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Posted in Birds

Keeping a Pet Lorikeet


Keeping a Pet Lorikeet

Article supplied by Dr Deborah Monks, Brisbane Bird and Exotics Veterinary Service for The Pet Directory

Keeping a Pet Lorikeet

This article gives lorikeet food and care instructions and information on how the Lorikeet is as a pet parrot. Lorikeets make fun pet birds. They can learn to talk and they jump and play around a lot. They will happily sit on your shoulder or arm but you must know about their special diet to keep them well.

Lorikeet Cage

The first thing to say about the Lorikeet’s cage is that it must be very large and should have the door open so the parrot can come in and out.  The second important point is that the Lorikeet needs a wooden box to sleep in each night.

Rainbow Lorikeets can be quite messy as they have liquid like droppings which tend to ‘squirt’ and can soil the wall of the house near the cage. You might like to have a protective sheet behind the cage to protect the wall.

Lorikeet Food

The pet Lorikeet has special dietry needs. In nature this parrot eats the nectar from the flowers as well as fresh grass seeds. 

The best food for Lorikeets kept as pets is sold in pet shops and is known as Lori Dry or Lori Wet mix.  Dry is the most convenient as you don’t have to mix it with water as you do with the wet mix.  Also the dry mix will not go off whereas the wet mix will after a few hours as it gathers bacteria.  Wet mix makes a nice treat in winter with warm water.

Fresh grass seeds are available at some pet shops. They are usually sold frozen for convenience. The Lorikeet only needs about one teaspoon per day.

 

WHAT TO DO IF YOU FIND A LORIKEET THAT CAN'T FLY?

Quite a common enquiry at vet surgeries comes from people who have found a Lorikeet that can’t fly. They are usually worried about whether it is injured or ill and some worry that it might be a ‘runner’. There are some issues to be aware of when making decisions about how to help these birds.

There are many questions that people seek answers to such as:
 Can the bird be cured?
 Is what he/she has contagious to birds or humans?
 Should the bird be set ‘free’?
 What chance does the bird have of surviving?

Lack of wing feathers 

Note: Lack of feathers and tailfeathers in the above photos.

Veterinarians are frequently accused of not caring for wildlife by people who find these birds, as most vets will euthanase ‘runner’ lorikeets. This article will explain why veterinarians make this decision. 

During spring and summer, it is very common for juvenile lorikeets to be presented to veterinary clinics as injured wildlife. A reasonable proportion of these birds are ‘runner’ lorikeets that are unable to fly because of flight feather loss. These birds are usually juveniles and, apart from being unable to fly away from predators, appear very bright. The hallmark of this condition is symmetrical flight feather loss of both wings and the tail, with no attempt by the body to regrow the feathers. Often, the remaining flight feathers fall out during handling.

Runner birds are most likely suffering from a viral condition, known as beak and feather disease. This is caused by a virus called a circovirus. Circovirus is also responsible for beak and feather disease in cockatoos, which causes progressive feather loss, immune suppression and eventual death.

It is thought that approximately 1/3 of lorikeets affected by this condition will eventually moult normal flight feathers after several months, and regain their ability to fly. One third of lorikeets will never regain their flight feathers, and another third are likely to die from the disease (possibly due to immune suppression).

The dilemma with ‘runner’ lorikeets is the fact that they are likely to be contagious when they are found and that they may continue to shed the virus for extended periods even if they manage to re-grow their feathers. The birds therefore represent a grave risk for any other birds they come in contact with; in the wild, in a veterinary clinic or at home. Few people have the space to effectively quarantine these birds for the several months that it may take for 1/3 of them to regrow their feathers. As the maximum length of viral shedding is not known, these birds must be considered infective for the duration of their lives.

A corner stone of rehabilitation is to avoid damaging the environment. It is crucial to avoid releasing animals that may be carrying disease. Release of ‘carrier’ or disease-shedding animals increases the amount of disease present in the environment, and is likely to cause infection in animals that would otherwise have avoided health problems.

The ethical dilemma is worsened by the fact that the lorikeets regaining their feathers are likely to have lost some of their survival skills after a prolonged period of captivity. It is usually juvenile birds that are affected and these birds are often still learning their survival skills. Releasing a bird that has lost the ability to forage for itself is cruel, and counteracts the goals of rehabilitation.

The main goal of wildlife rehabilitation is to successfully release an animal and for it to breed and produce at least one offspring (to replace itself). If it cannot do this, then the rehabilitation process has failed when viewed at the big picture level for the wild population. 

If not assisted by people, ‘runner’ lorikeets would be eaten by predators or die from misadventure. They would therefore be removed from the environment. Once removed, the amount of viral shedding is reduced, and the viral ‘load’ in the wild is more likely to stay constant.

While vets definitely do not advocate leaving a flightless bird on the ground, to be eaten by domestic pets or die from misadventure, they do frequently advocate a policy of humanely euthanasing ‘runner’ lorikeets for the reasons outlined above.

The focus of wildlife work done by veterinarians is to rehabilitate and release animals back to the wild. If the animal has no hope for release then they are humanely euthanased, this allows the limited time and financial resources of the public, veterinarians, and wildlife carers to be better channeled to animals that do have a chance for release.


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