Parrotlet Care Tips and Advice

[James Matthew]

Has anyone here experienced challenges with keeping parrotlets? I am new to having one and finding it difficult to understand their behavior and care needs. Any advice on diet, social interaction, and cage setup would be greatly appreciated!

 

[Pickle's Mom]

Has anyone here experienced challenges with keeping parrotlets? I am new to having one and finding it difficult to understand their behavior and care needs. Any advice on diet, social interaction, and cage setup would be greatly appreciated!

Initially, prior to Piccolo, I had waited for a male parrotlet for over 6 months, probably closer to a year...the timing was just right though when our bird, eclectus, kind of chose us though. The woman who raises the parrotlets was so impressive to me. She explained a lot about them to me. I will try to find her information for you. She could absolutely be a good resource for you on information about them.

 

[Pickle's Mom]

I tried to find her website, but I am not finding it....This was 6 years ago, prior covid. I will ask around though and see if I can find her for you. She answered my 1000 questions about them, and solely has parrotlets, very knowledgeable. She is in Wa state.

 

[Pickle's Mom]

I tried to find her website, but I am not finding it....This was 6 years ago, prior covid. I will ask around though and see if I can find her for you. She answered my 1000 questions about them, and solely has parrotlets, very knowledgeable. She is in Wa state.

So I am pretty sure that this is the lady I was speaking to about the parrotlets, but her website appears to be down. It is http://www.nonispreciousparrotlets.com/ and her phone number off of Yelp is listed as (206) 501-8610. Hope this helps.... she was very knowledgeable.

 

[wrench13]

Parrotlets can be thought of as mini Amazons, they have much of the same personality ranges. BUT - they are 100% fearless and do not know how tiny they are. And add a healthy dose of stubbornness. Their body language is more subtle too - its there but you need to really know it. I recommend reading the stickies at the top of our Amazon sub forum, really well.

Cage - well as big as you can afford, with appropriate bar spacing- not too big or his head will get stuck. Toys - you'll have to see. They are so small that a lot of Amazon size toys are too big, and budgie sized ones are too flimsy. See what type he likes and try to scale accordingly. Food - any parrot should be aimed for mostly veggie supplemented by pellets and a small amount of fruit and seeds/nuts. How close you get to that depends on the bird and your patience and wallet! My 'zon gets pellets all day as a snack, 1-1/2 walnuts with a Nutraberry for breakfast, a few berries or small amount of fruit for lunch, and a big chop dinner. Took me almost a year to get him to transition to all that though. Lots of cash thrown away until he did.

 

[Dragon58]

im writing down everything i see on here that is safe for parrlets...espically food..what may i ask is chop? also nuts? what kinds of nuts would be safe for my little ladyhawk? i will google toys for parrlots but before buying anything will double chek here to see if its safe...theres 2 small mirrors in her cage should i take them out? she pretty much ignores them anyway but after only 3 days not sure if its enough time to know if she likes them or not but if its something she shouldnt have i dont want it in there

 

[Arabianhorselover]

Hi. I just got a male Parrotlet back that I had given to a friend 8 years ago. He's still the same little monster he was, Haha.

They do have a mind of their own, and no fear. He's actually the 2nd one I've had. The first one was a male who had lost his mate and was never tame. He was plucking really badly, and I eventually re-homed him.

The one I have is named Frosty. He is a Dilute Blue (American White). Cutest little thing, and usually mad. I have five other birds that he generally considers his rivals. However, after eight years of being away he is still in love with my male Lovebird who still wants nothing to do with him,

 

[Dragon58]

ahh poor frosty do you have a large avery for all your birds? wheni bought ladyhawk i had read a lot on line about them and it advised getting only one bird espically if you wanted to bond with your bird..... this is my first parrolet..iv had parraets and cocatiels my cage is big enough for two now im woundering if i should have gotten 2 although ladyhawk seems happy in her cage...where on day 4 and so far shes still not thrilled with me lol today i will be putting some of her food in my opened hand and holding it out for her to see if she will come .... if not well all we have is time lol i just looked at her and finally iv seen her go to her water dish! yea!! i finally took the spray mallet out of her cage yesterday as that was all she was eating.... now that iv seen her at both her food and water dishes i'lll put it back in....going to head into the wood shop and see what wood i have laying around in there so i can make her a little toybox it wont be inside the cage i'll probely attatch it to the wood stand we made to put the cage on as i will gradually be getting her more and more toys as time goes on....eventually i'll get one of the leash type things for her so i can let her out to fly...so i can more easely get her to put her back in her cage....i havent had a bird yet who wants to go back in there cage no matter how many toys and goodies i put in there....

 

[DonnaBudgie]

I've read that parrotlets can be pretty awful to other birds unless it's their breeding mate. I've heard that they pick fights with birds twice their size! I wouldn't put a parrotlet in a cage or aviary with another bird and would supervise all out of cage time if there's more than one bird out. They're famous for being little dictators!

