Getting a "Martina"

[Dan]

So I have thought in the past about getting Martin a little friend. Some general questions though:

With pionuses, can any other species be housed with them, or does it have to be a pionus? If it has to be a pionus, does it have to be a white cap, or can it be some other type of pionus?

I guess the age of the other bird would have to be very similar to his? This has been one of my main worries in terms of whether or not this would be a feasible idea -- somehow actually finding a 5 year old pionus!

Thanks

[McDenny]

Well the most important question I have for you, before I want to offer any suggestions, is WHY do you want to get another bird? Explain. =)

[Dan]

Mostly because I feel that Martin would benefit from having a birdie friend around.

[Courtney]

You have to be prepared for them to not get along. You have to put them side by side in a cage and slowley introduce them in neutral territory. You can't just put them in the same cage.

[Dan]

Yeah, now that Martin is in his new cage this wouldn't be a problem, as we have his old cage. It would be a disaster though if they did not get along and keeping them together did not work out. Simply don't have the space - in this flat, anyway - to have two huge cages permanently.

[notredamebird]

My general observation of Martin's behavior around our birds was that he was fairly friendly, but forceful enough not to take any bullying from anyone else (that is, from Tolkien). He was just fine around the smaller, defenseless cockatiels. I don't know if he liked them, but he was always going inside their cage and never squabbled with them at all.

Tolkien at that time was too shy to attack anything head on, but he had developed a nasty pattern of sneaking up on the tails of unsuspecting birds in order to pull them. (Wesley was his hated target, the occasional cockatiel tail was just entertainment.) Martin was not one bit phased by this behavior. Tolkien tried sneaking up on Martin a few times, and Martin would just turn around, say "beep! beep!" and jog toward Mr. Tolkien the Sneak. That would immediately result in Tolkien being intimidated and running off, since he was no longer invisible but being charged!

Martin's run wasn't aggressive, however, just kind of a "Oh, Hi, here I come!" sort of scamper. Probably Tolkien would have liked the interaction if he wasn't a scardy cat with an evil streak.

So I'd be a bit surprised if Martin decided to be overly aggressive. He seemed fairly pleasant with any bird who wasn't acting aggressive, and he never came after Tolkien, despite Tolkien's weird issues.

That said, its impossible to know for sure how any two individual birds will interact.

I wonder if you could locate a breeder who would accept payment on the understanding that you needed the ability to return the baby if Martin proved unable to accept its presence. Or someone needed to rehome, who would consent to a trial run.

[pixibubbles]

can i just send you over to the lovie forum to one of Lee's latest posts.
Pepper was the last bird you ever thought would be bullied- especially having seen her put Sammy well and truly in his place. But her new buddy didnt work out i think it's one of the worst case scenarios (after attack). So i guess, if you are willing and able to risk that, then yeah, i guess you're about ready to bring in another fid

[Dan]

Danielle: Thanks for the insight! Do you think the age difference would be an issue?

[notredamebird]

I don't know why the age difference would be a problem. If you have an issue, I am guessing it will be due to personality issues or Martin's attachment to you. My first bird, Sam, totally ignored our second cockatiel. She looked only to me for companionship. Tolkien and Wesley compete for my attention, and Wesley is intimidated by Tolkien's greater size.

One big bonus is that Martin has been around both Nikki's birds and mine. So its not like he's never seen another medium-sized bird before. It would be harder to introduce a totally unsocialized parrot to a few friend.

Speaking of this, I wonder if Nikki could give you some insight. Martin and Winston used to hang out, right?

[Dan]

Yep. If I remember correctly they were really good buddies, but Martin was still a minor bully. He would go into Winston's cage but never allow Winston to go into his. And he would finish his nutriberries super fast so he could steal Winston's from his beak.

[notredamebird]

As I recall, Martin took food very seriously.

[Dan]

Haha, indeed! Still does.

[NeapolitanSixth]

It seems like ALL pionus take their food seriously!

Winston and Martin got along pretty well and liked to sit with each other, but Dan is correct in saying that neither let the other get into their cage. I don't think the age difference will be a big deal, but if you get a baby, you might want to keep "Martina" in her own living space until she gets older. I knew someone who got a female lovebird as a companion for their male lovebird. They got along well, but she put them together too soon, and the male would constantly try to mount the female and terrorize her with his "loving" ways.

Nikki

[McDenny]

Yes Pis are definitely food motivated.

I don't know, Dan, I don't see how it's worth the risk of them not getting along. In my opinion, you have to want the bird for YOU as well as for your current bird on equal levels.

[Dan]

Found an African Grey breeder not too far from us, which has given me some evil thoughts, haha.

Not any time soon but I would love an African Grey...

[tibby]

I just bought this cage: http://www.birdscomfort.com/double_flight_cage.html I got it from another site though, only $250, free shipping. If you are interested, I'll try to find it for you.

Anyway, it's huge! It has a removable divider in the middle so you could keep them separated until they got used to each other. I have a cockatiel and a conure in mine. Binki (cockatiel ) wanted nothing to do with the conure but she seems to be getting used to him/her. They seem to want to hang out together now, each sleeping close to the divider. Doudou (conure) keeps trying to go into her cage and Binki hangs out on top of his side. It's important to keep them separated when I'm not around. It's nice that they can be together, and safe, when I'm out.

[Viki]

I just bought this cage: http://www.birdscomfort.com/double_flight_cage.html I got it from another site though, only $250, free shipping. If you are interested, I'll try to find it for you.

do you have a link? $250 is very responsible price for large cage. also can you share with as picture - the acge with birds. Thank you!