New Lorikeet owner

[Shae26]

Hi guys!

I have just acquired two young (3 months) hand raised Rainbow Lorikeets and I am after some advice. The lady who had them couldn't care for them anymore and couldn't find anyone to take them and was considering giving them to a pet shop, so I took them as I have been a small bird owner (mostly cockatiels but I have one green cheek conure) for most of my life and was looking to branch out and adopt something a little bigger anyway.

So I have the little darlings home (it was an hour drive) and they are settling in well. They are hatchmates and were born on the 13th and 14th of February this year. The lady hadn't DNA tested them but thinks one is male and one is female (she thinks the closest one is male; see photo) but I plan to have them DNA tested to be sure.

I got some Vetafarm "golden lori" mix from the feed store as I have heard this stuff is excellent and I have had wonderful success with the Vetafarm hand rearing mix for my Cockatiels (aussie posters may know this brand). Here is an info sheet on it: Golden Lori Rice Formula - Vetafarm

Being this young (lady said they are weaned and no longer hand fed), should I be feeding them a variation of wet and dry?

I know they need lots of fresh fruits and veggies, which is perfect because Hubby and I are big fruit & veggie eaters so all of my birds get a wide range of fresh fruits and veggies every day, but is there anything I should avoid feeding my new Lorikeets? I have looked up some care sheets online but I would feel better getting hands-on advice from fellow Lorikeet owners.

Is there anything else I should know about them? I mean ANYTHING you think I should know, let me know. I have a Word document and I am cramming everything I can find into it.

They have settled in nicely. Their cage is super bare at the moment because it's 7:16pm right now and all of their stuff is being set up tomorrow, so i've just got them in a holding cage with some food, water and a few toys (they LOOOOVE toys) until tomorrow.

I love them already! They're such little characters. The boy (i'm just going to assume they're male and female respectively until I find out for sure) is much more adventurous than the girl. I let them fly around and stretch their wings a bit when we got home and after some avoidance and protest, they both stepped up onto my hand and allowed me to put them into their cage. Then later on I opened the cage door and offered some orange, and the boy was super eager to nibble it from my hand. The girl was a bit more hesitant but once she saw her brother getting some orange-y goodness she was all up in that Other than that i've just been letting them be. Their cage is in the living room with us so they get used to us coming and going and they're already no longer fussed by us walking by.

So yeah, any advice you can offer me would be greatly aprpeciated!

EDIT: Whoops, I forgot to attach the photo. It's in link form because i'm not sure what the photo size rules are just yet: http://i.imgur.com/Qqirikw.jpg

 

[Pinkbirdy]

Congrats !!! I feed my adult Lorries the dry powder ,fruits and soft vegs. They love toys ,swings ,foot toys and boings. They are very smart [I use an extra lock]. They both know how to break out of their cage . I use plexi glass behind their cage and newspaper on the bottom [I change daily].I find pressure washing is the easiest . Sounds like your on the right track.

 

[Shae26]

Thanks!
Hubby let them out earlier (all of my other birds were put away for the night in the bird room) and they explored a bit. They both landed on the kitchen sink and I wandered over and offered them some orange, and the boy took it like it's going out of fashion lol.

I decided to use it to my advantage and held my hand out for him to step up, and offered him some orange when he did so. It wasn't long before he was climbing up my arm and making himself at home on my shoulder, playing with my hair and climbing all over me to lick my face (and my nose and my ears and my glasses).

Being nestmates, they're pretty close, and most of the time they're more interested in eachother than me. Which is okay, but I looove cuddly, social "I want to be where you are" kinds of birds (I can't have kids, so my birds are my children ), so do you think over time they will both warm up to me, or will they just always want to be in eachother's company?

I plan to take them out for individual 1:1 time, but i'm just worried that one will fret for the other and spend the time trying to find the other. Is there anything I can do to make this easier on them? Or is having nestmates a little bit of a lost cause? lol.

I've had Cockatiels all my life and i've bred them for 7 years, but my hand raised cockatiels were all individually devoted to me because I was their source of food. I've never had an outside pair of nestmates so i'm not exactly sure how this works

Sorry if i'm rambling, I know what I want to say but I always end up typing 15000000 words before I get to my point lol D:

EDIT: I have another question. I give my cockatiels and my conure a piece of cuttlebone which they gnaw on and it helps keep their beaks from overgrowing plus it gives them some extra calcium. I have read that Lorikeets will generally not chew on cuttlebone because they prefer sweet stuff.. So what can I give to my Lorikeets to keep their beaks in shape?

Thanks

 

[Pinkbirdy]

I think they will bond to you too [If you keep handling them ] . I have to get mines beak done by a groomer. Their not so much chew on wood birds . But I would still offer. I don't do cuttlebone for them.

 

[Shae26]

Thanks They are really warming up to me now. Turns out apple juice is a great ice breaker lol.