Buttons came to IndyCLAW Rescue from Animal Control on an investigation. Buttons and Bows were being kept in less than acceptable conditions. They are beautiful and fun to watch. Because they were neglected, they are very nippy and will require someone with patience and preferably experience in order to make them managable.
Buttons adoption fee is $50 and does not include a cage.
IndyCLAW Rescue is founded on the premise of 'Creating Life-long Animal Welfare'. We do have an adoption contract and do home visits to ensure that this pet will be achieving a life-long home. We do not ship our pets nor do we adopt to breeders or resellers.
' Lovebirds are pint-sized bundles of joy. They have the full personality of parrots while being easy to house because of their size. Lovebirds are little clowns, playing for hours at a time. They love to hang from toys, spin them around, and dance on your shoulder. Watch out for your buttons! They love to pull them off your shirts! They love to snuggle and preen. Many people believe lovebirds must be kept in pairs. This is simply not true. A single lovebird makes a better pet because it bonds to you rather than to another lovebird.
While it is easy to keep a pair of lovebirds tame, if you plan on spending lots of time with your bird you can keep it alone. However, if you work long hours and don’t think you’ll have a lot of time for your love bird, we recommend you get him a companion. This will keep your lovebirds happy and prevent boredom.
It is important to realize that while lovebirds are a small parrot, they have the intelligence and abilities of some of the largest parrots. They can amaze you with their ability to escape their own cages, they will sometimes try to become the little bosses of the household (hence, the same type of gentle dominance training used for larger parrots should be used with lovebirds), and they can learn to mimic sounds.
If the bird is biting or terribly frightened, it has not been handled enough and has not been properly socialized. Sometimes these birds can be tamed down a bit, but many will remain nervous around humans. Pet lovebirds should be handled regularly to keep them tame. Nibbling with the beak on the fingers or neck should be discouraged at all times, even when it doesn’t hurt as this nibbling can turn to hard bites in a few weeks or months.
Caging: Lovebirds are very active and playful. They should be given as large a cage as possible. Make sure the spacing between bars is no greater than 3/4″ and make sure there are plenty of horizontal bars to facilitate climbing. Add swings and toys to keep your bird amused and content. Cages should be atleast 2 feet long and 18″ wide and high for a lovebird to have adequate room for play and exercise.
Diet: Small hookbill seed mix, cockatiel or parakeet sized pellets (mini or small), fresh vegetables, some fruit, dried figs, corn, sprouts and grains. It is important to insist on a varied diet from the beginning. Lovebirds can be stubborn about dietary changes, but will come around if you put the new food in the cage over and over again for many days or weeks until they try it. Cuttlebone for calcium.
Health: Lovebirds are very robust birds. Like most parrots, they should not be put near drafts (avoid putting the cage near a drafty window, especially at night). They don’t have any tendencies toward obesity. They can occasionally develop feather plucking problems if frustrated and left cagebound for long periods of time.
Noise: Distinctive parrot “chirp”. They sometimes let out short bursts of this chirp. Generally, most people do not find it problematic, making this a good “apartment bird.” If a bird is ignored and bored much of the time, like most parrot species, it will vocalize more to try to get the “flock” to interact with it. Will compete with the television set or other noises at times.
Sleep: Lovebirds should get a good night’s sleep with atleast 10 hours of darkness and quiet. A tv in the room does not equal good sleep.
