How To Prepare To Care For Cockatiels

One of the smallest parrots of the parrot family is cockatiels; they are not only lovable, but also intelligent and social birds. They can easily mimic your voice and would happily ride around on your finger or shoulder. We will be discussing today about how to prepare to care for cockatiels.

It is first important to know that getting a cockatiel as a pet means giving a lot of attention on a daily basis. These pet birds live for a period of 20 years and more and are very noisy and messy.  Do include your family in the decision.

You have to think over how much money you are ready to spend on the cockatiel on a monthly basis; these pet birds are not costly though they will need sizable cages with plenty of toys and other enrichment items. You would also need to take care of the annual check-up of these lively birds.

Cockatiels require a lot of attention and it would be best if someone is at home to cater to this. It would be good to have 2 cockatiels as they would feel less lonely. All the same even then you would have to give them daily attention and care.

Think over this; through cockatiels are not extremely noisy they are vocal in the morning and evening and create messes. Do not adopt a cockatiel if you are a neatness freak and hate to be woken up early in the morning.

Most cockatiels live for more than 20 years; decide if you can take up this long time commitment especially if you have to go to college in a few years.

Next preparing to adopt a cockatiel means purchasing a cage; the cage should be of stainless steel at least 2 feet tall, 20 inches wide and 18 inches in depth with the gap between the bars being 3/4th of an inch, though a bigger cage would be preferable. Avoid cages made of zinc and lead as they are poisonous to the bird. Try to include a few horizontal bars in the cage as cockatiels love to climb about a lot.

You also need to purchase other supplies to keep the cockatiel entertained in the cage. You would need 2 food bowls one each for dry and wet foods like fruit and cooked beans. You would also need a water bowl. In addition you would need a skirt for the cage to catch thrown seeds.

Next it is important that the cage has lot of perches as the cockatiel enjoys climbing and playing on the perches. Your pet cockatiel will also need a lot of toys to play with; it would be best to get a number of toys and rotate them so the cockatiel does not get bored. Most cockatiels love to chew so ensure you give them toys like twig balls, or raffia and palm strips.

Buy some extra supplies like poop remover and a handheld vacuum that would help. This also includes buying a cuttlebone for calcium that could especially prevent female cockatiels from problems of egg binding.

All these steps go to preparing to adopt a cockatiel. I will come out with more about training and caring for cockatiels.   

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