Grace


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## Hellena (Feb 11, 2013)

I am finding it a little more reasonable with the three, but on the fence about having all three with everything else going on in my household. I have a feeling the majic number will be two, much more reasonable. Animals really are a lot of work!


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## imonroe66 (Sep 15, 2012)

I bought the Tidy Bird feeders for my two. I have two with seeds and one filled with pellets. Millet can only be eaten inside the cage (since it is so messy). I also sewed a seed catcher for the bottom of the cage. I used regular material that I had at home already and it works great. I hardly have any mess when I come home from work. I also purchased a hand vac for quick daily clean up around the cage and I also use wipes for the poop spots. Hope that will help. I know it can get tiring some time.


Joey and Oscar


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## Mezza (Feb 19, 2013)

I have just caught up on this thread so my reply may be a little late. 
Hellena - you did what you had too, and you can feel good knowing that Maple is in a loving home. 

Yes, they can be messy - especially when you are also looking after a family of humans. 

I have Skiddles and Louey and they get messy but not out of hand as I do live alone so they keep me busy and entertained. 

Hang in there - we don't judge here


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## Mezza (Feb 19, 2013)

Tisena said:


> I want to add a quaker to my flock or another budgie....but in an ideal world a quaker
> 
> But I want my grandma to be better first


Quakers are so entertaining and full of life. I love my Louey to bits - he's cheeky and funny. He talks - says 'Louey Louey', 'hello' and Skiddles has taught him to sing.  He loves playing on his back...weirdo! LOL! And so far he is great with anyone that visits. 

I hope your grandma gets better soon


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## bobobubu (Dec 12, 2011)

I wasn't surprised at all reading this thread. 
I have eight, only counting the tiels, and for me it's a full time job. 
I have an enormous admiration for people who manage 10+ pets, a human family and a job, I would die if I had to do all that. 
When you add to your flock you don't notice instantly the level of work involved growing: it takes a while, and usually during that "while" you have taken on one more pet... The work grows and grows. 
I think normal people should never go for more than two birds, and neat freaks should look for a less messy type of pet. I am trying to think of a pet that is messier than a bird... Apart from monkeys I can't think of any. 



Sent from my GT-I9100 using Tapatalk


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## Ziggibaby (Mar 26, 2014)

Tisena said:


> Well...we're gluttons for punishment. Think cockatiels are messy? Try having two bunny brothers! THATS MESSY! And they team up with the naughtiness. In comparison the cockatiels are angels haha! We don't mind too much because all of our pets lovelyness outweighs their messyness atleast a hundredfold, even if they do pull my laptop keys off *coughSamcough*


Bunnies aren't aloud were I live! I want a pair of girls so bad!! They are just sooooo cute


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## Tisena (Sep 28, 2013)

bobobubu said:


> I am trying to think of a pet that is messier than a bird... Apart from monkeys I can't think of any.


House Rabbits... the cockatiels mess is near the cage and play cage, Bunny mess is EVERYWHERE and Rupert is hormonal at the min even though he's not a full boy anymore, so he keeps biting the carpet. Roddy likes the wallpaper and no matter what you do with the water sprayer they'll carry on!

They've worked out if they jump onto my grandma's chair and over the back there is some nice millet up there but it takes digging and sneakyness to get to.

So from experience, two bunny brothers are much messier and naughtier than a budgie and two cockatiels. Unless we just have the naughtiest messiest rabbits ever of course  you'd never know by how cute they are


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## Peaches&Me (Oct 30, 2013)

Apfelschorle said:


> My boyfriend and I had been wanting to get one for ages, but never really had a good pretext until now  The robot vacuum cleaner we have isn't technically a roomba - it's actually a Samsung Navibot (i.e. a fake roomba - 'froomba'), and it works really well on the normal bits of cockatiel-generated mess. The only thing it sometimes misses is shredded paper from one of their toys, but it usually gets them on the second go. So all in all, whilst it doesn't have quite as much suction as a regular vacuum cleaner, it's still enough to suck millet/seeds up as opposed to just dragging them around the floor! Another bonus; it's a lot quieter than a regular vacuum cleaner. It does have trouble getting into the corners (its rotating brushes can't quite reach them) but luckily the birds prefer to chuck seed husks into the centre of the room anyway! I can't tell you how well it works on aspen... mostly because I'm not really sure what aspen is
> 
> I know they come in a range of prices... our was mid-range and cost the equivalent of around £300 (but we got it in Switzerland, and everything's more expensive here). So all in all, I'd definitely recommend it! For me personally, it was admittedly costly, but not at all a mistake



