Cockatiel

Nymphicus hollandicus

Beginner care levelLives 10–20 years

Check whether this suits you

Interactive, relatively quieter than large parrots; produces feather dust.

Have this ready before you commit

Flight space
Needs daily out-of-cage flight or foraging enrichment, not cage time alone (enrichment need 75/100).
Group housing
Should not be kept alone; plan for appropriate same-species company (social group need 65/100).
Specialist vet
Requires access to a veterinarian who treats this group before you acquire the animal (specialist vet dependency 75/100).

What this animal needs from you

Scores are normalised 0–100 for comparison across very different animals. They are product-normalisation values with a stated confidence, revisable through expert review.

Your time and attention

Daily care/time commitment60/100confidence 60%

Human interaction need75/100confidence 60%

Enrichment/mental stimulation need75/100confidence 60%

Typical handling tolerance80/100confidence 60%

Space and environment

Space/enclosure need40/100confidence 60%

Habitat setup complexity40/100confidence 60%

Environmental control need35/100confidence 60%

Escape-proofing need55/100confidence 60%

Household impact

Noise/vocalization45/100confidence 60%

Typical cleaning/mess burden60/100confidence 60%

Typical odor burden with proper care25/100confidence 60%

Nocturnal/late activity20/100confidence 60%

Care complexity

Diet complexity35/100confidence 60%

Exotic/specialist vet dependency75/100confidence 60%

Difficulty arranging travel/care55/100confidence 60%

Likelihood of legal/import/CITES complexity40/100confidence 60%

Suitability

Beginner suitability with correct care85/100confidence 60%

Typical fit for calm supervised family households75/100confidence 60%

Need for same-species/compatible social group65/100confidence 60%

Long-term commitment50/100confidence 60%