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hey how yall doing? ok so i was in the petstore today to buy seeds and my friend in the store knows i like birds, so he said they have a tiel for sale for 70$ instead of the 130$, its not the store's birds its just the co worker's birds who works in that store, he wasnt today so the other girl told me about it and showed me the tiels, they are in the back of the store in a huge cage, they have 4 tiels there an the one he wants to sell me is a white one, he is very cute, he said it was a male, i heared that its a female if it has lines over it's belly, but it didnt so i guess he is right that its a male, i mean the tiel looks really cool and for almost half the price, he isnt selling it to me cuz its sick or anything he just doesnt want all 4 he just wants 3 of the tiels that he got, i could get another big cage from ebay for cheap , like a 24x18x56" cage and put the tiel in it,im not sure tho, is having a tiel cool? is it worth it?

 

[Laura]

Hi there welcome to the forum Well I have to say having a tiel is definetly cool but you should do your reading as its not for everyone, I am not sure who told you that lines over its belly means its a female thats totally false if its an all white tiel the only way to tell if its a male or female other then dna is to know what mutations the parents are there is no way to visually sex an all white cockatiel the only other way is to go by behaviour if its more vocal its usually a male but there are also females that can be vocal do you know how old the tiel is?

 

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ok i just called the store again and he said the tiel is between 6 months to a year old, is that alot? and that is the only tiel that he is selling, hes not selling the others, he said he will give me free food too, their cage costs 70$ , so basically it would cost me like 150$ , is it worth it guys? no i cant get any other cockatiel cuz thats the only one he is selling, he said he belives its a male, btw its a white tiel just like urs laurago, the white body tiel thats in your signature.

 

[Laura]

ok i just called the store again and he said the tiel is between 6 months to a year old, is that alot? and that is the only tiel that he is selling, hes not selling the others, he said he will give me free food too, their cage costs 70$ , so basically it would cost me like 150$ , is it worth it guys? no i cant get any other cockatiel cuz thats the only one he is selling, he said he belives its a male, btw its a white tiel just like urs laurago, the white body tiel thats in your signature.

Well 6 mths to a year is not old as far as tiels go, is s/he tame? does it step up and let you touch it I would be asking these questions as well you definetly don't one thats not tame as your first cockatiel my tiel is actually more yellow does this tiel have the orange cheeks patches? if it does and it looks like mine then its a lutino the only thing I would be leary about is why he is selling only that one is there a reason for it? I know you said the tiel is healthy but most people don't just sell one of there tiels there has to be a reason for it.
I wouldn't go by what he believes...lol I was told all of my tiels were thought to be male and only Ollie is a male the other two are females, if its 6mths to a year you could be able to tell the sex by behaviour you should ask the owner if its whistling or chattering those are usually signs of a male unless of course you don't care either way which one you get

 

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i asked him why he just sells that tiel but he said he just wants to get rid of it, i dont think its tame, i asked him if the tiel was handfed and he said "probably", ill call him in a minute to ask if its tame.

 

[Aly]

Bringing a tiel home is a HUGE decision. The can live up to 30 years when healthy and happy. I agree with Laura. Make sure you read as much as you can before deciding.

 

[Laura]

i asked him why he just sells that tiel but he said he just wants to get rid of it, i dont think its tame, i asked him if the tiel was handfed and he said "probably", ill call him in a minute to ask if its tame.

I would be leary he doesn't seem to know to much about HIS tiel most people that love birds don't just get rid of one of there pets he is not being honest about something, definetly make sure its tame, its very time consuming for you if the tiel is not tame, the best thing you could probably do is go back to the petstore and ask to handle the tiel and see if it will let you

 

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i see, and why is it such a HUGE decision? i mean its the same as owning parakeets and i have 3 parakeets.

 

[Aly]

i see, and why is it such a HUGE decision? i mean its the same as owning parakeets and i have 3 parakeets.

It's similar as far as care, however they need alot more attention. Bringing any animal home, whether it's a budgie or a tiel is a huge decision.

