Eclectus and Cockatiel?

[nimble]

I'm not quite sure where to post this, so here's as good a place as any, I suppose! [I also posted this in the eclectus section]

I have a cockatiel, Nimbus, who's a little over 2 1/2 months old. I bought him from a breeder, and he lived with three other cockatiels at the time, and was exposed to lots of different kinds of parrots, but as far as I know they were always just in the same room (in or out of the cage) and whatnot.

My mother and step father are looking for a parrot and have been driving all over California to meet different breeds and individuals, and they may have found one that they'd like to take home. The one they found is about Nimbus's age, maybe a few weeks older, and a male eclectus (I believe that they had him sexed through a blood test, whereas Nimbus's definite sex is unknown).

I was wondering if the two of them could get along and hang out together (supervised) from time to time? They'd live in the same house, though in different rooms. My mother & step father purchased a super cool free standing perch that Nimbus has been playing on (it's pretty humongous) so I was wondering if (assuming they bring the other parrot home) they could play on it together?

Is there some way they should be introduced? What body language should I look for from both birds (positive and negative) and what should I expect to transpire?

My poofhead seems like he'd be a friendly dude with other parrots, and from what I'm told the eclectus is a laid back guy, too.

Thanks for your help!!

 

[mtdoramike]

No, Eclectus usually do not get along with smaller birds. Mac my eclectus wants to bite my Senegal's head off literally every time they get near each other. He will even run towards her if she is on the floor. He has tried to hit her a few times with his beak and has struck her in the back before I could grab her away from him. Mac also hated a Cockatiel named Shelby from his previous home.

I'm not saying they are all like this but from my experience, which is very limited at best, I have found this to be the case. Hopefully Sodakat is checking in and can give you much better advice than I can. She is like the forum guru when it comes to Eclectus especially.

 

[MikeyTN]

First of all Eclectus doesn't need to be DNA sexed to figure out the sex as they are dimorphic! Putting two different size bird is always a risk, not saying they can't get along but there's a chance they may get along. You just never know....

 

[nimble]

Ohh! Okay. I wasn't there, I just remember them saying that it was definitely a male, so I assumed... Just to be clear, I'm not saying that I want them to be roommates or best buddies or anything like that. Just maybe share the big perch or something so that he's not stuck in his cage while my parents are away (I'm going to an online high school, so I'm home all the time, and Nimbus is generally out of his cage all day playing on the playground on top of his cage, on my shoulder, exploring my bed, or playing in his wicker basket).

If it's at all relevant, the eclectus is the smallest... version(?) of eclectus parrot, apparently.

Even if that's not possible, when/if the other bird arrives, should I do anything to introduce them, or just not acknowledge their existence in regards to each other? I definitely don't want them to get jealous of each other, or make one of them not like the other due to some fault of my own.

Thanks!

 

[mtdoramike]

Well, my Senegal was here first and spent quite a great deal of time with me and adored me as I did her. But once Mac the Eclectus showed up, she became very angry and would lash out at me biting the $%^**&()*)( out of me. So I realized that I had to handle or play with her first and if I didn't, I would have to wait like 15 minutes in between playing with Mac before I attempted to play with the Senegal.

 

[Featheredsamurai]

You never when with birds, some individuals may be alright with smaller bids while others won't. But there is always the chance of injury no matter the temperament. Also, eclectus have a specialized diet made mostly of fresh and prepared foods. They do not do well on a staple of pellets. My galah and grey get pellets all day, and I serve a chop mix or other fresh/prepared food and leave it in for 2 hours daily. some days they get more fresh food, but it depends on my scheduled. A eclectus will need basically the reverse, mostly fresh food/prepared foods all day and a smaller amount of pellets. Are your parents prepared for that?

Male is the green bird, female is the red/blue at one point they were thought to be different species

 

[kc_y0]

It's not impossible. I have a budgie and an eclectus and I have them out together sometimes. To introduce them, after the budgie passed my quarantine, I put their cages near each other, so they could always see and hear each other. I did that for about a month. They were very curious of each other. Then I let my eclectus climb on the budgie cage, so I could see if she acted with aggression or curiosity. Then I put them together, while being very careful to use my hand to make sure they didn't get too close. I did that every day for about 5-10 mins for around 3 weeks. They are ok with each other. My eccy is scared of my budgie lol.

 

[Mike17]

We have a 'tiel hen who is absolutely devoted to our eccy boy. Where he flies, she flies- he land on one shoulder, she lands on the other. Having said that, she's very quick but he's still managed to grab various parts of her and pulled feathers. The eccy's cage even has glass on top so Ariel the 'tiel can see Alex the eccy without climbing down the cage and endangering her feet. Both bids spend all day outside on our enclosed verandah (with other birds, loose). Our other tame 'tiel isn't exposed to Alex, they weren't raised together and Ziggy is very clumsy and slow in any case. But the other two are fine- I've even given Alex a green leaf, which he holds in one foot, while Ariel the 'tiel reaches in and takes bites from the leaf held in Alex's foot! It all depends on the individual birds and their characters.

 

[Pajarita]

You can't trust an ekkie with a smaller bird. And monitoring them doesn't do it, either, because ekkies don't really display before attacking a smaller bird and they are much faster than us - they will stretch out their neck, bite the back of the neck killing them and not bat an eyelash.