New Parrotlet

Hi Sandee, I have a blue pacific male that is about three and a half months old. I've had him for a little more than two weeks. I have been working with him every day to teach him to step up and I have had some success. My problem is he is very evasive. I know that parrotlets can be aggressive with their cages, which he is, but once I get him out of the cage he still tries to get away from me. His wings are clipped, but he still tries to fly back to his cage and get away from me. I also got him a play stand to spend time out of his cage on, but when I put him on it he just tries to fly back to his cage. I have been putting him on a towel in my lap and just tried spending time with him but he is so aggressive. He is constantly trying to bite me, though when he bites its never really painful. He opens his mouths and spreads his wings and strikes at my fingers or he will just put my finger in his mouth without biting down hard. I try to pet him but he is constantly trying to attack my fingers. My breeder told me that he was hand fed, but I'm starting to wonder if that is truly the case. Can you offer me some advice? Regards, Jon Dear Jon: Thank you for your email. Poor little guy. Sounds to me like he is very, very frightened. Two weeks is not a lot of time for a young bird to adjust (please see my page on my site entitled “Bringing Baby Home”) and get used to all the new and frightening things going on. He has a new cage, new people, new perches, new toys, no siblings and everything familiar to him is gone. You will find lots of tips on that page to deal with his behaviors and how to reassure him that everything is ok. As for him being hand-fed, he absolutely is. Remember that parrotlets are not domesticated like dogs and cats or even cockatiels. They need to be imprinted on people instead of birds. If this bird was not hand-fed, I can pretty much guarantee you would not be able to handle him at all and his biting would be as hard as he could which would break the skin. He also would not let go and would probably scream and beat himself up trying to get away from you. To me, he is simply acting like a normal parrotlet that is trying to adjust to a lot of new things. He needs patience, consistency and understanding. One thing I would do is when you are working with him, take him into an unfamiliar room. He will be much more dependent on you if you are the only thing that is familiar to him. Let him perch on your finger and jump off if he wants. Don’t try and restrain him as that will cause him to bite, usually harder and harder until you let go. Just let him jump off and pick him back up and let him do it until he gets tired. Once he is tired you can work on the Step Up command and doing ‘ladders’ and other things that would be fun for him. I think he is going to be a great pet parrotlet once he settles in, calms down and you can do a little training for him. Remember he is a 4” baby bird that needs to always be on guard to make sure he isn’t eaten or killed. Its nothing personal. Just they way Nature designed these little guys so they could exist in the wild. Best of luck and let me know how it goes! Sincerely yours, Sandee L. Molenda, C.A.S. The Parrotlet Ranch, Owner, www.parrotletranch.com A Chattering Bird Builds No Nest. Camaroonian Phrase Salman,

Parroltet Being Too Loud

Hi Sandee,
Our parrotlet is quiet a lot of the time. Sometimes however when we leave the room and occasionally when we are still in it, he chirps loudly and repeatedly. Someone suggested spraying water at him, I don't know if this is the right thing to do. I know he just wants attention but we can't give it to him all the time. How is the best way to get him to stop? We do play with him in the mornings and evenings for 1/2 hour each and his cage is where he can see us when we are in the living room. Thanks

Dear Jean:

Sorry for the delay in responding. As I had explained I was on vacation and just returned.

What you are describing is a 'location call'. It is the way that an individual bird communicates and keeps track of its flock. This is the way they instinctually behave in order to survive in the wild. After all, it is how Nature designed them to protect them from predators and find food, shelter and mates. It truly is a bird saying "Hey, where are you? I'm over here!" All parrots, not just parrotlets engage in this behavior. If you think parrotlets are loud, you should listen to a sun conure or blue and gold macaw!

Unfortunately, it is one of the instinctive behaviors that may or may not be 'trained' out of a bird. It is part of their biological makeup for survival - just like them being territorial and aggressive when it comes to their cage. It really is up to the owner to change their behavior and their reaction rather than trying to punish a bird to make them stop, which is what happens when you spray them with water.

