Not every animal is for every person. So how did you come to be bird owners?

For me, every since I was a kid I wanted a big white bird in a silver cage in an all white living room. Never had birds growing up. My mom was a dog person and she was in to great danes. Most I was ever allowed to have was a couple of guppies or goldfish in a small bowl on my dresser. A couple of times I brought puppies home only to have them disappear the first time I was out of the house...you know, like to go to school.

I don't know what for sure made me want a big white bird but I would imagine that I saw it on TV or something. No, it was not the Baretta bird that I wanted.

Anyway fast forward to 1988 when I moved to Hawaii. I did my usual cruising of local pet stores because I did keep a guppy tank. Of course I was always on the lookout for something else to tickle my interests. Well the store nearest my house had a couple of wild caught mollucans. They had hand-raised baby macaws but they weren't the big white birds of my dreams.

For a couple of months I was at that store practically everyday just to stand there watching this bird. The now eX said NO, you can't get that. As the months went by it changed to NO, not now.

Strange thing but a sandwich vendor on base suddenly had a large wrought iron cage for sale. Hmmmmm

Then the eX left for a 6 month float to Okinawa. Hmmm six months of my house, my rules!!!

The day he left I bought the cage. I spent hours that night and the next wire brushing it, cleaning it and then repainting it.

Two full days after the eX left I drove to the pet store with a milkcrate and chickenwire for a carrier. Mangeros came home.

By the time the eX returned for Oki, Mangeros was as sweet as a hand-raised baby and was pretty inseparable from me. She went from a terrified unhealthy bird living on sunflower seeds to a loving and beautiful salmon colored bird that would eat anything that I ate.

Because of the heartache of loosing her, I don't think I could ever have another M2. I fear that I'd always be comparing the other to how she was. I just don't think I could give the deserved love.

Now should the right M2 pass my way, who knows if I'm truly over Mangeros or not. I won't say never again, more like a "we'll see what the future brings".

I did get smarter as I grew up and new I would never have a white living room. The silver cage while no longer a dream is always a possibility.

So that is what brought me into the bird world. How about you?

I can't remember exactly which birthday it was (I think like I was like 10), anyway, I had been begging for a kitten all year long. My parents gave in and got me one. We got her at a pet store in the mall. Within 6 months it was obvious she had some problems. She had constant diarrhea and didn't always quite make it to the litter box. I remember Mom taking her to the vet several times. Finally Mom, had enough. The kitten needed some sort of surgery and Mom wasn't willing to do that. One day while I was at school, Mom took my cat to the pound. I was devastated when I found out. In trying to console me, Mom offered to take me to the new pet store by our house and let me pick out a new pet. I brought home a parakeet. He came home in a round cage, some seed, sand paper covers for the plastic perches, and grit paper. LOL (boy how things have changed - and I'm really not that old! Only 31.) He was my best friend. I still remember the morning I woke up to find him on the bottom of his cage dead. I was very upset and didn't want to go to school, but Mom made me. That weekend she bought me a new parakeet. It's terrible - I honestly can't remember how long Sunny lived for. He was so funny - he loved to dance to Micheal Jackson songs. LOL After I had my 2nd child, I had gone to someone's house who had a cockatiel. He was so sweet and friendly and it reminded me how much I had enjoyed the parakeets. So I started doing research and ended up with Sydney, our female tiel. MBS caught on the years following and got us to where we are now.

For me it was my two parakeets, Sploctes and Queen B. I was 9 and they were already 4 and 5 years old, and they HATED each other! So they had separate cages. They where full flighted and I took on the challenge of taming them while they could still fly. In about two weeks I had these keets completely tamed, hanging out on my shoulder as I did my homework. I had them for 13-14 years! So they passed away at the ages of 18-19 years! Not every body goes through collage and still has there childhood pets...I've never been without birds since, all of my jobs have been with parrots in some form or another, since the age of 15. These little keets shaped my life. They became a reason to learn, and be responsible. I had to afford the vet care and food and such. I remember wanting bigger cages and saving up my allowance for them. I remember cutting up fruits and veggies, get tree branches from out side and boiling them on the stove so they would be safe. Because I thought they must be better than those wooden dowels that came with cages. I remember finding info about them, there was no internet back than. And I remember hand feeding them baby cereal mixed with flat coke-a cola when they had psittacosis to boost there energy level so they would eat on there own. Apparently the vet said the sugar and caffeine would give them the energy to eat on their own, and it worked! I will never forget those two little birds!