Thank you so much for replying, your feedback helped a lot  I decided to go ahead and get one, although it's not the Roomba, I've just ordered the Neato signature pro because I have 3 dogs and 2 house bunnies & this one is supposed to be one of the best for picking up animal fur, it also has a hepa filter so will help with the birds dander 
This is what I've ordered
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Neato-Robot...183118&sr=8-1&keywords=neato+signature+xv+pro




Tisena said:


> House Rabbits... the cockatiels mess is near the cage and play cage, Bunny mess is EVERYWHERE and Rupert is hormonal at the min even though he's not a full boy anymore, so he keeps biting the carpet. Roddy likes the wallpaper and no matter what you do with the water sprayer they'll carry on!
> 
> They've worked out if they jump onto my grandma's chair and over the back there is some nice millet up there but it takes digging and sneakyness to get to.
> 
> So from experience, two bunny brothers are much messier and naughtier than a budgie and two cockatiels. Unless we just have the naughtiest messiest rabbits ever of course  you'd never know by how cute they are


Yep I agree, I have 2 house bunny boys & they are much messier than the birds although they are toilet trained so at least I only have to empty their litter boxes rather than go behind them wiping up poo like we have to do with the birds. I also have 3 long haired dogs, I think dog hair on the floor is sooo much worse than bird seed too


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## Tisena (Sep 28, 2013)

Peaches&Me said:


> Yep I agree, I have 2 house bunny boys & they are much messier than the birds although they are toilet trained so at least I only have to empty their litter boxes rather than go behind them wiping up poo like we have to do with the birds. I also have 3 long haired dogs, I think dog hair on the floor is sooo much worse than bird seed too


Ours are litter trained too but in the last few months they've been scent marking and pooping everywhere naughtily even though they have been doctored >.<

Rupert has really fine fur so it really gets into the carpet, Vax upright for the win!


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## Baby Eagle (Feb 13, 2014)

Tisena said:


> House Rabbits... the cockatiels mess is near the cage and play cage, Bunny mess is EVERYWHERE and Rupert is hormonal at the min even though he's not a full boy anymore, so he keeps biting the carpet. Roddy likes the wallpaper and no matter what you do with the water sprayer they'll carry on!
> 
> They've worked out if they jump onto my grandma's chair and over the back there is some nice millet up there but it takes digging and sneakyness to get to.
> 
> So from experience, two bunny brothers are much messier and naughtier than a budgie and two cockatiels. Unless we just have the naughtiest messiest rabbits ever of course  you'd never know by how cute they are


I always wanted bunnies when I was growing up and wasn't allowed any. But once I worked in a pet store (Petland Discounts) for a few months when I was around 17 or so, I was cured of it after having to clean up after them. The smell was terrible and I felt like no matter how much I cleaned the wall behind their cages, it was never cleaned because they never stopped spraying!

Also, I have to say, even though it's a different kind of mess, having a dog that sheds (I have a Catahoula Leopard Dog/Aussie Shepherd mix currently, along with another Mini Schnauzer) is terrible. I always said, as an adult, I would never get a shedding breed, but didn't take my own advice. He's worse than all three cats (that I used to have) put together! I feel like I'm CONSTANTLY cleaning up tumbleweeds or dust doggies (bigger than bunnies). lol


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## dianne (Nov 27, 2013)

"Anyway, this might be a little 'out there' piece of advice, but after the first few weeks of having the birds I decided I just couldn't cope with spending literally hours a day sweeping the floor... sooo I invested in a roomba (a robot vacuum cleaner)! It has really provided welcome respite from constantly running around the house with a dustpan and broom - you can leave it running around the house to tackle stray seed husks/missed bits of dried poop, and get on with other things in the meantime."

Dear Apfelschorle: I never pictured myself buying a Roomba. But, after reading this, I decided to look into it. I am 67 years old and, due to arthritis, I find vacuuming a very difficult chore. I have looked into it, and decided to order one. It's a lot of money, but I don't have any cleaning help. I have thought about getting cleaning help. But, if this works for me, it may be even better. Thank you for posting this!!!!!!


