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Bird Basics: Canaries

Before bringing home a canary, it’s best to first ready its cage. Get a rectangular or square cage, not a circular one. Canaries find circular cages confusing and they might make the birds anxious or neurotic. The wider the cage the better, so canaries have some room to take short little flights. If your cage is previously used, clean it completely. Replace any materials previous birds might have pecked, such as the perches and the cuttlebone/mineral block. Cuttlebones and mineral blocks can be purchased from pet stores; they provide important nutrients like calcium for the bird. Make sure the perches … Continue reading →

Bird Basics: Cockatiels

As promised, I’m reviving the Pets Blog’s series on Bird Basics. Previous bloggers have already covered lovebirds, African Gray parrots, sun conures, and parakeets, so today I’m going to look at one of the other most popular bird breeds: cockatiels. Originally from the Australian Outback, the cockatiel is a smaller bird reaching about 12 to 14 inches in length. It’s actually in the parrot family, though it’s obviously a tiny variety. Cockatiels live on average for 15 to 20 years, though there have been reports of some members of the breed living for up to 30 years. As with most … Continue reading →

What’s Your Dream Pet?

A topic I’ve been playing with for a while on the families.com pets forums is: what’s your dream pet? As an animal lover since childhood I’ve gone through many species I’ve wanted to keep as pets, and it’s always fun to hear what other people dream about as well. My dream pets are usually wild species; there’s actually a chance of me getting to keep a teacup pig, for example, but I’ll never get to have a tiger as my personal friend and protector like Jasmine did in “Aladdin.” I know better than to actually try to keep any sort … Continue reading →

Rare Pets: Geckos

Geckos are great pets for both reptile lovers and for those just starting to think of keeping cold-blooded animals as pets. One caveat: if you’re thinking of obtaining a gecko because the animated one in the Geico commercials is cute, think again. Pet purchases should never be made on the basis of media representations, especially not for less common animals. If you are seriously interested in having reptiles for pets, however, geckos are a great start. They’re easy to care for and rather social, for reptiles anyway. In fact, geckos are so social that it’s best to keep at least … Continue reading →