I am looking to rehome my cockatiel, please help! (Bremerton, WA)

After thinking long and hard, I have found that with my future plans, I won’t be able to able to give the home my white faced cockatiel, Elka deserves. When I got him I had a lot of free time and thought it wouldn’t be a problem for the future and just adding school onto my schedule has made me realize I don’t have enough time for him and I wont have enough time for him once I’m finished with school. I also am planning to move out of country in a year or so from now and I know after the move I will be too busy to give him the attention he deserves with my new life in another country, not to mention I don’t think I can afford to take him with me with all the hoops I’d have to jump through to bring him along.

I am incredibly worried about finding him the right home. I require that you have prior good experience with birds and I’d really like if you already own a bird or two but it isn’t required. Elka has been in hump mode for the past 2-3 months now (since 6/19/15) mating mode right now so he will hump everything he sees/touches and can be a little a little bit more territorial than normal about his cage. Normally he doesn’t like to be taken out of his cage (he likes to come out on his own terms) and since no one in my home is interested in birds, he isn’t socialized with anyone else but me so I am very worried about him getting along with people he doesn’t know. It may take a lot of time for him to get to know you and trust you. Please put this into consideration when thinking about adopting him.

Otherwise he is an incredibly sweet bird. He loves head scratches and hanging out on my shoulder when I have the time for it. Every morning when I feed him he usually comes to the door to get morning head scratches. One other thing about him (which is why I kind of want him to go to a home with other birds around) is that whenever I leave my room he will whistle for me to come back. He stops when he knows I left the house but I know he gets lonely and I worry for him. He cannot talk/say words but he can do various whistles and if you whistle back to him, he will continue to whistle for you.

Currently he lives in my bedroom with me as I spend 99% of my time when I’m at home in my bedroom. He is a quiet bird but I think it’s only because my room is quiet in general. He is not used to chaotic and noisy living situations other than when he lived at his breeders for a short amount of time. While I’m home I keep the cage doors open for him to come out and go back in as he pleases and he likes to relax on the top of the cage a lot of the time. Currently however I’ve been keeping him in his cage because he’s been humping the outside/top of his cage and I’m trying to discourage mating behavior so I’ve had no choice but to lock him in his cage at the moment.

His hatch day is September 11, 2013 so he will be turning two this year. I bought him from a breeder in Bainbridge Island, WA and he was hand fed so he was tame when I received him. I want $50 for an adoption fee. This will include his cage, everything inside his cage, food, travel cage, etc. I have this fee as a part to make sure he goes to a good home and not just a breeder. I want someone to love and care for him and give him the attention he deserves.

Other Requirements: I require that you have the same requirements listed on r/parrots for adopting birds along with these:

• 1. Must have solid employment and living situation.

• 2. He will need to be kept in an area of the house where you spend most of your day. You are his ‘flock’ and he will stress out if he gets too lonely. You must dedicate at least 1 hour a day for one on one bonding time, and when not personally interacting with him, he needs a couple of hours a day out of the cage.

• 3. No cats or dogs, not only do they both have lethal bites to birds but Elka gets incredibly anxious around them and they stress him out. (If this is an issue, I may have exceptions so feel free to message me)

• 4. You must also not have young children or be expecting to have new children in the future. Too many cases I’ve seen where a careless child does something stupid and/or dangerous with pets or owners of pets get rid of their pets because they had/are having a baby.

• 5. You must realize that birds are not quiet animals, especially male cockatiels. If you find yourself unable to handle the noise, please do not consider adopting.

• 6. You must be near enough to come pick him up. I don't want to stress him any more than he already will be, so shipping them is out of the question. I live in west Washington (state) in Bremerton. I may be willing to travel a little bit to meet you but it depends on how far.

• 7. IMPORTANTLY: I want a weekly update for the first FOUR WEEKS and then a monthly update after that for the next 2-3 months to be sure he fitting into his new home.

I really love Elka a lot, I’m very upset about this choice I’ve made but I made it with him in mind so he can live a happier life even if it is without me. While I do take care of him, I feel like currently it is the bare minimum and I want to find him a home that can give him more than what I’ve given him. I will be a bit picky in finding him a suitable home and may ask for references, proof of residence and employment, veterinarian records of your current animals, and would like to see pictures of your home and where you want the birds to stay.

If you're interested in letting Elka have a home with you, please leave a message here and/or PM me. I will happily answer any questions you have about him.

Other information about his cage: It is a good quality cage but when I bought it, some places were rusty. To battle this, I painted the cage blue with a bird-safe paint. Some of the paint has chipped off from where he climbs around and I still have a can of the paint if you wanted to recoat it. HOWEVER, if you want to recoat it, the cage needs to air out for a week so the paint is completely cured.