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## BirdCrazyJill (Apr 23, 2013)

I completely know how you feel... 

I rehomed Peanut (my female rescue budgie) a couple weeks ago because 4 was just too much for me. I have so much going on with these two special needs cockatiels, Muffin is a chronic egg layer (although she had been good for a couple months!! *knock on wood*) and she will never be able to fly, even though she jumps off the top of their flight cage all the time and it scares me to death every single time... and Chewy is still recovering from breaking his leg (and STILL has really bad frights, he was finally growing out his wings again after 5 weeks of being in a hospital cage, but yesterday we dragged the garbage can out through the driveway and he got so spooked that he jumped out of his cage and had a freak out in the kitchen, blew all of his flight feathers and blood everywhere  ) I can't rehome these guys because I personally feel like "nobody can take care of them like I can" but I was feeling VERY overwhelmed with 4 so I had to do what I thought was best. She went to a home with a male young budgie and a 20 year old cockatiel  you're not alone!


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## CaliTiels (Oct 18, 2012)

Friends, does the robot vacuum work on long carpets? Or just short woven ones?


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## Peaches&Me (Oct 30, 2013)

dianne said:


> "Anyway, this might be a little 'out there' piece of advice, but after the first few weeks of having the birds I decided I just couldn't cope with spending literally hours a day sweeping the floor... sooo I invested in a roomba (a robot vacuum cleaner)! It has really provided welcome respite from constantly running around the house with a dustpan and broom - you can leave it running around the house to tackle stray seed husks/missed bits of dried poop, and get on with other things in the meantime."
> 
> Dear Apfelschorle: I never pictured myself buying a Roomba. But, after reading this, I decided to look into it. I am 67 years old and, due to arthritis, I find vacuuming a very difficult chore. I have looked into it, and decided to order one. It's a lot of money, but I don't have any cleaning help. I have thought about getting cleaning help. But, if this works for me, it may be even better. Thank you for posting this!!!!!!


I hope it works for you Dianne 
Apfelschorie has the Samsung one I believe, I have just ordered a Neato and you the Roomba, 3 different makes and models so we could start our own robot vacuuming reviews thread LOL 



CaliTiels said:


> Friends, does the robot vacuum work on long carpets? Or just short woven ones?


I have ordered this one
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Neato-Robot...183118&sr=8-1&keywords=neato+signature+xv+pro
I chose this one because it's good for pet hairs and has a hepa filter, it says it works on floor & carpet but not shag pile carpet but there are so many makes and models nowadays I think you would have to research into the one that would suit you best


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## Double Trouble (Nov 24, 2013)

CaliTiels said:


> Ziggibaby, I do have to agree. Beaker was neat, and then I added clumsy Jaid. Oh boy, you should have seen the mess he made falling off everything when he was still a baby. That kid was filthy. And don't forget blood everywhere from snapping all his blood feathers.
> 
> I am about to add a conure to the flock in about 5 or 6 months. I can't imagine the mess it will make


Lol you have no idea!!

I have the two teils and the conure and between them they make a huge mess...

Don't get me wrong cos I love them all dearly and if it wasn't the fact harpy was stressing badger out then she would be staying here since she is the cleanest bird out of the three and is just beautiful tho very vocal for a female and just hilarious.. quite the acrobat/show off!

The conure uses her beak to shovel the food she doesn't like out of her bowl, and badger puts his seed husks back into his food bowl.... to realise after a while he can't see the seed anymore then kicks the husks out with his feet like a dog digging up the lawn... lol

Then added to the mix the dog is constantly casting at the moment too lol

Oh and then I have 13 budgies and they are all little gits haha.. will kick seed out while I am cleaning in front of the cage.

The two pythons aren't messy at all.

I am constantly cleaning up after them all.

On top of that I have fibromyalgia and work at a rabbit and guinea pig sanctuary where yup you guessed it... I clean there all day too lol
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## bobobubu (Dec 12, 2011)

CaliTiels said:


> Friends, does the robot vacuum work on long carpets? Or just short woven ones?


The robot vacuum costs just a few dollars less than Dream Bird :lol:
I have been told it might get stuck very often if your style is not minimalist, maybe the new models work better around furniture?

