Parrotlet Care Instructions

Congratulations on your new, healthy, hand fed Parrotlet! Your family will have many years of enjoyment and companionship with your newest family member! We would like to Thank You for giving one of our babies a forever family💕 We highly recommend that you purchase, The Parrotlet Hand Book, by Barron, if this is your first Parrotlet or it has been awhile since you had one in your family! This book is a must and it will greatly help you and your new family member understand each other! You can find this book on Amazon, and eBay, anywhere from $ 6-12. Some local pet stores carry it also. Your new baby was weaned to the Goldenfeast Blends, Australian, Conure and Petite Hook-bill Blends, with a small amount of Tops Pellets , hemp seed and egg protein mixed in. They also have to get lots of millet daily! These tiny birds eat a lot of food for being so small! Make sure you are checking all bowls daily. All food and water bowls need to be washed every time they are being refilled or their bowls are soiled or look dirty. You can purchase f this blend from me for $10 a pound. ! We

also have spray millet by the pound for $10. The Goldenfeast line can be purchased on line at, Goldenfeast Direct, All Parrot Products, Amazon, eBay, Kings Cages, Dr Foster and Smith, and NewHampshire Bird Supply. On the Goldenfeast Direct site you can click on parrotlets and it shows you all the blends and treats for them. We start offering Little Tweets Medley daily in a separate dish around 4-5 weeks of age. There is over 50 different ingredients in the medley! I offer this daily until they start eating it. We have found that it can take up till their 3-4 months old before they start eating the chop/ Medley or finely cut up fresh fruits and veggies. Keep giving them chop daily they will start eating it! These birds have to be fed a chop or finely cut up fruits and veggies daily! This is a must for their ultimate health! These birds can not eat a seed diet, or all pellet diet you will have an unhappy Parrotlet that can become sick, depressed and start having behavior issues or possible death. We sell our chop /medley for $10 a gallon size bag, this is a great way to save you time, money and you are giving your feathered babies ultimate nutrition! If you are purchasing chop, please bring a cooler with you and a blanket if the weather is below 70 degrees at pick up! We use Brags Apple Cider Vinegar with Mother in their water and it was also put in your Parrotlets formula. Make sure you shake it well so there's no settlement on the bottom of the bottle every time you put some in their water. I give you a syringe at pick up for you to use to measure your ACV in their water daily with each water change. We only bottled water with our babies and pairs. Change water bowls daily, and if there is any thing in the water in between changes. Use Antibacterial soap with a scrub brush to clean bowls. We also put a couple drops of Organic, virgin, cold pressed Coconut oil on their soft foods

and some times on their dry food. Your baby was given coconut oil in their hand feeding formula. On pick up day, you must take your baby straight home, do not make any stops! This will just add more stress to the baby and will make their transition harder on them and you also! When you take your new baby home, the cage has to be completely set up and ready for your new babies arival! If water, food and a good size piece of millet still need to be placed in the cage, do so before putting your new baby in their new home. You want no hands in the cage or moving any thing around after placing him/her in their new home. Your new baby can need, 48-72 hours, or longer to get familiar with their surroundings, before you try taking them out of their cage or opening the door for them to come out on their own. Speak softly to your new baby often during the transition period and try to keep noise levels down in the home the first week of coming home! This is very important! So that you can limit the stress of their new transition. We highly recommend the Hagen Vision Cages! Babies do very well transitioning when their going from one vision cage to another, with their new family! They are still young and are now without several siblings to cuddle with and they typically are now alone for the first time! Have patience with your new baby! You will see that your baby will be a lot more comfortable with you and their new surroundings with in a week and will keep getting better with each passing week as you and your new baby get a routine down! If your baby is nipping you while you are trying to take them out of the cage, then you need to open your babys door and wait for him/her to fly out to you! A Parrotlet can be a little booger in their cage or close to their cage, but when removed from the cage area, the sweetest Parrotlet

