Lonely lovebird

Question
Hello Sarah I had emailed you a little while ago regarding a peach faced love bir dIwas getting, Well I have gotten my little lobebird but now am wondering if maybe I should have boughten his sibling to keep him company? You see I have two dogs who need my attention as well, I'd showed my love bird to them cupped in my hands my labrador just sniffed but my jack russell terrier tryed to eat his tail feathers! So I now know that my russell is untrusable around the bird he acts really weird when he sees the bird move around in its cage and goes and stands up againsit his cage and I tell him to leave him alone. Anyway my bird lives in my bedroom because are home is quite tiny and the kitchen fumes go right into the lving room and we all use tefalon/non stick coockware... he gets to come in on my shoulder now and then when there are no fumes and noones cooking and when my dogs are outside, I go into my room and play with him four to five times a day for 15/40 minute periods but I see I am now neglecting my dogs..... what shall i do? Should I get him a handfed baby friend when I can afford it(I can afford it in about 1 1/2 months... wish it were sooner) so he can have someone to play with and talk to while I'm not there? would he tunr mean and not want to come out and play anymore after I get the frined? would it be a whole lot louder with two? Or is he fine by himself with the time I can give.. I need to spend less time with him out of cage thou as my dogs are getting rather sad of my absence..... can I take him out for about 1 hour a day and be in my room with him in his cage with my dogs for another hour or so? would it count as time "spent" together?... i need every option i can get right now... I don't want him to be unhappy... or evil,

Tara.

Answer
Hello Tara,

One big thing to keep in mind when you get a buddy for your bird is that your current baby will bond to the new bird! Which inevitably means, if you want to keep them tame, you'll have to spend more time with them because you'll need to spend time with them individually as well as together. You can have two lovebirds in the same cage and still keep them tame, but you have to handle them on a DAILY basis!

Your lovebird should be just fine if you spare as much time with him/her as possible. Is there anyone else who can spend time with him as well so you can entertain the dogs for a while? Do you ever spend time on the computer in another room?  If so, you could always have him sitting contently on your shoulder, or get a tabletop playstand for him that you can set on the desk and he can keep himself entertained for a while. An hour is a good amount of time to be out of the cage interacting with you, but they should have more than that just out time, even if that means playing on a playstand while you're in the same room doing something else.

Definitely keep an eye on your JRT. I have a terrier cross and she is a little devil. She wouldn't think twice about going after any of our birds. We had one unfortunate incident when one of my handfed babies learned how to get the food dishes out and sneak out the hole. I don't want to scare you, just warn you. I'm sure your terrier's reaction was warning enough for you.

I would keep thinking about it. If it gets to the point where you really can't spend anytime with your lovebird, then I would get him a friend, but at this point, as long as you have some time to spend, he's fine. If you can give that hour a day EVERY day and then spare whatever other time you can. Even if he can ride around on your shoulder while you do laundry or watch TV or something. Any time you can give!

Sounds like you're doing a great job though! Way to look out for what's best for your lovebird! :D :D :D

Talk to you soon,
Sarah