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Parakeet living with a Lovebird???

16K views 15 replies 9 participants last post by  KateBascombe 
#1 ·
Hey everyone! I just had a quick question. Has anyone ever kept a Lovebird and Parakeet together? Do you think there would be any possible problems keeping them together? A girl from my class just re-homed two of my three parakeets (she also has one of my baby cockatiels from this spring) which left me with my parakeet Little Bit. I kept my cockatiels and parakeets together in a flight cage and they always got along together. I didn't want Little Bit to be the only parakeet so I decided to see how he would be with my Lovebird, since they are similar size. So far they seem to be doing great. Gizmo(lovebird) was very excited and curious when I introduced Little Bit. They have never met before. I just wanted to get some other opinions.
 
#2 ·
Lovebirds i have heard can be nippy and cage territorial.. if you watch them closely for a few weeks out side of the cage together when they are playing.. and they get a long you can try putting them both in the same cage.

good luck!
 
#3 ·
Budgies are so hyper, and lovies are known for being bossy and unfriendly to other species... go slow, keep a close eye on them. The biggest concern would be, if they bickered, the lovie's beak is strong enough to take off toes and lovebirds always go straight for the feet when on the attack
 
#4 ·
Thanks guys. Gizmo is always soo curious when he meets other birds. He's actually always been the nice one compared to the others. He likes to hang out with my cockatiels, but they seem to always chase him away. The other day I had the cages open and Gizmo climbed in Zazu's cage wanting to play with him. Only thing I've ever seen him try to bite is me because he wasn't handled at all by his previous owners, so I'm still working with him on that. I had both Gizmo and Little Bit out in my room playing and they both went inside Gizmo's cage. They are just playing with toys and hanging out. Gizmo definitely seems a lot happier and active now though.
 
#5 ·
As the others said, keep a close eye on them. Lovies can turn really nasty when they want to. I was shocked last week to find that my budgie had killed a Chinese painted quail in my aviary, birds can be so mean! So make sure you're always there to keep an eye on them. I personally wouldn't do it at the risk, but if you feel confident enough then by all means go for it :)
 
#6 · (Edited)
I wouldn't risk it

I wouldn't risk a Parakeet and a Lovebird together in the same cage. I know someone who kept them in cages next to each other and the Lovebirds evnetually bit the toes right off the parakeets. Lovebirds can be quite mean when they are in the right (or should I say, wrong) mood!

They can still provide company for eachother from separate cages - and maybe very closely supervised "playtimes" out of their cages. Be careful though - a Parakeet is way "outgunned" by a Lovebird, in terms of beak size and strength. It's like a Poodle and a Pit Bull !!
 
#7 ·
Im not advocating this, since I know my situation really is the exception rather than the rule, but, my lovie and my english budgie are best friends. They have shared a cage for about a year, after being supervised outside of their separate cages for two years. They always got along great, and became such good friends, that I decided to let them "move in" together. But I was SURE that they were bonded and got along well before I did that. They do fine, but again, this is the exception. In many situations, this would not work. You have to go by the individual personalities of the birds involved, and give them a lot of time to get to know each other and develop a relationship.

 
#8 ·
it CAN work, though not often...

ive read about a member on talk cockatiels whose lovebird tore off the upper beak of her budgie. he ended up being ok it was still good enough to grow back, but hers werent even caged together. as JudiNH said, exception rather than the rule.

Supervision is a must!
 
#9 ·
Thanks everyone. I didn't leave them together and I don't think I'm going to try and house them in the same cage. Gizmo seemed to get more and more curious and I think it started to bother Little Bit so I put him back with my tiels since he's used to being with them.
 
#10 ·
might be the best call, though it wouldnt hurt for them to have supervised out of cage time together. you never know. lovies can be cage territorial but not territorial about other things.
 
#11 ·
It really depends on the specific birds.
My cockatiel and my sunny lived together up until the 'tiel died and they were fine. My little budges and my sunny live together now and they are also fine! When I first got the Sun Conure, I never thought in a million years that I'd leave them outside their cages together without very close supervision, let alone be in the same cage together.
 
#13 ·
Hmmm.. maybe I'll try seeing if Zazu will get along with Little Bit. I'll just have to start doing supervised times outside of the cage and see who likes who. I just felt bad because Gizmo has always been alone, and I thought about another lovebird, but Gizmo is one of the loudest birds I've ever heard. Lol. Not sure if I could another one like him.
 
#14 ·
Maybe he's being so loud because he is lonely? Getting another lovie may help, but remember, lovies can still attack other lovies!
 
#15 ·
Yea, that's what I'm worried about. I would hate to get another one and then after letting them get used to each other things not work out. My cousin has Gizmo before me and I don't know who before that, but as far as I know he has always been alone. I know for sure my cousin never let him out either so I have some work ahead of me with him.
 
#16 ·
My lovebirds were uncertain at first, my male hadn't been around another bird in 14 years, and we were my females 4th home in 2 years. It only took them about 3 weeks of having out of cage time together to become very strongly bonded, and it has REALLY mellowed my male. I still don't cage them together, I would hate them to start bickering about food and one not be able to escape. But they spend all day every day out with my cockatiel and we haven't had a spat since the first week or so.
 
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