ibrevity
New member
- Nov 20, 2011
- 9
- 0
- Parrots
-
Lovebirds:
(Elysium "Lyssie", 3 y/o, female)
(Olympus "Oli", 10 mo/s, male)
Hello all. Long story short I'm here because I'm worried about my female lovebird, Elysium. She's nearing four years old, DNA'd female, peach-faced. She's currently underweight and I'm trying to convince her to take to fruits and vegetables, and nuts and rice in the meantime to get her weight back up.
The problem is this; I have a male lovebird (not acquired on purpose) named Olympus. DNA'd male, only just eight months old, got him on Valentine's Day of this year. I love the kid dearly, he's a total clutz but: he's obsessed with Elysium. He's begun to encourage mating behavior in her, and as she's underweight I'm very interested in keeping her away from laying eggs. In fact, I'm uninterested at all in putting her under the stress of raising chicks.
She has just this morning laid an egg, and not two weeks back laid another two, which caused me to take her to an emergency vet because she had tore her cloaca and it was swollen a great deal. She stopped laying eggs after the vet visit (thank god!) but I caught her laying another this morning. I'm getting worried for her, primarily with the nutrients involved.
I know for certainty that the egg isn't fertile; Elysium and Olympus are often out together but I never let him mount her, and they're constantly supervised (ie if I leave my room for a minute I take at least one of them with me).
Should I get rid of Olympus to discourage this breeding behavior? Is there some easier way to do so without having to give him up?
p.s. in case someone asks; they live in the same bedroom but have individual cages that are about two-three feet away from each other. Both are covered and in complete darkness/silence from 8:30 PM and 8:00 AM every day.
The problem is this; I have a male lovebird (not acquired on purpose) named Olympus. DNA'd male, only just eight months old, got him on Valentine's Day of this year. I love the kid dearly, he's a total clutz but: he's obsessed with Elysium. He's begun to encourage mating behavior in her, and as she's underweight I'm very interested in keeping her away from laying eggs. In fact, I'm uninterested at all in putting her under the stress of raising chicks.
She has just this morning laid an egg, and not two weeks back laid another two, which caused me to take her to an emergency vet because she had tore her cloaca and it was swollen a great deal. She stopped laying eggs after the vet visit (thank god!) but I caught her laying another this morning. I'm getting worried for her, primarily with the nutrients involved.
I know for certainty that the egg isn't fertile; Elysium and Olympus are often out together but I never let him mount her, and they're constantly supervised (ie if I leave my room for a minute I take at least one of them with me).
Should I get rid of Olympus to discourage this breeding behavior? Is there some easier way to do so without having to give him up?
p.s. in case someone asks; they live in the same bedroom but have individual cages that are about two-three feet away from each other. Both are covered and in complete darkness/silence from 8:30 PM and 8:00 AM every day.