Greetings! And some questions about forpus care

[Lennie]

Hello Guys!

I hope you are well.

I can’t remember any period in my life that I didn’t have animal friends. But, interesting enough, I have never really been a big bird-keeper. I had a pair of pigeons in my garden, and we had a budgie when I was a kid. We also homed a rescue parrot a couple months at home, but it was never meant to be a long time commitment, and once we found a good caring home, he was gone. I currently have fish tanks, tortoises, dogs, cats, and chickens. My dad has hundreds of pigeons that he has been keeping for generations and tens of years, but not me.

My friend keeps mentioning and sharing her adorable pair of Forpus with me. They are adorable. I always wanted one, and now is the time!

So I found a local hobbyist who recently raised her Forpus babies. I decided to get one green(female) and one blue(male) babies.

She’s been a huge help, so is my friend. I also keep reading about them and watching about small size parrot care in general.

I visited my local stores, but all the cages were so tiny. I kindly asked them if they can take care of the babies until Im ready and fully setup, and they accepted.

I wanna buy this cage. The front is glass, but the rest isn’t. I know they like climbing and stuff. This cage isn’t too big, but I guess just enough? It is 62x42x55cmh
Do you think it is good enough? All the bigger ones I find have big gaps between the bars, and these birds are small.




Other than this, can I strictly follow the requirements of feeding, toys, or training guides for parrots online for these guys too?
I wonder because, for example, my tortoises’ diet and needs differ a lot compared to a tortoise species that lives in a jungle type of environment. Would seeds do okay if I enrich their diet with many fruits herbs and veggies on a daily basis? Or should I find a way to make them eat pellets?


Another question is, is blue to green match is good? I heard, matching to green is good because that’s the wild colour. I wouldnt like to pair them to their own brother/sister and the only other option was a green female anyway, which I love the look of

And lastly, Is there anything that I can promote them to like each other? Or anything to introduce them carefully? They are both babies so I guess this will ease the situation.


Thanks everyone for the help in advance
Cheers
Lennie

 

[Lennie]

just noticed that I forgot to ask about fish tanks. Is it okay if I let them out in my bedroom after they settle with a closed room door? The only thing worries me is; can they potentially fall into a fish tank?? Is that a possibility? Or would drinking from a fish tank cause any harm?

 

[Zooamazons]

Welcome to the forum. I don't have any experience with parrotlets, but I'd be wary of cages with a glass front because of the possibility of accidents and I'd also be very careful around fish tanks. Drinking from one doesn't sound great but the possibility of drowning would be a major concern for me.

 

[Lennie]

Welcome to the forum. I don't have any experience with parrotlets, but I'd be wary of cages with a glass front because of the possibility of accidents and I'd also be very careful around fish tanks. Drinking from one doesn't sound great but the possibility of drowning would be a major concern for me.

Hello there,

Thank you for the reply and kind welcome.

I hope someone with parrotlet experience jumps in. I wanna make sure to buy everything correctly and do my best to learn about them before getting them next week

My friend who has numerous fish tanks said her pair does fine, play along floating plants and water, never witnessed any problems -so far-. I think I either need a lid for my big tank, or don’t let them out of the cage when Im not around. She lets them out under her supervision tho:


By accident, do you mean them potentially trying to fly that way thinking there is nothing to block their way? Or something else?

 

[MJGB - MikeJenGaryBeckyBoo]

Hi, welcome to the forum. Parrotlets are brilliant little birds, but one thing to remember is that they are true parrots. They may be small but they have the requirements of any other parrot such as an African Grey/Amazon. In other words they need time and interaction. sounds like you've been researching the food well, fresh veggies and some fruit is great in addition to a good seed mix. Or you could convert to good pellets, but the veggies and fruit would be ideal regardless. The cage is the minimum size, I would say bigger, and the gap in the glass door at the front isn't ideal. Ours used to squeeze their way into everything. Also, they can live for about 30 years, so be prepared for that. I also wouldn't recommend breeding, we had 2 females. Fish tanks would need to be covered, and ideally no other pets (dogs/cats) in the room ideally in case their prey drive took over. I would highly recommend getting specialised insurance and registration with a specialist avian vet as vet bills can be expensive. Also if handling the chickens you'd need to maybe change clothes and definitely wash hands before going near the parrots so as not to transfer any outdoor feather mites to the indoor birds. A lot to cram into a rushed answer but am just on way out to work! Others here have parrotlets so no doubt will add on.

