Fight parrotlets

[heatherfeather1]

I recently took in two parrotlets. One is a female and the other is a male. Supposedly, their first owner couldn't keep them anymore so she gave them to a friend of mine. My friend had them for a few weeks and then decided to give them to me.. I realize that all this moving around could play a part in the female being so nasty to the male but it's still really bad...

I've had them for a week now and she still goes after the male. Before I had taken them, she bit off part of the middle toe belonging to the male and now she's trying to get his other foot. She already managed to cut it....

I have tried keeping the two apart but BOTH parrotlets go insane and start squeaking like crazy for one another.

The only good thing that's happened is that her feathers are coming back in. [Before she came to my house she was pulling out her feather but now that she's with me she has stopped that behavior and they're coming back in]

I really don't want to keep the parrotlets apart but if she continues this kind of behavior then I'm going to have to do it and keep the cages close to one another.

P.S.
She can also be kinda mean and look to bite even me. She's not too bad about it now but if you can offer anymore advice to help me with her biting then that would be great. (I already tell her 'no' in a strong but not yelling voice)

[Kumiko]

I would split them up. If the female is physically harming her mate... there's something wrong. I would split them up.

But the question is: Right next to each other? Across the room? Or in another room?

Are the both tame???... if they were tame, you could place both cages by one another and have supervised play time.

[jodeg]

I have my male and female in separate side-by-side HQ flight cages. They have supervised play time together, and sometimes, they go in each other's cages and explore without any problems.

HOWEVER, at this point, I don't think I'd house them together. Kiwi, my female, definitely wears the PANTS in the family! Kermit, my male, is very sweet and timid. I think if he ticked her off or even blinked the wrong way, she'd CLEAN HIS CLOCK in a heartbeat! :eek:

You may have to separate them for the time being at least. You don't want him injured any more. They may scream for a while, but they should get used to it. Maybe if they can see each other, like my two, it'll be okay. Mine eat at the same time, play at the same time, nap at the same time, etc., just in separate cages.

Good luck and keep us posted!

[heatherfeather1]

Well, he's tamed but her... There's times when she can get very aggressive and then sometimes she's pretty nice. Oh and I forgot to mention that if you show any attention towards the male then she will try to bite you.

[Kumiko]

If you can, I really feel like the birds would benefit temporarily in different rooms for a while. Yes, you would hear the constant chirping across the house, but it will soon die out during a week or so. I think you need to have some quality time with the female. You need to Praise and Treat her regular for good behaviors (EX. Her stepping up on your finger without biting--give her a bit of millet). If she wasn't a bitter I would say let their cages be side by side... but when you bring them out for play time, I feel when you want them back their cages, the female will rebel and bite. With the male not being around, I feel she will calm down greatly.

Musette is going through this right now where whenever he's out with my other male, he bites if he doesn't want to do something. When he bites, I take away the good thing... which is my other male. He want nothing to do with me when Kiwi's around... he will practically run away from me, not taking nothing from my hands, and bites. I take Kiwi from the area... and he's back to his normal social self... 'cause he can't stand being alone. lol

[SweetPeasMom]

I agree, try to separate but close cages.. parrotlets will bicker from time to time, but biting that hard is something else.

[chapala]

Yes, I also support moving one into a separate cage right next to the other one. It's not fair to the male to be with a bird who is actually harming him. They may screech awhile, but being right next to each other, they should adapt fairly quickly in a week or so. And, you can let them out for playtime together when you can watch them.
Reta

[catfish]

I would say separate until both are healed, but I think another question should be.... cage size?

I know that my 2 argue, and they are both looking a little ... ugly due to preening, but they never cause any true harm. Now if I had them in a smaller cage, they would kill one another.

I think you should evaluate time out of cage and size of cage when deciding whether or not a p'let can be housed with another p'let. I know members like memmy could not even consider housing hers with another p'let because of how terrotorial she is. I would say keep them in the same room so they can see each other, otherwise prepare for lots of flock calling over, and over, and over again.

[Sally]

Sounds like they have both been through so much with all the moving around etc. I would keep them in big flight cages side by side. Lots of toys and perches and time to heal and have fun. They sure deserve that, poor things. I hope things calm down for you!

