My New Acquisition

Damn! As soon as I saw the pics, I knew they were Brotogeris!!! I woulda guessed right if I logged on earlier!

Hell i didn't know what they were, i think my buddy Howard has some of them tho. That is a pretty bird, hope you ended up with a pair.

henpecked wrote:

Hell i didn't know what they were, i think my buddy Howard has some of them tho. That is a pretty bird, hope you ended up with a pair.

Howard Voren?

Hey you guys in Canada, how common are the brotogeris keets up there?

There is ONE at a petstore, and the lady said it's probably the only one in BC.
He was around a $1000 and is NEVER taken out of the cage because he pierced an employee's lip once.

good grief. If he's so mean, why would they keep him in the pet store?

Seriously, when I win the lottery, I'll send you the money and you buy that birdie for me. KK? Maybe it can make some babies??

I have heard the name before but have never seen one ever. Information on Avianweb.com makes them sound like great pets:

Members of the Brotogeris family are smart, curious, energetic and loved for their innate playfulness. These personality traits make them excellent pets. Handfed babies, in particular, have very sweet personalities. It is easiest to gain their trust and affection if introduced into the family as hand-fed and properly socially babies; however, with a little time and patience, "second-hand" birds can in most cases also be turned into loving and treasured pets.

How big are they? Information online seems to indicate about the size of a GCC, but in some pictures they look smaller. It also says that they are very hard to find and at risk of disappearing from North America.

Roz to the rescue!

It's a bit bigger than a lovebird and smaller than a GCC. Like 1.5x a lovie.

I never heard about them, but they look so cuuute! Roz, when we can start celebrate? I just finish my work and have a weekend
So I can go to a bird mart tomorrow and torture myself

The white-wings are smaller than a cockatiel and about 2xs the size of a parrotlet. The grey-cheeked parakeets (Brotogeris pyrrhoptera) were even more common than the white-wings waaaayyy back when, and were a bit larger. Now the grey-cheeked parakeets are really hard to find. Even harder to find than the white-wings. I can't remember when the last time I saw one in real life was.

I can see why they can be easily tamed. These guys aren't tame. When I grabbed them they don't squirm and try to bite like most birds do. They kinda relax, like - Okay, you got me.

I'm excited. But they're not supposed to be the easiest things to breed. Plus these guys are really young, so there probably won't be any updates anytime soon.

Margaret - Go walk around the bird mart. Feather sniffing will give you a better high than glue.

Hm thats so funny I almost got one of those before I got Sammy. A guy was selling a hand fed baby on craigslist.

coldtrance wrote:

Hm thats so funny I almost got one of those before I got Sammy. A guy was selling a hand fed baby on craigslist.

I saw that ad too. I wanted to get it. That's the first time I've seen any brotogeris on CL. I think there is some lady in north county breeding them, though.

Oh - I take it back that they're docile and don't fight back when caught up. That was only first day nervousness. I grabbed them up for their DNA torture session yesterday and got the crap bitten out of me.

patdbunny wrote:

coldtrance wrote:

Hm thats so funny I almost got one of those before I got Sammy. A guy was selling a hand fed baby on craigslist.

I saw that ad too. I wanted to get it. That's the first time I've seen any brotogeris on CL. I think there is some lady in north county breeding them, though.

Oh - I take it back that they're docile and don't fight back when caught up. That was only first day nervousness. I grabbed them up for their DNA torture session yesterday and got the crap bitten out of me.

Ive been tempted to still add that baby to my flock but its been posted almost daily so I want to know whats wrong with it that no one wants to adopt it for only $150. Plus after the feather lice all over Sammy I dont really trust craigslist anymore.

coldtrance wrote:

Plus after the feather lice all over Sammy I dont really trust craigslist anymore.

Outdoor birds here in So.Cal. get junk like that. Is it handled?

Update - DNA results are back. I have a true M/F pair! Yeah!

And they're supposed to be "loud". I haven't heard much vocalizations out of them. What I have heard "can" be construed as "loud" as it's a pretty deep "loud" sound. A very weird sound to be coming out of something so small fer sure. They don't vocalize very often, possibly because they're not tame. Maybe tame ones are more vocal. Dunno.

patdbunny wrote:

Update - DNA results are back. I have a true M/F pair! Yeah!

I'm glad they are a pair, as you wanted. So hopefully, when they mature, there is a chance for little one