First Time Lovebird Owner With A Few Questions

[krwlng]

hi guys

i got 6 month untamed Mali from the pet store about 3 weeks back. She's 6 months old according to the store. I have no idea if she's a female but because my duaghter wanted the name Mali, we're assuming she's female :)
After about 2 days, she got comfortable in her cage and has been eating and drinking well. Only odd thing i noticed is that she doesnt seem to like playing with her toys. She's got a swing set, and multi-level chew toy and one of those mirrors with a perch and chew toy attached. She only plays with them probably an hour in total during the whole day. But other than that, she's doing great. She loves her spray bottle baths everyday as well. I know for a fact that she is afraid of hands. She runs away everytime my hand is close. very much still practicing social distancing :)

About 2 weeks back, i got another 6 week old handfed baby from a breeder. This guy we named Blue and he's great. Handfeeding him is easy and he loves to play/explore my hands. Even started to wean by feeding some small seeds and crushed up pellets.

I did not put the 2 together in a cage..however, i have put the 2 cages close together so they can see each other. The only time they get to interact is during what i call "communal feeding" when i handfeed Blue and let Mali out of her cage. I leave a few seeds close to where i feed Blue and Mali joins in the feeding session. After Blue finishes her syringe, he joins Mali in consuming the seeds.

I have a few questions that i could use help with.

1. i am totally OK with Mali not being comfortable with me as long as she eats,drinks and is happy. but based on my experiences this far, do you guys think that she will ever warm up to me? The only time i get to sneak in some skrtiches is when she is busy attacking the seeds but runs away the moment she realises that my finger is on her.
2. Blue seems to like bullying Mali. whenever they are together, he is always trying to bite her neck or they get into a beak fight. Isit too soon to say if they do not like each other and wont play nice in the same cage?

thanks guys!

[linda040899]

Hi and congratulations on becoming a human slave to 2 Lovebirds! They are small parrots with huge personalities and, once they become comfortable with their new surroundings, have a knack for getting into anything and everything!

First I'm going to address Mali. Based on your description of how they interact with each other, my guess is that you have 2 females. They beak spar or get into squabbles and that's typical of females. Two males are usually happy campers together and a male/female pair usually get along very well together once they get to know each other. Will that be likely to change? Nope. They will always have to have their own cages and be supervised when out of their cages at the same time. Make no mistake about it. Those squabbles can turn deadly and the dominant bird, Blue, could easily kill Mali.

You say you got Mali from a pet shop and she may have been friendly at one point, but most pet shops don't pay enough attention to their birds, particularly lovebirds, so they revert back to being wild. Mali will eventually learn to trust you (by experience) and you will see that her interactions with you will change but that simply takes time and more interaction. I would remove the toy with the mirror. Lovebirds form strong bonds with whoever/whatever they like and it's very easy for them to bond to a reflection in a mirror that is not real. As for not playing with toys, Mali simply doesn't know how to play. With my lovebirds, favorite toys are swings and bells. When getting bells, this is the kind I use for all of mine: https://www.amazon.com/Stainless-Hanging-Parakeet-Cockatiel-African/dp/B07Q5T1CLH/ref=sr_1_9?dchild=1&keywords=bell+for+parrots&qid=1628155640&sr=8-9 For lovebirds, I would get a small size one so that it's not overwhelming. The clapper on this particular bell is up inside the tube and cannot be removed and swallowed. I toys that I buy have other kinds of bells attached, I remove them or just remove the clapper.

Lovebirds are native to Africa and they have a higher dietary fat requirement to remain healthy. This is true of all African species. I have several African Greys and they need their sunflower seed. Pellets are typically low fat so I don't use many. Some seed mixes contain a few pellets and that's OK but my own avian vet does not recommend an all pelleted diet for Lovebirds. Her recommendation is no more than 20%. I use even less and I have several Lovebirds who are in their late teens, age-wise.

I would love to see pictures of Mali and Blue. I may be able to tell you more about them if you choose to share. To post pictures here, upload them to an online storage site such as Imgur and copy/paste the image URL here.

