Parrotlets? Quick Question.

[NickyBeth]

Quick question for you guys. My daughter takes Karate at a nearby studio, which is next to a 'Bird/Fish Pet Shop'.

They have gorgeous birds in there, but two parrotlets I saw struck a question in the back of my mind.

Firstly, they are TINY! I had thought that Parrotlets were bigger than Lovies, but me guesses me was wrong on that one. Anywho, there is an albino one and a yellow with with blue coloring in the same cage together. I know for a fact that the albino one was in the cage first, as the yellow one is a newer recent addition. I was peering at the coloring of the yellow one yesterday and I noticed that on the birdie's right foot -- there are no toenails! I checked for signs of agression -- there appears to be no bleeding or anything like that. It almost looks as though either the birdie was born with no toenails (but can perch just fine) or there was some cage aggression perhaps when the birdie was younger.

Do parrotlets go through this too, like lovies? I did mention it to the store owner -- and they said they would "look into it."

[linda040899]

Yes, Parrotlets are the smallest of the Psittacines. They are members of the Amazon family.

If I had to make an uneducated guess, the bird lost the nails on his right foot in the nest. He was either hatched without them or one of the parent removed them. Parrotlets can be very aggressive and most don't take kindly to nest box checks.

This bird should do just fine without the nails, as he's probably never had them. It might be a bargaining point with the pet shop if you're interested in adding a flock member.