Cockatiels For Dummies [Paperback]

Diane Grindol (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 29, 2001

Natural-born charmers, cockatiels are small colorful parrots native to the Australian desert. When raised by people, they’re usually calm and cuddly and have an inquisitive, adventurous disposition. Cockatiels are just large enough to be handled easily, but they’re not so big that they require a great deal of space in your home. And while the cockatiel’s gentle nature and captivating personality encourage you to form close and lasting relationships with them, taking one into your life brings with it a host of specific requirements and responsibilities that you really need to be aware of before you take the leap into being a cockatiel owner.

Written by a leading national expert on companion birds and a lifelong cockatiel owner and breeder, Cockatiels For Dummies is your total guide to adopting, caring for, and forming a loving relationship with one or more of these diminutive parrots. It gets you up to speed on how to:

• Decide if a cockatiel is right for you and your family
• Select a healthy cockatiel
• Provide a suitable indoor environment
• Supply a satisfying and nutritious diet for your pet
• Train your cockatiel
• Communicate with your bird through body language
• Interpret your bird’s moods
• Breed cockatiels for fun and profit

Author Diane Grindol provides loads of sensible, easy-to-follow advice along with fun facts, trivia, amusing and informative anecdotes, and tips on how to have a great time with your feathered friend. Among other important topics, she fills you in on what you need to know about:

• The pros and cons of pet stores versus breeders when choosing a cockatiel
• Assessing a bird’s health and disposition and getting a health guarantee
• Feeding, grooming, caring for, and socializing your pet
• Exercising your cockatiel
• Training your bird to be a great companion
• Keeping your little pal happy and healthy for life

A fun guide for you and your cockatiel, Cockatiels For Dummies is the only book you’ll need to help you have the best possible experience with this smart, perky, incredibly loveable avian breed.

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

Find out about raising and living with your pet cockatiel

The information you need to enjoy your cockatiel The cockatiel's gentle nature and captivating personality encourage you to form close and lasting relationships with these diminutive members of the parrot family. With tips on dealing with the cockatiel's breeding and nesting behaviors to advice on feeding, housing, and training, this useful guide will have you singing for more.

Discover how to: Select a healthy cockatiel Provide a suitable indoor environment Supply a satisfying and nutritious diet Train your cockatiel Communicate through body language Interpret your bird's moods

The Dummies Way(TM) Explanations in plain English "Get in, get out" information Icons and other navigational aids Tear-out cheat sheet Top ten lists A dash of humor and fun

Get smart! www.dummies.com Attention pet owners! Get free Dummies Daily(TM) e-mail newsletters Sign up for tips on a variety of pets Keep your pet healthy and content - the Dummies Way(TM)

About the Author

Diane Grindol is a columnist for Bird Talk magazine. She holds educational seminars for companion bird owners and speaks regularly at bird clubs and avian events throughout the United States.

Product Details

• Paperback: 224 pages
• Publisher: For Dummies; 1 edition (June 29, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0764553119
• ISBN-13: 978-0764553110
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 7.4 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (37 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #38,246 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #13 in Books > Crafts, Hobbies & Home > Animal Care & Pets > Birds

More About the Author

Diane Grindol is a pet sitter living in Monterey, CA. She keeps companion birds and writes a column for BIRD TALK magazine. She attends an animal drawing class once a week, takes photos of the Central Coast and pets, and is active in her church.

Diane has written several books for companion bird owners, including "Cockatiels For Dummies(R)," "Birds Off The Perch," and "Teaching Your Bird to Talk." When she speaks to bird clubs and rescue groups, she points out that the first Europeans to describe cockatiels mentioned mainly that they were good to eat. Living in California, she calls her flock an earthquake preparedness kit.

Diane's interest in writing, photography and animals is combined in these books of haiku poems: RESKU, Dogku, Catku, Horseku, Birdku and Petku! Diane originally learned about haiku in the fifth grade, and started to write it again while participating in a small writer's group. She's quite addicted to haiku.

