Parakeets For Dummies [Paperback]

Nikki Moustaki (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 23, 2007

Create a "home tweet home" for this colorful, lively bird

This plain-English guide helps readers find the right parakeet and offers expert advice on feathering his nest, from setting up the cage and selecting foods to keeping messes at bay. Readers will discover how to groom a parakeet, recognize the symptoms of illness, and keep a parakeet safe from other pets. They will also see how to teach a parakeet to talk, understand parakeet behavior, and find an avian veterinarian.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Nikki Moustaki (New York, NY), an avian care and behavior consultant, is the author of 12 books on bird care and behavior, including Finches For Dummies (978-0-470-12161-0) and Parrots For Dummies (978-0-7645-8353-7).

Product Details

• Paperback: 96 pages
• Publisher: For Dummies; 1 edition (April 23, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0470121629
• ISBN-13: 978-0470121627
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.3 x 0.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #377,364 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #19 in Books > 4-for-3 Books > Home & Garden > Animal Care & Pets > Birds

More About the Author

With more than a half a million pet books in print and hundreds of articles on pets and their care and training to her credit, Nikki Moustaki is considered one of the country's leading pet experts. She also is an award winning freelance writer, animal trainer, and pet industry expert, and her tireless work feeding shelter pets with her innovative website, The Pet Postcard Project, along with her hands-on rescue efforts and vocal advocacy for homeless animals has led her to be dubbed "Saint Nik."

Nikki Moustaki is also considered an "Urban Dog Guru," specializing in training city dogs for their particular needs. She has published more than 42 books of nonfiction, primarily on the care and training of pets. Her pet books and articles have been translated into 5 languages. Along with working as a dog trainer, Nikki is one of the country's foremost experts on parrots, having authored more than 24 books on birds and their care and training. Her expertise in pets ranges from dogs and cats to fish and hermit crabs, and everything else in between.

An energetic, lively and personable TV and radio guest, Nikki currently hosts a pet-related cable show on The Beach Channel in Miami Beach, and she hosted, co-produced, and co-wrote the national NBC/MSN show, The Celebrity Pet Dish, with her Miniature Schnauzer, Pepper, as her co-host. Nikki has appeared on CNN, Howard Stern (XM Sirius Radio), NBC News, FOX News, CBS News, Martha Stewart Radio, BBC Radio, Animal Radio, Pet Talk Radio, and Talkin' Pets Radio, among others, and was the animal handler for the second season of the Tony Danza Show, where she often appeared on-air along with her parrot and dog. Nikki has also been featured in The New York Times, Glamour Magazine, The Humane Society Magazine, and Dog Fancy, among others.

Nikki also writes, collaborates and co-writes books on a variety of topics. She also created a canine focused blues album, Dog Training Tracks: A Musical No Bark Solution: Blues for Buster, for "alarm barkers" and dogs who suffer from separation anxiety.

A self-professed "pet product geek," Nikki also enjoys working as a consultant for pet product manufacturers, helping them brand, position, and develop their products and succeed in social media. She has worked on projects ranging from microchips to dog toys to pet food research and development. Her many years of expertise with pet products at both the consumer and the trade level give her unique insight, and she is able to communicate about pets and pet products in any medium.

Nikki's two primary interests - writing and animals - collide in her work, allowing her to travel through both the landscape of the literary writer and the interesting world of the pet industry. She writes feature articles for many pet-related magazines, including Dog Fancy, Popular Dogs, Dogs USA, CATS Magazine, Cat Fancy, Pet Product News, Bird Talk, Birds USA, and Water Garden News, among others. Nikki has written for Latina Magazine, the Village Voice, Jane, Time To Spa Magazine, and the National Endowment for the Humanities Magazine.

Her popular websites include The Pet Postcard Project, a fun and charitable site that raises awareness, food, and funds for shelter animals, and has raised over 120,000,000 pieces of kibble for shelter pets. The site has no advertising - all of her efforts are to help feed the homeless pets.

