Petco amazes me sometimes...

Audio51 · Post by **Audio51** » Tue Feb 19, 2008 9:26 pm

lia-w,

What part of Northern CA are you in? I'm in Paradise near Chico. What Petco did you see the Strawberries in? If it's not too far it would be worth driving there! The Chico store usually only gets Spices, Societies and Zebras. I asked about the poor selection and they said it's because they are one of the smaller stores. They expect to be expanding and start getting a better variety, but you know how that goes...could be years......

Vicki

lia-w · Post by **lia-w** » Wed Feb 20, 2008 12:13 am

I live in Sonoma County, about 3 hours from chico I believe?
. You can have your petco order them for you

Same price I believe.

Eel Noob · Post by **Eel Noob** » Wed Feb 20, 2008 12:20 am

Petstores can yield some pretty amazing fines once in awhile. I picked up a pied chocolate Japanese style female society(crest with frills on chest) from Petsmart a few months ago.

I bred her to a Ino split self chocolate male and they produced two very interesting youngsters. One is a self chocolate with a double crest(one crest on top and one on neck) and a crested Ino. Can't wait for more youngsters from her in the future.

FeatherHarp · Post by **FeatherHarp** » Wed Feb 20, 2008 7:28 am

Eel Noob.....gosh those finches sound so pretty. Do you have pics of them you can share? I would love to see them!

Eel Noob · Post by **Eel Noob** » Wed Feb 20, 2008 2:03 pm

FeatherHarp wrote:Eel Noob.....gosh those finches sound so pretty. Do you have pics of them you can share? I would love to see them!

I'll burrow my brother's camera and take some pix. My GF misplace the memory card for my camera somewhere

BirdLover · Post by **BirdLover** » Wed Feb 20, 2008 10:49 pm

I've only seen about 3 strawberries around here. All three at the same place at the same time. A loca pet store. only one or 2 locations.
They had a pretty good selection of finches and other birds. But the otherday they only has Silverbills, Zebras, gouldians and maybe societies. Along with 2 cockateils.

rkn · Post by **rkn** » Thu Feb 21, 2008 11:03 am

I bought all mine from petco about 5 weeks ago and they had several species and tell me they can always order just about any kind you want, at least the one in ID Falls can. I am waiting fro strawberry, blues, and gouldians, and expect them ready in a few weeks.

where are you located? maybe our petco can help out yours'? they seem to be confident in finsing whatever species and/or color you could ever want. Petsmart was not even close to the petco overall and albeit they had a nice variety all of their birds were in quarantein until April! yikes....wonder what up there?

rkn

FeatherHarp · Post by **FeatherHarp** » Thu Feb 21, 2008 11:49 am

RKN...Sounds like your PetCo is a good place to buy birds. Where I Live the PetCo is kind of dumpy...not run very well. But the PetSmart has very nice clean bird areas. You can read about the Psittacosis Outbreak here.

http://www.birdchannel.com/bird-news/la ... sittacosis

I hear it is not good to breed birds from petstores as they are usually inbred and you can get a lot birth defects. If you don't plan on breeding it wouldn't an issue.

Here are some bird breeder links that might help you find some breeders in your area.

http://www.birdbreeders.com/

http://www.birdsnways.com/birds/bradm.htm

And you could also try CraigsList in your area....breeders are not supposed to post ads but you could post an inquiry as "looking For Finches"...you might get some info that way.

Hope this helps a little!

rkn · Post by **rkn** » Thu Feb 21, 2008 12:08 pm

I am not sure I actually want to breed any birds but seem to recall that they live longer and do better in a mixed sex environment? This is why I already got rid of three males, didn't want babies and they were already nesting and setting up shop with females within a couple days of buying the group I have! So scared me into keeping the female zebras and they can "befriend" the other males but seem to recall they won't breed with them? Hope that is correct! My spice finches love the zebra girls but not enough to snuggle up with them...lol

what is craig list?

rkn

FeatherHarp · Post by **FeatherHarp** » Thu Feb 21, 2008 1:06 pm

rkn.....CraigsList is a free listing service that has several categories where you can post stuff or look for stuff.

Go Here:

http://geo.craigslist.org/iso/us/id

Then click on the area closest to where you live then look under "community" and you will see a "Pets" listing. Click on Pets and you will see a list of people who are rehoming or looking for pets of all kinds. If you don't see anybody posting for finches...just post yourself as Looking for Finches...you might find some breeders who will contact you that way.

I have bought some birds and cages off of CraigsList...it is a really great tool to use. When I make a deal we always meet in a public place like a parking lot near a busy store...it has worked out well for me. I have found lots of people who raise finches but don't advertise elswhere. I got my Zebra's for 5 dollars each and the Gouldians for 40 & 50 dollars from a local hobby breeder.

I also love looking in the Free section...you wouldn't believe what people give away...you could actually furnish a house and office with what they want to get rid of...LOL! One party was actually giving away a baby grand piano...those are worth a few thousand even used! But they were in a hurry to get rid of it and just wanted it gone!

rkn · Post by **rkn** » Thu Feb 21, 2008 7:36 pm

Thank you for the craig list tip! I joined and put an ad for finches in our area to adopt or buy depending on the species.

I browsed the site, very neat overall. Love the net! amazing what all is on here and too, nice folks one can meet!

rkn

FeatherHarp · Post by **FeatherHarp** » Thu Feb 21, 2008 7:46 pm

So glad you found CL....it is hard to imagine how we lived without computers years ago.....oh oh....that is really dating me!!!

ImEmma · Post by **ImEmma** » Thu Feb 21, 2008 9:09 pm

i got my two finches at a Petsmart (i think...) over the summer, and everyonce and a while i go back to visit the other finches. the last time i went about a week ago, all the birds looked HORRIBLE! they were all poofy and shaky and sick looking. then i noticed a sign saying that our petsmart would not be selling any more birds untill april due to sickness. Shame on those petsmart people! now its not fun to visit the finches anymore...

lyderbug · Post by **lyderbug** » Thu Feb 21, 2008 9:17 pm

I was livid with our Petsmart the other day. I noticed that one of the societies was sick and puffy. I mentioned it to someone and they gave me an attitude like I was nuts.

I think that was a single incident though. More often than not their birds look great.

Audio51 · Post by **Audio51** » Thu Feb 21, 2008 10:28 pm

I called my local Chico Petco today to ask about ordering Strawberry finches. I spoke to the General Manager and she did not sound very confident that she would be able to get them. She said that, due to the size of this store, they did not have any place to house the birds if the person ordering them decided they did not want the birds once they arrived. She said she would try to place the order and would let me know in a week or so.

Vicki