Posted by PHXue on February 24, 2003 at 17:33:49:
In Reply to: Parrotlet questions posted by zukimud on February 21, 2003 at 18:16:13:
Hi, and congratulations on your new parrotlet! I have 2 of them and they are WONDERFUL birds! How old is your bird? Still young? Was it handfed? It may take a little while to calm your new youngster down, but if you're patient, I know you won't be sorry. Is yours a Pacific parrotlet? Mine are, and they are very aggressive little birds, often compared to amazons. They do tend to be nippy, but I really think this is a way they have of defending themselves, since they're so little. Mine tend to attack first, ask questions later. As soon as they catch sight of movement out of the corner of their eye, their first response it to bite. It seems to help to talk to them, let them know what you're doing. Don't approach them from the side or above, and don't approach quickly. Believe me, they are MUCH quicker than you are. They are FAST!
I do let mine on my shoulder and have had no problem with them. They will still nip and run away simply because they are very social birds and love to be with me. They don't want to get off my shoulder. When I get ready for them to get off, I simply tell them and scoop them off. Yeah, they still trying running to the other side or down my back sometimes, but they know when they have to go back. It's really not much of a problem any more. They're both about 2 and a half now, and are settling down more each day. Still can't cage them together, but that's because my female is bonded to me, wants nothing to do with the male. She's much more snuggly than he is.
Here are a couple of links that might help you.
http://www.parrotletranch.com/parrotletinfo.html This one is Sandee Molenta's site, she's very knowledgeable about parrotlets
also an article by Liz Wilson may help with the biting
http://www3.upatsix.com/liz/articles/biting.html
Hope this helps. Please keep us updated. Glad to see you posting!
