Well I definately wasn't expecting to add another bird so soon, after all we just got the two keets last week. My friend had to find a new home for her male pacific parrotlet as she just took a second job and is now working over 60 hours a week. She is a single mom and simply felt it wasn't fair to kiwi as he wasn't getting enough attention. She has had him since he was 6 weeks old and he's now a year old. Tears were shed as she gave him to me but she felt it was in his best interest and she can of course see him all the time. He is sweet and says a few words even, he says whatcha doing, I love you, kiwi boy, pretty birdy, and pretty boy. Really cute personality on this guy. I will take pictures of Kiwi tomorrow morning and post them, I don't want to cause him stress on his first day here with a flashing camera. He is in quarantine (our bedroom) for 30 days even though he hasn't been exposed to other birds and she's had him since he was a baby, you can never be too safe. He could use some more toys, anyone have any suggestions as to toys for the little guy? He is currently eating a cockatiel seed diet and some people food, what are others that have parrotlets feeding their guys? any info would be much appreciated!

Lucky you Deb. I lost a PBP a few months ago. I really loved that little guy. He was very cuddly.

Congratulations on your new addition. I look forward to seeing pictures.

Thanks so much! He really is just so cute! He sounds sort of like a robot when he talks but you can definately understand him. He gets SO excited when we come into the room we are keeping him in (bedroom) he flares his tail and twirls around on the perch. He is very sweet and loves attention. I will take pics of him in the morning. It's already almost dark here so I put him to bed for the night.

Congratulations! He sure sounds cute. Looking forward to pics.

Deb76 thank you for offering him a good home. I'm sure he's SO happy to be in a house with company the transition will be easy.

I won't kid you he's going to present a challenge but with covering the basics he should be fine.

Here's my photobucket link with alot of my Parrotlet info, toys food pics etc.

He will need 12 hours sleep if possible to be in the best frame of mind. THIS is really important. Just put him in his sleeping room at dusk which is around 6 right now, no artificial lighting and he'll wake at dawn.

They have super high metabolisms and are very active. Flying is best if you can do that. He'll be happier and healthier and entertain himself better.

They bite each others toes when excited, it's a Plet wierdness so you HAVE TO WATCH the other birds for sure. Even when they are happy they do that.

Mine LOVE LOVE LOVE Top Organics and Foundation Formula pellets and I'm not even a pellet person but they insist. LOL. They LOVE EATING more than anything. Grains, veggies, dark greens, fruits. ALOT. They eat ALOT too, they have a high metabolism and need it.

I also give Volkman Parrotlet seed, Dr Harvey's Keet, Goldenfeast. But their main food is fresh from 2 till 4 or 5 pm. I run it through the food processor 3 days will last. You can freeze it too but fresh is better. I give a few lentils 1/3 to 2/3 the amount of grain. I use TOP soak seed for the grain or Kashi packaged whole grain "cereal", it's in a box like oatmeal.

They enjoy big pieces of food too, not always chopped. Like a kebob, or just slices or huge things to bite and shred up. Food is a very big deal lol.

I give Morning Bird Calcium Plus in water 1 tsp to eight oz, twice a week and Nekton vitamins once a week on moist food.

They take a bath rolling around on the cage bars with wet greens up there at least once a week.

Toys are very important too, REALLY important.

I would expect some home wrecking to happen with your other birds be really careful Parrotlets are fearless and the number one cause of death is accidents.

Maybe he'll pair up with the Rosey, OR maybe he'll hate her and be scared cuz she's pink. You just cant tell. But he'll want companionship all the time. You have to watch ....if they are in visual distance of another bird or pair it can make them hyper. Better to move him with them but where he can only hear them not see them at first when he's out of quarantine.

When you let him out with them stand right there to intercede if necessary. Just give a perch to step on if something happens to break up the "chaos" LOL.

It will also take some time to become familiar with your house and I'd do it room by room slowly. He could crash iand get hurt f he's let out prematurely into a big busy room he's not sure of.

