Parrotlets mating way too young

[Shinywizard]

Hello,

I have two parrotlets, one 7 month old male, and one 4 month old female. I felt like my male was getting a bit lonely (since i am busy with college, side art school, and three lil siblings that rlllllly take up my time), so i got him a female and he perked right up again. The same for the female. I never saw him happier in my life. They are so happy togteher that I felt I am 10000% sure that I made the right decision. However, I ordered the female from ParrotCrown and chose 'baby' option, which they stated was 3-7 months old, and she came pretty big for her size, bigger than the male so i assumed she was around 7 months old. I was unsure, so i kept emailing them to tell me when exactly she hatched. They told me she hatched in FEBRUARY??? I dont know what i was expecting but definitely NOT THAT EARLY! Ive seen them mating a lot and now im very worried since they bonded and i dont want to separate them and stress them out... but i also dont want the female to develop any hormonal issues . i made a HUGE mistake on my part, i shouldve made sure how old she was before introducing her to him.. Is it fine if they just mate for now? I didnt put a nest box and never will.


Ps. The blue parrotlet is sama, he is the male. Shams is the yellow parrotlet!

 

[Inger]

They should be separated for a variety of reasons. First, as you said, she's too young and this is likely to cause hormonal issues in both of them. Second, parrotlets often over preen their mates, and sometimes unexpectedly get territorial and they may injure each other. I have heard it's possible that one will kill another (I can't seem to fact check that but I wouldn't risk it).

 

[Shinywizard]

They should be separated for a variety of reasons. First, as you said, she's too young and this is likely to cause hormonal issues in both of them. Second, parrotlets often over preen their mates, and sometimes unexpectedly get territorial and they may injure each other. I have heard it's possible that one will kill another (I can't seem to fact check that but I wouldn't risk it).

Is it fine to separate them after they bonded though (for over three weeks now)? I dont want to make them sad and stressed out.

 

[hiriki]

Parrots socialize vocally a LOT. I do think that it may cause some stress, especially at first, to suddenly cage them separately, but if you cage them in the same room where they can clearly see and talk to each other, it should be OK. And they can certainly come out at the same time.

I googled it, and parrotlets hit pubery/maturity at around 6 months. So, at least one of your two parrotlets is at that age. Which is just to say, it's not necessarily unusual that they're doing this. You absolutely shouldn't encourage it--any mating behaviors are likely to increase hormones, which is bad at any point but especially bad during puberty when hormones are already out of wack.

I don't personally have parrotlets, but from what I've seen, hormones can make them very aggressive and they absolutely can kill mates during breeding season hormone mood swings. If you do house them together, they would need a large cage with plenty of space to escape each other during moody moments, and you may want to have separate cages for hormone seasons. Or, it may simply be easier to keep them separate year round and just let them interact during out of cage time.

 

[Shinywizard]

Parrots socialize vocally a LOT. I do think that it may cause some stress, especially at first, to suddenly cage them separately, but if you cage them in the same room where they can clearly see and talk to each other, it should be OK. And they can certainly come out at the same time.

I googled it, and parrotlets hit pubery/maturity at around 6 months. So, at least one of your two parrotlets is at that age. Which is just to say, it's not necessarily unusual that they're doing this. You absolutely shouldn't encourage it--any mating behaviors are likely to increase hormones, which is bad at any point but especially bad during puberty when hormones are already out of wack.

I don't personally have parrotlets, but from what I've seen, hormones can make them very aggressive and they absolutely can kill mates during breeding season hormone mood swings. If you do house them together, they would need a large cage with plenty of space to escape each other during moody moments, and you may want to have separate cages for hormone seasons. Or, it may simply be easier to keep them separate year round and just let them interact during out of cage time.

Ah that makes sense! I do conveniently have another identical cage lying around (was gonna sell it after seeing they bonded) but thank god i didnt sell it. Ill do that and see how it goes then, thank you guys so much for replying! It rlly put my mind at ease

 

[widor]

I would not separate a bonded pair. You said that you wanted a mate for your bird , now have it and make them miserable to separate ? Saying you do not want hormonal issues for the girl being young but it can happen anyway . No nest box is fine but so far if you do not see any agression,-more things to be worried - I would let them be. If you keep them separartely and let them out together they still can mate so I do not think this is the solution.
Maybe not a popular opinion here but in some Europian countries it is actually illegal to keep small parrotlets alone.

 

[hiriki]

I would not separate a bonded pair. You said that you wanted a mate for your bird , now have it and make them miserable to separate ? Saying you do not want hormonal issues for the girl being young but it can happen anyway . No nest box is fine but so far if you do not see any agression,-more things to be worried - I would let them be. If you keep them separartely and let them out together they still can mate so I do not think this is the solution.
Maybe not a popular opinion here but in some Europian countries it is actually illegal to keep small parrotlets alone.

I think it's going a bit far to say it would make them miserable. Any changes in the status quo are uncomfortable, for birds AND people, so they might complain, but the fact is that it's impossible to prevent mating behaviors 24/7 between birds caged together whereas it's much easier to discourage mating behaviors while the birds are out and you're actively monitoring them. Yes, they can mate outside of the cage, either really quickly before you can stop them or while you're not watching, but if they're out and about you'll most likely be in the room and able to at least discourage them. It isn't as though this is a birth control measure, because any potential eggs should still be replaced with wooden ones regardless. It's just to prevent excessive mating behaviors that make hormone levels spike and impact behavior. Hormones for some birds go haywire during puberty & breeding season regardless, but the fact is that encouraging or allowing breeding behaviors will make their moody and sometimes violent behaviors much worse and harder to handle--AND those mood swings also impact their emotions and well-being.

I don't know about the specific laws & countries that you're referring to, but it's a commonly discussed fact of parrotlet care across many forums, posted by and for parrotlet owners, that they're not a good species to keep in a flock, and even single mated pairs can sometimes turn on each other when hormones are high. For this reason they're kept alone very frequently. For that matter, I don't believe that keeping two parrotlets in separate cages is the same as having a lone parrotlet, anyway.

I don't intend to argue, there's plenty of topics where I'm fine agreeing to disagree, but I did want to post this for the sake of OP because I don't want them to feel that they would be cruel to separate these birds, whether they choose to do so temporarily during breeding season or for the long-term.

 

[DonnaBudgie]

Are you wanting babies? If not, why did you get a member of the opposite sex? Do male parrolets get along?
I ask because I have 19 budgies. I would have 14, but I made the mistake of housing boys with girls and two of them mated repeatedly. The breeding saga began and it wasn't easy to stop it. Now, I must keep the loving couple in separate cages out of sight from each other.
Can parrotlets mate "just for fun" or will the egg laying soon begin?

 

[DonnaBudgie]

Even if you replaced the eggs with dummy eggs, egg laying can deplete the female of calcium causing osteoporosis and egg binding which can easily be fatal in small birds. Both have happened to me with budgies and it's awful. Make sure they get a complete diet and a calcium supplement if she starts laying.

 

[DonnaBudgie]

Ah that makes sense! I do conveniently have another identical cage lying around (was gonna sell it after seeing they bonded) but thank god i didnt sell it. Ill do that and see how it goes then, thank you guys so much for replying! It rlly put my mind at ease

Anyone who has more than one bird MUST have an extra cage in case of problems.