[birdienumnum]

Hello Everyone!

I am new to this forum and I have a couple of questions.

A bit of back ground history:
I bought a baby pacific parrotlet back in November 2013 ( he is about 7-8 months old now) and he is AMAZING! I absolutely love him and so does my family, we can't imagine our house hold without him. He is extremely tame and actually prefers to be with us than alone (which is usually the case, he only sleeps in his cage at night.... the rest of the time he is out and about with a member of the family)
My boyfriend has an older cockatiel and we have tried to introduce the two birds on a number of occasions.
(The cockatiel is very grumpy and hates being touched, my parrotlet can't get enough attention.)

The issue:
My parrotlet always seems to want to bite the cockatiels feet. I don't know why and it concerns me because I was considering buying another parrotlet to keep my original one company when the family is not home.

The question:
Essentially, I want to know why my parrotlet behaves like this around the only other bird he has come into contact with (since I bought him). I also want to know what can be done to curb this behavior (it looks like he's having fun, but I know how hard he can nip). I don't want him to hurt the other bird ( cockatiel or new parrotlet).
Should I even bye another parrotlet friend if he shows this tendency to bite feet?

I know this is long-winded, but I appreciate any insight!

- Nat

 

[M'éanín's Mommy]

As a general rule P'lets are an aggressive species. Sounds fairly typical to me. My P'lets all get along with my 'Tiels (and other birds) when they are young. That tends to change though around the time they become sexually mature (6 months give or take) and they are no longer tolerant.

You can try training, some will eventually get along, but your probably never going to make them best buddies. One of my P'lets likes to do fly bys on the 'Tiels just to annoy them. They used to be friends, but now he likes to harass them. Never hurts them, but he enjoys giving them grief.

ETA: The photo in my signature is old. M'éanín was a baby when this was taken. Back then he got along with them and enjoy hanging out...now, yea.....he likes to mess with them.

 

[Rubydoo252]

That sounds like normal p'let aggression to me as well. They are known to be aggressive little birds, and will take the toes off a much bigger bird than a cockatiel even if they get a chance. Make sure to keep the birds separate, and only allow supervised interaction.
As far as getting him a friend, p'lets are quite happy with you as their friend and do not often desire feathered company. If you get a second p'let, only do it for yourself - there is a good chance that your p'let will be aggressive toward it as well and it will not provide the companionship that you are thinking of. They are often quite happy as only bird, and see their owner as their flock. Parrots can be excellent companions because they don't distinguish species, so you can be that second bird you are thinking of.

 

[jeannepp]

Rubydoo nailed on the head. P'lets are aggressive. I know of a P'let that bit the toe of a McCaw! Talk about nerve! I never leave my two alone ever. Although if you take me out of the equation they get along better. When I make them play on their cages instead of being with me they will go into each others cages, share dinner, etc until Oliver decides he's had enough and if Charlie isn't fast enough feathers fly. Male and females p'lets have been know to kill each other.

The only thing I recommend is that you train your parrot to have independent play time so that if all of a sudden you are gone all day, he is not depressed and starts to pluck. It's really not great to have them out all the time unless you can gaurantee it that will always be the case.

 

[sometimes24]

Hehhee, my p'let likes toes for some reason and bites them SUPER hard.

From what I heard, it's a 50/50 chance they hate each other/get a long with the hate each other 50 a bit larger
If you can introduce the p'lets before you buy the new one, you might be able to gauge his reaction towards the newbie p'let.
But, I'd recommend you ONLY buy a second p'let if that's what you want and you're willing to spend time with her/him in order to train her and make sure she doesn't feel left out and neglected etc.

 

[Jinx n Noodle]

Yup, sounds like normal behavior to me Ditto to what everybody has said. My guys have always aimed for each others feet when they get aggressive. Maybe the feet are more vulnerable or something...

 

[Dixie-1]

What they said !! Lol We got Paco and Taco as a pair, and they need to be caged seperately, if we are not right there to supervise! No they dont get along with Quinn either. They all just tolerate each other!

 

[birdienumnum]

Thank you all very much for your input! I am definitely re-thinking about getting a second one (seeing they can be aggressive).

- Nat