Nikki holds an M.A. in creative writing from New York University, an M.F.A. in creative writing from Indiana University, and an M.F.A. in creative writing from NYU. She taught creative writing at several universities for 10 years, including both NYU and IU, as well as at The New School in New York City. She is the recipient of a National Endowment for the Arts grant in poetry, and has been awarded many national prizes and honors for her writing, including two Pushcart Press nominations, and her poetry and essays have also appeared in various anthologies and college textbooks, including Poetry After 9-11: An Anthology of New York Poets, and America Now, chosen by Robert Atwan, editor of the Best American Essays series.

Before beginning her career as a freelance writer and editor, Nikki worked as an acquisitions and development editor at Macmillan Publishing and IDG Books Worldwide, Inc., where she specialized in the non-fiction market and edited more than 60 non-fiction titles. Nikki splits her time between New York City and Miami Beach with her two rescued Schnauzers, Pepper and Zoey, one rescued Schnoodle named Pearl, and two parrots. When she's not writing, you can find Nikki rocking out on the drums, teaching herself 80s metal on her Gibson guitar, rescuing dogs from the shelter, and working on her various charity projects.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The author, Nikki Moustaki is very knowlegable about these wonderful birds., July 29, 2007

By 

Mavis Metcalf "http://birds.bellaonline.com" (Winnipeg, Manitoba Canada) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Parakeets For Dummies (Paperback)

This book starts off with one of my pet peeves - giving the name American Parakeet to the sweet little Australian Budgie or Budgerigar. They are not American birds at all - although they certainly are one of many different parakeets.

The author, Nikki Moustaki is very knowlegable about these wonderful birds. She gives excellent advice on deciding if a budgie is right for your home.

Throughout the book, markings in the margins indicate interesting and helpful tips, warnings and reminders.

The chapter "Polly Want a Cracker?" has excellent advice on feeding your budgie. Of course variety is essential and Nikki gives a great list of foods to provide interest and variety.

The chapter "Come Here Often?" provides great information to help you understand common budgie behaviours, including some problem behaviours. The author also provides great taming and training advice here.

It is obvious while reading this book that Nikki Moustaki loves these little birds. She talks about her own Parakeets/Budgies as examples, telling us what they enjoy. This is a great book for beginners and even experienced budgie owners may find information that they didn't know before.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Helpful for This Dummy, October 29, 2010

By 

Spudman (Pasadena, MD United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 500 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Parakeets For Dummies (Paperback)

I enjoyed reading this book more than anticipated because of its short chapters, logical design and organization, and consistency of format. I like the short chapters and paragraphs and especially appreciated the easy to understand bullet lists. This is a great book to pick up and read during short lulls in the day. One can read for a few minutes and bookmark a neat stopping point on almost any page. There's no need to finish a whole chapter because one can pick up anywhere. For important topics the author makes use of strategic repetition, a requisite for dummies.

I've read several other parakeet books and like "Parakeets for Dummies" the best. After each chapter title is a list of major points, each of which is expanded upon in turn. The first chapter explains the design of the book and the meaning of four icons used repeatedly through the book. The icons represent tip, remember, warning, and technical stuff.

My favorite section title: "You Say Potato, I Say Po-tah-to: The American Parakeet versus the English Budgie.

Favorite parakeet tidbit: Parakeets can be fed honeydew melon (yummy!) and cooked POTATO.

The author notes factors to consider when deciding whether to own one or multiple parakeets. A single parakeet will probably form a stronger bond with its owner but will require more time and attention. Nikki suggests spending at least two hours a day with your feathered companion. Anyone who's seen parakeets together or owned pairakeets can attest to the utter enjoyment and rapture these birds enjoy from each other's company. They thrive on the play, the companionship, the interaction, and even the birdie squabbles. Our two birds, Jazz and Spud, are inseparable, constantly conversing, playing, preening, and looking deeply into each other's dark little eyes.

From the back cover:" Nikki Moustaki is an avian care and behavior consultant, as well as the author of 12 books on bird care and behavior." She definitely knows her stuff.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Parkeet Book, January 1, 2011

By 

J. Gant "Texaschick" (Texas) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Parakeets For Dummies (Paperback)

I am a newbie about parakeets and needed a basic guide to help me treat these birds well. This book does just than. It answers questions and gives me insight into these fascinating, quirky birds.