ever! Now we now why they are called sassy, spicy little sticks of dynamite! These are young babies still at pick up and only your family should be holding or touching your new baby for the next 2-3 months, so the baby is not exposed to anything. Always wash your hands with a antibacterial soap prior to holding your baby and after! Do not allow any one to bring another bird to your home. That bird could be sick and not showing obvious signs yet. Have a cuttle bone and mineral block in their cage at all times and restock when getting low. Have extras on hand because Parrotlets go in streaks of chewing them down to hardly nothing in a 24 hour or more period! Your new baby will need a small, steady supply of millet, daily up to 5-6 months of age. You need to keep a good assortment of toys that are wood, shreddable, calcium chews and foraging toys, a swing is a must or a small twirly swing! Little tents are great for these little birds as long as their kept clean and you keep checking for strings coming from the material. Keep your babies cage clean! You should be changing the paper or paper towel every day to every other day. Your babies cage should be wiped down with antibacterial soap with warm water or apple cider vinegar diluted in warm water, every time you clean their cage. Do not have your baby in a cage that they can get to old soft foods or their feces. We do not recommend that you put a bird of any species in a fish tank. This can cause a very sick Parrotlet or possibly death! We give Lafebers Nutra-Berries for Parrots, at the recommendations of our aviary vet Dr. Gainer. We give one Nutra-berry 2-3 times a week. There are several flavors to choose from! Our Parrotlets love them all!Your baby has never been covered at night time. I leave a dim night light on to help with them from getting spooked.

If you decide to cover your baby do it slowly so your baby is not so scared. Parrotlets are notorious for nipping, it is in their nature and is most prevalent during the 1st year and will lesson with time! Some Parrotlets are nippier then others but will lesson with time! These birds use their beaks to express, chew, explore, communicate and yes, nip! When interacting with your baby have treats and toys for them to play with or to chew on instead of you! If your baby is nipping or biting hard you need to let them know this is unwanted behavior, and to be consistent with discipline. You can blow a puff of air on the baby and say, “no bite”. You can roll your finger forward that the baby is on, to cause them to slightly lose their balance andp say, “no bite”. Do not jerk your finger hard enough for the baby to fall off but to get their attention. You can also make sure the area is safe, and place the baby on the floor in reaching distance of you. They typically do not like to be place on the floor it is out of their comfort zone. Be consistent, these babies go through hormone changes and their first molt is around 5-6 months and they can be very cranky at times. You and your baby will learn what each other's signals mean, in time! Each Parrotlet has a different personality, and they do have some days when they are cranky and wish to be left alone for the moment. You have to interact with your baby daily, even if only 15 -20 minutes so they will stay where you can interact with them! These tiny birds are extremely intelligent and will amaze you with their personalities! We always recommend that you have a 2nd Parrotlet if you are away from home more than 9 hours a day so that they have a companion while you are absent from the home. We leave radios on daily in our breeder room, and on low and with our other birds when ever we leave the house! We have learned with experience that two females do well together,

a male and a female do great together but two males with in the first year, do not! If you are ok with having a separate cage ready on hand for when the moment erupts to separate them! They are always fine to interact out side of the cage as long as they are away from their cages! These birds are cage territorial! These little birds need a play stand to burn some energy when out of the cage! They will play on them for hours at a time! Do not forget, Parrotlets are small but mighty and they are scared of nothing no matter the size! They are also known as “The Lock Masters”! I can personally say this is true, but I have had no jail breaks with the vision cages! Know where your baby is at all times when their out with you! I can not stress enough that these babies have to be fed the healthiest Parrot food on the market and that is the Goldenfeast line for ultimate health and long life, for our feathered friends! Our gold is to have Parrotlets that live to be 20 years of age, which used to be their average life span until we started loving them as part of our families and not feeding them properly! I am your resource for life when you purchase one of our sweet little tweets! I will always clip your babies wings for free, if you choose to keep them clipped. There is some controversy over clipping wings causing depression and personality changes. I have seen some personality changes with our birds once their wings were clipped. It is a personal choice! Can you control your environment enough to keep your baby safe, at all times when the baby is out of their cage? I personally do not clip any of my feathered friends wings! You can put up signs on your doors, “STOP” Birds in Flight, DO NOT OPEN THE DOOR.” There are several foods that are toxic to a Parrotlet: avocados, salt, caffeine, dairy and foods with sugar in them. This is only a few but there's a complete list of harmful and

or toxic foods listed on our web site. Our web site: Noblessweetlittetweets.weebly.com is loaded with information about Parrotlets and what kind of nutrition we feed to our feathered friends! Please leave a review on Facebook and let us know if there is some thing you would like to see offered at Noble’s Sweet Little Tweets, to make your transition with your Little Tweet smoother! Always contact me when you have questions or concerns! Thank you so much for giving a Nobles Sweet Little Tweet, a Forever Home!

Paula NobleNobles Sweet Little Tweets!