Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I have a four year old black-masked lovebird, and I'm thinking about getting another bird. This one is very attached to me, he even gets jealous when my husband is around, and he squawks when I am talking on the phone (and not to him...)

I was thinking maybe he'd be happier with another bird in the cage. I pay attention to him, and play with him, but not as much as another lovie in the same cage could.

Of course, I know you can't get a brand new baby and put it with an older bird...but I am just wondering how a single bird reacts when a new bird is placed in the cage. Any thoughts?

Birds even of the same species can have different reactions. One bird may gladly accept a new companion. Another may see it as a threat to its territory and go after it injuring and possibly even killing it. Others are more subtle and won't actually attack the new bird but will keep it from getting food and water and in doing so starve the new arrival.

It is great to want to give your bird a companion and it may love the company of a new bird but I always suggest when adding a new feathered friend do so with the intent of having two cages for the two separate birds (which you need for quarantine anyway). Make sure you have the space for two cages and do not mind the added work of cleaning up after two birds instead of one. Then if after quarantine and a slow introduction they get along well enough to be housed together that is wonderful and if not they can have their separate spaces and be able to "talk" to each other while not feeling threatened by an "intruder".

Thanks, Phiggy, that confirms what I thought. I know about starting them in separate cages...but really you just can't know how they will interact!

When I'm out of town for a long time, my bird stays with his "cousins" (my Dad had two Dutch blues) and my little guy totally ignores them. They sometimes stare at each other a bit since we put their cages next to each other, but they really just prefer to not play or talk to a bird of another species. It's kind of funny, really, because we expected my single bird to want to chat and be curious about another pair of birds. But he acts like he couldn't care less. He just wants my Dad's or my attention. I assume this is an eye ring/non eye ring issue, and that maybe someday he will learn to love a new baby eye ring birdie. We'll see. I won't have room for two cages until the summer, so there is plenty of time to think and plan.