Meet ‘Bottletop’ my uncles rescued Lorikeet

Hello everyone.
I’m currently visiting my uncles in North Queensland. Just over a year ago my uncles (brothers) found an injured Lorikeet outside their house in the gutter. Uncle bent down, held out his hand and the little one ran up his arm and sat on his shoulder. He took him in and saw he had a broken wing, an old injury it seemed. They put up posters in case he was a lost pet but no one phoned. It’s unlikey she was wild as she was so tame but it’s possible perhaps.
My uncles instantly fell in love with her and she has over taken their life! Their whole sun room is now Bottletops, chairs now have little ramps going up them, bridges across large gaps.. the whole room is adapted for her special needs. She has the run of the place all day, until bed time which she’s always very eager for where she climbs herself up in her little cage and they close her in for the night.
My uncles are taking fabulous care for her, they are in their 80’s and it seems shes really given them some joy. They whistle and talk to her and she is devoted to them. It’s very sweet. She’s adorable.
She LOVES playing with bottle tops, hence her name! She drags them about and throws them in the air, a very playful little bird indeed!
Since my uncles having her she’s never met anyone else, so when me, mum and dad came in for the first time she was a little unsure. But I feel she’s gotten use to us a bit note now and I even managed to get some cute photos of her.

As you can imagine..It’s making me miss my boy even more.
But I’m so happy to have met her and her cute, funny noisy little character.








Am I right I’m thinking you can’t tell their gender without a DNA test?
Also what should her diet consist of?

Welcome to the wonderful world of lorikeet insanity!! Bottletop is tres adorable!

Captive lorikeets should have access to a dry powdered lorikeet nectar mix which can be left available all day. Water dishes should be kept a bit of a distance from food as they’re messy eaters! He should also have a “wet” nectar mix which again is usually a dry powder but mixed about 50/50 with water, preferably filtered. This will spoil after only a couple of hours so needs to be replaced or removed, you can give this once a day or as often as you like.

As you know from my writings about HRH Lilly Pilly she also has her fresh fruit compote lovingly prepared by her daddy every morning and also regularly has her slave (i.e. me!) bring her fresh grevillea, bottlebrush or eucalyptus flowers whenever they’re available. Just don’t take them from beside a busy road where they can pick up pollution from the road, and Bottletop will love em!

And yes I think the only way to tell boy from girl is DNA sexing although if you were in Brisbane my vet could probably tell just from a glance!

Meanwhile enjoy your stay in tropical FNQ, it’s been a while since I lived there and I miss it heaps!

LaManuka said:

Welcome to the wonderful world of lorikeet insanity!! Bottletop is tres adorable!

Captive lorikeets should have access to a dry powdered lorikeet nectar mix which can be left available all day. Water dishes should be kept a bit of a distance from food as they’re messy eaters! He should also have a “wet” nectar mix which again is usually a dry powder but mixed about 50/50 with water, preferably filtered. This will spoil after only a couple of hours so needs to be replaced or removed, you can give this once a day or as often as you like.

As you know from my writings about HRH Lilly Pilly she also has her fresh fruit compote lovingly prepared by her daddy every morning and also regularly has her slave (i.e. me!) bring her fresh grevillea, bottlebrush or eucalyptus flowers whenever they’re available. Just don’t take them from beside a busy road where they can pick up pollution from the road, and Bottletop will love em!

And yes I think the only way to tell boy from girl is DNA sexing although if you were in Brisbane my vet could probably tell just from a glance!

Meanwhile enjoy your stay in tropical FNQ, it’s been a while since I lived there and I miss it heaps!

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Thank you for the info! I may buy some dry powdered lorikeet nectar for my uncles to give to her as I’m pretty sure they just feed her fresh bottlebrush nectar type plants fresh from the garden. She looks very healthy and full of energy so she can’t be suffering by not having the special food. But as They are in their 80’s and rather old fashioned they don’t have phones or the internet so wouldn’t know the correct care or diet so I thought it wouldn’t harm for me to give them a little advice from here. They do care for her wonderfully and she has so much space I just feel she may need a little extra in her diet, which you have explained to me, thank you! Any favourite fruits? Can they have strawberries, grapes?

Yes HRH has sampled pretty much everything, strawberries, mango, apple, banana, blueberries, peaches, pears, just avoid the usual nasties like avocado and we remove any seeds because some like apple seeds have traces of arsenic in them. You should be able to get one or two brands of wet and dry mix at the local pet shop although She Who Must Be Obeyed of course prefers a brand that I can only get online, natch!

Your uncles sound like they’re taking pretty good care of Bottletop and his special needs Which part of North Qld do they call home?

Great thank you! I’m going to take some strawberries around tomorrow �� Hopefully I can get some special food when I’m in Atherton in a few days time. They live in Yungaburra!

Oh i LOVE Yungaburra! And I have family at Lake Eacham! Small world isnt it?!

I hope you’re enjoying your stay in the beautiful north, it’s a stunning part of the world

I bought some wet nectar food for bottletop, Turns out uncle already had some he bought a while ago and Bottletop didn’t seem to like it much. I tried with my one and she seemed to enjoy it, didn’t eat loads but took an interest in it. He’s going to keep offering it to her ��

It’s always handy if your uncles keep a supply of commercially prepared nectar on hand for when the native blossoms are not flowering. Of course with HRH being so tiny she doesn’t eat much so I split her food half into an airtight container kept in the fridge and I pop the other half in the freezer for freshness. Her breeder raised her on one particular brand that used to be readily available at my local pet shop but alas no longer so I bought a different brand thinking she’d adapt - wrong! Fortunately we were able to muddle through while we waited for her preferred brand to show up in the mail!

Bottletop is a beauty. Thank you for sharing Hannah.

Another beautiful rescue story, I guess it runs in the family.

Levi loves bottle caps. :smile049:

And as always lovely photography my friend! ic:

I just love the first photo! Geez Lorikeets are so beautiful! I remember years ago visiting friends in Florida and going to the Tampa Zoo. They had a huge aviary with lori's and for 25 cents you could buy a little plastic cup with nectar and the Lori's would literally swarm all over you to get to it lol.
It's awesome that your Uncles rescued and are taking such good care of Bottletop Great name too!



Jim