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Feeding Your Pet LovebirdPellet diet specifically formulated for your Lovebird is recommended in order to meet their recommended dietary nutrition. This also prevents the Lovebird from becoming too picky. Enriched seed mixtures designed for your Lovebird are also great as long as your Lovebird isn't only eating his favorite seeds and discarding the rest. To supply calcium, your Lovebird should have a Cuttlebone in it's cage at all times.Although pellets can provide your Lovebird with the ideal nutrition you should also be sure to include variety in your Lovebird's diet. Giving your Lovebird a variety of foods will inspire them to eat. Lovebird love fruits, nuts, beans, legumes, grains and vegetables(no avocado). You will enjoy seeing them flurry excitedly to their dish at each feeding time.Your Lovebird should have water readily available at all times.Lovebird Health TipsLovebird droppings should be removed daily and the bottom of the Cage disinfected at least weekly.Use Gravel Paper already cut to size and made especially for bird cages. This is the cleanest and easiest low maintenance way to go. It will absorb spilled water and droppings.Once a month you'll want to disinfect the walls of the cage to protect your Lovebird's health. The Water Dispenser and Feeder Bowl should be rinsed out daily and disinfected weekly. This helps protect against harmful bacteria. Cage Cleaners disinfect and dissolve hard dried-up droppings.Trim your Lovebird's nails and beak. Wing clipping is also recommended if you want to limit or eliminate the bird's flying abilities. If you do not feel comfortable trimming or clipping, an avian veterinarian or breeder will do it for a small fee.A Pet Lovebird's PersonalityLovebirds are very active, curious and playful birds. They are very social and form deep bonds with their owners, but their intense personalities can also make them prone to territorial aggressiveness and jealousy. A common myth about lovebirds is that they should always be kept in pairs which is true if you don't plan on spending a lot of time with your pet. However by having more than one lovebird they may become more deeply bonded to each other than to you. A single lovebird is fine as long as it gets the social interaction, contact, affection and attention that it needs.Lovebirds normal chirps and squawks are not overly loud, but they do like to chatter. Lovebirds can also produce a loud high pitched screech, especially if looking for your attention. They are not known for their ability to mimic speech or sounds, although there are exceptions. In general, females are more likely to mimic sounds or speech than males.The cage should be at least 2 feet wide by 2 feet long (and 2 feet tall), but a larger cage is definitely better. Bars should horizontal and the spacing should be no more than 5/8 of an inch apart. Provide a variety of perch sizes (especially natural branches). Lovebirds are very active and playful so it is a good idea to have lots of toys on hand to rotate through the cage to keep them occupied. Lovebirds are quite aggressive chewers so make sure there are no small parts that can be chewed off and ingested.Origins of a LovebirdLovebird is the commonly used name for any of the nine species of the genus Agapornis (Greek: αγάπη agape 'love'; όρνις ornis 'bird'). They are a social and affectionate small parrot. Eight species are native to the African continent while the Grey-headed Lovebird is native to Madagascar.The name Lovebird stems from these parrots' strong, monogamous pair bonding and the long periods of time in which paired birds will spend sitting beside one another. This is reflected by the bird's name in other languages: in German, "die Unzertrennlichen", and in French "les inséparables", both meaning "the inseparables".Lovebirds live in small flocks and eat mainly fruit, vegetables, some grasses and seed. Abyssinian Lovebirds also eat insects and figs, and the Black-collared Lovebirds have a special dietary requirement for native figs, making them almost impossible to keep in captivity.Some species of the genus are amongst the most popular parrots kept as pets, and several color mutations have been selectively bred in aviculture. Their average lifespan is 10 to 15 years.
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