 

[dianaT]

Welcome from me too. I do agree with all that our members have said. A cage with glass is definitely not a good idea, also bigger the cage the better in width not so much in height is best with correct bar spacing for parrotlets. Also the fish tank must have a secure lid. Good luck let us know how it all goes.

 

[Lennie]

Hi, welcome to the forum. Parrotlets are brilliant little birds, but one thing to remember is that they are true parrots. They may be small but they have the requirements of any other parrot such as an African Grey/Amazon. In other words they need time and interaction. sounds like you've been researching the food well, fresh veggies and some fruit is great in addition to a good seed mix. Or you could convert to good pellets, but the veggies and fruit would be ideal regardless. The cage is the minimum size, I would say bigger, and the gap in the glass door at the front isn't ideal. Ours used to squeeze their way into everything. Also, they can live for about 30 years, so be prepared for that. I also wouldn't recommend breeding, we had 2 females. Fish tanks would need to be covered, and ideally no other pets (dogs/cats) in the room ideally in case their prey drive took over. I would highly recommend getting specialised insurance and registration with a specialist avian vet as vet bills can be expensive. Also if handling the chickens you'd need to maybe change clothes and definitely wash hands before going near the parrots so as not to transfer any outdoor feather mites to the indoor birds. A lot to cram into a rushed answer but am just on way out to work! Others here have parrotlets so no doubt will add on.

Hello there,

Many thanks for the helpful info. Im glad to hear adding fresh veggie and fruits daily with seed diet is good enough. I haven’t seen any parrot pellets in where I live.

The rescue parrot we homed for a while until finding a long term house had horrible care in his previous home ( due to being “loud”, was constantly locked in darkness in a wardrobe, sadly) was an amazon. Due to his poor care, this baby also came with problematic behavior and issues. Taking care of it and working on making him feel and behave better for months before rehoming a long time commited house helped me to understand better of parrot care and their needs.

I knew that I never wanted a big size parrot with a super long lifespan ( which conflicts with the idea of having tortoises, but our tortoises are super easy to care of after 2 years as they live in our pesticide free garden with a quite big selection of wild herbs and flowers, which is their main diet as well as natural sun). 30 year lifespan sounds good to me and I feel ready to commit it

Also my friend said, in her birdkeeping experience, forpus are by far the quietest and has the least white feather dust. That is an upside for me, besides their small size. Because I am planning to keep them in my bedroom. Keeping them easily as a pair is also super cute to me.

My main aim is not breeding really. I like their interaction and behavior with each other when they form a pair. I saw two pairs in a local pet store and it was very cute. I know there is no guarantee for them to pair up, but I hope they will. Them accompanying each other in this long journey feels great to me.

I don’t handle my current chickens. They free roam in our garden all the time. These ones are not too friendly to be handled, and I never force them what they don’t want. We used to have some silkie chicken that loved hugging tho. Thanks for pointing mite situation. We did struggle with it in the past with our chicken

Aquarium part is well understood. I will figure something out. 2 out of 3 tanks have a lid, but not the big one. I will find a way to cover it.

Thanks again for sparing time to text and explain. Have a good day!

 

[Lennie]

Welcome from me too. I do agree with all that our members have said. A cage with glass is definitely not a good idea, also bigger the cage the better in width not so much in height is best with correct bar spacing for parrotlets. Also the fish tank must have a secure lid. Good luck let us know how it all goes.

Thanks Diana!

I am trying to find a bigger cage with appropriate bar gap in between. Usually, big cages I find are made and sold for big parrots, the bars are too far away from each other for such small forpus.

It is a holiday here this week, so I have a week to order one as it will not ship earlier.

Please let me know if there are any videos you would recommend me to watch or guides to read. I would love to

 

[Lennie]

Btw, is it a good idea to cover the bottom of the cage with disposable underpads?

