Alright, obviously, there are lots of these. However, getting these keets was not as much of a choice as an obligation. My boyfriend's mother got a pair of keets for her...less than savory boyfriend. Mere days later, they broke up. This led me to believe SHE had wanted the birds, so I got them toys and asked her about them often to win some points with her. She took good enough care of them, especially for not wanting them, so I was blindsided when she asked me if I knew anyone who wanted a pair of keets. ((Because of the color of the ceres, I'm led to believe one is a boy and one is a girl, so I assume since they aren't trying to hurt each other that they are some level of bonded.)) Now, a friend of mine was a cockatiel breeder back in the day and he still has a cockatiel and a conure. He doesn't like keets because they're too flighty for his tastes. But all his birds had seemed to like me well, so instead of letting her just give them to any old person who wandered by, I told her I'd take them and started doing research. I happen to work at a pet store, so getting them toys, better food, and other such things will be no problem once I'm back from sick leave(sprained ankle), and I own five rats already, so fresh foods are available that they can both partake of. I know a bit about bird trust thanks to my friend, and should I need it, he's also proficient at clipping wings and would more than willingly teach me how. Now, I've got questions only experienced keet owners can answer.

These birds are young, maybe a few months to a half year. She never took them out, never handled them beyond changing the food and cleaning the poo tray. I felt bad for that, so today I tried to give them a little love. They flew away from my hand in a panic, so I backed up and let them be for now until I could learn more. I have a few rescue rats that act the same, and time was the most important factor to them letting me touch and eventually hold them. I whistled to them for a while, then turned on the TV to play some video games for a while.

Now, I know they need more room than that cage. It's an alright size, especially since they're so tiny, but letting them out is my ultimate goal. But I'm terrified. We have two couches, one sits a few feet in front of the other, so I'm scared they'll get down behind them where I can't get to them, or under them and stuck in the footrest mechanisms. Then we have this huge entertainment center, really tall, that I'm scared they'll fly to the top of and never come down. I don't want to clip their wings, but I don't want them getting where I can't get them either. I've heard some people suggest bird nets for extremely untame birds so they get that feeling of freedom and you can get them back, but I don't want that for them. I want them to love me and not be scared.

When my rats eventually pass (Two are getting very close, one's halfway, and two are still fairly young) I plan on putting my new feathered friends in their critter nation, since it's a nice big cage I think they'd appreciate and the girls I have left are only going to live another couple of years for all of them, a small portion of a keet's life. Anyone ever keep keets in one? It's just a single. I got two extra platforms for my girlies to give them extra room; I figure I could take the plastic platforms off and let them use the wire in the middle for hanging hammocks as extra perches. Unless y'all would think they'd like the plastic floors, maybe for eating fresh foods.

My only experiences with birds are with cockatiels, a pubescent African Grey, a couple of sweet conures, and a crazy lorikeet. How do parakeets differ from these larger parrots? What sort of behavior differences can I expect to see?

Because they are, I think, different genders, should I worry about them breeding? Or should I just avoid giving them a nesting box? I know my friend had no problems with his breeding pair of cockatiels laying eggs, which is scary considering I don't know the genders of these two for sure and have no experience breeding anything. ((Except snails in my fish tanks. -.- ))

Anything else you think I should know, please, point it out! Oh, and I know a very good avian vet; they work at the same place as my small animal vet, they have an excellent reputation around here for being about the animals, not the money.

Also, so you know, their names are Snow and Misty. Snow is who I think is male, he's very bright blue, and Misty is who I think is a girl, and is a very purple-y blue. Snow has a blue cere and Misty has a pink cere. They came with the names Pookie and Tootie, but I HATE bubblegum names like that, so they went out the window. It's not like she taught them their names anyways.

Welcome to the forum. My best suggestion is to read, read, read. On this site plenty of valuable info has been written in the threads from training to food and everything in between. All of Lisa's articles are good too.

First of all, I am glad a caring person took in the keets and cares what happens to them. In order to train them you will need to separate them. It will serve two purposes. They won't breed and it gives you a 100% better chance of training them. If you leave them together, they bond with each other and will have no reason to bond with you.

Start slow and put you hand in the cage to feed and water and let it linger a bit and from there you can teach them to step up on command and so on... Please get them as many toys as you can. These little birds love play. Do not get anything with a mirror or they bond with that and will ignore you.

You do not want to breed unless you have thoroughly educated yourself and have a mentor to help you. It is not easy and too many keets already do not have homes.

Good luck and keep us posted. We love pics!

i would definetly suggest as above poster to separate these two asap and into sufficiently large enough cages ...dont give them anything birds would consider a nesting site or nesting material (things they can shred), also as mentioned no mirror toys.

keets are easily enough trained if you go very very very slowly with them never forcing your intentions on them...hand training and perch training are two must tho...i dont like finger training i perfer using the back of your hand as it offers less of a NIP area and shows them a better surface that would give them more security to stand on...at first when they do begin to get on the back of your hand or perch they will be on and off in a flash as they are unsure and this is testing what your offering for them to see if in their mind its solid and wont crash or move.

keets when giving a choice will always go high thats why they love a swing n a cage however...dont worry about retrieval once PERCH trained...also after a few crash and burn times when first coming out they learn the layout of your home and that wont happen they are good flight birds...and need that so DONT clip the wings...too many have found out the pitfalls of that after the fact...including the high risk of getting a blood feather issue when flights begin to grow back...

and man o man i dont think id use that rat cage for sure...even if bleached clean...just wouldnt trust it for any sort of contamination besides there maybe some wear or breaks in the coating to the wires due to rats nibbling and that can lead to metal toxic poisoning...just get two BIRD cages of good size..and separate and i wouldnt even try to train until you do get them separated and AFTER separating give another good 10days to get use to the new cage and separtion but the sooner the better for this....a cage will be the single most important investment you make after which comes food...so dont skimp on SIZE or you will find yourself doing as so many of have had to do and by that i mean upgrading to bigger size cage...a good size to consider also a good cage is....

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Hagen-Vision-Bir...=item3cbfe425a8

many of us have this cage...and ebay sells them cheaper than say petsmart

i use to raise and show cockatiels and let me tell you each speciies is different and shouldnt be compared to keets with their character or habits they are all different but keets are the nicest sweetest most non distructive and less noise...of any species.

they are also one of the most prolific breeders...so you dont want to take any chances on breeding issues.

welcome to the forum SNOW MISTY AND SWEET.

one more thing not all veggies are on a safe list for keets ...so not all you would feed say to the rats would be safe...and if you do have a female...the less fresh veggies to her the better as that stimulates their hormones to breed or lay eggs...

here are a couple sites to help with that...the second listing being the easiest user friendly one for referencing.

http://www.birds-online.de/nahrung/gruenfutter/gruenfutter_en.htm

http://www.parrot-and-conure-world.com/non-toxic-for-birds.html

and this on the importance of VIT A

http://www.wineintro.com/forum/ubbthread..._bir#Post419620

and please also read this from beginning to end

http://www.wineintro.com/forum/ubbthreads.php/topics/414737/1

and this is a site that will further convince you that ...purchasing of seeds and grains that are organic and mixing your own birds diets is the better choice over any commercial seed sold...as many of us again are doing.

http://www.naturalbird.com/mcwatters/chemical_dyes.htm

also be sure there is a NON FLAVORED MINERAL BLOCK AND CUTTLEBONE in cage

these sites will give you LOTS of good information so please save them for future referencing as well...happy reading ..should keep you busy for awhile ...be glad to help anyway i can...as there is a lot more info where this all came from.