To buy or not to buy?????

[FredsMum]

Hello,

I currently have a 5 month old green IRN named Fred. He has been stuck in his 'bluffing' stage for about a month and is slowly coming out of it...( god love him).. He is more attached to me that my partner and my partner (who hated birds prior to fred) is looking at getting a blue IRN.. I think Fred is a male (am looking at getting a dna test to confirm) and I am wondering will it be ok to get another irn.. and if we do should we get the same sex or different??

Will it affrect his behaviour towards us?

Please help..

[smallworld]

Well I personally find that getting a friend distracts the training process. If however, he already is really tame and you think that you dont want to train him further, then of course a mate would be a good idea. Better idea then another boy, I think. Thats just my opinion. Getting 2 birds of different sexes does not necessarily mean you have to breed them or worry about breeding them. That decision is of course up to you and them. Its quite common that the female doesnt like the male. In this circumstance, she may attack or ignore him. However if the attacks get out of hand, they can be violent enough to kill. So if you really dont want this scenario and want to stay clear of it, two boys would be better.

However, getting another bird is good for the development of your bird. You know interaction and so on. So that the hours he spends alone, he is with company and not waiting for you to come home. Even if they're kept in 2 separate cages, they could interact with each other and I believe thats good for them.

Will it affect his attitude towards you? Thats hard to tell. Some birds change and others dont. Some stay bonded, while others bond with the new mate more but still maintain or want to have a level of interaction with the keeper.

[FredsMum]

Thankyou so much!!