Lories and Lorikeets 101

Name: Lory and Lorikeet

Personality: Curious, playful, active, energetic.

Grooming: Lories and lorikeets love baths and should have clean water available at all times, says Bella Online. They typically enjoy being sprayed with water occasionally, too. Despite their proclivity for bathing, they're very messy. Because lories eat nectar, they have liquid droppings which can make more of a mess than some other parrot species. Cages (and the area around them) need to be properly cleaned on a regular basis, according to Exotic Pet Birds.

Common Health Issues: Given a proper diet of nectar and fruit, lories and lorikeets are very healthy birds with an average lifespan of 10-15 years. The proper diet is trickier for these birds than for many parrots, though, and improper nutrition can lead to health problems. Respiratory issues can occur, as can bad feather/beak condition, a highly contagious airborne disease for which there is no cure, according to Avian Web. As with other parrots, they require regular interaction with their owners and a wide variety of toys to keep your bird healthy and happy.

Training Tips: It's possible to potty-train these birds so you can carry them around the house without making a mess, and larger lories can be good talkers, but will require ongoing obedience training, according to AvianWeb. As with most animals, training requires patience, time, consistency, and plenty of positive reinforcement.

Best For: A high maintenance bird, lories and lorikeets require families that have plenty of space as well as time to spend with them. If you're not fastidious about cleaning, it can be detrimental for yourself and your bird. And they can bite, says Mira Tweti of Playa del Rey, Calif., so they probably aren't the best choice for children.

What Lorikeet Owners Say: Tweti is a certified lorikeet lover and has kept them exclusively for the past 15 years. She tells Paw Nation, "To me, on the entire planet there is not a more wonderful bird than a lorikeet. That they rank in the top ten in beauty goes without saying." She works with rescued birds, however, and says, "[T]here is not a parrot that suffers more in a cage than a rainbow lorikeet. They never stop moving; their energy level is boundless."

"They are high maintenance and they will trajectory poop up to eight feet, so you have to be prepared to be a cleaning machine," she continues. "This is why most people relegate them to cages rather than letting them freely roam. And this is a tragedy for a lory or lorikeet."

She also recommends getting them a friend. "More than anything they need a lorikeet friend (same subspecies). They are so naturally friendly and gregarious, it's like putting Jim Carrey in solitary confinement to have a lorikeet alone in a cage in a home without noise or movement all day."

Tags: birds, exotic birds, ExoticBirds, lories, lorikeet, lorkieets, lory, parrots, pet birds, PetBirds