I don't know what to do

[Bojo96]

Hello everyone who's reading this. I just made an account to make this thread becouse I'm desperate at the moment.

Today one of our 2 lovebirds died all of a sudden. Yesterday he seemed just ill but today he just lay down on the bottom of the cage. Before I could even find a vet (in my region there weren't any nearby) he got a seizure and passed away...

Now this is terrible becouse we like them over here. I am by no means an expert, we got these from a woman who couldn't keep them since they're illegal. (They're yellow-collared ones, I don't know why they're not allowed here anymore). My dad also has a Grey parrot.

Now I'm concerned for the remaining one. It's sad that one's gone but seeing him all alone makes me even more sad. I have put his cage next to the parrot so he has some kind of company.

I want to know if it's possible for my lovebird to live alone. I will try to give him as much attention that I can give and I will give him plenty of toys. The cage is also huge, even for 2 lovebirds so there's plenty to do for him. I constantly hope he isn't aware of his partners passing away since we took it out of the cage whilst searching for an expert (he unfortunately died in my sisters hand..) so I hope he thinks the bird left the cage or something, that he doesn't have to mourn. I don't know why I just keep telling myself this.

I haven't found any good answers, some say they will die and others say he should be fine.

Thanks for reading this long post and I hope I can get some answers.

 

[sunnysmom]

So sorry about the loss of your lovebird. Birds actually do mourn and he will probably go through a grieving period. That's okay- he won't die from it. Putting his cage near the other bird is a good idea. It's company for him. And you giving him extra attention will help. He should be okay.

 

[Bojo96]

Thanks a lot for your response. This makes me a little bit happier knowing that he will make it through.

As for the attention. I'm gonna do as much as possible but they weren't tame when they arrived here. He's scared when I approach him but he knows when I'm going to feed and refresh his water. Not scared then, more cautious which is fine by me.

If you have more tips that can help him, I will happily read all of them. The more the better.

 

[iamwhoiam]

So sorry for your loss. You may want to take your other lovebird to the vet for a check up to make sure he/she is not ill. Could have contracted something from the other one. Birds do go through a period of mourning. Just try to give your lovebird more attention. Sit next to his cage and talk to him. Drop special treats into his food dish.

 

[nu2birds]

I'm not sure how much experience you have with Lovebirds, but I just wanted to agree with sunnysmom that he will definitely go through a grieving period and to let him do that before you rush to get him a companion. If you decide to bring home a companion for him wait awhile and then you will need to put the new bird in a separate cage and have a quarantine period where they are in separate rooms. Then you can place the cages near each other and let the two birds slowly get to know each other. From there, if they seem interested in each other and are friendly with each other you can supervise some out of cage time and watch them carefully. There is a possibility they will become friends and get along great.........and a possibility that they absolutely won't! You'll just have to see. I agree with iamwhoiam, it would be a good idea to take your remaining Lovebird to see a vet in case the other bird passed something on to this last bird. Also, if you got your remaining bird DNA tested you would know what the sex is and it might be a little easier to pick out a "friend" for him. Two boys stand a better chance of getting along than two girls, and of course you could try and pick out an opposite sex bird and see if they would get along, they might and then again they might not, you would have to be prepared for either situation. Just curious where you are that you mention they are "illegal here". Sorry I got a little long winded, but thank you for sharing your dilemma and coming here for some help. I hope you will stick around and share your progress with your remaining lil guy! So sorry for your loss and hope everything works out for you and your Lovebird.

 

[Bojo96]

So here's a little update. So far our little buddy is doing really well! At first he was quite and was making the same noise every time for a short period of time (I think it was calling for the other one...).

He's really active now, like he always used to be. He isn't tame so I have to be creative with giving him attention (I autoplay lovebirds sounds on youtube so it can 'interact' and bought new stuff so it's never bored and the parrot gives him something to interact aswell).

About the vet, I'm checking him out everyday becouse he's really nervous with humans and I don't want to couse him stress. Plus he's doing well and shows no signs at all.

Here's a picture of him, in case you're curious

Also @nu2birds I'm from Belgium and I was told that the previous owner couldn't keep them anymore becouse it wasn't legal. Something about them being rare/exotic? Is that possible?

 

[nu2birds]

What a cutie........he looks like he might be a "Black Cheeked" but I'm no expert. If he is a Black Cheek his habitat is considered vulnerable and that might be why it is illegal to own.

 

[BirdField]

I know this thread is a bit older but do you have any Teflon/PTFE (non-stick) pans? When you said the others died close to one another and had seizures it seemed to remind me of PTFE Toxicosis. Please make sure you don't have any non-stick pans, don't use the self-cleaning oven function, and be careful with any strong-smelling fumes. You may already know this and not have any non-stick stuff but please do be careful if you didn't know this. There are a few threads about fumes on the Safety Avenue if you want to look into anything else.
I'm sorry for your loss, but I'm so glad one survived, he's so cute! Post plenty of pictures here on the forum, keep us all updated on him if you have time!

 

[Bojo96]

Thank you BirdField for the info.

It's been a while and I must say I forgot about my post becouse my little buddy is doing fine!

He's still scared of humans as usual but really seems to like our African Grey parrot except when the parrot is on top of his cage. He's extremely protective haha.

I recently bought a little mirror and he likes that aswell, constantly sits next to it. And if he's bored, I play some YouTube videos so gets some attention.

Again, thank you all for the help, it helped me a lot!

 

[BirdField]

I'm glad to hear your little guy is doing better and getting along with your grey! Hopefully things will keep looking up for him from here on out.