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## Annie (Nov 20, 2009)

LOL Don't worry, obviously no one is judging you. There's nothing wrong with not wanting to keep pets anymore because you don't have the time to devote to them. Lots of people have pets irresponsibly when they really don't have the time nor passion for them so the pets and the humans all suffer in the end and THAT is not right! I don't want to have kids ever because I don't think I can dedicate myself to being a good mom. I would rather spend that time volunteering with kids from broken homes and help kids who are neglected and abused. So I hope no one will judge ME for not wanting to be a mother!


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## Hellena (Feb 11, 2013)

thanks for all the replies guys! I wasn't sure what responses I was going to get with this type of venting. I love this forum, not judgemental at all. And btw, Maple and the little boy that got her are so happy! He thinks the world of her! She was the only type of pet he was allowed to get. They named her Jewel, it was so fitting because of the situation.


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## Apfelschorle (Feb 23, 2014)

> I decided to go ahead and get one, although it's not the Roomba, I've just ordered the Neato signature pro because I have 3 dogs and 2 house bunnies & this one is supposed to be one of the best for picking up animal fur, it also has a hepa filter so will help with the birds dander





> I never pictured myself buying a Roomba. But, after reading this, I decided to look into it. I am 67 years old and, due to arthritis, I find vacuuming a very difficult chore. I have looked into it, and decided to order one. It's a lot of money, but I don't have any cleaning help. I have thought about getting cleaning help. But, if this works for me, it may be even better. Thank you for posting this!!!!!!


Peaches&Me, Dianne - You're very welcome!  Brilliant, I hope you find your roombas (or other roomba-esque robot vacuum cleaners) as helpful as I did! Mine is remote controlled, so you can literally just press the 'start' button and it starts poodling around the house, sucking everything up as it goes along, and then when it either finishes all the rooms or runs out of battery, it automatically makes its way home to its charging station.  So no bending down/physically hauling it around is necessary (unless you want to empty the dust compartment, but I've only been doing that on average once a week, and it only takes a minute).

Dianne, sorry to hear about your arthritis - but I hope you'll find keeping your place clean a little easier now!! I was actually thinking of getting another roomba for my grandma (who is in her 80s and disabled). It'll have to wait until I save up some money, though 



> Friends, does the robot vacuum work on long carpets? Or just short woven ones?


Calitiels, to be honest I don't really know how it would cope with long carpets, I only have rugs at home! I imagine it would still work fine, but that's really just a guess.



> The robot vacuum costs just a few dollars less than Dream Bird


Haha, well, yes, if you're saving up for Dream Bird then that is a problem  However, I've got my two dream birds and was getting a teensy bit fed up of their not-so-dream mess! :lol:



> I have been told it might get stuck very often if your style is not minimalist, maybe the new models work better around furniture?


My vacuum can navigate around table/chair legs pretty well, and can somehow estimate how wide a space it can pass through... so thankfully it hardly ever get stuck. The only place in the whole house where it occasionally _does_ run into trouble is a tiny step ~5cm high leading up to the kitchen. It 'climbs' onto it and can't get off. But then it just starts beeping and displaying an error message, and we just nudge it off with our feet 

One last thing; my navibot's amazingly good at not bumping into things on the whole. However, the trouble we initially had was that it couldn't detect the legs of the stand on which the bird cage sits because they're metallic, and that for whatever reason confused the sensors. So it used to bump into those every now and then... not hard enough to knock the cage over, but enough to annoy the birds! To fix that, we just wrapped small strips of cardboard around each of the legs, which solved that problem completely.

Anyway, hope that helps! 
Disclaimer: I realise it's starting to sound as if I work for iRobot/Samsung/another robot vacuum cleaner company, haha! Just to clarify, I don't have any vested interests in promoting them, I'm just a big fan of a) robots, and b) devices that minimise the amount of time I spend cleaning 

... sorry, I realised we went off on a massive tangent there!


> And btw, Maple and the little boy that got her are so happy! He thinks the world of her! She was the only type of pet he was allowed to get. They named her Jewel, it was so fitting because of the situation.


That's so sweet, and so lovely to hear, Hellena! A happy ending for everyone involved


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## Apfelschorle (Feb 23, 2014)

Apologies for that ridiculously long post!! I may have gotten a bit carried away!


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## CaliTiels (Oct 18, 2012)

bobobubu said:


> The robot vacuum costs just a few dollars less than Dream Bird :lol:


Haha, but lets not forgot that my ideas may have shifted after I heard that scream. You know my new objective


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