New Senegal Intro

[ortizangel11471]

Hello everyone,
I have a male and female Senegal and I can tell they don't like each other they are housed in separate cages and I want them to get along. Any recommendations

[Pajarita]

Hi and welcome to the forum. We would be more than happy to help you but we need more info. How old are they? How long have you had them? Did they come from the same breeder or household (if you adopted them)? If they come from the same breeder, are they related? What is their light schedule? What is their diet? Are they flighted or clipped? Are they allowed to come out of their cages at the same time? If so, what do they do that makes you think they don't like each other? (mind you, I am not doubting your word, I just want to know if it's just a matter of the female playing 'hard to get' or if it's real animosity).

[ortizangel11471]

Hello and thank you for replying. So they do not come from the same breeder. They were both adopted first my male and now female. One is 7years old and the other is 9 the male. When it comes to being flighted none of them know how to fly. As for light schedule they are out for 7 hours in the open and then the rest indoors. There diet is consisting of fruit and veggies and various seeds as well. They both come out but right now when I leave I lock them up and put them next to each other when I am not there. The reason I think they dislike each other is because the female always wants to bit the male. They are both tame and super sweet but together the female wants to fight by biting. I feel bad for my male because he is so gentle

[Pajarita]

You did not say how long you've had them and that info is essential for the simple reason that, when parrots do not fall in love at first sight, it takes time for the female to accept the male so it might just be a matter of you not waiting long enough.

Now, when you say that you feed seeds, I hope you don't mean free-fed because that would be bad for their health. Also, the light schedule is not solar and that's bad for their health and for bonding to each other (a bird with a screwed up endocrine system does not behave normally). It's also dangerous for you because an overly hormonal male senegal can be SUPER aggressive (and I am talking from personal experience, mind you), especially if he is even more sexually frustrated than a single bird could be by having a female that is not accepting him. You need to review this and correct the situation.

The fact that the male is sweet to the female and the female responds by trying to bite him is normal. It's always the female that, ultimately, decides what the relationship will be with the male -even in species where the males are dominant. So don't worry about that UNLESS she attacks him when you will have to intervene (she will fly to him and grabbing him with her feet roll around on the floor trying to bite him). If this happens, be very careful and do not try to separate them with your bare hands because you will get bit -BADLY (these little birds have POWERFUL bites!), throw a towel over them and grabbing the 'bundle' separate the two by wrapping one of them (is going to be the female because she will be the aggressor) and put her in her cage for five minutes.

My Zoey Senegal did not like Sweetpea Senegal for a long time (a couple of years, maybe?). He tried and tried but she would reject him until, eventually, she started accepting his presence, then she allowed him to perch on the same spot she was (at the beginning, he couldn't even be near her without her scaring him away). I started by putting their cages where they could see and hear one another but not close. Then I put the cages side by side. All this time, I was letting them out to fly together (best time to do this is noon, the natural 'calm' time of the day for parrots)... Eventually, she started accepting his presence and made friends with him - when that happened, I put them both in her cage (a VERY large one) starting with 5 minutes at a time for days and days, then 10 minutes and so on and so forth until they got used to being together but it still took a long time before I allowed to spend the night in the same cage. Now, they are friends but still not mate-bonded which is perfectly fine with me as I don't want them to breed.