On the plus side:
After a dreadful experience with a pet store in Fairfax, I purchased my new pet, a cockatiel, there.
The birds are loved and well cared-for. The babies are weaned to a mixture of seed and Roudybush pellets, where appropriate. The enclosures are mostly quite clean. The birds are given a great deal of free time, outside of their cages, to socialize with humans and each other.
On a side note, to Layla: The seeds vs. pellets issue is a religious issue, so to speak; many experienced aviculturists will never feed pellets to their birds, preferring to try to get their birds to eat an appropriate mixture of foods that correspond better to a captive environment. For some birds, like Eclectus parrots and other frugivores, pellets have too much protein; for others, like the large macaws, pellets don't have enough fat.
Downsides:
A) The store is full of accessories, but they don't keep up with it well by 1) organizing their stock, and 2) dusting their stuff. I always wash things before I use them, but there was a layer of dust on my travel carrier. Yuck.
B) The enclosure for the hyacinth macaws REALLY needed attention.
C) Although I loved seeing Cape Parrots and a Golden Conure, I don't think that these birds should be offered as pets until they're REALLY well established in domestic aviculture.
Summary: Why 3 stars? After having bought a sick bird (and quickly losing him) from a perfectly clean but poorly run store, I bought a feisty, healthy, happy and beautiful little bird from a store that could use a little attention to detail. Guess where I'll go back to? read more