 

[Dragon58]

ahh just reread your post you do have a number of wounderful birds.... iv always loved animals now that my human kids are grown iv added a few animal children to our household.....something my fience (husband to be) isnt always as thrilled about as i am lol he never had any kids but it self defence hes agreed with a bit of pouting on my part lol to letting me have 3 dogs a cat and now my little ladyhawk.....lol that way i fuss with and about them instead of him!!! lol i promised after this i wouldnt ask for anymore if he let me get a parrlot lol

 

[DonnaBudgie]

ahh poor frosty do you have a large avery for all your birds? wheni bought ladyhawk i had read a lot on line about them and it advised getting only one bird espically if you wanted to bond with your bird..... this is my first parrolet..iv had parraets and cocatiels my cage is big enough for two now im woundering if i should have gotten 2 although ladyhawk seems happy in her cage...where on day 4 and so far shes still not thrilled with me lol today i will be putting some of her food in my opened hand and holding it out for her to see if she will come .... if not well all we have is time lol i just looked at her and finally iv seen her go to her water dish! yea!! i finally took the spray mallet out of her cage yesterday as that was all she was eating.... now that iv seen her at both her food and water dishes i'lll put it back in....going to head into the wood shop and see what wood i have laying around in there so i can make her a little toybox it wont be inside the cage i'll probely attatch it to the wood stand we made to put the cage on as i will gradually be getting her more and more toys as time goes on....eventually i'll get one of the leash type things for her so i can let her out to fly...so i can more easely get her to put her back in her cage....i havent had a bird yet who wants to go back in there cage no matter how many toys and goodies i put in there....

If you continue to give her spray millet in her cage that's all she will want to eat and it's not good for her. It should be used as a treat and a taming aid. If you only offer it in your hand you will have a lot more luck getting her to see you as a source of good things!

 

[Dragon58]

THANKS!!! i will defently do that!!! i have discovered the internet is not always the best source of information...i ask if they had a book on paralets when i got her but they said no with the internet they dont sell them anymore...one of the reasons i looked for a fourm...them information is usuly better and more accorit... ( 66 and i still cant spell worth a darn!!!! lol oh well ) all birds are different and so are there needs....) she might not be as happy with the mallet gone but health is more important and having something she really likes in my hand should defently help with taming and bonding with her

If you continue to give her spray millet in her cage that's all she will want to eat and it's not good for her. It should be used as a treat and a taming aid. If you only offer it in your hand you will have a lot more luck getting her to see you as a source of good things!

ok i have searched EVERY post i saved and can i find the one that had the recipe for chop in it? of course not!!! grrrrr and now im getting a headace....could someone please send me a recipie for chop that would be good for my parrolet? and that i can make up a lot of and then freeze....please this time i will PRINT out several copys of it and put one in my bible!!! i never loose that

 

[Arabianhorselover]

It is fantastic and amazing that you did your reading before getting one, since the majority of people do not. I would say you did the right thing is just getting one. They tend to be very territorial about their cage, and do not want company unless it is a mate that they have chosen.

I do give millet, but not all the time. They love it so much that I can't see never giving it to them at all.

For toys they really love bells that they can bash on and make noise. Just make sure they are bird safe bells.

 

[Dragon58]

right!! searched my craft room as theres tons of different things in there but no bells i deamed safe so making a list of things to get next time spike goes into town....might even go with him for a change that'll shock him lol

 

[DonnaBudgie]

THANKS!!! i will defently do that!!! i have discovered the internet is not always the best source of information...i ask if they had a book on paralets when i got her but they said no with the internet they dont sell them anymore...one of the reasons i looked for a fourm...them information is usuly better and more accorit... ( 66 and i still cant spell worth a darn!!!! lol oh well ) all birds are different and so are there needs....) she might not be as happy with the mallet gone but health is more important and having something she really likes in my hand should defently help with taming and bonding with her

ok i have searched EVERY post i saved and can i find the one that had the recipe for chop in it? of course not!!! grrrrr and now im getting a headace....could someone please send me a recipie for chop that would be good for my parrolet? and that i can make up a lot of and then freeze....please this time i will PRINT out several copys of it and put one in my bible!!! i never loose that

THANKS!!! i will defently do that!!! i have discovered the internet is not always the best source of information...i ask if they had a book on paralets when i got her but they said no with the internet they dont sell them anymore...one of the reasons i looked for a fourm...them information is usuly better and more accorit... ( 66 and i still cant spell worth a darn!!!! lol oh well ) all birds are different and so are there needs....) she might not be as happy with the mallet gone but health is more important and having something she really likes in my hand should defently help with taming and bonding with her

ok i have searched EVERY post i saved and can i find the one that had the recipe for chop in it? of course not!!! grrrrr and now im getting a headace....could someone please send me a recipie for chop that would be good for my parrolet? and that i can make up a lot of and then freeze....please this time i will PRINT out several copys of it and put one in my bible!!! i never loose that

If you look at the list of forum threads there's one called Chop Recipe Resource Thread. It's o closed older thread but there's a lot of information in it about chop with recipes.