That is usually what I used for my guineapigs in the pst, below paper bedding and pellets as the bottom layer.

Also, does covering the top of the disposable underpad with paper bedding or pellets make any sense? To soak poop and keep the cage cleaner in between the cleanings


I also got me a piece of wood back in the weeks for potential new fishtank setup. I instead decided on keeping the birds. Can I use these “flame wood” in the cage? I like naturalistic looks in general. Wooden toys and this would look cool to have

 

[dianaT]

If you google Forpus parrots I guess you will find UTube videos etc and more info on there.
Many years ago we looked after a not wanted parrotlet the bottom of the cage we lined with clean paper we use newspaper here for our birds, easy to roll up and dispose of. I seem to remember it enjoyed fruits especially apple and green leaf, I think we offered a small dish of small seed mix in the cage daily but cannot remember which along with dish of clean water, also millet spray. You may also like to get or make a stand they can fly to so they know there's somewhere safe to aim to land on, also be aware of clear windows as may fly into those. I expect more info will come from our members in due course. By the way where is it you live?

 

[Lennie]

If you google Forpus parrots I guess you will find UTube videos etc and more info on there.
Many years ago we looked after a not wanted parrotlet the bottom of the cage we lined with clean paper we use newspaper here for our birds, easy to roll up and dispose of. I seem to remember it enjoyed fruits especially apple and green leaf, I think we offered a small dish of small seed mix in the cage daily but cannot remember which along with dish of clean water, also millet spray. You may also like to get or make a stand they can fly to so they know there's somewhere safe to aim to land on, also be aware of clear windows as may fly into those. I expect more info will come from our members in due course. By the way where is it you live?

We grow apples in our garden without any pesticides. Good to know. I will feed them occasionally

I live in Turkey!

I watched the videos I came across on youtube. There is a channel called BirdTricks, and she helped me to understand a lot of the concepts. Especially her words about small birds and how commonly they are misbehaved against due to them posing very low potential damage so people easily ignoring their signs and borders of being mistreated.

We have two types of curtains on all windows and balcony doors. I will make sure to keep them all covered. Thanks for the reminder

 

[DizzyBlue]

Hi and welcome from me and my flock
Excellent advice given by the members.
I think we have another member in your end of the world perhaps he can advise where to get things from if you can't find them. He owns African Grey's. Will tag him see if he can be helpful if you can't find something and advise where he purchases from. @erithacus

 

[DizzyBlue]

Oh and if you grow apple trees use the apple branches for your perches and don't use the flame wood. Flame wood is a species from the ixora family geranium family some sub species are safe some are poisonous to birds - we don't know which one you have safe for fish doesn't mean safe for birds.

 

[MJGB - MikeJenGaryBeckyBoo]

Just a quick note....our parrotlets were noisier that our macaws haha! Obviously not volume, but just constant. You do sound like you're trying to think of everything, and I reckon you've got every creatures best welfare in mind. We'll done.

 

[Lennie]

Hi and welcome from me and my flock
Excellent advice given by the members.
I think we have another member in your end of the world perhaps he can advise where to get things from if you can't find them. He owns African Grey's. Will tag him see if he can be helpful if you can't find something and advise where he purchases from. @erithacus

Oh and if you grow apple trees use the apple branches for your perches and don't use the flame wood. Flame wood is a species from the ixora family geranium family some sub species are safe some are poisonous to birds - we don't know which one you have safe for fish doesn't mean safe for birds.

Hello Dizzy!

Thanks a lot for the welcome and the info. I would like to meet Erithacus if he sees the topic. We may have a similar selection of foods and brands available. Currently Im struggling to find a good one. I read some posts of the highest quality ones online but I couldnt find any here. I am thinking if I should mix my own formula based on their needs.

About the flame wood, that is a good warning. I have the “black flame wood”. The one on the link below.

https://www.creaqua.com.tr/tr/ana-sayfa/37-black-flame.html
I use it safely in my fishtanks, but no clue how can I tell if it would be safe for birds now. We normally use dried branches and woods in fish tanks. Can I directly cut an apple tree branch and use it in my bird cage, or should I let it dry for months by itself/bake/etc.?

