Got my new lovebird yesterday! And now i have questions!

[nikiwildman]

Ok, so i got my new black masked lovebird yesterday, we have named him Antari.

He is sooo cute and small compared to my tiels, (this is my first lovebird)

Anyway, so he was hand reared, he was weaned at about 6 weeks old and he is now 9 weeks old and we only just picked him up last night.

He seemed pretty fine on the car journey home, a little nervous as expected. We got him home and let him have a little sleep in his cage (as he had a 3 hour car journey) He doesnt seem to like to stand on any of his perchs, he slept holding on to the side of the cage with his feet and beak, is this normal? Because to me this seems very strange, i did sit him on the perches to try to encourage him, but he went straight back to the bars, seems a little odd to me.

Later in the day we got him out to play for a bit and he was quite nervous and didnt really wont to leave me or Paul, and got scared if he accidentally found himself not on us, but i asume with time he will explore more and get used to his surroundings. But he seemed to be quite shakey - almost trembling, is this fairly normal when you first get them home? And will he grow out of this? Im so worried about the poor little thing. He's just so friendly and cuddley, and sits and cuddles up right under my chin i just wish he wasnt so shakey, poor thing, and i hope all he needs is a bit of time to settle down.

Thing i am mostly worried about he doesnt seem to have eaten much or drunk much. I did get him to eat some millet from my hand, and some flakes of cocanut, but im not sure if he is eating from his bowl in his cage, or maybe its because im used to having pigs that are cockatiels stuffing their faces constantly! I didnt see him drinking so i got his water bowl out and put it to him and he started drinking lots, as if he was extremely thirsty.
I did the same this morning but he put his beak in the water but didnt drink any, do you think now he knows what his water dish now looks like he has found it by himself?

The breeder told me he likes pomegranets so i have some in a bowl in his cage, i dont no if he has tried any yet. He did eat some banana with me yesterday though.

I know i am probably over worrying about him, and that he just needs time to settle down and get used to his new home, but i cant help but worry about him! So hopefully someone with experience with lovebirds can give me some advice or put my mind at ease!

Sorry for the long post, and thanks in advance, i will post pictures of the little cutey soon.

[nikiwildman]

This is the little lovely, on the car journey home.
Antari 1

Antari 2

And this is a picture the breeder sent me when he was about 4 weeks old, he's such a little cutey.

4 week old Antari

[SuzyCupcake13]

Do you have any toys in his cage?

[lucalove]

Congrats on the new lovie!
I just brought mine home a couple of days ago, and mine also wasn't eating much. They can regress when stressed out or brought into a new home. I realized that when my lovie was flapping her wings/opening her mouth and 'whining' she was trying to tell me she was hungry. I ground up some of her pellets and mixed it with hot water and she will eat it out of a spoon. I have to do this 2 times (sometimes even 3 times) a day. Be very careful he is not starving himself, as I noticed my lovie was already losing weight even after the first day. Hope this helps!

[mayaexquisite]

Aw, what a cutie!! I just saw a pair of these wild type Masked lovebirds at my zoo's walk-in aviary yesterday.

Yes, it's normal for him/her to cling to the side of the cage and sleep... it probably gives Antari a sense of security being up against something. This is totally normal for birds who arrive into a new household because everything is new and a little scary to them.

With all the things you're worrying about, just put yourself in Antari's "shoes." You're a little one who used to live with your parents, but then you got taken away from your parents and started being fed by strangers a million times your size. Eventually you got comfortable with them, but then they sold you and now you're in a whole new environment. How would a person in that situation feel? Scared, probably. So just understand that your new birdy is probably just scared and needs to get used to it's surroundings, on it's own terms. Don't try to force it to do anything it's not ready to do.

I agree that toys need to be added to your cage, as well as natural branch perches (eucalyptus and manzanita are great) and rope perches for good foot health. Because your baby is still a little skittish, I would just add a few toys, but not overwhelm the cage with them.

As far as food goes, I would very much limit the amount of fruit your baby gets. Fruit has sooooooo much sugar in it and their bodies are tiny. I would suggest getting your baby to eat veggies and whole grains (as well as good organic pellets), with fruit only as a once in a while treat. I also germinate seeds for my boys and they DEVOUR them. Their whole face will be covered in mashed seed.

