Budgie and Lovebird interaction
I have a lovebird (Luna) and a budgie (Pinù) in separate cages. Pinù recently lost his bonded mate, with whom he shared the cage for years. The budgies were rescues, and didn’t like being out of their cage, so they rarely went out. But I got Luna when she was young and I regularly let her out to fly around. I know lovebirds should never be housed with budgies, and I always supervised Luna when out of her cage because she liked to visit the budgies and interact with them through the cage. I’ve never seen her be aggressive with them. She seemed to form a particular bond with Pinù (because male?) and he would “kiss” her (i.e. regurgitate to her) through the cage bars. Now that Pinù’s mate is gone, he is more amorous than ever with Luna, and she seems to enjoy the attention. The cage bars are wide enough that their beaks poke through easily. I’ll be careful to always supervise the interaction, but I’m wondering, is this healthy behaviour? Will they form a bond that will always be frustrating because they’re not the same species? Should it be discouraged? If there’s no history of aggression, is that a good sign? If the behaviour should be discouraged, I’m not sure how to stop the interaction because the cages are in an open area and not easily separated. Thanks for your advice!
