JanaJae
Meeting neighbors
Hi, I have a female rainbow lorikeet (Bella) and a male scaly breasted lorikeet (Dudley) who have been housed together for over a year now. Bella is about 18 months old, and Dudley is about 23 months old. They're a happy pair, always wrestling during the day and cuddling and sleeping right next to each other every night, but as of about a week ago, Bella has started to be a bit of a prick. When they're in the cage they're as good as gold, but once they're let out to fly around Bella starts chasing Dudley around with the intent to hurt him. Bella used to chase him around a bit like this but it wasn't anything serious, they were just mucking around, and it wouldn't last very long, but now when it happens Dudley always ends up on the floor and Bella refuses to give up. When I let them out last week, they were fine until about half an hour of being out, then Bella started chasing him around. I let them out just now and Bella started to chase Dudley around straight away and it took less than a minute for Dudley to end up on the kitchen floor. I put my hand in front of him and he hopped right on and laid in my hand and I had to put him just hiding under my shirt on my hand so Bella couldn't see him (because last time when I had him in my hand Bella came right over and bit my right on the finger trying to get to him). Bella knew I had him but she couldn't see him, so she sat on my shoulder looking around trying to find him. She wasn't aggressive towards me at all. As soon as I put them both right back into the cage though, Bella hopped around chasing him a tiny bit for about 5 seconds, she didn't seem to have any intent on hurting him now, then after that 5 seconds they were as good as gold again. I'm wondering if it's territorial/hormonal behavior? What I don't understand is why it happens when I let them out, but then as soon as they're back in the cage they're completely fine again. I did read something about a female rainbow lorikeet being jealous of a human? Dudley was bonded to me before we got Bella, and he definitely does still favor me over absolutely everyone, but we've had Bella for over a year now and she has also started to favor me a bit over other people (I'm assuming because Dudley is always with me when he's out). Whenever I let them out, they both hop right onto my arm then stay there or jump off onto the door of the cage as they please. I feel as though if Bella was jealous she would try to keep Dudley away from me during this time? Any information is appreciated. (Also as a side note, there has been no changes to the house or anything, so it couldn't be them being confused or scared of an environmental change).