A companion??

[nar1122]

I am wondering if I should get a friend for my parrotlet...because I usually am gone for about 10 hours of the day, away from home....oscar is by himself.
Should I get a friend for him??
He is 5 months old...will he be mean?
I also have a story about this:
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when oscar was about 2-3 months old, I got another baby parrotlet, which was a month old. I put it with oscar, and sometimes oscar would be nice, and sometimes mean. Then a few days later, I saw oscar up on the food bowl, with the baby right next to him! And oscar was feeding it!!
So I thought it was mothering it.....
but then oscar was mean again.....
so I seperated them....
a few days later, the baby died :(:(:(.
so after the mourning, I concluded that oscar was nice to it, then sensed it was sick, so tried to help it (by feeding it) but then oscar learned that him helping wasnt working, so he was mean to the baby to get it away (so oscar doesnt get sick) (just like mother birds kick the sick ones out)
Is this realistic? or am I just rambling.
And will another one maybe work now that oscar is older...

Should I get a male or female??? (i think female) I think he will be nice to a female....i just want him to have a friend....not necessarily a mate.

And, I talked to an expert at a bird show one time, and he said usually they will last together for 6 months...
and also, I want to be careful because I know that they can easily kill each other.....
so everybudy, tell me what you know and help me!! please :D;):D;):confused::confused::)

[Pado]

Thats a very sad story Nick - A month old baby seems a bit young to be away from its parents and may not have been feeding itself properly. Oscar was probably feeding it because it was begging from him. It is true healthy birds will fight off and pick on sick ones as a build in defense because in the wild a sick bird is a hazzard for the flock as a whole. I'm sorry your baby died. Luckily Oscar was okay :)

A lot has to be considered in keeping two. The stories you read about Parrotlets being mean and even killing their mates are true. BUT that being said it is usually the result of the owners keeping them in too small of a cage. To keep two housed together you need a really large cage. The one Sally posted is about the smallest one you should try for two. Mine is about that size - its a Kings Cage its 32x22x34 and I'm still in the debating stage if its big enough for both of them.

But they need to be able to fly away from each other when they quarrel and in too small a cage they can be chased and its not good. All bird pairs quarrel not just Parrotlets but Parrotlets seem to throw a rather big bite for their size and so need plenty of space to work off that energy.
They should also be kept fully flighted and let out of their cage daily to fly off their pent up energy.

When I got my female she was 10 weeks old and my male was 10 months old - I kept them in separate cages right next to each other for the first few months. They were allowed time out of the cages together everyday for a couple of hours. IMO this gave them time to form a bond before being forced to live together full time. By the time they were put together they were ready and already had a bond so there was no fighting. Don't get me wrong they bicker at times but nothing serious and they always make up within minutes.

But I believe they are much much happier together than separate. You have to keep in mind they will bond to each other and will prefer each other over you. But you will still be able to interact with them providing they are both hand raised birds. They will treat you more like a flock member but not as close as a mate. IMO this is how it should be. My male is 100% happier than when he was kept as a single bird.

And yes, I believe you should get a female - not that two same sexes can't work - the odds are just better with male/female.

There is a lot posted about this on the site - in different area's. Hopefully Andrea will post her opinion as she is much more experienced than I am in this area.

[nar1122]

Thats a very sad story Nick - A month old baby seems a bit young to be away from its parents and may not have been feeding itself properly. Oscar was probably feeding it because it was begging from him.


Well, it wasnt weaned...it was being handfed by my mother. but the lady my mother got it from, was trying to wean the whole clutch too fast so she could sell them at an upcoming bird show. So it was dehydration.
Anyways,thanks for the tips...im gonna wait for Andrea to post.
Im gonna start looking for a bigger cage.

[Pado]

Sorry to hear that - that must have been devastating for you and your Mom. Most breeders won't sell unweaned younsters because so much can go wrong :(

Its all a learning experience and its good to post stuff like this for us all to learn from also.

[AndreaFahy]

What size is the cage?

[nar1122]

height:22"
width:18"
front to back:13"
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if i were to get a second one, i would definately get a bigger cage

what size should i get????????????????

[nar1122]

Does anybody else have information on getting a female for my male?

[catfish]

bah didn't read too much in the other posts... I basically repeated what others have said.