How old do you need to be to buy an animal at the pet store?

Question

My brother's gone bird crazy. He's begging for a parakeet. But no one else in the family wants a bird, especially me. I don't like pet birds very much.

He's 9, so I'm not too worried about anything at the moment. But there's a pet store I've biked to before and they sell parakeets there. I'm afraid that when he's older he's going to try something crazy and bring us a bird that will turn out uncared for.

Is there an age limit on buying animals? I'd like to have a little peace of mind.

Answer 1

As long as you have the cash they will sell it to you- It's really sad, thats how alot of birds hampsters and mice end up dyeing. KIds buy them and loose intrest

Answer 2

I do not think that there is an age limeat i was 4 when i got my frist hamster

Answer 3

They'll sell him the bird if he has the money.  

Answer 4

there should be an age limit of about 16

Answer 5

In the Uk there is an age limit - I think it's 14 - I'll go check  - where in the world are you?

This site says 16 unless you have an adult with you

http://www.adviceguide.org.uk/index/your...

Answer 6

hehe, sounds like me when I was six!

Try to discourage him for the time being.  With your parents, explain these things to him:

1) Parakeets need their cages cleaned at least once a week, if not once a week, then once every 2 weeks.

2) parakeets need 2 hours of playtime each day.

3) parakeets always need adequate food and water--change food and water each day.

4) before taking your bird out to play, bird-proof the room.  Pull down all drapes and blinds to windows, close all doors and windows, fill vases with sand (so the bird doesn't fall in) and make sure that you don't step on it.

You can also get him interested in birds in general.  Buy him a bird identification book--take him outside and have him watch the birds.  Explain that it's like a scavenger hunt--if he finds a bird outside that he doesn't know what it is, he can look for it in the identification book.

My parents solved this problem with me when I went bird-crazy.  I was about 8 years old.  They bought me 3 books on birds--two on identification and one on bird life.  I was engrossed in these 3 first books.  I went out into the field when I was 8, and just sat there, and watched the birds fly back and forth.  My parents also bought me a bird feeder so I can watch the birds outside of my house.  This calmed my desires for a parakeet, and when they saw that I was responsible with my books and with my "wild" birds (I refilled the bird feeder every day) they decided that I could have my own parakeet a year later.

You can try some of these methods.

Also see if he wants to volunteer at an aviary.  Aviaries are like animal shelters, but are only for birds.

Best of luck,

--Phoenix.

P.S. the three books I think that he'd be interested in are:

THE LIFE OF BIRDS (lots of pictures and words!)

NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC: NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS, 4th EDITION

and

THE PARAKEET HANDBOOK.