Peach Face, Masked, and Fischer's Temperament Differences?

[lavanya]

Hey everyone!

I'm going to adopt a lovebird soon, and something that I have come across in my research was that masked and fischer's lovebirds were more aggressive, skittish, and harder to tame than peach faces?

Can any lovebird owners confirm or dismiss this? Any thoughts or personal experiences would be appreciated.

Thanks!

 

[Betrisher]

I've never tried to tame any of our lovebirds because they came to us as adults, but I can say the masks and fischer's are quite a bit more aggressive than the peachies. By that, I mean aggressive toward one another and *extremely* so toward other species. You can't keep peachfaces in the same cage as masks, for example, because the peachies will suffer.

Having said that, though, our original colony was a pair of fischer's, two pairs of masks and a pair of peachies and they all got along just fine until some mongrel came one night and stole them. We had two pairs of masks and one of peachies after that, but it turned out the masks were far too aggro to allow the peachies to live with them. They had to be separated. Now, the masks are standoffish while the peachies are pretty chill whenever cage-cleaning etc gets done.

One other thing about lovebirds that you don't often hear is that they are absolute *slaves* to their hormones. The poor little hens can get incredibly frantic about nesting and breeding and cage aggresssion and everything associated with that. Do a search for posts about Casey's Munchlax to find out what you can do to help (although poor little Munch continued to lay and lay despite everything Casey did).

Despite all this, I can say that keeping lovebirds is *so* much fun! They are clever, feisty little birds and, if you keep a colony, they will have you in stitches every day as you watch them play together. I always feel sorry for lovies kept alone or in pairs, as they clearly prefer to be part of a larger family. Ours have a Slinky toy stretched across their cage (it's a metre wide to allow them to fly) and they spend most of their day running along inside it or bouncing on top of it or hanging upside-down from it. They're also pretty keen on the cheap plastic tennis racquet that hangs from a chain. They fly onto it and swing wildly back and forth, yelling at each other to show off.

If you do adopt a lovie, please consider adopting two. And, if you can, provide them with a cage long enough to allow flight (only needs to be a metre or so - height doesn't really matter).

 

[Cardinal]

I have absolutely zero personal experience with lovebirds but I can say that the Wild type (not color mutations, not hybrids) Masked lovebirds or the Yellow collared lovebirds with their brown-black mask contrasting with the bright yellow and dark green body plumage and deep red beak, makes them one of the 10 most beautiful parrots in the world and also probably among the top 30 most beautiful birds in the world.

[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CNWEQMLH4q0"]Agapornis personata 10 (Reproductores) - YouTube[/ame]

 

[lavanya]

Thank you both for replying! And Betrisher, were the masks and fischer's only aggressive to each other, or to you and other humans as well?

And I think I will most likely be getting a single lovebird, because I will be purchasing a large and wide cage, buying and making lots of toys, constructing a playgym, buying a radio for when I am gone, and will have 6+ hours to spend with him/her on weekdays, and 8+ on weekends. I see where you are coming from, though, and I will keep your advice on multiple lovebirds in mind!)

 

[lavanya]

if anyone else has something to say on the topic, I'd love to hear it as well!
(because I'd like a wide variety of opinions before coming to a conclusion )

 

[Talven]

I would think that on it's own any of the lovebirds would be fine as they would form a bond with someone in the household. Once you get multiple birds, even of other species, the whole dynamic will change.

Any bird will have a certain level of aggressive behaviour. Even when hand raised they are still essentially a wild animal. If you don't behave the way they expect, there is a good chance you will be bitten. From my experience they make snap judgments about things and take a very long time to change their minds.

For example You have managed to get your bird to step up for the first time after weeks of work. You sneeze and scare the **** out of the bird. Next time you offer your finger the bird goes to town biting it. You are looking at months of work to change it's mind because it's decided that every time it steps up something scary will happen.

Probably not the best example but it should give you the general idea of what I'm on about.

Get the one you like the most. All of them will bite you at some point. All of them will go through periods of hormone induced aggressive behaviour. Each one will show some level of aggressive behaviour to other people/pets depending on how strongly they have bonded to their chosen partner.

 

[LaManuka]

... Ours have a Slinky toy stretched across their cage (it's a metre wide to allow them to fly) and they spend most of their day running along inside it or bouncing on top of it or hanging upside-down from it.

Oooh Trish thanx for the tip about Slinkies, hubby has one gathering dust on his desk at work which I’m sure would be way more useful as a toy for Lilly. What’s good for a lovebird must also be good for a hormonally crazed lorikeet dontcha think?!

 

[Betrisher]

Thank you both for replying! And Betrisher, were the masks and fischer's only aggressive to each other, or to you and other humans as well?

Only to each other. As I said, they were adults when we brought them home, so more difficult to tame. My son chose not to, but loved them just as much.

 

[metalstitcher]

From what I have seen and experienced over the last 18 years with my two I would say my peachie was the cuddle bug always wanting to be with me and be in the middle of everything. My Fischers hahahaha some days I think he is going to try and attack me the little pain. Barely make a move and he's all hissy and snapping at me like I assaulted him or something.

So yeah they are a bit different in personality.