First-time bird owner in Oshawa — help!

Hi all! I just adopted a lovebird and I'm already head over heels but also completely overwhelmed. So many questions: what pellets do you recommend? How do I know if they're sick? Is it normal for them to sneeze? How do I get them to trust me? I've been googling non-stop but real owner experiences are worth way more. Thanks in advance for any guidance!

Hey welcome! You'll love this community. Feel free to ask anything, everyone here is super helpful!

Welcome! I remember being a new bird owner and this kind of community helped SO much. Excited to have you!

Welcome to the forum! Great to have another bird lover from the GTA. Your cockatiel sounds adorable — what's their personality like?

This!! So much this. Saving this post to show my partner.

This!! So much this. Saving this post to show my partner.

Update: took everyone's advice and things are improving. Rio is slowly coming around. This forum is the best.

My parrotlet did this too! Turned out it was because of insufficient UV light exposure, especially in Canadian winters. Once I addressed that, everything went back to normal.

This is one of those topics where I think there genuinely is no right answer. Both sides have valid points.

Great question! So in my experience with Senegal parrot, this usually comes down to a few things. First, putting the food bowl higher up — birds feel safer eating at height. Second, make sure they're getting enough sleep — 12 hours of uninterrupted dark sleep is crucial. And third, pay attention to insufficient UV light exposure, especially in Canadian winters because that was a huge factor for my Bean. Hope that helps!

Welcome to the club! My green cheek conure trained ME in the first week. They're way smarter than they let on.

So what I ended up doing was using a shower perch so they can bathe with warm mist. Within a few days there was a noticeable improvement. Definitely worth trying.

I'd suggest trying spending at minimum 2 hours of supervised out-of-cage time daily. My avian vet recommended it and it made a huge difference.