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Conference 7.286::pet_birds

Title:Captive Breeding for Conservation--and FUN!
Notice:INTROS 6.X / FOR SALE 13.X / Buying a Bird 900.*
Moderator:VIDEO::PULSIFER
Created:Mon Oct 10 1988
Last Modified:Tue Jun 03 1997
Last Successful Update:Fri Jun 06 1997
Number of topics:942
Total number of notes:6016

308.0. "Parrotlets as Pets?" by MEMV02::COMPTON () Wed Jan 17 1990 21:37

    Parrotlets - about the size of a canary - Just wondering....  
    
    Does anyone have any experience with these little birds?  I saw
    one at Park Hill Pets in Fitchburg.  (There were two of them.  
    The one that is still there has a toe twisted the wrong way, which 
    I am guessing is a genetic defect or a problem resulting from an
    experience in the nest.  When the two of them were there, they
    leaned on each other the way bonded lovebirds do.)
    
    This pet shop wants $90 for him/her.  Anybody know if this is an 
    average, high, or low price?  The proprietor didn't know about the 
    bird's ability to be hand-tamed.  Anyone else know?  
    
    I saw one win prizes at one of the bird shows last fall, and some of 
    the ads in Bird Talk and American Cage Bird Magazine have them for
    sale, but no info on temperment.  The one in Fitchburg is a
    Green-rumped Parrotlet, if that helps (the show winner was a 
    Pacific a/k/a Celestial Parrotlet).  
    
    Thanks for any information you can provide.
    
    Linda  
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308.1easy keepersSVCRUS::KROLLWed Jan 17 1990 22:4610
    Pacific parrolets what wonderful birds.  the pair I had were very
    sweet and I enjoyed their noise. just little squeeks.  they are
    known to eat their mates and any other bird in their cage if it
    is too small.  I had mine in a 4 foot cage by two.  no problem.
    would have loved to have had their babies but alas I helped bury
    them after the fire at al decodias last year.
    
    Had a friend that the male actually ate the head off the feamale
    but she had them in a cannary cage.  price for the pair can be gotton
    for $70 to 80.  hand fed your guess.
308.2Reply to 308.1VAXUUM::COMPTONLinda DTN 232-2441 ACO/E47Thu Jan 18 1990 21:1412
    Reply to 308.1 - 
    
    The two I was looking at (now one) were Green-rumps, so maybe their
    disposition is not so cannibalistic as you described for the Pacific
    parrotlets.  I say this because they (it) were (are) in a cage 
    equivalent to the size of a canary cage -- maybe slightly larger.
    This shops prices are usually 25-50-100% higher than their local
    competition (Animal House and Jungle Jym's, to name two), so the
    $90 for the one remaining still seems high, especially if you were
    able to get a pair for about the same price.  Thanks for the reply.
    
    Linda
308.3Would Like To Know More .......BAGLDY::SIPILACan I go home now?Fri Aug 20 1993 13:0231
    Well last night I stopped at Pet Source in Stow to pick up some Veggie
    Salad for Max and, of course, wandered down back of the store because I
    heard the familiar sounds of finches.
    
    They had one cage with several finches in it - silver-billed and Zebra.
    Next to their cage was a tiny green-rump parrotlet. He/she was sold. 
    On the next shelf was another green-rump parrotlet.
    
    I had never seen one before and immediately fell in love!  This little
    bird was a baby - and so sweet.  It appearred to be tame.  It was all I
    could do not to open the cage and pick it up.
    
    I checked this file and ran across only two notes on them.  Can some
    one tell me more about them?  Can they learn to talk?  Are they really
    as cannibalistic as one noter wrote?
    
    Max is still alive and well.  He has a dry skin problem, but putting a
    few drops of Cod Liver oil in his staple seed helps this.  He is still
    King of The Roost!  And still extremely spoiled!!!
    
    By the way, the asking price for the parrotlet was $199.  
    
    Thanks in Advance for any more information anyone can give.
    
    Regards,
    
    Susan Sipila
    
       
    
    
308.4A couple of places to try...RAGMOP::COMPTONThu Aug 26 1993 22:022
Both Petcetera in Londonderry, NH and Fins 'n' Feathers in Chelmsford
have raised handfed parrotlets.  They should have some advice for you. /Linda