Cockatiel Questions

[Alien J]

I was wondering if any of you have been in the situation where you had a single cockatiel for several years and then got another one? I've had TD for almost 7 years. I've had him since he was 19 days old. He was the only bird until this past October. He will be 7 years old on May 1st.

I got AthenaDon this past October. He had been an only bird to his owner since he was a baby. He will be 6 years old tomorrow.

So far, from what I can see, they aren't anywhere near being friends. They are in separate cages, right next to each other. Almost touching. They do seem to talk to one another (not a lot) and they do eat together (of course I feed them at the same time). When we have out of cage time together, though, they aren't really interacting much. AthenaDon mostly stays on my shoulder. He won't perch on anything except me (or the curtain rod when I'm trying to get him back in his cage). This makes TD jealous, I think, though he's never been one to be on me. When I sit on the floor with them and TD becomes interested in a toy or my shoelaces, AthenaDon suddenly wants whatever it is as well and comes quickly over and TD runs away.

How long did any of your tiels take to make friends, do any of you have tiels that have been together for a long time but still aren't friends?

 

[April]

@Xoetix

 

[Xoetix]

Kimchi and Tteok are intensely apathetic about each other. They share a cage, they’ll forage near each other, sleep near each other - but direct interaction? Nah.

Well, they do talk to each other, kind of. If Tteok is in another room singing, Kimchi will answer, but in the same room? No interaction. It’s the weirdest thing.

 

[sunnysmom]

So Rosie lived as an only bird for 30 years. Scooter for 20. They really don't have a lot of interest in each other but are companions. They nap at the same time, eat, etc. But have zero interest in physically being close to each other. At least on Rosie's end. Scooter went into Rosie's cage once and Rosie was terrified. Scooter never did it again. But your birds are a lot younger. So things may change. But 2 birds of the same species aren't necessarily going to want to be friends just because they're the same species. Company, yes. I think my birds like that there's another one but don't care a whole lot. Lol.