Iku Rex said:
As for the OP, I suggest a budgerigar. I encountered several as a kid and they tend to be social and reasonably intelligent pets. They have most of the advanatges of a large parrot and few of the drawbacks.
I did a lot of research on budgies (aka parakeets) before I got my Senegal, and I think now that I should've stuck with them. If you can, get them hand-fed. It's much harder to find hand-fed ones, since they're already cheap animals and it's cheaper to have the parents feed and raise them, but you'll get a bird that's much less afraid of humans from the get-go and probably more likely to talk.
If you get two budgies then they can keep themselves company while you are away, but they're less likely to bond with you if they have another bird they can bond with. Most people I've talked to recommend getting one bird first, teaching it to be a friendly people-loving bird, then get a second one after the first one is bonded to you. If you keep paying the same amount of attention to the first bird then it'll be more likely to stay bonded to you. The second one probably won't bond with you as much unless you spend tons and tons of time with them both, but having two makes for happier birds. Birds are flock animals, and they can feel very vulnerable and frightened when they're alone.
Iku Rex said:
(I'd try to "potty train" it. Bird walking around in your hair, chittering away - charming. Bird shitting in your hair - not so charming.)
It's very possible to potty train a bird. I've taught Soki to go on command, and I give the command to her before I let her out of the cage, and if she's been out for more than 20 minutes or so I'll put her back in the cage briefly and give her the command again to make sure she goes there and not on me. I've found this was the easiest way to do it, but I've heard others that teach their birds to go only when they're over certain items, like the paper lining in their cage. If you go that route, make sure you always have one of these items within reach of the bird at all times. And be careful what you teach them to go on. For example, if you like to read the paper in the morning and you teach the bird it's okay to go on newspaper, he doesn't know the difference between an unread and a read paper.
I have heard horror stories of birds taught to go on command that have learned to ONLY go on command. One woman had a cockateil that went three days without going when its owner was on vacation. It wouldn't take the command from the person who was petsitting it, and the sitter had to call the owner, put the phone up to the bird, and have the owner give the command over the phone. This tends to be the exception, though.
![:]](http://www.enworld.org/forum/images/smilies/devious.png "Devious :]")
