Caging different species together

[shanwebb]

I have a 10 year old sun conure and a 9 year old cockatiel, who have been raised together since they were babies, when I got both of them. They have always had seperate cages, right next to each other. They will often visit each others cages and have even spent nights sleeping in one cage. I need to replace my cages as they are old. I have been thinking about getting one large cage, but am not sure if this is a good idea. They get along well, and I've never had any problem with either of them being aggresive towards the another (or towards any of us either). While researching this , it seems there are alot of opinions for and against. What do you think? Has anyone ever successfully housed this 2 species together?

 

[sunblaze]

These birds sound bonded to me, especially if they are tolerant enough to allow each other in their cages. If like you said they have been raised together from babies then this is not surprising and you would most likely not have many problems housing these two together especially as they would be having a brand new cage (neutral territory for both).

The flip side of this argument is the size difference, while they have similar body sizes the conure has a much bigger and stronger beak. So while the likelihood of any problems may be minimal the issue is that when a disagreement does happen between the two birds the cockatiel might be at risk.

Others on the forum will advise you accordingly but for me personally i would make sure it is a big cage so that they both have enough room to be able to have some space away from one another. I would also keep one of the other cages around for a while just in case things don't work out and they need to be seperated. There are some fantastic cages out there with dividers in also that would be ideal for times when you need to split the birds up like when they are being hormonal.

Good luck, i hope this helped =)

 

[shanwebb]

Thanks ! I'm going to keep researching and also leave them together in the same cage more often and see how it goes. I'll keep post and let everyone know how it's going...

 

[June2012]

Thanks ! I'm going to keep researching and also leave them together in the same cage more often and see how it goes. I'll keep post and let everyone know how it's going...

That, and make sure that they aren't opposite genders. They're both parrots, so (I THINK -- not sure) it could be possible that they could breed. I mean, wolves and dogs and dingoes can create mixes to each other. Why not?? And the cockatiel could again, be at risk, if female. You don't want her laying an egg twice her size! XD

Good luck!

 

[jugoya]

The species are too far away from each other DNA wise.

One might lay eggs but the oceans that divided the Conures and the Cockatoo family made them quite inable to breed.

Dogs and Wolves... are closer genetically.

A cockatiel breeding with a conure is like trying to breed a chicken with a Sparrow.