Two Cages for A Pet Parrotlet

Sandee-

I am planning to bring a parrotlet home in the next year and am learning as much as I can.

I have a question – I am trying to decide the best place for the cage. I was going to put it in the family room, where the family mostly spends time, so he would always be ‘part of things.’ But now I’m rethinking this, because my husband and kids tend to be night owls, and they hang out in the family room late at night watching TV and generally making noise. I know parrotlets need to be on a 12 hour light/ 12 hour dark schedule. Would it work to have two cages, one in family room for daytime, and another upstairs for sleeping? Or are parrotlets too territorial about their cages for this to work? At least there would be one member of the family I could put to bed at a decent hour 

Kathleen

Dear Kathleen:

Thank you for your email. I truly LOLed when I saw your last sentence. At least with the birds we have somewhat more control over their behavior.

You have great instincts about birds Kathleen. I do recommend that pet parrotlets be kept in a quiet place in a busy room that has a lot of family activities. However, there is also the problem of keeping them awake too many hours because of the reason you mention…people staying up late and/or getting up early. Therefore, I do recommend that you have two cages. A daytime cage that is roomy, filled with toys and the bird can enjoy being part of the family. But you can also have a smaller ‘sleeping’ cage that the parrotlet can go to sleep in when its ‘night, night’ time. This way everyone will be happy – the family can stay up as late as they want (lucky you) and the bird can still get the much need beauty sleep of 12 hours a night.

I hope this helps and good luck with the family, I mean the bird…..:)

Sincerely yours,

Sandee L. Molenda, C.A.S.
The Parrotlet Ranch, Owner, www.parrotletranch.com
Join the International Parrotlet Society, – the World’s Largest and Oldest Parrotlet Organization www.internationalparrotletsociety.org
A Chattering Bird Builds No Nest.
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