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v492/Sally11/breezietrain.jpg

[lineola]

I agree with Sally. Little birds need patience and time to be comfortable with their surroundings, and it doesn't sound like this couple has had that. They may be feeling stressed. Two cages where they're far apart enough where they can't reach through and bite toes and stuff, might be helpful. Then slowly re-introducing them outside the cage with some supervised play.

Also, I was wondering, have they been DNA sexed? Did you get the certificates for them? Is there any possibility you have two males or two females?

Maddie

[heatherfeather1]

I took everyone's advice and placed the female in a seperate cage. It was just getting to be too much for him. They did scream a lot last night and this morning, but now it's not so bad. The male seems to be doing a lot better even though he does call for her sometimes.

The only bad thing is that the she seems to be really mad at me now that I've taken her away from the male. Like before, she gives me a hard time when it comes to taking her out of the cage but now she won't even stay with me... She'll bite as hard as she can and then do whatever she can to get to his cage even if I take her far away from him.

They've been in my care for only a week, so I'm really trying to be patient with her. Is there anything else I can do about the biting? At this point I doubt she'll even take food from me which is sad because I had her doing it before... Should I still try to get her to come out of the cage and get comfortable with me, or should I leave her in the cage and talk to her in there for a few days before trying to take her out?

(Both cages are very big and have toys, so space isn't really an issue. It's just... The female seems to get VERY jealous and aggresive when the male is given any attention.)

(I have not had them DNA tested for the sex yet and I don't have their papers. My friend who had them last *might* have them, so I'll ask. Oh and I assume that the male really is the male because he's yellow and has blue feathers on his back and a little on his wings while the female is all yellow)

[chapala]

They need time to adjust to being separated. Time and patience are your friends when taming birds. I would be in no hurry to take her out of the cage or handle her in any way. She sounds like she isn't ready for it. Try talking to her, sitting quietly near the cage reading, moving the cage in by the computer (if it isn't already) while you're there, etc. And offering little pieces of spray millet can change her thinking about you and hands. Bribery can work wonders!

[heatherfeather1]

Lol, thank you. I'll give the bribery a shot. Someone was actually telling me that my friend would handle the birds a lot and by that I mean she would actually take hold of them in her hand and let other people hold them like that too. I'm guessing that might be part of the reason why she doesn't like hands. I'm really happy though because so far she hasn't tried pulling out her feathers and even though she's alone in her own cage she's still still eating and drinking.

[chapala]

Forcing birds to accept handling before they're ready doesn't really set the stage for a relationship based on trust. Some people tend to force/grab the smaller birds because they can, but not too many force the large Macaws or Amazons. ;) Positive reinforcement while it can take awhile will result in a better bond with the bird.

[heatherfeather1]

I just wanted to update you guys on Tac (the male is Tic and she's Tac because of how she used to at'tac'k everyone, lol). So far, she's really adjusting nicely. It's just all day today and yesterday she wouldn't stop yelling. I figured she was in a bad mood so I just stayed by the cage and didn't take her out yesterday, but when she kept it up today I figured I might try to get her out.... She ran right to my hand and got on. I had her out for about 30 minutes and played with her. She didn't bite me hard at all and when I went to put her back in she didn't want to go. Eventually I got her in the cage but when I walked away she started yelling and watched me as I left the room. Her cage has toys and everything but it seems like she's not happy unless she has someone to play with her.. Lol, I did have her try to play with the male today BUT again she went for his foot, so I took him away.

Question: When is their mating season? I'm asking because while they were together he raised his head and moved it around kinda weirdish. They were also regurgitating food into eachother's mouths.

[unpoquito]

Heather,
I have a bonded pair, and just recently had to separate them for fighting, and Emmie was guarding all of the food bowls from Ziggy. They were in a large flight cage. Another parrotlet owner told me it may be breeding season, and they can get testy during this time. I allow mine to sleep together b/c they are very good at this time, but they are separated during the day in side by side (not touching) cages. My birds are not tame, but are starting to become easier to work with now that they are separated during the day.
You did the right thing by separating your two.