Small Pets

[TsPoet]

I am really not a dog-person, though I like other people's dogs well enough. After being bitten earlier this year I find they make me a bit nervous. A bird, or pair of them, might be a good choice - and probably easier to find a sitter if I can't make food/water arrangements for them to be alone every other weekend in the summer. I do like parakeets, and they are not expensive. Get a pair of them to keep each other company for when I am not home...

I also have budgies (parakeets) and love them. They take a lot of work to tame - only get 1 if you want a tame one. You can get a second after a few months. They have the advantage that you can just go away for a weekend, leave them food and water and they'll be fine. They have the disadvantage that they are smart - too smart to leave sitting in a cage. It breaks my heart when people treat them like fish. Birds (all kinds) need at least 1 hr/day out doing something active. I don't clip wings, let them fly loose in my house. Mine are tame and like to ride around on my shoulder (nothing like sitting "on the pot" and have something zoom around the corner to land on your head because you were out of sight and they had to find you). I had a budgie years ago (my heart pet to this day) that had a 50+ word vocabulary. He lost his ability to fly as he got older and used to flutter down from his cage and run around after me instead of fly.
All of my current budgies are rescues and only 1 is somewhat tame. I have a large flight cage with 6 birds flying around. It's a lot of work to keep it clean - birds are very messy. I also have a Mayer's parrot - who is completely tame and has eaten much of the wood work in my house. He gets 2 hrs out every night - not necessarily 1 on 1 attention that he really needs, though.
Pets are a lot of work.
You could clip the wings of a parrot and bring them with you many places, but you couldn't leave them in a tent. I do leave my birds for up to 3 days a few times a year - with a waterer and food they don't need anyone to come in and take care of them.

[TsPoet]

This is how portable an adult IG can be (LOL)


and how active they can be

[Catrin]

I also have budgies (parakeets) and love them. They take a lot of work to tame - only get 1 if you want a tame one. You can get a second after a few months. They have the advantage that you can just go away for a weekend, leave them food and water and they'll be fine. They have the disadvantage that they are smart - too smart to leave sitting in a cage. It breaks my heart when people treat them like fish. Birds (all kinds) need at least 1 hr/day out doing something active. I don't clip wings, let them fly loose in my house...Pets are a lot of work....

Indeed they are! Love the pictures of your little dogs Also good to hear that budgies could be left alone for 48-50 hours or so, I will be away from home every other weekend this summer. I like the idea of a pair of them so they can keep each other occupied when I am not home. I will likely wait until the season starts winding down though. I want to take my time deciding what and who to get, but then I would want to spend a lot of quality time with the animal(s) before I started leaving them for the weekend on a regular basis. I know how to deal with cats, they have been my only pet for 40 years...

Tell me about how smart budgies are. When I was a girl we had a pair (Fifi and JoJo) who became really good at opening the door to their cage so my parents had to get really creative those times that we wanted them to stay in the cage.. My parents took the cage outside one day, however they didn't secure the door well OR they figured out how to "unsecure" the door...and that was the last we saw of them

I was only 8 years old at the time but I still remember them well!

[malkin]

You CAN also play with fish!

We had tiger barbs that loved to chase the laser pointer and for a while we had a huge goldfish that my daughter trained to sit in her hand (in the water). Probably not what you had in mind though.

[NbyNW]

You CAN also play with fish!

We had tiger barbs that loved to chase the laser pointer and for a while we had a huge goldfish that my daughter trained to sit in her hand (in the water). Probably not what you had in mind though.

+1. Someday I hope we stop moving around so much so I can set up an aquarium again.

We had to find new homes for our budgies when my sister developed allergies. I can't remember if she specifically tested positive for them, or if the doctor just told my mother to get rid of anything that might be generating dust or dander.