The best thing to do, is what you are doing. Ignore it. Do not react and that includes not yelling, screaming, spraying them or otherwise engaging them. Birds respond to any kind of attention, both bad and good so even if you punish them, they are still going to do the undesired behavior.

My pet parrotlet once developed a very annoying call. I have no idea where he learned it since he wasn't around other birds but at around 4 or 5 he started making this very shrill, very loud call that sounded a lot like a lovebird (and he had never been around lovebirds). I chose to ignore him but he kept making the noise. I realized that whenever he would make the sound, I would look at him. After all, that is a human characteristic and the minute we made eye contact, he got his reinforcement and kept doing it. I then started to train MYSELF to look down when he made the noise and then physically turn my back on him. As soon as he stopped making the sound, I would then talk to him and praise him in a soothing voice. I was irritating but after 2 days, it worked. He stopped making the sound.

So that is my best advice to you. Ignore the sound. Do not respond verbally, physically or by looking at him. All it does is reinforce the behavior. As soon as he is quiet, praise him. I can't guarantee he'll stop doing it but he probably will do it less often and eventually may stop altogether when he realizes that location call does not work with his flock. But it is important to remember that no only do you give the 'punishment' by ignoring him but that you reward him by acknowledging and engaging him immediately when he stops making the sound.

I know it can be annoying but remember he is not doing it to irritate you. He's a parrot and that's what parrots do. Be grateful that parrotlets are the quietest parrots you can have - a Moluccan cockatoo can literally rattle your teeth they are so loud. Remember, that many times behaviors that work to insure survival of the species are not desired in a captive pet situation but that is the burden that we must bear not the bird. The bird didn't ask to be a pet so we must learn to adapt ourselves as well as training our bird in order for everyone to live in harmony.

Hope this helps and best of luck!

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.
Camaroonian Phrase

Teaching Baby Parrotlets

9 days ago we bought a pair of (sister) 5 week old hand fed Pacific Parrotlets from a breeder. We have them in one 18x24x16 cage. They are now both weaned and they appear very bonded to each other. We are now beginning finger training. One of the birds is taking to it pretty well while the other will have no part of it. Should we separate the two now and have them in individual cages? Would this make training easier? They are 6 weeks old now. Thank you!

Barry

Dear Barry:

Thank you for your email. I think you need to slow down a little bit with these babies. After all, they are truly just a little bit older than ‘infants’. Most people do not sell unweaned birds and your birds need time to adjust and recoup from the stress of a) being sold before they are weaned b) being in a new household and c) new food, new cage, new people, new toys, new everything. The amount of stress these youngsters are going through is tremendous and they are truly just baby babies. Trying to teach these guys anything at this stage, especially something like stepping up is something you have do very slowly and over time. To put this in perspective, its like trying to teach a toddler to ride a bike. While you can certainly handle the birds and start working on doing ladders and step ups, I wouldn’t start formerly trying to train these guys until they are least 8 weeks old and even then its going to take a lot of time, patience and work on your part. I don’t even sell my birds until they are at least 7 weeks of age so you can see these birds are just too young for what you expect.

To get back to your question, the cage you describe is not big enough for two parrotlets. I don’t recommend anything smaller than 18” x 18” x18” for a single bird. Certainly this cage is too small for two and eventually you are going to start having issues with territorialism and aggression. “Share’ is generally not a word in most parrotlet’s vocabulary and as they mature, one will probably become dominant and controlling over the other. The dominant bird will often not allow the other to perch, eat, play or sleep so you will need to watch these birds as they mature to make sure there isn’t going to be problems. Parrotlets can be very combative and aggressive and it is how Nature designed them to survive in very harsh conditions. In the wild, they nest up to 300 yards away from other parrotlets and they will defend their nest (or in this case, cage) almost to the death from other animals including predators that eat them. If they were my birds, I would simply buy another cage of the appropriate size and put the other bird in that. They can still chirp and chatter to one another and interact together on neutral territory under supervision but I wouldn’t spend a lot of money on a bigger cage with the hopes they can live together happily ever after.

I hope this helps and best of luck with your new parrotlets!

Sincerely yours,

Sandee L. Molenda, C.A.S.
Secretary, International Parrotlet Society