Hope this is helpful.

[krwlng]

Hi and congratulations on becoming a human slave to 2 Lovebirds! They are small parrots with huge personalities and, once they become comfortable with their new surroundings, have a knack for getting into anything and everything!

First I'm going to address Mali. Based on your description of how they interact with each other, my guess is that you have 2 females. They beak spar or get into squabbles and that's typical of females. Two males are usually happy campers together and a male/female pair usually get along very well together once they get to know each other. Will that be likely to change? Nope. They will always have to have their own cages and be supervised when out of their cages at the same time. Make no mistake about it. Those squabbles can turn deadly and the dominant bird, Blue, could easily kill Mali.

You say you got Mali from a pet shop and she may have been friendly at one point, but most pet shops don't pay enough attention to their birds, particularly lovebirds, so they revert back to being wild. Mali will eventually learn to trust you (by experience) and you will see that her interactions with you will change but that simply takes time and more interaction. I would remove the toy with the mirror. Lovebirds form strong bonds with whoever/whatever they like and it's very easy for them to bond to a reflection in a mirror that is not real. As for not playing with toys, Mali simply doesn't know how to play. With my lovebirds, favorite toys are swings and bells. When getting bells, this is the kind I use for all of mine: https://www.amazon.com/Stainless-Hanging-Parakeet-Cockatiel-African/dp/B07Q5T1CLH/ref=sr_1_9?dchild=1&keywords=bell+for+parrots&qid=1628155640&sr=8-9 For lovebirds, I would get a small size one so that it's not overwhelming. The clapper on this particular bell is up inside the tube and cannot be removed and swallowed. I toys that I buy have other kinds of bells attached, I remove them or just remove the clapper.

Lovebirds are native to Africa and they have a higher dietary fat requirement to remain healthy. This is true of all African species. I have several African Greys and they need their sunflower seed. Pellets are typically low fat so I don't use many. Some seed mixes contain a few pellets and that's OK but my own avian vet does not recommend an all pelleted diet for Lovebirds. Her recommendation is no more than 20%. I use even less and I have several Lovebirds who are in their late teens, age-wise.

I would love to see pictures of Mali and Blue. I may be able to tell you more about them if you choose to share. To post pictures here, upload them to an online storage site such as Imgur and copy/paste the image URL here.

Hope this is helpful.

Hi Linda!
Thank you so much for your reply.
I must say that its quite a bummber that there's a possibility that they are both females but I'll get over it.
I've included a couple of pictures below of the 2 rowdy girls. Mali is the one on the swing and Blue is the wet girl!
While I have you, I have a few more questions.

I notice that Mali really likes to scream and screetch whenever I am not beside her cage. I feel thats weird because she doesnt like me touching her..yet she wants me to be near her cage?
She also makes this weird rapid loud machine gun calls which I have never heard of or found anything about on the internet. Would you have any idea what they could mean?

https://imgur.com/a/84mN8me

[linda040899]

I notice that Mali really likes to scream and screetch whenever I am not beside her cage. I feel thats weird because she doesn't like me touching her..yet she wants me to be near her cage?
The screaming/screeches are contact calls. She may not want you to touch her, but she wants to know where you are when she can't see you. Her trust hasn't gotten as far as letting you touch her but you mean food and water for her survival. Try calling back to her so she knows you are around, just out of sight. She will continue to call for you but your response will be reassuring. I normally use the same repeat contact call with mine. I have a Tinmeh African Grey (sub species) who will call out "Where's Kiwi (his name for me)." My response is "Where's Harley (his name)" and he's happy with that.

It appears to me that you have 2 Eye-ring species of Lovebird. Mali looks like a young Medium Blue Fischer's. Blue appears to be a Violet Masked Lovebird. If I'm correct, if they were to breed, they would produce hybrid eye-ring babies that could, in turn, produce more hybrid offspring. If both are female, it's a good thing in that respect.

The odd sound that Mali makes is a mimic of something she probably heard and likes.

You have 2 very, very pretty lovebirds!