If your heart has been captured by one of these charming birds, you want to make sure your feathered friend has a long and happy life.
Luckily for us, taking care of a cockatiel well can be very simple, only requiring a little time and effort each day.
Let's look at the four most important things you can, easily, do to take care of your bird well.
1) A Healthy Diet Just like people, cockatiel's need a balanced diet to remain healthy.
Whatever species you are, the consequences of a bad diet can be disastrous, leading to serious health problems, and premature death.
For your feathered friend, a healthy diet means a good base of either seeds or pellets, and plenty of fresh fruits and vegetables.
Fruits and vegetables are essential to make sure your cockatiel gets all the vitamins and minerals it needs.
If you feed your cockatiel an all seed diet, chances are they wont live more than six or seven years, because many of the nutrients are lost during storage.
I know all the bird seed mixes say they've got added vitamins, but that just means they sprayed vitamin solution on the outside of the seeds (the part your cockatiel peels off, and throws away.
) So, if you want your cockatiel to be healthy, make sure they eat their vegetables.
2) Keep Them Entertained Nobody's happy to sit around on their own all day, doing nothing, and your cockatiel's no different.
Without daily stimulation your cockatiel will quickly become depressed, and bored.
Apart from being a miserable existence, depression often leads to other, more serious, illness.
Keeping your cockatiel stimulated means more than just providing a couple of toys.
Cockatiels are extremely sociable animals, which crave interaction with flock mates (that's you.
) So, you need to play with your bird for at least a few minutes each day, and maybe scratch their head, if that's what they're after.
3) Keep Their Home Clean Everybody knows the importance of good hygiene these days, to keep germs at bay and prevent illness.
And it's especially important to regularly clean your cockatiel's cage, since they use the floor as their toilet.
A good scrub, once a week, with warm, soapy water will do nicely.
It's also best to take a couple of minutes each day to wash the food and water dishes, before you replace their food.
It's the same principle as washing your own dishes before you use them again.
Eating off the same plate for a week would soon lead to a huge build up of bacteria - and a trip to the doctor soon after.
4) Plan for Medical Bills Illness and accidents happen; it's a part of life.
An emergency trip to the veterinarian can be quite expensive, and a specialist bird vet will often cost a little more.
Unless a few hundred dollars is spare change to you, it's a good idea to put some money aside regularly, so you'll be prepared for the bills when they come.
It's a sad thing to see a pet owner who can't afford the treatment that will save their feathered friend's life.