# celestial parrotlets



## lysinlight87 (Oct 5, 2012)

Hi, 

I have 2 celestial parrotlets. Everything I read said that if I keep them together they will fight, but my petshop would only sell them as a pair, saying they were a 'proven pair' so I bought them both. Sure enough, I noticed last week that one of them had a bald patch on his head. 
I've now got them in seperate cages but in the same room, have I done the right thing? I don't want them to pine for each other, but I don't want them to pull feathers out of each other either. Since then, I've spent more time them individually, in the hope of taming them so they can have some free-range time. I have one of them hand-feeding in 3 days of trying


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## ljb107 (Nov 16, 2008)

So are they actually fighting? The bald patch could be from over preening


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## lysinlight87 (Oct 5, 2012)

they were 'arguing' a lot, squawking at each other, pecking at each others beaks, I wouldn't call it fighting exactly- lots of noise. It was mostly over their treats, one would dominate. 

They would argue and make loads of noise one minute then be preening each other the next.


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## ljb107 (Nov 16, 2008)

Hmm, that's a strange one. Maybe one is coming into breeding condition and the other isn't - if they're a deffo pair, or they're just not getting on for some reason.


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## lysinlight87 (Oct 5, 2012)

The pet shop didn't specify if they were a male/female pair & I'm not sure how to sex them. 

Since I've separated them, I've noticed one sitting on his own feet a lot, if you know what I'm describing, my partner described it as 'sitting on his haunches' and he thinks it's a pining behaviour. When I put the cages side-by-side they seemed so happy to see each other.


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## 9Red (May 30, 2008)

'Proven pair' means they are a proven breeding pair that have successfully produced chicks, so in that case you should have a male and female. I would call the pet shop and ask them if they have any proof of them being 'proven'. I used to breed celestials and once I was sold a supposedly proven pair only to find out later that they were two same sex siblings. :censor:


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## stonker (May 10, 2013)

*celestial*

Hi you dont say what colour they are ?
if they are normal greens or a morph of green 
the male will have a Blue eye flash,
with lutinos you can see this under uv light,
be carefull with uv dont look at it.
cheers 
Steve


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## samurai (Sep 9, 2009)

I was chatting to a parrotlet breeder today who said same sex pairs (if the pet shop wasn't telling the truth about them being proven, who knows) will fight once they reach maturity. If they were happy to see each other again and they are male and female I'd be tempted to give them supervised time together (maybe once they are tame enough to come out of their cages) or have them in a divided cage if they don't get along well enough to be caged together but still enjoy each others company a bit). They are quite cage terrirotial I believe and the ones I saw today were preening then having a go at each other after lol, bit of a strange relationship.
They are funny little birds, we are maybe thinking of getting a pair but I know they can be quite aggressive to each other so I'm a bit worried about having a pair or them breeding (I wouldn't want to sell the babies). Are yours hand reared or parent reared? Just wondering with regard to taming them. I am thinking of having 2 with a divided cage and maybe letting g them free fly together if they get along a bit.


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## BlackRose (Jul 8, 2007)

If it was me i would keep them both seperate and see if they can tolerate seperate playtimes together on top of their usual playtime/out the cage time, and leave it at that. That way they can love on each other and you without risk of fighting unsupervised or them not bonding to you. Good luck!


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## lysinlight87 (Oct 5, 2012)

I've separated them. One gets free range time cos he doesn't tear chunks out of my fingers when I hold him lol, the other is less tame. When I let him out he flies to the others cage and hangs out with him for a bit, they share treats through the bars but I have also noticed them fighting. I think separating them was the right thing to do. The green one who was bullied is taking a while to recover the plumage on his head but they both seem fairly content in their own territories


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