Mango and Kiwi/Milo are Home!

[NewbieIRNer]

Hello everyone,

I finally picked up my IRN and cockatiel from the breeder today and all skepticism I had about Mango (the IRN) not being friendly went out the window.

As soon as I stepped down to where the pair were waiting for me - I saw a transformation in their behaviour. Everytime the breeder would say "hi," Mango would open his beak and make a noise - maybe try to mimic the sound. He is not jumpy at all anymore and when I watched the breeder handle him, he was preening her hair and sitting on her shoulder.

I also picked up Kiwi / Milo (not 100% decided on the name yet) a white faced cockatiel that I really took to when I first placed my deposit on Mango. Kiwi is definitely the more confident one, he came straight onto my shoulder and started kissing my nose and lip and then preened me.

Anyhow, I brought them home today and they are currently housed together in a large cage (I will separate them in a couple days after they are 100% used to their surroundings). They were both a bit shy today when I tried handling them but Mango started taking seeds from my hand while on my shoulder as did Kiwi. Mango mistook my finger for food or something because while Kiwi was foraging for food in my palm, Mango tried foraging in the crevices of my fingers and started trying to bite them so I made him stop and then nudged some seeds towards him but he still bites down on my fingers! I don't know if that is something I should handle right away or is it because he's still so young.

They're both 9-10 weeks old and were very well taken care of and handled consistently at the breeders. After being handled today (for about 45 minutes) I put them back in the cage and they are both sound asleep right now!

They are both very amazing birds and I cannot wait to handle them and work with them tomorrow as well, all tips and suggestions are appreciated!

[MissK]

I would go with the name Kiwi for two reasons:

Mango and Milo might sound a lot alike to the birds, possibly contributing to confusion.

A Mango and a Kiwi are both fruit - kind of cute. Milo is a grain.


-MissK