questions: female parrotlets

[delsolarie]

Hi all,
A friend of mine is giving me her two female parrotlets. They are sisters and have been together for 2 years in a budgie cage. I am just wondering what to do with them really so I have a few questions.

We have an aviary approx. 10x11x10 feet with cockatiels, budgies, canaries, finch, ringneck doves, diamond doves and a lone button quail (can't find him a friend). Can the parrotlets live peacefully with these birds or will they go around and harrass everyone and pull apart the nests like my lovebirds attempted to do?

Secondly, at their age, is it possible to pair them up with mates? If so, how would this be done?

Thanks in advance for any advice!

[icechestlake]

Wow...you certainly have a lot of birds. Anyone who loves birds as much as you do will certainly give these birds a great home.
Best of luck.

[Cindy215]

Originally Posted by delsolarie

Hi all,
A friend of mine is giving me her two female parrotlets. They are sisters and have been together for 2 years in a budgie cage. I am just wondering what to do with them really so I have a few questions.

We have an aviary approx. 10x11x10 feet with cockatiels, budgies, canaries, finch, ringneck doves, diamond doves and a lone button quail (can't find him a friend). Can the parrotlets live peacefully with these birds or will they go around and harrass everyone and pull apart the nests like my lovebirds attempted to do?

Secondly, at their age, is it possible to pair them up with mates? If so, how would this be done?

Thanks in advance for any advice!

NO the Parrotlets definitely cannot be housed with any other birds. AND really, they shouldnt be in sight distance of any other birds. Parrotlets have a wierd aspect when they see other birds especially in twos they get nuts and do mate aggression against their own cage mate. Parrotlets can kill or seriously injure their own mate even siblings and other birds no matter what the size, too.

Yes they can be paired up CAUTIOUSLY and in a very large cage. Read the other thread called ADVISE on the Parrotlet forum to see how to do it best. By Pado.

Parrotlets have a bad reputation that they have to be kept singly but this makes no sense since all parrots are wired for constant companionship however they HAVE this reputation for good reason. Usually people dont pay attention to body language and giving at least TWELVE hours dark sleep year round and also a BIG cage so if there is a disagreement they can escape each other. They should be flighted too, not clipped.

It's physically and emotionally exhausting for clipped ones to constantly have to walk everywhere and they have a high metabolism and need to burn off steam. Also they cannot escape any aggression if they are clipped since it's virtually impossible to RUN fast enough away and BACKWARDS since they have to keep their eye on the aggressor. With wings they just take a little six inch flight to the side and all is well.

I'm using aggression loosly. Not really aggression but if they are sleep deprived (most are) they are cranky, and then if one makes a little mistake in judgement,,,,say for example preening a sensitive feather....the other cranky one gives a warning nip then the OTHER cranky one misunderstands and you have a fight. Also food fights and toy fights. You need to give BIG plates of food not little bowls they have to keep dipping their heads in to eat at the same time. It's all on the "ADVISE" thread.....

[delsolarie]

Thanks icechestlake - I love animals in general :)

and thanks Cindy - I figured they wouldn't be able to go in the aviary, I just thought I'd ask. Thanks for referring me to the other thread, I will definitely check it out! You've been very helpful :)

[kaloka]

We made the mistake of 'adopting' a parrotlet when we already had a cockatiel. We questioned several breeders/ sellers and they all told us to monitor them because the tiels are so sweet and the parrotlets don't know what 'sharing' means. It is a challenge to keep these two separate all the time, especially when it's just me at home. Love them both but never again! Tiels are sweet birds and parrotlets are bullies with other birds- but she's a sweetheart to me and sometimes to my husband and others.

[Anglepepper]

I would keep them in a seperate cage from any other bird.. I have 2 pairs and they are bullies..

Carol