For the last ten years, PetHobbyist.com has been presenting an annual online symposium about living with, keeping, raising, breeding, rescuing, and caring for animals. In celebration of this anniversary, we've extended Chat Week into Chat Month.

You can sign up to receive a free email reminder of all our Bird Chat Events here!

Our BirdHobbyist.com lineup includes:

Sunday, February 10

Dr. Jennifer Periat
Avian and Exotic Animal Health
Sunday, February 10, at 10 PM Eastern, in ExoticHobbyist.com's Chat Room
Dr. Jennifer Periat graduated from MSU (DVM and BS in zoology). Having grown up owning a variety of pets and being quite active in 4-H, she knew she wanted to be a veterinarian from a young age. Dr. Periat enjoys all types of animals and shares her home with many. Dr. Periat is still usually surrounded by animals, spending a lot of time doing public education about the care and conservation of exotic species, taking classes with her dogs and doing rescue work. She has been a very active member of the Michigan Society of Herpetologists, and now serves on the Board of Directors and as secretary.

Saturday, February 16

Carol Frischmann, author of "Conures"
The Care and Keeping of Conures
Saturday, February 16, at 9 PM Eastern, in the Aviary
On the day Carol Frischmann learned to crawl, the family Doberman pinscher gripped her diapers with his teeth to prevent her tumble down a flight of stairs. Ever since, Carol, now a writer and educator, has been repaying her debt to creatures that fly, run, or slither on their bellies. She has shared her love of nature as a high school science teacher, zoo lady, Audubon volunteer, and as a writer for magazines and newspapers.

Graduated from Duke University with a degree in Science Education, Carol is the pet columnist for KGW.com, an NBC affiliate television station, and for her own website. Her top-selling book, "Conures," is a part of the Animal Planet Pet Care series. Three parrots and a Doberman pinscher closely supervise Carol’s work in her Portland, Oregon office.

Friday, February 22

Nigel Marvin
A World of Wildlife
Friday, February 22, at 9 PM Eastern, in kingsnake.com's Chat Room
Born in 1960, Nigel Marven showed early promise as a budding naturalist. He was running a hamster colony at age eight and racing stick insects along his mother’s clothes line by the time he was nine. In his early teens, Nigel had graduated to larger creatures, keeping a caiman, magpie and boa constrictors in his parents’ house. Once his school studies were over, Nigel took a year-out travelling throughout America, where he met hellbenders and amphiumas in the wild (both are kinds of salamanders). Returning to the UK, he moved to Bristol to read Botany and Zoology at university. This would prove to be the ideal place for him, because firstly he could pursue his interest in the natural world at an academic level, and secondly, Bristol is the world capital of wildlife filmmaking. From sharks to owls to anacondas, with a professed special love for birding, Nigel has proven he can hold his own in the animal kingdom! You may have seen him hosting Discovery’s "Shark Week," "Nigel’s Wild, Wild World," "Chased by Sea Monsters," or "Prehistoric Park" on Animal Planet. The host, film-maker and author will appear at the second annual North American Reptile Conference and Trade Show on Saturday and Sunday, February 22-23 at the Arlington Convention Center in Arlington Texas, but first he will stop by to chat with our members.

Saturday, February 23

Kara Glasgow
Selecting and caring for your first bird
Saturday, February 23, at 9 PM Eastern in the Aviary
Having a soft spot for all things feathered and seeing first hand experience of people looking into their first bird pet, Kara has worked hard in educating people in the needs of each species. Specializing in hand-fed, well socialized companion bird pets, and assisting in the occasional wild bird rescue, Kara is joining us this evening to discuss how to choose your first bird and how to care for it after you have it home.

How to Attend

These events will be held in the chat rooms linked from this page. To access the chats:

If you are a registered user of our site, simply follow the direct link to the chat as given above, and log in with your username and password. (Forgot them? Click here!)

If you are not already a registered user of the site, registration is not required - simply go to chat.pethobbyist.com and use the "Guest" log-in option, then select the scheduled chat room for your event.

There is nothing to download or install, but the system does require you to have java enabled in your browser settings. We strongly suggest you access the room before the chat, so you have time to address any difficulties you might have. You might want to drop by one of our regular weekly chats as a test run. If you have trouble, please visit our Chat Help Area. --

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