Hello Christopher,

First of all, I hope you received the photos. To my surprise they all sent in the one email on the first attempts so I do hope they arrive with you ok.

Christopher, I would like to thank you most sincerely for choosing us as a family for our beautiful Pepper. She has been with us now a little over 3 weeks and in that short time she has well and truly cemented herself as a much loved member of our family. Pepper is not the first bird I have owned, and as you know she is my 2nd female eclectus but I can say with absolute conviction she is the most remarkable and incredible young parrot I have ever encountered.

Having been lovingly hand reared by yourself, she is amazingly tame and gentle, so friendly and curious and just adores being in our company all of the time. She arrived with us healthy and in beautiful feather at around 3 months old. She was fully weaned by you onto a full and varied diet, mostly nutritious fresh fruits, vegetables, herbs, some nuts and seeds and some high quality parrot pelleted food. From the first day she arrived with us she was eating and drinking fully independently and devoured every bit of food we offered her. You gave us so much advice and guidance on how to provide her with the best diet and nutrition and I have followed all of your advice and suggestions including the calcium supplements to make sure she is not missing out on anything.  I also fully appreciated your information about what not to feed her, which has been invaluable advice to heed.

Pepper was a little nervous when she first arrived with us, but I knew from the many videos and photos you had sent me that she was going to be a lovely friendly girl. You gave me excellent advice in helping her settle in during the first week or so, when I thought it would be better to wait and let her choose when she came out of her cage and when she wanted to let me handle her. Instead you advised that I gently take her out of her cage, talk to her with the familiar phrases you had got her used to hearing and hold her close, snuggle her against me, stroke her, keep her warm and feeling safe. I followed your advice and she seemed to become completely bonded to me within 24 hours. Her soft gentle and loving nature is testament to the nurturing care you provided her with as a chick.

She is such a steady girl; not flighty, jumpy or nervous in anyway. My 7 year old is learning how to handle her and she has been very keen to get to know him. As you can see from the photos she is also so gentle and completely trust worthy with my 6 month old daughter. Of course I need to train the children to be calm and respectful around Pepper, but Pepper is the ideal bird to be part of a family with young children.

Female eclectus have somewhat of an unfair reputation of being a bit stand off-ish, reserved and not easy to bond with. Some are described as territorial. Pepper is none of those things. She loves when she sees me approaching her cage, bobbing up and down, excited to see what treats I am bringing or if I am coming to get her out – which is often!! She never minds me putting my hands in, moving things around her cage, doing her twice dusky clean ups when I am removing and replacing her bowls of fresh foods and water.
Really Pepper is such a joy to have her around we would happily love to have her out and with us all day long, however we are a busy house and particularly with a 7 year old there are always doors and windows being left open, so as you also advised us we care extremely cautious about when she is out and making sure she is safe and supervised at all times.  Really whenever she is out she just wants to be on me, so will follow me from room to room or call out for me if she cannot see me, we do need to be careful to ensure she doesn’t run into trouble!

I am also so happy and proud to add that my son is so taken with Pepper, he has pledged that should she out live me, which is a possibility if she lives her full lifespan, then he will continue to care for her when he is grown and has his own home.

Christopher, Pepper is such a truly incredible bird, my very best friend. Any person who is lucky enough to come into contact with you regarding the possibility of acquiring their own parrot from you, then they are in a truly privileged position. I would whole heartedly recommend that a wait of any duration is absolutely worth it, to reap the rewards of owning a bird that has been hand reared by you. I was lucky in that Pepper came along just at the right time that we were looking, but I would happily have waited far longer than this for the lovely lady we now have in our home.

You clearly have a unique talent for rearing birds of excellent stock, good health and temperament and that is invaluable.  I had been looking for an eclectus for a while, and had scoured many adds on the various pets for sale website but yours was the first that I had responded to and I am so glad I did. I could tell from how you talked about and described Pepper, that you were very knowledgable and caring. You put the health and quality of your young birds above any amount of profit to be made from selling her to me. Considering the many many hours you dedicated to reading Pepper, it was clear that your priority was in finding her a loving and permanent home.

One last thing to thank you for, in time since I first got in touch with you, right up until this day – Christmas Day! – you have provided ongoing advice, support, information, recommendations and I know that you will continue to be very invested in Pepper’s life long progress and her ongoing health and development. I have followed every bit of your advice and purchased all items of equipment you have recommended and everything has been invaluable. Which reminds me, Pepper came to us already trained and familiar with being fitted with and wearing a bird harness. You advised me to purchase the aviator flight harness in size medium which I did, and I can tell you, by closely following the demonstration video you sent me I have had no difficulties at all in putting her harness on her and once on she happily continues about her business as if it isn’t there at all. I am reassured by this and we hope in the summer that we will be able to take her outside safely without fear of her escaping.

I will continue to keep you informed of Pepper’s progress with us and I have no doubt at all that your wish is to remain in touch with us and hear all about how much Pepper is loved by us and what new words or tricks she is learning.

Many, many thanks again for entrusting this most precious bird unto our care.