Dilemma - Any advice would be great!

[oddeebean]

I have two Pacific parrotlets, male and female. I purchased the male (named PJ) about a year ago from a pet store (I know, bad idea but I had recently suddenly lost my first parrotlet and was depressed about it). They told me he was hand-raised but when I took him home I discovered that was a complete lie. He hated being around me and hated getting out of his cage. I worked with him every day getting him out for small periods, feeding him treats, just leaving the cage open and letting him chose when to come out etc. He never got any tamer and would just seem terrified, angry, and scared whenever I'd open the cage door. After about 6-7 months of this I figured he would just never be a people bird and I stopped trying to get him out of the cage. His cage is filled with toys and clean food and water, I give him fruit and veggies every day so he does have a happy life now that I've left him alone. :rolleyes: After I decided that I wasn't going to be messing with him I thought it would be cruel to just have PJ alone in a cage so I started searching for a female for him. I found a very reputable breeder and I got my new female a few days ago. The problem I have now is that she is so sweet, gentle and loving that I want to play with her and bond with her also! Would it be bad for the parrotlets relationship if I bonded with the female? Would she like me better and ignore PJ? I want PJ to have a friend and if that means I just need to leave them alone in the cage together (Right now they are in a cage but with a divider so they can look at each other and talk to each other) than that is fine. I was hoping that the female could enjoy going outside the cage with me but also be friends with PJ and keep him company. Is that even an option? Any advice would be great, I just want whats best and least stressful for the birds!

Sorry this is so long! :o

[memmey]

Well if you get to read thru some of the posts you might find that sometimes it is difficult to introduce two p'let's together and it is a delicate operation. You would be sick if one is aggressive and injures the other. Others will probably post about this also but be real careful putting then together especially if PJ is possessive of this cage. My bird killed her mismatched cage mate, before I rescued her. Go slow and if they don't bond( they may not) then enjoy your new bird. Don't give up on PJ he may come around...what happened to your other bird that caused it to die if you don't mind. We all need information about illness or injury and people who have experienced it can help us to understand what can happen. Don't take out your divider just yet they take a along time to process change....keep us posted.

[oddeebean]

Oh yes, I was planning on leaving the divider in a loooooong time. I want to go slow as PJ seems unusually agressive. They are sitting next to each other on perches by the divider and are cooing at each other, so that seems really promising.

My first parrotlet died suddenly and completly out of the blue. I had taken her to the vet and she got the all clear, completly healthy. She wasn't behaving like she was sick, she was eating well, chirping, and bonding great with me. I didn't notice anything weird when all of a sudden about 4 months after I bought her she seized up and died. It happened in about 10 seconds, she fell to the bottom of the cage and went rigid. It was almost like a seizure of some kind. It was horrible. I desperatly wish I knew what happened, but I don't. She didn't seem sick but healthy birds don't just drop dead. :(

[ArtS]

oddeebean,

Memmey is right - be very careful in introducing the birds. Also, if the divider is made similarly to the rest of the cage, condider replacing it with one made of plexiglass (you may have to cut your own - you can get stock at Home Depot or equivilent - they have it in the storm door section). The plexiglass will allow them to see each other but will keep them from biting each other throught the bars (guess how I know about this :rolleyes: ).

If you are not planning on working with or breeding PJ, I would strongly consider giving him to your breeder and just working with the new girl. The girl will not bond to you as well if PJ's around. Besides, boys seen to enjoy being put into breeding programs :D - it may be best for both of you. I hope this doesn't come across as harsh but keeping both birds may compound your problems, not solve them. Also, I'd do this sooner rather than later so the new one doesn't get any of PJ's bad habits.

One last thing - while the boys are very entertaining clowns, the girls are quiet and sweet.

Regards,

Art S.

[Pado]

I am in a similar situation –

I have a very tame male and just purchased a female a few weeks back – she isn’t very tame at all – the male is 10 months old the female is 10 weeks.

I have them housed separately with their cages next to each other. They have bonded in the two weeks I’ve had her. But as Art said, with a divider I’d use Plexiglas – so they can’t bite each other’s feet as one is clinging to the bars – I keep my cages about an inch apart for this reason.

I allow them out together daily for about 1½ hours – supervised of course – as she is a bit young and unsteady on her feet. She is clipped he is not.

I never attempt to touch her and move very slowly when I attend to her cage – she tries to get away from my hands and usually ends up on the cage floor – although, within the few weeks I’ve had her she is getting better and will just sit there now as I attend her cage.

What I do is, I take my male out and put him on the floor and open her cage door so she follows him out. I play with HIM on the floor and ignore her – I fill the floor with toys, play gyms and food - she watches and sees that he is not afraid of me and she just follows him around – even when he comes next to me.

Over the past few weeks she has made great improvement.

She will now walk up to me – shows no fear of me anymore, even when I move to get up and when I come back to lay down but she is still a bit wary of hands She will bite on my clothing and play right next to me and will eat spray millet as my hand is ‘pretending’ to eat the same spray also.

This weekend for the first time she tested my fingers with her beak – still I ignore her and let her make ALL the moves.

So if I were you I’d work with the tame female – to keep her tame. They will still bond and when you have her where you want her [tame wise] you can try what I do and introduce him into the training program.

I can’t say if it will work the same as my situation as your male is older and I am working with an untamed youngster but it’s worth a shot. If you plan on keeping the male that is.

Good Luck – keep us posted on what you do and how its working.

[memmey]

Pado the bird whisperer.LOL I think that is perfect training far better for their little mental health. Aggresive humans are as bad as aggressive p'lets...good job Pado!

[musicjan]

Pado, these birdies are lucky to have you as their Dad/Mom??? Good job!!!

[Pado]

LOL Memmey – bird whisperer – I wish – you wouldn’t catch me doing much ‘bird-whispering’ with one of those larger birds – I’m afraid enough of our little P’lets beaks :eek:

Lets hope my approach works – I don’t expect Penny to ever be cuddly but my goal is for her to allow me to pick her up to move her etc – we’ll see.

I have this long rope perch that I attach to her cage and down to the floor for when she is out of her cage – last night they both were sitting on it and Rupert flew to my shoulder – I went over to the rope to put him back on it and just leaned into the rope with my shoulder so as not to scare Penny with my hand – he didn’t come off my shoulder but she did step onto my shoulder to be with him. I was thrilled – I walked around with them both and took them to a few mirrors in the house. She didn’t seem the least bit bothered by me walking around –

Although it’s sad she has a fear of hands – but we’ll keep working on that.

[Pado]

Thanks musicjan – that’s always nice to hear – I think all the Parrotlets owned by the people on these forums are lucky – it shows we all care enough about them to find out all we can on their care – either that, or we all need a life :p :p

BTW it would be ‘Dad’ – Pado is my nickname – my un-nickname is Patrick :D

[oddeebean]

Great advice Pado, thank you so much! That sounds like a great plan for me to try.

[Pado]

oddeebean - let us know how your training with the female comes along.

[oddeebean]

The female is really friendly, a bit nippy but thats to be expected. She'll hop into my hand from her cage if there is seed in it. I've put the two parrotlets together finally and they seem to be doing really well. They eat together and hang around near each other. There are occasional spats where they bite at each other, but there is no vicious fighting. Its looking good! I'm not sure if i'll keep them together overnight yet though.