[Eliza]

Nothing to add but to say that Antari is SO cute... I love the wild-type masked lovebirds :)

[nikiwildman]

Do you have any toys in his cage?
Yes, well, i have a perch in there with like rope things and wood chew toy things on them, i have other toys for it, but i dont want to scare or overwhelm him, so he just has the one in at the moment.

Aw, what a cutie!! I just saw a pair of these wild type Masked lovebirds at my zoo's walk-in aviary yesterday.

Yes, it's normal for him/her to cling to the side of the cage and sleep... it probably gives Antari a sense of security being up against something. This is totally normal for birds who arrive into a new household because everything is new and a little scary to them.

Cool, as long as know its fairly normal, i just thought it was slightly odd, probably because i am used to cockatiels and they arent as good as climbing as the lovebird, so probably not as comfortable as holding onto the bars as a lovebird is, and probably me just over-worrying about him.

With all the things you're worrying about, just put yourself in Antari's "shoes." You're a little one who used to live with your parents, but then you got taken away from your parents and started being fed by strangers a million times your size. Eventually you got comfortable with them, but then they sold you and now you're in a whole new environment. How would a person in that situation feel? Scared, probably. So just understand that your new birdy is probably just scared and needs to get used to it's surroundings, on it's own terms. Don't try to force it to do anything it's not ready to do.

I thought as much, i spose i just needed to ask just to put my mind at ease more than anything, i understand how scarey it must be for these poor little birds! And, even though i know they soon forget about their first home/family, i still feel so guilty taking them away! It must be such a scarey experience for them!

I havent tried forcing him to do anything, just trying to encourage him and show him things, like when i put him back on his cage, i put him on a perch rather than onto the side of the cage. I wouldnt force him to do things, except getting back in his cage - which he is starting to try to run back up my arm as i put him away! Which i can only see as a good thing as he is getting more comfortable and would rather stay out and play with us.

I agree that toys need to be added to your cage, as well as natural branch perches (eucalyptus and manzanita are great) and rope perches for good foot health. Because your baby is still a little skittish, I would just add a few toys, but not overwhelm the cage with them.

I have in his cage a perch with attached chew toy things, a natural perch, and a rope perch, its seems a little bare at the moment, but he does have plenty of room to fly around, and i will give him some more toys when i think he is ready for them.

As far as food goes, I would very much limit the amount of fruit your baby gets. Fruit has sooooooo much sugar in it and their bodies are tiny. I would suggest getting your baby to eat veggies and whole grains (as well as good organic pellets), with fruit only as a once in a while treat. I also germinate seeds for my boys and they DEVOUR them. Their whole face will be covered in mashed seed. So far i have only seen it eat the banana with me, i only put the pomegranets in because the breeder told me he liked them, but he didnt appear to have eaten any.
Can lovebirds basically eat the same as cockatiels, my tiels get a varied diet of fruit, veg, pellets, and egg. They mostly eat cucumber and chillis as this is both my tiels favourite, (not that i give them this any more than other things, they just devour this much quicker than other things) Will chillis be ok for the lovebird as well? And can he have egg as well, i make my tiels hard boiled egg then mash it all together, including the shell, would this be ok for the lovebird as well?

Nothing to add but to say that Antari is SO cute... I love the wild-type masked lovebirds :)
Thanks, he is completely adorable, he just seems sooo sweet. I love it when birds are at this sort of age when you need to teach them things as well, like stepping up, and that flying into your face just doesnt work! And that beards and specs are not facial climbing frames! (my partner has a beard and i wear glasses) Bless him! he's soo cute, but has alot to learn, hopefully him and my tiels will get along, (when they eventually meet), and they will teach him good habits, and not bad habits!


EDIT: Oh and BTW just incase anyone may have been mislead by the photos - the picture of antari in the cage was in a travel cage when we picked him up, which was almost bare! He is in his proper cage now, which is much better and actually have stuff in it, just incase you thought i had him in a bare cage!

