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[puttana]

I decided to keep busy at work today researching what type (types) my new lovebird could be. She was supposed to be a peachface, but something tells me she isn't, even under generous peachface typing...

I am starting to think that she may be a "lilian's lovebird", which is a nice thought, because I just read somewhere that the youngsters are duller

Comments

[kily07]

You should keep in mind that they may never get along too.
I have 2 lovebirds and they get along but for medical reasons (they have a different diet) I have to keep them in separate cages so my room ended up looking like this:



Not really what I had planned when I got a second lovebird... but hey, as long as they're happy :)

[puttana]

aww, boo! see when I first brought Rosie home the were spoiling for a fight, from their respective cages. then when they were finally allowed to mingle it went down and Rosie gave Zeppy a good what-for. Since then rosie has never started anything with Zeppy, I think she actually likes him and at the least understand the setriment of pissing off mommy's favourite (not that she's a saint, I think she's gunning to kill my lamed 'tiel Joe).

But either Zeppy's pride got hurt, or he legitimately doesn't want another bird coming in and messing up his system (which is ironic since I only brought her into our home as a companion for him...)

Their diets are the same (seeds being switched to pellets). It's just that whenever I'm not watching Zeppy sits and waits, stalking the food dish, then inevitably he manages to force her to fight and she gets him good (like it can be scary) she goes back to acting like nothing happened, he turns into a fluffball cracking his beak in a corner garnering the courage to attempt another strike, even outside of the cage (where they spend all their time) he sees where her favourite haunts are (not that she has many yet) and then whenever she vacates them he goes and takes them over, like, again, he's trying to force her hand...

It's kinda annoying, and the Vet saw Zeppy's injuries and kept saying that they were "cannabilistic" and "the sign that she meant business" and she in no way believes that Rosie's actually really gentle...

(I should have just made this into another post, huh?)

[kily07]

That sounds like they definitely need supervision when they're out together :)
Lovebirds can bite toes off and do some serious damage when pissed off so you should probably take things slow.
Do they both have clean bills of health?

[kily07]

(By clean bills of health I meant -- tested negative for things like PBFD, Polyoma, Psittacosis)

[puttana]

Yeah, they're both clean, and outside of the cage they are both able to get away easily, which is an extra reason I encourage them to stay outside of the cage when I'm at home.

[bloolark]

It sounds like you've gone WAY too far too fast on the introductions.

Lovebirds are extremely cute, extremely social, and tend to be fairly aggressive to other birds. You'll need a long (and probably longer now that they've fought) time to get them used to each other.

http://community.livejournal.com/parrot_lovers/3651269.html goes into some details on how I got my peach faced lovebird to get along well with my conures.

In the meantime, that cage is a major risk. I'd stop by some pet store and buy a small, cheap square cage ASAP.

[bloolark]

Another thing to keep in mind -- I have heard several stories of parrots not accepting hybrids, and/or picking on them more. It's not to say that they can't, but it's one of those things that you should probably keep in mind. This may be a situation in which they will never get along, and you will have to consider what you'll do in that case.

[puttana]

this is a really naive question, but, how do they know that the other bird is a hybrid?

[bloolark]

http://scienceblogs.com/grrlscientist/2007/12/lovebird_behavior_nature_or_nu.php is probably part of it.

Hybrid parrots, in general, are known for having peculiar behavioral issues, which is one of the main reasons that a lot of people (myself included) are so strongly against breeding them.