Just a quick note....our parrotlets were noisier that our macaws haha! Obviously not volume, but just constant. You do sound like you're trying to think of everything, and I reckon you've got every creatures best welfare in mind. We'll done.

Budgies, cockatiels, lovebirds etc were all super noisy at pet store! Meanwhile they had 9 forpuses in different cages and they were pretty quiet among other small species. I got mine from a hobbyist but wanted to see all birds in the pet store before deciding on any. My friend said they are pretty quiet too. Dont scare me! Will my mornings look like this:

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Darn you Kiki, you are a perfect alarm clock!


Animals are really important to me, and to my family. If any becomes a part of our family and we decide to take a responsibility, We have to do our best for our little friends.

 

[Lennie]

Updates:

So I have been searching for food. I guess I will make my own mix with the following:

-White millet, red millet, chia seeds, flaxseed, niger seed, hemp seed, rolled oats(without gluten), quinoa, buckwheat, rapeseed, perilla seed, and milk thistle seed.

Is this variety enough, or should I add anything else/discard any seeds from the combination? Should I mix in pellets to this combination, like Versela Laga nutribird b14? Or not needed? (I thought we had no pellets but I found this)

Also, Should I add vitamins like Versele Laga Multivit, Omnitvit, or some sort of D3, etc?

I will add cuttlebone to the cage as well as branch of white and red millet.

Planning to support their diet with fruits, greens and veggies as well as random feedings of eggs from our garden. Should I try bee pollen too? We have Organic bee pollen at home and I feed it to my fish sparingly.

In terms of cage, the front glass one still looks like the best bet. The bigger cages I found had bar spacing of 2cms. I saw that it is recommended to have around 1.2 for forpus as they are pretty small.

 

[Zooamazons]

By accident, do you mean them potentially trying to fly that way thinking there is nothing to block their way? Or something else?

Yes, that is what I meant.

 

[DizzyBlue]

As ZooAmazons says no glass birds can't see glass. And yes direct from the tree chop your branches just give it a wash with a bit of clean water in case there is any wild bird poop on it.n The apple wood is good to nibble on it keeps their beaks trim and brains occupied, keeps the feet exercised so keeps their claws trimmer. If it has apple leaf on it mine spend ages taking them off chewing them and generally having fun with them.

 

[Wendy Cooper-Wolfe]

Hello and welcome from me and Dora,
We give Dora a seed mix from human grade seeds we use for ourselves too , including those you have named but also she has cumin and coriander, and as a variety we might add cardamom pods (white or black), fennel, star anise, and fenugreek.
She also loves to eat fresh grass seed from the plant, but is very choosy about how ripe the seeds are, and has her favourites. The seed heads from ribbed plantain and wild carrot are favourites too, plus loads of flowers (violets,marigolds,roses etc but do check what's safe for parrots) and only picked from our garden where we don't use pesticides or chemicals).

 

[Lennie]

Hello and welcome from me and Dora,
We give Dora a seed mix from human grade seeds we use for ourselves too , including those you have named but also she has cumin and coriander, and as a variety we might add cardamom pods (white or black), fennel, star anise, and fenugreek.
She also loves to eat fresh grass seed from the plant, but is very choosy about how ripe the seeds are, and has her favourites. The seed heads from ribbed plantain and wild carrot are favourites too, plus loads of flowers (violets,marigolds,roses etc but do check what's safe for parrots) and only picked from our garden where we don't use pesticides or chemicals).

Hello!

Yes, I will get human grade ones as much as possible. I found all as human grade, except red millet, rapeseed and perilla seed. I can only buy them available for pet birds. Should be still fine I believe

I can find all the ingredients you mentioned above as human grade. I will get them all to enrich their diet. Thanks a lot

We sadly don't grow our own veggies and herbs. I buy them from farmers market, and surely they are exposed to pesticides. However, I use many in my fish tanks for snails and some other species like plecos, and I haven't witnessed any problems so far. I wash everything well, and peel them. We have a rosemary bush tho. Some lavender and roses. So many dandelions and wild herbs/flowers I have no clue what they are . Apricot, plum, peach, fig, lemon, kumquat and apple trees.