Black-cheek or Black-cheeked Lovebirds
If you are starting out with lovebirds, I would also recommend visiting the following webpages:
- Lovebird General Information
- Lovebirds as Pets
- Keeping Your Pet Happy & Healthy
- Breeding Lovebirds
- Lovebird Diseases (Diseases & conditions lovebirds are susceptible to)
- Lovebird Species
- Lovebird Photo Gallery
- Lovebird Books
The Black-cheeked Lovebird is endemic to South-western Zambia. This lovebird species is considered the most endangered of all the African parrot species.
Having only been recently established in aviculture, they are not as hardy as the other more established, lovebird species.
Description:
- The Black-cheeked Lovebird is slightly smaller than the Fischers or Masked members of the "Eye ring" or "personata" group. It averages 14 cm in length.
- It has a very short tail.
- The plumage is mainly green with an orange patch on the breast, brown head and black face.
- A beautiful blue mutation has been bred in captivity.
- It has a white ring around the eye.
Potential Problems / Training and Behavioral Guidance:
Since this lovebird is so endangered, experts would like to see any captive black-cheeked lovebirds be placed into a well-managed breeding program to ensure species survival. However, if there is an individual that isn't able to breed and you are considering it as a pet, the following may be of interest.
Lovebirds are pretty easy to manage for most people. They are not as destructive and noisy as their larger cousins. If not properly socialized, however, they will discover their beaks as method of "disciplining us".
It really is important to learn to understand them and to guide their behavior before an undesirable behavior has been established. There are few things to consider ...
- Biting: If not properly socialized, however, they will discover their beaks as method of "disciplining us". They can be very aggressive towards other animals (including birds), if they don't know them or are jealous of the attention they are getting from their favorite human.
- Noise: Lovebirds are very vocal birds, making loud, high-pitched noises that can be a nuisance. They make noise all day, but especially at certain times of day.
- Chewing: As stated above, lovebirds are also very active, and love to chew things. When they are let out of their cage, it would be wise to watch them carefully, and protect any furniture, electrical wiring or anything else that they could possibly chew on. They are not big chewers - as their prefered medium is "paper."
- Paper: They love to tear up paper -- especially when they are in the "mating" spirit -- which is all-year-round for birds kept indoors (not exposed to the seasons). I have learned not to keep important papers laying around - and even use it as a way to keep my lovebird busy.
Training and behavioral guidance is recommended ...
- AvianWeb Resources: I put together web resources for you to help you understand your pet bird and properly direct him. Please visit this website for valuable tips on parrot behavior and training. If you found a way to resolve a "parrot behavioral issue" please share it with others.
- If you are, as I am, a visual learner and prefer step-by-step instructions to train your pet, I recommend:
- the Parrot Training Course to teach your parrot to:
- Stop Biting
- Perform Tricks &
- Tame ANY SIZE bird you could possibly own
- and/or try the "Teach Your Parrot to Talk" Training Course. (Note: lovebirds rarely learn to talk, but there is a chance they may learn to mimic human speech if taught to at a young age.)
- the Parrot Training Course to teach your parrot to:
If you are considering a conure as a pet, the following web resources might be of interest:
- Procuring your Parrot
- Breeders:
- Breeder Listing by State / Country. Do you breed this species and would like to be listed? Click here to see your options.
- Housing & Caring for Your Conure: Conures love to climb and play and need to be provided with a cage that allows them to move around freely and toys to entertain themselves with. Please refer to the following websites for information:
Breeding
Breeding successes vary due to the small captive population available to aviculturists, which resulted in inbreeding of existing stock. This may account for reduced fertility, low hatchability of fertile eggs, poor survival of young and increased susceptibility of disease.
Lovebirds can start breeding when they are as young as ten months of age and may continue until they are five to six years. They are very prolific and may produce several egg clutches within a single year. Due to this, they are usually readily available on the pet market.
During breeding season the behavior between partners will change: the male displays a more aggressive behavior, while the female begins preparing the nest. There are specific nesting boxes for lovebird-size birds, but if not available a cockatiel nesting box will do just fine. Click here for nesting boxes.
The nests are almost entirely made by the females and the three to six eggs are incubated for about twenty-three days. The hatchlings will be cared for by the female until they leave the nest at about six weeks of age. The father then takes over the feeding of the young birds for another two weeks or so until they are weaned.
- For more information on breeding lovebirds, please click here.
Diet:
Lovebirds should be fed a quality seed mix, in addition to providing them with vegetables and fruits. It is recommended to supplement their diet with vitamins and minerals. Bird-specific vitamins are available at the vets or better pet stores.
- Please click here for more information on nutritional requirements.
Species: Scientific: Agapornis nigrigenis aka Agapornis lilianae nigrigenis ... English: Black-cheeked Lovebird ... Dutch: Zwartwangagapornis, Zwartgezichtagapornis ... German: Rußköpfchen ... French: Inséparable aux joue noires
If you would like to add to or correct any of the above information, or would like to share with the AvianWeb visitors your own experiences, please e-mail the AvianWeb Webmaster.
Photo contributions and articles are welcome!
