Hello. So, I have a cockatiel (Artemis) and a conure (Xatu) that are both male. Xatu is about 8 months old, and Artemis is of an unknown age, but around 1-2 years. They get along really well for the most part - grooming and feeding each other even. However, multiple times throughout the day Artemis will "attack" Xatu and try his best to get on top of him, standing on him. I have to constantly put him in his cage for an hour or two and then let him back out, but I don't know exactly what he's doing and how to stop it. I don't think it's territorial, as they both go in and out of each others' cages and show no aggression (except for food bowls, which they don't normally eat from the same bowl). I'm, thinking maybe it's either bullying or sexual aggression. Either way, I want to stop it, or I'm going to have to get rid of one of them. I've tried letting them out separately, but when I do that, they will not stop screaming until I let the other out. So, separate times is unfortunately not an option. Please help me, I'm at my wits end.
Cockatiel problems with conure
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HeatherG
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Sounds like Artemis is trying to mate with Xatu. Are you sure both are boys? Maybe it doesn’t really matter.
Anyhow I would do things to decrease their breeding urge. 12-14 hours of darkness, lees fat and protein might help. Poor Xatu is probably not too happy.
Anyhow I would do things to decrease their breeding urge. 12-14 hours of darkness, lees fat and protein might help. Poor Xatu is probably not too happy.
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Yeah I've had them both DNA tested. So, they already do get 12-14 hours of sleep every night, veggies every morning, and constantly have a 90/10 mix I made of roudys and seeds. I only give them millet when I'm target training them. It's really just completely random, and sometimes aggressive. It's baffling because they act bonded outside of this behavior.
ravvlet
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- Parrots
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That sounds so frustrating! Is this a recent development? Your tiel should be past birdy puberty at 1-2yrs old. Your conure is too young for it. If their ages were reversed I’d chalk it up to teenage hormones.
With that being said, “breeding season” for birds in North America is beginning, so if you are in that geographical area & this is a new development, it might be a seasonal thing.
Is your tiel hurting the conure/is your conure upset about it? My tiel would mount my Amazon just to piss him off. Luckily for him my Amazon really liked him and let it slide- gave me a heart attack every time though!
With that being said, “breeding season” for birds in North America is beginning, so if you are in that geographical area & this is a new development, it might be a seasonal thing.
Is your tiel hurting the conure/is your conure upset about it? My tiel would mount my Amazon just to piss him off. Luckily for him my Amazon really liked him and let it slide- gave me a heart attack every time though!
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I'd say it's a semi-recent development. I think this started a month or two ago. I was thinking it could be hormones, but I'm not sure. I'm pretty novice with bird ownership - only have been caring for birds for a couple of years. My conure is always extremely upset about it; he always screams. I found a video that looks exactly like what I'm witnessing my cockatiel do to my conure:
HeatherG
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I guess I would eliminate the (assaulting) cockatiel’s access to the conure. The conure shouldn’t have to deal with that.
I would consult a vet as it seems like something’s not right there. As in, something is throwing off the relationship between these two birds. In the wild, they’d never encounter each other. Or if they were species that lived in the same area, the conure could abandon that territory and that should solve the problem. But since these are caged pets, he can’t avoid the cockatiel.
I would consult a vet as it seems like something’s not right there. As in, something is throwing off the relationship between these two birds. In the wild, they’d never encounter each other. Or if they were species that lived in the same area, the conure could abandon that territory and that should solve the problem. But since these are caged pets, he can’t avoid the cockatiel.
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HeatherG
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Consider that these birds would never encounter each other in the wild yet they are paired in your home. There’s a mismatch of all sorts of drives with two different bird species being paired. That’s probably why your cockatiel is wanting to mate and your conure isn’t. They’re not on the same “species” page.
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