Diane was an exchange student in Turkey during high school and spent junior year abroad in France during college. She grew up in Rolling Meadows, IL. Diane attended William Woods College in Fulton, Missouri and graduated with majors in art, French and home economics. She did graduate work at the University of Missouri/Columbia and the Monterey Institute of International Studies. She completed Landmark Education's "Curriculum For Living" and also did the Wisdom Course and many seminars offered by Landmark Education.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

38 of 39 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Wonderful for the new bird owner....., January 11, 2003

By 

Dianne Foster "Di" (USA) - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Cockatiels For Dummies (Paperback)

After Christmas, my husband and I visited the Animal Welfare League of Arlington shelter with the idea we would adopt a cat to replace our 19-year old kitty who died last year. I never made it to the "cat room". I wandered into a "miscellaneous pets" area just off the entrance, and found cages of bunnies and ferrets and other creatures including a pair of bonded cockatiels. When I was a child, my grandmother raised love birds, and I had always wanted my own bird, but the presence of cats made that difficult. Currently catless, I decided to take the birds home. After I purchased two cages, and a few other things at the shelter, I made a trip to the local bird store for seed, pellets, cuttlefish bone, toys, and other assorted necessities the shelter folks recommended. When I told the proprietor of the bird store I was a new owner, she recommended COCKATIELS FOR DUMMIES.

Over the past few weeks, I've been seeking all the information I can find about cockatiels. Although my daughter and daughter-in-law have pet birds (love birds, parakeets, and a dove) none of us knows much about cockatiels. Diane Grindol's approach to happy and healthy cockatiels includes advice about preventative health care maintenance, but she also provides plenty of suggestions for ways to bond with your bird. She gets down to the nitty gritty with: what to feed your bird and why; how to maintain his or her cage; why wing clipping, toenail trimming, and other grooming matters; what it means when a bird molts; how to distinguish between nutritious and poisonous plants; how to avoid bird hazards like scented candles, the toilet bowl and Teflon-lined pans; what to do if your boy bird masturbates on his food cup; and how to avoid reproduction without stressing the female, but the best tips involve how to have a good relationship with your birds.

Grindol's book is perfect for a novice like me who knows plenty about wild birds but precious little about caged birds (actually two cages since the male was a bit hen-pecked so he spends part of the daylight hours in a separate establishment). So far, I am doing really well with my feathered friends who have a place of honor next to my PC (but far enough away they won't be radiated). If you're thinking about getting a bird, I suggest you read the DUMMIES book first. Birds require much more time than a cat, but for me it's worth it.

24 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Wonderful resource, July 17, 2001

By 

jen (USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Cockatiels For Dummies (Paperback)

I ordered this book from another website the minute I found ot it was available, and it is one of the most helpful resources I have found. I have purchased several books on tiels and this one blows all the others away. Being a relatively new bird owner, it offered me some helpful tips on how to handle and feed my bird, and some nice things such as how to pet a bird- my tiel is so sweet and begs me to pet her after I tried some of the tips in this book. It also offers varied and less confusing advice than the other books on diet and basic care, and some very good taming and training tips. I liked that although it does offer info on breeding, it seems to focus mostly on keeping tiels as pets, which I found extremely helpful. The book was interesting and entertaining, and extremely informative. I highly recommend this book as a resource to anyone who has or wants pet cockatiels!

22 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A wonderful, informative and entertaining book, February 19, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: Cockatiels For Dummies (Paperback)

If you are going to buy just one book about cockatiels, this is truly the one to own. It's well written and researched, and presented in an unintimidating, friendly manner, and covers all the basics you'll need to know to nurture and share a happy relationship with a devoted pet. There's excellent advice about choosing, housing, feeding, training and caring for one or more of this wonderful species of bird, and solid advice about handling emergencies, choosing a vet, etc.

And as other reviewers have mentioned, this book's insight into cockatiel psychology and development is exceptional, and it really helps to understand why a bird might be behaving in a certain way, and what this behavior might communicate.

Previous to acquiring a cockatiel, I owned a halfmoon conure for a number of years, and although I'm an experienced bird owner, I learned a lot from this book. I'll be sure to keep it handy in case I need to consult it in an emergency. I can't recommend it highly enough.