Paquita and Rajah: A Love Story ?

[patti]

I'm sorry to hear about the recent developments. poor babies. but i have enjoyed reading the story. i think it will help me when i have to go through this process with my own.

[Wolf]

They are currently side by side, although in separate cages until I can build them a nest box and cut a hole in Keeta's new cage to hang it at. I figured that this had something to do with breeding behavior and have learned a couple of thing about this that I did not know. I had a pair of budgies next to them and they could see each other which it seems is not acceptable at least if it were another pair of parrotlets and can incite the male into attacking and even killing his mate. Also it seems that there are two species of parrotlets that do not have a regular breeding cycle and can mate at any time of the year and the celestial parrotlet is one of these. So it will still be a few more days before I let them come back together to see how things go as I need to build them a nest box that I can check and I need to make a solid cover for the side of either Keeta's cage or the budgies cage and install them. But will give them another chance at parrotlet housekeeping as soon as possible.

[patti]

I guess situations like these can remind us that no matter how wonderful we are at taking care of our birds, captivity is always going to be unnatural for them.

Thank you for the update.

[Wolf]

I finished the nest box and installed it in Keeta's cage complete with bedding, a couple of weeks ago. She looked at it very briefly and has ignored it every since that time. I made a plywood blind for one side of their cage, installed it and then moved Rajah back in with Keeta.
They both appeared to be happy to be back together and it only took them about 2 or 3 minutes before Rajah was feeding Keeta. In about 5 minutes they mated and when Keeta tried to preen Rajah, he started pecking at her head, hard. I interfered with that quickly, but I did not separate them again.
I am concerned about this and will not leave them unattended while they are together. This causes me to wonder about the breeding practices of wherever it was that he was a breeder bird at. Did they place them together for mating and then separate them from each other or what.
The only way I stand a chance of finding out is to go through Pajarita and see if she can learn anything about this as she is the one who found him for us.

[Wolf]

I kept a very close watch on Keeta and Rajah, and ended up having to separate them again in less than an hour because Rajah started picking on Keeta again.
I am not sure what to do at this point.

[liz]

Makes you want to beat your head against a wall, huh?

I can't even imagine what goes through their little bird brains. I hope it does not end up like Curley and Sunny. Curley turned into a wife beater after they were together for many years. Sunny took on the behavior of a battered wife. She loved him and accepted the beatings as normal. When I separated them she called to him all the time. I had to rehome her to a human with a male cockatiel who thought she was wonderful.
When I got another female Curley treated her lovingly.
I hope their love story does not come to that.

[Wolf]

Well I am not yet ready to give up on them, but it does appear to me that at least for a while that they are separated.
Yes, she hunkered down and put up no defense when he attacked her, but since it happened the first time, I was watching for it and pulled him back out. One of the other things that I have learned about these particular parrotlets is that sometimes they are color biased, little bigots!. If he was with a female that he mate bonded with at some point, he may never accept another female who is not of the same color.
I am doing all that I know to do to set up everything to help them hit it off, but there are some areas in any relationship that no one and nothing but what is in their own heart and mind can do to help.
At the very worst they will be next door neighbors and at least they will have someone of their own species to talk to. That is the best that I can do at this time.

[liz]

If she is not constantly calling him then that would be good. It is a shame that they do not take the accept what you wanted for them.

[Wolf]

While it would have been more ideal for me if they had worked out without these attacks, they know far more about what they want than I. Lots of arrainged marriages have worked and lots did not. All that I want for either of them is for them to be happy.