Rescuing a Parrotlet…pick up tomorrow

[beachbug2]

Hello!

I am rescuing a Blue Pacific Parrotlet tomorrow…he is about 14 months old. I am told he is cage aggressive, but a sweet boy when he is away from him cage.

Just looking for any advice on how to best help him get adapted to his new home and surroundings.

Also looking for advice on how to work with him on his cage aggressiveness.

Thank you for any help you can give me.

[Wolf]

I would suggest that you spend your time on taming and socializing with him. You are bringing him into a new environment and you are a new person and for him all things are strange and new.

To start with watch him when you enter his room for signs of nervousness. As soon as you see him getting nervous, stop and don't approach any closer. At this point start talking to him in a calm voice and to take from the advice of another, use a lot of words of praise such as you will be using with him on a regular basis. I would make this session last for about 15 minutes. I would do this at least 3 times per day, more if you can as the more time that you devote to this the faster the progress will be. Always, at the beginning of each session move as close as he will accept without getting nervous. and since this process is not going to be completed in one day, you will also want to allow him time out of his cage to fly and explore and exercise. Do this towards evening as he will either return to his cage, on his own, by dark or al least be easier to find and catch after dark to put in his cage. If he didn't go into his cage himself, you will want to use a good flashlight to locate and return him to his cage. You keep the beam of the flashlight moving until you locate him and then turn it off as you approach, turning it on briefly so that you can get to him safely without disturbing him. do not use the main light in the room for this or you will wake him and he may move and be harder to catch.
Once you are able to approach all the way to the cage, you can start offering the occasional treat while you are talking to him. once he will come to you, in the cage, to take the treat from you, then you will be able to begin target training him.
To find out what food to use as a treat, place several food items that you know he eats, in a dish and note what food he eats first and what order he eats the rest of these items. Do this 3 to 4 times and by looking at you notes you will see what he prefers the most, that is your best treat. You can do this while doing the taming sessions above.
There is a possibility that due to the new environment and with the proper taming and socialization, that his cage aggression will be a thing of the past. But I would not worry about it until you have completed the taming and see if it starts to become a problem again.

[beachbug2]

Thank you!

Since he is 14 months old, will he be pretty set in his ways or can training work on a parrotlet of this age?

I ask because I wonder if he would be the best option? I also have the option of purchasing a 6month old hand fed baby.

Just wondering which you feel would be a better choice.

[Wolf]

You should have no problem in the training department as parrots learn their whole life. Please take the one that needs rescue. By the way where do you live, country or state is all I am asking for, I just get curious.

[beachbug2]

I am in Arizona, USA.

Can I keep him in the same room as my parakeet? Or will they bond with each other too much?

The current owner says that they have had him for about a year, but he was always cage aggressive and didn't like to come out. They said when they go get him out and away from his cage he is sweet.

We keep the parakeet's cage open and she comes in and out and is very playful. Is it ok to continue to leave her door open all the time? Could there be an issue with the two of them?

[Wolf]

I don't think that cross species bonding should be much of a problem, I would be a bit concerned about the budgie landing on the parrotlets cage at least until I was absolutely sure that the parrotlet would not bite the budgies toes. I think that after a quarantine period of 30 days that this would most likely be the only problem, but I don't know for sure. Someone with more experience with these will need to answer.

[Pajarita]

A word of caution, plets are not highly trainable birds. They are too flighty and not as imprinted to humans as the larger species so they are not only not eager to please their human, they also revert very easily to 'wild' ways. And it doesn't matter the age, this is true of all of them. You can work with his cage aggression but, in truth, this is pretty standard in them (and most of the little species) and easy to take care of (all you have to do is just open the door and let him out by himself instead of putting your hand inside the cage). Some birds are so used to their cage (or they had bad experiences outside the cage -like people netting them or grabbing, for example) that they become cage-bound (a real bad thing for a bird) but even the worst cases come out given enough time and incentive (put a couple of perches outside his cage, one of them next to the door and put a treat and a toy on the top).