buying from a petstore or a private breeder?

[Hanzo]

I'm setting up an aviary for a couple of parrotlets, but sadly im having really hard time finding a nice pair. I have found two pairs in a local petshop tho, but im not very keen on buying from a petshop as opposed to a breeder with good knowlegde of the parents, how the line is and who can ensure they are not brother and sister.

Yet, it seems the only option. Are there any visual signs of age, like the bigger parrots who starts out with black eyes that gradualy turns yellow or white etc? Any opinions for or against going with the pet shop pair?

I went by the store todays. Seems they first ordered in one pair in april, and then sold both the males. So they got new males in just a week ago. They dont order from a breeder, but from a distributor, so im guessing the odds are decent for the two to be unrelated. Would still be nice to know more about the birds, specially what kinds of traits they care.

I just read that parrotlets needs or atleast benefits from the sound of other parrotlets for breeding. Sadly tho, I got one large mixed aviary, and one spare aviary where I was gonna but the parrotlets. I aint got the room for two different pairs housed in two different aviarys. It this gonna be a problem for me, since im aiming at breeding?

[Pado]

If my main goal was to breed them then I would wait until I talked to and visited a few breeders. You are right, purchasing from a Pet Store you don't know if you will be getting siblings or weak stock. You probably would need to start out with a proven pair and would get those from a breeder - at least you would know their background and get more of the information you need.

Also with Parrotlets you would need an extra aviary to house their offspring once they leave the nest - apparently they are not very nice to their offspring once they leave the nest. Especially the father to their male offspring. So the breeding pair will be the only birds you can keep in the aviary.

[Hanzo]

Sadly, I have talked to the local breeders, and noone has anything ready before x-mas at the earliest. So I think I might stick with the petstore birds for now, and see how they develop. Shame they dont mix well with other birds, would alove some more flexibility...

[Pado]

Let us know how it goes Hanzo :)

[BUUZBEE]

If my main goal was to breed them then I would wait until I talked to and visited a few breeders. You are right, purchasing from a Pet Store you don't know if you will be getting siblings or weak stock. You probably would need to start out with a proven pair and would get those from a breeder - at least you would know their background and get more of the information you need.

Also with Parrotlets you would need an extra aviary to house their offspring once they leave the nest - apparently they are not very nice to their offspring once they leave the nest. Especially the father to their male offspring. So the breeding pair will be the only birds you can keep in the aviary.




I agree 100%

[BUUZBEE]

Sadly, I have talked to the local breeders, and noone has anything ready before x-mas at the earliest. So I think I might stick with the petstore birds for now, and see how they develop. Shame they dont mix well with other birds, would alove some more flexibility...


If you are getting petstore birds for sure... get the same sex, then when you get another pair from a breeder, get 1 of the oposite sex. I would say males from the petshop, females from the breeder. just an idea