Need to buy a company for my juvenile Alex

[madcap03]

Hello everyone

I have an 1 year old Alex and had him ever since he was a month old. I have been planning to buy him another Alex for company as I haven’t been able to give him as much attention as I want. I will also be away for a month or two this year. So I want to get this one as soon as possible.

The problem is that I am not sure about his gender at all. Plus where I live DNA testing is not available.

So can someone please tell me whether I should get him a female or a male Alexandrine? I know for budgies and cockatiels, two females might not get along well. But I am not sure about Alexes. Does it apply to them too?

PS. He developed this ring when he was around 3 months old so I don’t think we can count him as a male yet as he still hasn’t lost his juvenile plumage yet.

 

[wrench13]

Careful ! Getting him a 'friend' does not guarantee they will get along at all, male OR female. Each parrot is unique unto itself. Think long and hard about this!

 

[madcap03]

Careful ! Getting him a 'friend' does not guarantee they will get along at all, male OR female. Each parrot is unique unto itself. Think long and hard about this!

But what could be worse than leaving him alone for a month?

 

[wrench13]

I used to travel to China for 2-3 weeks at a time at least twice a year for 6 years or so. My wife and oldest son were acceptable bird sitters to him, so as long as I explained to Salty how long I was going to be away, he was just P.O'd at me for a day or two. I've used fingers or some toy balls to show him how many. Not doing that - the P.O. period might be a week!

If you have a family member that is acceptable to your parrot (meaning he will let them feed and change water in his cage with out biting) I would 100% do that rather then getting a 'friend' for him.