This morning when I uncovered the bird cage, I discovered that Kurt the cockatiel had died during the night. Both the birds are about eight years old so it wasn’t a huge surprise, but still a sucky way to start the day.
When I went to get her out of the cage to bury her, Tupac the conure would not let me. He guarded the body and attacked me when I tried to remove her. I had to put some work gloves on to get her out while Tupac screamed “no, no” the whole time.
Ever since I came back inside from burying her, Tupac keeps looking for her and saying either “no” or “where’s Kurt?” The cat keeps peeking into the cage and looking confused. So far, the dog hasn’t noticed but she’s not too bright.
I’ve tried playing with Tupac and giving him treats. I let him out of the cage. He’s still acting sad and asking “where’s Kurt?” What do you do with a conure in mourning?
Awwww! Birds are so sensitive, it makes me sad. We have to leave our parrot with his grandparents next year while I do some research abroad and it makes me sad to think how he’ll wonder where the hell we went and why we left him.
Angelfish are like that too. They pair for life.
When one of mine died, the other fish started to look really bad. He or she lost all his/her color, and later died.
I figure the fish died of a broken heart.
Thanks everybody.
I got them at the same time from a breeder - they had bonded and he refused to part them so I adopted them both. They’ve always been a pair. Loud Tupac and quiet Kurt - that’s why I named them what I did.
I’ve been thinking about maybe getting another cockatiel but I don’t know how Tupac will react. Conures bond to very few things and he bonded to Kurt. He’s the same way with people. He likes me and no one else.
I’ve been spoiling the crap out of him all day. Treats, bath time, even let him groom my hair. I just worry that he’ll pine away, but I think he’s too stubborn to die.
Poor Tupac (and poor Kurt)! A co-worker of mine had a bird of hers die and it’s friend was a good bit distressed. She spoiled the remaining bird but he was still pining (hee hee, sorry, but he was) so she bought him some sort of nifty toy. Kept him quite absorbed so that by the time he was bored with the toy, he’d gotten over missing his friend. I can’t remember the kind of toy, some sort of wood block, jingly thing.
