Jerk stage...

[Leih]

My boys Caspar and Emrys are going to be 10 months in early January, and tonight Caspar is officially acting like an adolescent jerk. Emrys is very chill and muuuch more passive than Caspar. Caspar seems to be the guard bird of their cage and of Emrys except he can be a brat to Emrys as well. I'm watching to make sure Emrys isn't getting hurt because I will separate them immediately if I think he is. Caspar tonight would charge at me and make all kinds of noise at me (just standard linnie sounds but obviously swearing at me hahaha) particularly in regards to his nutriberries. I cover their cage at night and they get a solid 12 hours of sleep. I understand this is pretty typical for his age, but I'm wondering the approximate duration of this stage?

 

[suileeka]

I honestly can't remember how long it lasted with my boys, as it was years ago, but they definitely went through it and it was worse in the evening when they were going to their cage for the night. Have you thought about getting them a separate sleep cage? I find they are the most territorial about where they sleep, and having that separate from where they spend their daytime hours can make them less defensive of that area.

 

[Dona]

Oh my gosh, the boys are so cute! Those colors! I swoon over the polka dots, so much more pronounced on the males. Gigi, at almost 11 months old is an only so she doesn't have any opportunity for arguments with a cage mate. But she definitely is cage territorial. I feed her from the outside of the cage and that's fine. If I clean or organize inside her cage when she's in it, she could lunge or nip. She is the same with her play gym and doesn't like when I clean or touch toys when she's on there.

Gigi loves Nutri-berries too. I give her 2 each day at the end of out of the cage time. We go together to get them out of the cupboard and as I get close to her cage, she flies in and waits for me to put the bowl into the cage. I would imagine she would not share them well.

 

[Leih]

Oh my gosh, the boys are so cute! Those colors! I swoon over the polka dots, so much more pronounced on the males. Gigi, at almost 11 months old is an only so she doesn't have any opportunity for arguments with a cage mate. But she definitely is cage territorial. I feed her from the outside of the cage and that's fine. If I clean or organize inside her cage when she's in it, she could lunge or nip. She is the same with her play gym and doesn't like when I clean or touch toys when she's on there.

Gigi loves Nutri-berries too. I give her 2 each day at the end of out of the cage time. We go together to get them out of the cupboard and as I get close to her cage, she flies in and waits for me to put the bowl into the cage. I would imagine she would not share them well.

Caspar definitely was getting an attitude while he was on the playgym, he gets this look in his eyes haha I'm kind of just trying to be extra cautious with him right now. I was actually a little worried for a short time that maybe Emrys is actually female because he loves to go in their grass hut and shred, but I think he's too striped to be a girl! Especially having an owner of a female commenting on their stripes hahaha They share pretty well overall, they've been housed together since they hatched so they're essentially a bonded pair but they will argue over the best perch and best toy etc. I got them those "parrot dice" that are balsa cubes with corks in them and they loooove it!

 

[Dona]

Caspar definitely was getting an attitude while he was on the playgym, he gets this look in his eyes haha I'm kind of just trying to be extra cautious with him right now. I was actually a little worried for a short time that maybe Emrys is actually female because he loves to go in their grass hut and shred, but I think he's too striped to be a girl! Especially having an owner of a female commenting on their stripes hahaha They share pretty well overall, they've been housed together since they hatched so they're essentially a bonded pair but they will argue over the best perch and best toy etc. I got them those "parrot dice" that are balsa cubes with corks in them and they loooove it!

Yeah, I know that look. Just now I moved Gigi's cage back to her sleep room and her tail was poking out of the cage. I teasingly whispered to her "I'm gonna get your tail" and she did a click-click-click at me and then flared her tail when I touched it. She loves the drama.

I will look for the parrot dice! Gigi loves her toys!