Parakeets are wonderful little birds. I bought my first keet for 9 bucks, on sale. I picked a little, spunky, blue female, which I later named Mariah. I took her home set of the cage quick and then placed her in it. That is where she stayed for the next day, I did not take her out or even pay any attention to her. The next day I started to train her. I placed my finger to her chest and commanded, "step up." It took a while but she finally got it. In the first week I noticed that she was very nervous and seeing that I was about to make a trip home, and it was a two hour drive, I figured I would get her a friend. This time a picked an acrobatic, green and yellow male that I named Alfonzo. They hit it off as soon as I put them together. Mariah was now a lot more calm but she did not respond to me as readily as she did before. I now had to pry her out of the cage, instead of her just jumping on my finger. I was unable to teach Alfonzo to hop on my finger while he was in the cage, although as soon my hand went into the cage he flew out. Out of the cage he will step onto my finger. With a male and a female I soon had hopes of little keets. I bought a wooden nest box, attached to the back of the cage and cut a hole in the wire so they could go in it. I have seen Mariah in it once and have been given advice that a see trough nest box inside the cage might be the way to go.