Please help!

[Rai]

My parents gave me two beautiful Fisher lovies yesterday for Christmas. Unfortunately whilst they were transfering them to the cage, one managed to fly head-first into a wall and has subsequentley died. :cry: I am worried that about the remaining bird. He is very,very quiet, he does not like to be handled at all and will only eat bird seed and not the lovely fresh carrots and brocolli i've prepared. These are my first lovies so I do not know if this is normal behaviour or if he is distressed at the loss of his partner, if so, is there anything i can do to help him. I am also worried that these may be existing problems possibly caused by the breeder. My parents also think that we should get him a new partner as soon as the shop opens, and as I work quite long hours I am inclined to agree, but would like some advice.

[Elle]

Hello Rai,

I am sorryto hear that one of your new bird died while attempting to transfer him to a new cage.
It is normal for your remaining bird to mourn the loss of his companion. And the arrival to a new home can be very stressfull. Your new lovebird will need a few days to adapt to it's new environment. There are a lot of things that happen oer the last 24 hours and I would say it would be expected that the poor little bird is quiet.
As far as eating the veggies and carrots you have prepared for him, it may take a few weeks before he tries it, unless it was part of his diet in the past.
Right now, as long as he is eating and drinking, I would not force it. Again, there are a lot of events that happened over the last 24 hours!
As far as rushing out and getting a replacement mate, I would personally hold on to that. First, you would need to quarantine your new bird if he comes from another source then the breeder. Second, you cannot simply put them in the same cage without proper introdution. It may take weeks before they can coexist in the same cage. And some lovebirds may never get along well enough to share the same cage.

I think, at this time, what I would do in your situation is give my new lovebird a few days to settle in. I would sit by the cage and talk to him so he doesn't feel so isolated. Pay attention to him without handling him. My blue fisher was not take when got her but she responded very well to voice and noises. It is a great start.

If there is no improvement in 3-4 days, I would bring him to the vet for a check up. It would be a good thing to do regardless.

Regards,

[bellarains]

Hi Rai,

I am so sorry you lost your little one. I am sure your other bird is upset over the loss of it's mate, and if you can spend a little extra time just sitting by his/her cage talking to him/her it will help a bit.

I am going to post a link here for the birdie bread recipe. It is very easy to make, and freezes well for future meals, it also includes some veggies, so your new fid(feathered kid) will have them in his/her diet.

http://www.lovebirdsplus.com/community/showthread.php?t=190

As for getting another lovie, unless the shop has another fisher that was housed with your exsisting bird, your bird may or may not accept another bird. If you do decide to get another lovebird for a mate/buddy you will need to get a Fisher's as you don't want to mix mutations.

You will want to contact an avian vet to have a well bird check up ASAP. If you don't already have one, there is a link in the Lovebird Resource Library to help find one in your area.

I'm glad you have found the board. We will do our best to answer all questions to help you learn to care for your little one. Lovebirds are very addictive, and I'm sure you will be just as crazy about yours as we all are in no time if you aren't already:)

Let us know how everything is going, and please post us some pics of your little one in the photo forum when you can. Oh, and let us know what his/her name is also:D

[Janie]

Rai, I have nothing to add to the advice given by Elle and Lori but I did want to tell you I'm sorry about what happened to your lovie.

[Rai]

Thankyou very much for your all your advice. I ve been spending alot of time sitting by the cage talking and whistling and there has been a vast improvement in Antony's mood. He is alot more active and has even chirped a few times!

[mjm8321]

I'm sorry about the loss of Antony's mate and you've gotten some great advice. The only thing I can add is that you consider clipping Antony's wings; even just a partial so he cannot get the speed up like his dearly departed mate did. It will also aid in training.

[gyoung321]

I agree, please clip the wings. My friends have lost so many unclipped birds into the wild, they might have been eaten by hawks.

Please make sure when you buy another lovie, it would be one of the opposite sex, my experience is that same sex don't get along well and one will attack another.

[lara]

I just got a single baby lovie and one thing that helped him settle was a toque placed in a plastic bowl.He used to have clutch mates to cuddle with to sleep and seemed kind of cold and lonely at night until i put the toque nest in. He poops as soon as he wakes so I picked up a half dozen toques at the dollar store so I can change it regularly. Hope this helps.

[Janie]

"Please make sure when you buy another lovie, it would be one of the opposite sex, my experience is that same sex don't get along well and one will attack another."

Gyoung, I beg to differ here. Two males OFTEN get along well and some females also get along in the same cage. A member here, Shy, has many females and they are caged in pairs. If you go the "opposite sex" direction and plan to cage them together assuming they get along, you can expect eggs. I have two DNA'd males (brothers) who are six months old and they are very bonded and caged together. I had them sexed before buying them because I wanted a pair and I didn't/don't want eggs. It might be hard to introduce a young male to an existing older male but when they are fairly close in age, it is usually a good match. Of course there are no guarantees that opposite or same sex will get along so you should be prepared to cage them separately should that be the case. :)

[graushill]

Hello Rai,

I'm really sorry for the loss of your lovie. What a horrible experience to have to live through, both for you and for Antony. I'm glad to hear he's doing better.

I got my first lovie from a pet store, and he was not at all tame, so I can relate a little to your situation. I have no advice to add to the excellent one you've already received here, except to say that when we got Houdini, my pet shop bought lovie, the pet store recommended us to let him settle down a couple of weeks or so in his cage before letting him out for the first time or doing anything else. Antony might need more or less time depending on how outgoing his personality, and whether he's more on the brave or timid side, but I do think it's a good idea to just let them "decompress" for a while :). So, if you do plan to wing clip him, I would wait a bit before doing that, as it is a stressful procedure to add on top of everything else that has happened.

By all means spend time sitting by his cage to get him used to you like others have recommended. One thing that worked with Houdini was to sit with my hands behind my back, as he was terrified of my huge "claws" in the beginning so it just helped him relax not to see them.

Good luck to you both!
Gloria