Hi fellow bird lovers,

I had parakeets when I was a kid, then when I was old enough to work I got my first handfed pied male cockatiel, named TooToo. He was great. What a funny little bird brain he was He had a terrible accident and died, I only had him for 4 years but I will not ever forget him. I then adopted a maroon belly conure male from an abusive situation, he bonded to me instantlly. "Oliver" was my baby, he would even sleep with me sometimes (although I could never truly fall asleep due to my fear of rolling over and crushing him in my sleep). When parrots bond to a person, they are actually "mated" with that person. And they will mate for life, and they are well aware that other humans that come anywhere near their "mate" are a threat, therefore, deserve punishment to the most EXTREME levels!!! Oliver, that little green bird, would actually stalk anyone who got near his cage (except for me of course) and anyone who got near me when he was with me. He gave my family many little triangles, and broke the cartalidge in my moms ear. He was my beloved little boy and I adored him but the rest of my family had many not-so-nice nicknames for him

Well, my senior year of highschool, I actually considered not going away to college because I loved and needed my animals so much and I could not have any pets in the dorms. I ended up getting accepted to my first choice of schools and could not pass up the golden opportunity so had to say goodbye to all my pets, and sadly, to Oliver. He was so lost without me. He had no quality of life. When I came home on my first break I looked around for a female maroon belly so he'd bond with her, not me. I found a lovely girl for him, I named her Asia. She was gentle and sweet. I knew that once I introduced them, if they truly "hit it off" I would lose Oliver as a pet because he would have no more use for me (other then to give him his food) but I had to do it.

I ended up selling Oliver and Asia to a good friend who specialized in birds, she had lots of them. I visit Oliver about every year, but he's so in love with Asia that he could care less that I was there, in fact, he'd give me one of his famous triangles (the shape that ends up on your skin after he's taken a bite of you) if I got near him or his sweet little wife