forum-perroquet.com

[rvijay]

Hello all:

I am from Montreal. I have had pet birds for 9 years almost now. I have
one Budgie, one conure and a cockatiel and live in a fairly small apartment.
About two months ago I got a Lovebird called Urrree from a pet shop. Initially
Urrree was ok but about two weeks ago slowly started bonding more with me and
also started attacking my other birds. I ignored this and last week, she
attacked and broke the leg of my Budgie. I had to take budgie to Vet to get
fracture strap and budgie is healing now and far better. I was very disappointed
with Urrree and decided to adopt Urrree away on the spot at the Vet's Office.
Urrree was adopted out fast and now I deeply regret that I didn't try other
remedial measures.

Here are my mistakes, comments/suggestions are welcome from all. Thanks in
advance.

I was totally ignorant and idiotic to be honest with myself in reflection:
1. I was warned at the store.
2. I saw the signs of disturbance.
3. Assumed LBs to be like budgies.
4. Ignored problem until it became a crisis.
5. Even then didn't learn.
6. Delayed going to Vet, in a state of shock and seek support online
7. Took LB and hurt budgie in same, tiny travel cage to vet.
8. The LB starts attacking the budgie in the Vet's office when
I go to buy a snack.
9. Vet tech has to drop everything, other clients and separate the birds.
10. They see I am totally ignorant aout LBs and incapable of keeping it.
11. I am also willing to adopt it out.

So they take prompt action on my clearance.

12. Most VITAL of all, I didn't appreciate enough my LBs bonding/love to me.

I did as much errors as possible inspite of being here and having had birds
since 2001. Can't blame them. This is good but bitter lesson and I will learn as
much as possible from this. Don't want this repeating again. Infact I will not
be surprised if the staff are pissed off with me.

I have ordered books on parrot behaviour/Love Birds for 80 bucks and hope to learn from them. This is worth it considering the time lost due to stress/vet bills etc.,

Vet Office has placed Urrree with a home that has just another LB. If it doesn't
work out then they will contact me again.

Comments/support welcome from all. Thanks in advance.

My budgie, tiel, conure are well bonded and free flying in my small apt./room.
They can do what they want, when they want. They are very responsible. Had Urrree like that and it was a mistake.

Urrree seemed to have a strong purpose, to help my birds forget Moon's death, to
force me to learn more about pet bird issues/LBs/Vet Office and to help another
lonely LB. I will always pray for Urrree and for her present human/bird companion(s).

Regards to all,

Vijay

[invité1]

Hi Vijay!

AS this is a french forum, I guess our topic will be removed soon.

Yes, lovebirds do have quite a character!! They are known to attack other birds and to be hard to place with other bird species.

Lovebirds also require more love/education than other tiny birds, I find. They have a hard and sharp beck and can make you understand when they are mad.

You have placed your Lovebird in adoption. What kind of help are you looking for at this point? What can we help with?

[rvijay]

I wish to learn more about love bird problems. This info. is expected to assist further in the future with other birds.

[invité1]

Oh!

Can you read french? There is a section here specifically for species information.

Otherwise, generally:
- We don't tend to put two species together in the same cage. Some can get around in the same room, but a lot of people on this forum have had accidents where one bird attacks another.

- If the bird is tammed at first, it helps. A lot of "beginners" if I would say, try to reproduce lovebird and sell the babies because they think they will make money. MANY, MANY of those birds get sold afterwards and people like you can end up with a really unfriendly bird just because that bird has never been manipulated by humains. To reabilitate those birds that have been caged all their life requires a good knowledge of parrots in general.

- Also, a female can be more defensive because of her mother instincts.

I don't know what else to say

[rvijay]

[rvijay]

[Anne-Lise]

[rvijay]

[Anne-Lise]

[smartine57]

Obviously you did not do your homework before buying lovebirds. It is a well known fact that lovebirds are extremely territorial. It is their nature and not much that can be done about it. As you well know, budgies are gregarious and cockatiels are really easy going birds. You wrongly supposed that the little feuds you had witnessed with your other birds would end the same with Urree, it was not so.

Lovebirds often attack other birds, especially smaller birds like budgies et mostly on the legs. Sometimes they cut them off completely. Even if you keep only lovebirds, they can and will often attack the others. As a matter a fact, it is often advised to have 3 pairs instead of two, as not to create rival bands.

Being territorial is not a problem, it's a characteristic of some species. Some birds are territorial and some birds are not. You can read all the books you want, it won't change a thing.

One thing is for sure, you could have had an easy going lovebird, they exist, and none of this would have happenend. The fact that you have a conure which gets along with the rest of your gang is also considered unusual. Be happy you got this one right.

[rvijay]

[rvijay]

[rvijay]

It is also quite amazing/embaressing as I spent good time on www.mytoos.com several years ago, was assisted by Jerry himself via posts several times and learned about the challenges of having larger parrots. So, I am quite familiar with large parrot needs/demands/behaviour problems etc., I also know how pet birds are adopted out for issues.

Having known all this information gathered over 9 years or so, for me to repeat the VERY SAME mistakes over a tiny lovebird and hurting others in this process is very amazing/out of the world to say the least. Wowww !!

The other thing is that animal/pet negligence can be repeated in other areas of life. So it is vital to learn from this positively.