Lucy

I have 2 adorable female guinea pigs and i love them a lot. But i am allergic to them and my allergies are getting worse. I am also not allowed to bring them inside because my dad doesn't want the house to smell and because of my allergies. i am worried about them because i live in Australia and in winter the ground gets quite cold and in summer it gets unbearably hot and i am constantly worried about snakes. I am looking after a cockatiel for a friend and i love it so much and so does everyone else in my family so i asked dad if i would be able to adopt a bird and he said sure if you sell the guinea pigs. At first i said NO WAY but now i am actually considering it because when we travel its a bit hard to find someone (that i trust) that could take care of my guinea pigs but i have at least 5 or 6 friends that would be willing to take care of my bird.I would only ever sell them to one of my friends that i really trust. I feel really bad about even thinking about giving them away but i also feel like they would be better off with someone that is allowed to bring them inside during winter and give them lots of hugs and playtime

I am looking after a female cockatiel for my friend for 3-4 weeks, I've had her for 2 weeks now. She is shivering quite a bit even though it is summer and her poop is black instead of green. She fell asleep on the floor of her cage this afternoon and she hasn't been eating or pooping as often as she usually does. Also because she isn't used to me she usually hisses at me and gently nibbles my fingers if i poke my fingers in her cage but i checked on her not too long ago and poked my fingers through to check if she was alert but she just lowered her body and made a small hiss. I am only 15 and my mum just thinks i am being paranoid but she doesn't know a thing about birds and assumes that the bird will tell us if she is unwell but i know that birds instinctively hide their sickness so they can stay with their flock but mum just says that she doesn't have a flock so why should she hide it. My dad has had 3 budgies and a cockatoo when he was a kid but when i tried telling him my concerns my mum told me to stop being such a downer. I have been very careful with what i feed her but apparently my friend (the owner) feeds her human foods like ice cream and chips but only in small amounts and on rare occasions. Please help me, i can't have her die on my watch.