LogFAQs > #907057388

JixHedgehog posted...

Bird

+ low maintenance (fresh piece of newspaper in its cage & store bought seeds which last forever)
+ easy to entertain (mirror + bells)
+ no need to clean
+ no vet
+ depending on what type, you can teach it to speak

Sure, if it's like, a beanie baby or something.

I have an actual bird (a cockatiel), and here is what he needs

- He eats food, which means I have to buy more every so often. Also I can't give him just random store-bought seed because he requires Nutrition, and has gotten sick before from bad seed.

- He is a social animal who requires entertainment not just in the form of toys, but also interaction with people, and doesn't like to eat alone. He also loves music and other bird sounds.

- He's a bird. He poops, molts, and throws food. Also cockatiels are one of those species that are perpetually dusty to the point it looks like it's snowing when they shake their feathers.

- He goes to the vet for annual checkups and anytime something seems wrong enough to worry me. Bird vet visits tend to cost quite a bit more than dog/cat vets, as avian medicine is a particularly specialized field, but it's very much necessary; I would've lost this one a long time ago (and in a quite horrible way because digestive issues) if I never took him to the vet.

He also gets LOUD. I'm sensitive to noise and would probably not want to be around him so much if I didn't love him as much as I do. Different types of birds have different noise levels, and this is especially important to take into account for an apartment where you might have neighbors banging on your door threatening to kill your bird if it doesn't shut up (or worse, roommates who could easily do more than just threaten; hopefully you wouldn't get one who would, but sometimes people do end up with really bad roommates).