Giving Zeus a new friend
Posted: Mon Mar 04, 2013 5:14 am
Hello all,
Zeus has become an amazing bird. If any of you had read my earlier posts, he was a parent-raised aviary bird, which myself and my partner have managed to convert to a friendly pet. Zeus still doesn't let us pat him on the back of his neck (if at all), however he basically lets us do everything else, from kisses, to grooming my hair, and letting us hand feed him.
All-in-all, I'm extremely proud of Zeus and myself.
He's still unfortunately going through the bluffing stage and his new fetish of sitting on my head has resulted in him awkwardly biting at my forehead, which is EXTREMELY hard to ignore.
A couple of weeks ago or so, my partner expressed that he thought we should get a second IRN, this time, a hand-reared and tamed bird, in the hope that it'll teach Zeus a few things while also keeping him company. After much thought and consideration into the well-being of Zeus, and the new bird, we settled on it being a great idea.
We've just recently been offered a 4 month old, green IRN, which has been hand-reared and loved as a pet. We will be inspecting the bird tomorrow (tuesday) and hopefully bringing it home.
I just have a couple of questions to ask, so any advice would be appreciated.
a) How soon is too-soon to add the two birds to live together in the same cage? I'll be adding the new bird into a smaller cage, but they'll be in the same room, but I'm a bit hesitant that Zeus may become defensive or partially territorial as he basically free-roams the entire loungeroom.
b) Should I wait until the new bird is settled and eating before worming it? I have to worm all of the birds sometime this week anyway, so I figured itd be better to do them all at the same time.
c) What physical signs should I be looking out for when introducing the two birds? I understand clearly that biting is agressive, but will there be any testing of either birds at all or perhaps court-ship type related body movements?
Thanks so much guys, all advice is appreciated! Will definitely post some great pictures soon too!
Zeus has become an amazing bird. If any of you had read my earlier posts, he was a parent-raised aviary bird, which myself and my partner have managed to convert to a friendly pet. Zeus still doesn't let us pat him on the back of his neck (if at all), however he basically lets us do everything else, from kisses, to grooming my hair, and letting us hand feed him.
All-in-all, I'm extremely proud of Zeus and myself.
He's still unfortunately going through the bluffing stage and his new fetish of sitting on my head has resulted in him awkwardly biting at my forehead, which is EXTREMELY hard to ignore.
A couple of weeks ago or so, my partner expressed that he thought we should get a second IRN, this time, a hand-reared and tamed bird, in the hope that it'll teach Zeus a few things while also keeping him company. After much thought and consideration into the well-being of Zeus, and the new bird, we settled on it being a great idea.
We've just recently been offered a 4 month old, green IRN, which has been hand-reared and loved as a pet. We will be inspecting the bird tomorrow (tuesday) and hopefully bringing it home.
I just have a couple of questions to ask, so any advice would be appreciated.
a) How soon is too-soon to add the two birds to live together in the same cage? I'll be adding the new bird into a smaller cage, but they'll be in the same room, but I'm a bit hesitant that Zeus may become defensive or partially territorial as he basically free-roams the entire loungeroom.
b) Should I wait until the new bird is settled and eating before worming it? I have to worm all of the birds sometime this week anyway, so I figured itd be better to do them all at the same time.
c) What physical signs should I be looking out for when introducing the two birds? I understand clearly that biting is agressive, but will there be any testing of either birds at all or perhaps court-ship type related body movements?
Thanks so much guys, all advice is appreciated! Will definitely post some great pictures soon too!