[mayaexquisite]

Yes, Antari can eat what you're feeding the cockatiels. Veggies, pellets (organic), and egg is very good for all parrots. I don't know how much fruit you give the cockatiels, but I would limit their fruit intake to an occasional treat as well because it's just too high in sugar. Whole grains, such as oats and whole wheat pasta, are very good for them as well. Oh, and let's not forget quinoa - a lot of people give that to their birds but I can never find it at my grocery stores. Haha.

[nikiwildman]

Originally Posted by mayaexquisite

Yes, Antari can eat what you're feeding the cockatiels. Veggies, pellets (organic), and egg is very good for all parrots. I don't know how much fruit you give the cockatiels, but I would limit their fruit intake to an occasional treat as well because it's just too high in sugar. Whole grains, such as oats and whole wheat pasta, are very good for them as well. Oh, and let's not forget quinoa - a lot of people give that to their birds but I can never find it at my grocery stores. Haha.

I dont feed them THAT much fruit! I dont know where this has come from! They do only get it as a treat, and even then they dont actually eat that much of it, well most of the time, they do eat alot of it when it take their fancy i suppose.
They do get more veges than anything else really. But i do try to give them as much of a varied diet as possible.

Anyway, the little-un seems to be calming down and settling a bit now, he much prefers being on me or my partner though, he's really not interested in exploring at all! Other than exploring under our tops! He's like a little hamster getting down our tops and like snuggling up to us! Bless, he's so cute. Is this a good sign, or does it means something is wrong? Or is this good behaviour i should encourage?
And for such small little birds they sure can bite hard! Much harder than my tiels! Thats definitly something that needs to be discouraged. It has only bitten us a handful of times, other than that he's really good and very tame and 'hand-able'

How long is advisable to wait before introducing all the birds together? And is it best to do it separately, like introduce Antari and say kensei first, then put kensei away and introduce him to luna? Or just let them all meet at the same time?

[mayaexquisite]

Originally Posted by nikiwildman

I dont feed them THAT much fruit! I dont know where this has come from! They do only get it as a treat, and even then they dont actually eat that much of it, well most of the time, they do eat alot of it when it take their fancy i suppose.
They do get more veges than anything else really. But i do try to give them as much of a varied diet as possible.

I never mentioned or assumed HOW MUCH fruit you give to your birds. I had said, " I don't know how much fruit you give the cockatiels, but I would limit their fruit intake to an occasional treat as well because it's just too high in sugar," because I don't know.

Originally Posted by nikiwildman

Anyway, the little-un seems to be calming down and settling a bit now, he much prefers being on me or my partner though, he's really not interested in exploring at all! Other than exploring under our tops! He's like a little hamster getting down our tops and like snuggling up to us! Bless, he's so cute. Is this a good sign, or does it means something is wrong? Or is this good behaviour i should encourage?
And for such small little birds they sure can bite hard! Much harder than my tiels! Thats definitly something that needs to be discouraged. It has only bitten us a handful of times, other than that he's really good and very tame and 'hand-able'

No, it doesn't mean anything is wrong. It just means Antari likes you and likes playing in your shirt. I know some lovebirds that like to sleep under their owners shirts. It's very cute.

Originally Posted by nikiwildman

How long is advisable to wait before introducing all the birds together? And is it best to do it separately, like introduce Antari and say kensei first, then put kensei away and introduce him to luna? Or just let them all meet at the same time?

Quarantine is IDEALLY 90 days, minimum being 30 days. After the quarantine period is done, then you can place Antari's cage by the other birds cage(s) and let them interact and talk to each other. You may be able to notice that they're either curious about each other, or sometimes a bird will pretty much try to attack the other through the cage bars. Birds getting along are always an iffy thing. One of the main things you need to watch when letting them out to play together is that a lovebird can do so much damage to a cockatiel. Some people start out by giving 5-10 minutes of supervised playtime together. If things go well, they extend the time. If things don't go well, they get separated and you try again the next day. But Antari will always need to be watched if he/she is out of the cage and by the cockatiels, as lovebirds are aggressive and cockatiels are generally not.