Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I just bought another tiel to go with my male...at least was told it was a male...but they do not get along...if the new one gets to close he chases it off and bites...of course i bought 2 birds that can't be visually sexed...a Pied and a Lutino...the pied (believed male) whisles and sings...does the cage and floor pecking....the lutino just screatches....is it possible i have 2 birds of the same sex?...or do they just need more time to get to know each other

Well it is possible they are the same sex but I have known many same sex sets of cockatiels that got along wonderfully. We generally see the males get along better than the females but have had pairs of females that were great companions to each other as well.

I don't know how long you have had the new one or how you introduced them but I would suggest taking it slower. If you simply placed one bird into the others cage then there will definitely be aggression. If you haven't already, move their cages into the same room near each other. Give them a week or two to get used to each other being near. If possible after that long place the cages completely up against each other. This way they can preen, chirp etc through the bars at each other but still get away if one is acting more aggressive. After they seem to be doing fine with this take them out of their cages to a neutral spot and allow them to be together out of the cage supervised (maybe on a new perch, the back of the couch, back of a kitchen chair etc). If they are not tame enough to be out of cages then use a third cage. Each bird will see his/her cage as their territory, only by them both going into a new territory that has not been claimed by either will they start on equal grounds and possibly get along.

I have looked very closely at the Lutino..and well it may also be a pied because of a very few light grey feather around the beak....but there is very faint barring on the tail feathers...on Sonny...the Pied...the tails fethers have very minute specks...barely visible...but he whistle andy griffith and does this song that sounds exactly like a mating call i heard online...and does all the male quirky things...dunno if this will work but here is a BAD video of them

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qdp0Nx1M0O0