I started with a parakeet because I needed something tiny I could keep in an apartment with minimal clean up because I might be out of the house more than I'd like. We also got the bird in case I didn't have a room mate because I go into a psychological freak out if I'm alone more than 3 days without someone physically there to speak to me.

I got into birds thru a lady at church. She asked if I liked birds & of course I said yes (thinking wild birds). Well, lo & behold it was a bunch of old BT magazines. It grew from there. At first it was a fad for me & Tyson. Then Ty started going around the house saying, "I wanna get a birdie." He was discouraged from doing so & eventually gave up. (He did help me get Winkie, though.)

r2rusmc, that is such a touching story

as for me, i remember having a parakeet for a while when i was young (maybe 9 or 10), but i never really got into parrots until i was older. i got my cockatiel artemis 6 years ago after seeing a few of my friends have such success with their own birds. it really taught me how intelligent and wonderful birds really are. i've been learning more and more about them ever since then, and always finding them more fascinating. i got into hyacinths several years ago after meeting one at a nearby sanctuary.

not too exciting i guess, but that's how it went!

I was only four when my dad took me to a house that had a big shed and a man who looked like Santa. He didn't tell me what we were there for. As we walked into the shed, I was a little scared because of this old guy who pretended to be Santa. The door opened and all of a sudden birds were flying everywhere. Blue, green, yellow...Budgies. I was facinated by all the tweeting and flapping of wings when my dad told me to pick one. O.K., I have now idea how Santa caught the one I wanted out of what seemed to be thousands of birds but he got the right one with no trouble. Buddie, was my buddie for eight years. And, by the way, I found out years later that the man who looked like Santa, was. He had played Santa at our local 5 & Dime for years.

There was a huge aviary in a local park and my grandmother would take me there when I was a really small child - from the time I was in a stroller on up. I was always totally fascinated by all those birds. Later a high school teacher had an aviary & bred birds as a hobby. I thought that was pretty cool too! Maybe 20 years later (?) my husband & I were frequenting Pet Co regularly for fish supplies. We got smitten by the colors of the budgies. Then later, I volunteered for a day, helping a group of ornithologists band wild birds that were moving through our local area on their annual migration. I was amazed by their colors but even more taken by how spirited and fearless the little guys were. I was getting ready to release one, and he boldly nipped my finger. Within a month we were the proud owners of a Green Cheek conure. She was an older bird, rehomed for her nippy nature. But she was still our first "tame" bird, and we were soon "hooked" on hookbills. Somehow the birds have gotten bigger (and more numerous) over the years.

Thanks for sharing your stories...they are lovely!

As for me, I am a sucker for any animal and I have always been fascinated by birds....had a budgie when I was a little girl. About 15 years ago I regularly took my son to an Exotics Pet Store to get crickets for his bearded dragon. The owner had two greys she was hand feeding and she let me feed them. I went in there nearly every day to "help" her (as if she really needed my help). Anyway....I was hooked! I wanted one so badly, but my husband was in the military and getting a Grey was not a good idea as we never knew when we would have to pack up again and where in the world we would end up. Well circumstances change.....the husband is now an "ex." After our divorce, it took me a couple of years to be financially stable enough to buy and support a CAG, but finally 2 years ago I did it.....I finally got my Grey. Now I have two...what have I got myself into?! Just kidding.....I love them to death.....just wish I could have gotten them years ago!

Thanks. It is also because of Mangeros that I got started in the Vet field. Mind you, I was a full time Marine at the time too.

She was sick and needed shots. I had to learn how to give her shots on my own. The Vet figured I'd be back bloodied or missing fingers and back for her and her staff to give the shots. After a week of giving the shots Mangeros was standing on her perch allowing me to give the shots. Don't ask why I tried to do it that way because the reason evades me but something inside told me to try.

I panicked and thought something was wrong with her because she shouldn't have allowed that!

I called the vet. She didn't believe it either! She came to my house for the next shot and watched. After she picked up her chin off the floor I was offered a job in her clinic on Saturdays.

The rest as they say is history and there is a lot of it because of that poor sickly bird I found in a petshop window.

I could go on and on about what made Mangeros so special to me but those tales will be saved for a future thread.