 

[Laura]

actually its very different then owning a budgie, tiels are big sucks and require a huge amount of attention, some tiels can become screamers if they don't get it I have two budgies of my own and they are into each other and could care less if I am around other then to feed them...lol but my tiels all three of them require my attention alot of the time, my male is super glued to me always wants to be on me or with someone in the family he is very much one of my kids...lol I find the budgies are more so into each other where as tiels are more into there humans as opposed to other tiels

 

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what kind of attension are u talking about? cant i take him out with my everyday just like i do with my keets? i mean what kind of attension is needed so miuch that ur warning me so hardly? btw their food costs the same as parakeet food?

 

[Laura]

not trying to warn you hard just letting you know there is a difference from owing a budgie and a cockatiel there general care might be the same but there needs are different

 

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ok i just called him again and he said the tiel is not tame AT ALL, and he said i can get any of the 4 tiels in the cage, not only the white one, i thought he was only selling the white one, so yea basically but anyway i like the white one the most, and he said the white one is indeed a male, there are 2 black females and 1 black male, so yea he said that he tried puting his hand in the cage but they are cool with that but once he tried to touch them on their belly for them to step up with his hand they bite him really hard, so its not worth it guys? he basically doesnt care much about the tiels so he doest know training them but thing is, i dont want to bring a biter to my house and not be able to even touch him, so tell me what should i do.

 

[Laura]

I think if you really want a tiel, your best bet is to get a tame one, there are lots of tame tiels for good prices out there, he is probably selling them because they are not tame and he never took the time or bothered with them, If its already a biter and won't let you touch it at this age its going to take alot of work on your part to try and tame it and sometimes some of them never get out of that biting stage and some can draw blood if they really want to , I would walk away from this one, for your first tiel you should get something you will be able to handle and as you have already stated you don't want to bring a biter in I think the best thing to do is look elsewhere I personally think 70.00 is alot for a tiel that age thats not tame.
I only paid 75.00 for my pied and he was a baby handraised eating veggies stepped up when asked flew to the shoulder and head etc...

 

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well if i pass on this one then i wont get a tiel at all cuz i dont know where, the petstore themselves sell 130$ and frankly thats too much really i cant afford that, dont forget the cage, thats why i say i cant afford that, so ill pass on this one even tho i really wanted a differnt type of bird, he said that once i get him home tho he should change from biting but i think that was a lie just so i buy..

 

[Laura]

most petstores charge alot more then breeders, I did an internet search in my area and thats how i found my breeder, and yes he is lying to you he will not change from being a biter when you get him home it takes time and lots of patience to try and tame them

 

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where is the breeeder searcher? maybe i can find one near me?

 

[Aly]

Here is a link for more info on tiels...http://cockatielcottage.net/ I am not sure where you are located therefore I can't recommend any breeders.

 

[Laura]

where is the breeeder searcher? maybe i can find one near me?

what I did was just typed in cockatiels breeders in Ontario Canada where I am so you could type in Cockatiel breeders in (wherever you live) I just did a general internet search in google yahoo whatever you use.

 

[Rosie]

Hi there and welcome to Talkcockatiels! You are obviously getting a lot of answers to your questions so I'll say what I think.

At the moment I am in the process of getting a tiel. I've had to turn down a tiel that I reserved because my parents didn't agree with it because they thought that it was getting too old to be tamed properly. You have to be patient and let to right tiel come to you. Try looking for adverts in looking papers/shop windows. Also (like Laura and Babyluv12 have said) try using the internet for look for breeders. You may want a hand reared/raised tiel that is already tame and used to humans. Or if you do decide not to get a hand reared one, get one that has preferably just been weaned. I would say the ideal age is probably 10-12 weeks. But try not to go too old. Especially in some pet stores they have older cockatiel that may take months and months of hard taming everyday to just get them to perch on your hand. It may take a while to find your perfect tiel but it'll be worth it in the end. Good Luck