They are exactly like a 28 gr Amazon just a bit more complicated when it comes to other birds and HIGH food needs. Seed is ok as a daily thing, they need it along with their fresh foods.

piper215 - Photobucket - Video and Image Hosting

hahahaha he sounds like he will fit into our family perfectly! I adore him already, I just love it that he gets all hyper and starts fanning his tail and twirling around all over. You would think he would attack me when he acts like that but as soon as I approach closer he stops and puts his head against the cage bars to be touched, it's really cute. Right now he's in a small cage, it's the cage she brought him over in but tomorrow i'm going to move him into a much larger cage that will allow me to put in tons of toys. He seems VERY active and he really seems to enjoy the little swing that's in his cage now. I will give him a wide variety of toys, he really seems to enjoy jumping onto toys and swinging all around his cage. I can definately see the amazon similarities. He definately loves to eat, he doesn't seem to be too picky and seems to at least try most of the foods i've offered him today. His wings are partially clipped but I intend to allow them to grow out as all of our birds are allowed to fly around the house, with careful supervision of course. Our house has been bird proofed very well. He can hear the birds across the house and he gets all mental when he hears them and makes alot of noise and fans his tail, quite amusing to watch hahaha Once he's out of quarantine I will see how he responds to the others and will be very careful allowing them out together. All of our birds get a soft food mixture that we cook up every couple of weeks and then freeze into ice cube trays and wrap up tightly, they all love it and i'm sure he will enjoy it also. Thank you so much for all of the tips, he is just so cute!

Perfect! LOL he sounds very happy. Awwww about wanting to be touched, poor guy. He's so happy to have a flock. That fanning and puffing thing is usually just excitement. Can be happy or mad it's the same behavior. My male gets nutzo over millet like that like he never saw it in his life before. Every time LOL.

You can read Sally's posts, too about Chipper. We have sorta the same cage. Because they are so active they really appreciate the largest cage you can manage. Ours is about 35 high, 21 deep and 32 wide. The wide part is important. Zooming back and forth. They also like to snuggle in a corner or under something like a canopy to sleep.

This guy will probably get overbonded to a toy if he's not already. But as soon as he sees a real bird he'll get over it. It's happened to a few Plets I know. People even breeders say they have to be totally alone but that's crazy, they are flock loving like any parrot. So he will pick out a friend from your group. Like Jim's Cricket is best friends with Benji the Lovebird. But that's not so common because they can fight sometimes.

The Millet Man in my photobucket is what Piper was overbonded to when she came here from a store. It was her only friend and she cried whenever I took it out to clean it so I had to get a few. But when she saw THE BUDGIE (her male par amour who she loves but cant be near) she dumped poor Millet Man. I had to get her her own mate, Toby she was so longing for a friend. And the budgie had a wife who has lipomas she didnt need the stress lol. Piper the home wrecker.

They do love swings and boings. So you need the space.

If you want to get a small one for now that's inexpensive, Petco has one thats the widest around...32 wide but only about 18 high and 18 deep but mine were in it when they were young. It's about 37.00 the white one in my photos. Especially if your're going to let him come out during the day if you're home...he'll be ok in that for now.

I'm so happy you're so enthusiastic about him. He's going to be fun and very appreciative. If I can help in any way just pm me or post.

I forgot to say he needs half inch spacing on his cage bars. That's the tricky part there arent that many around.

Here's Kiwi!!! Please excuse the yucky small cage, it's the cage he actually came in. He does have a nice large cage with tons of toys but he refused to allow his picture to be taken on it. He seems to be terrified of his new cage and everytime I put him on it he flew off of it and back to his old cage. Oh well at least I got some pics of him for everyone. I put the new cage next to his old one and i'm going to put him into his new one tomorrow, I figured being he's so afraid of it I would give him a day to look at the new one before placing him inside. Isn't he just the cutest!!! He's molting right now as evident by all those feather pins!

Attached Images

	kiwi3.jpg (162.7 KB, 12 views)
	kiwi4.jpg (155.3 KB, 7 views)

Molting or not, he's one handsome little dude!