solarbird | Oct. 23rd, 2002

So for various reasons too uninteresting to relate here, a couple I know from local SF fandom have ended up with a Quaker Parakeet, which is actually a full-sized parrot. They're trying to find a good home for it. Unfortunately, the previous owners neglected it pretty badly - it was caged full-time since they got it (it's 10 years old now), the cage was wedged against a wall between two china cabinets so it's had very little experience with ... anything much, really; they mostly interacted with it when eating. (They'd feed it things - fruit, bread, popcorn - so it has at least had a varied diet.) But it hasn't been to a vet since they bought it, and it's obviously deeply, deeply non-socialised. Also, it's only had one plastic perch the entire time, and it has at least one claw problem that's really obvoius, at least to me.

I'm trying to figure out whether I want to adopt this bird. I like it, I think. I wasn't sure last night, but I played with it for an hour, as well as I could under the circumstances... and it did interact with me a lot, which is a really good sign. On the other hand, it's lungy and bitey, though at least it doesn't seem to do much screaming.

I just don't know. I've always wanted a large bird - I really like them - but I've never dealt with a rehab case. So I'm trying to figure out whether I want to do it. It's nervous-making.