Feed em, water em and watch them grow.

Keep the cage and water clean and your good to go.

Clipped or not it is your call. If you leave him flighted make sure to work on recall.

Look at these pictures of Lisa's little dude:

http://www.featherforum.com/?q=image/uid/112

With lovebirds, how they are raised makes a big difference in what kind of pet they will be. If you get a handraised baby that has been raised with a lot of care and attention, they can make great pets and are very interactive and trainable. A parent raised lovebird or a handraised lovebird that has been neglected will be very difficult to tame or handle.
If you are going to just get one, plan on giving it a lot of attention and social time out with you. If you plan on just keeping the birds in the cage, then you should get 2 right away to keep each other company. They need companionship.
With a cage tht size, it would be a shame to clip wings. If you plan on having two untamed lovebirds then you should not clip wings. If you're getting a handraised pet lovebird, it will probably come clipped. Some people prefer to clip to make the bird easier to handle and speed up initial taming but it is not necessary and doesn't affect tameness in the long run.
Oh, and be sure to listen to some lovebirds first to be sure the noise won't bother you. They can have rather screechy voices.


Karen
Chico (conure) and Pippin (budgie)
WI

Lovebirds rock. Mouse (my peachie) is tough, smart, and very loving. He was easy to teach to recall and is my most reliable outside flier, also holds his own with much bigger birds and is not at all "flighty."
Agree with Karen that a hand-tamed baby is best, look for one that still has a little black on his or her beak and plan to spend some serious play-and-cuddle time every day. Compared to my macaw and my U2, he has a cute little screech that can be very piercing if he starts an argument with them while sitting on my shoulder.
Also agree with JT, they are very easy keepers. Recommend the largest cage you can afford as they are very agile fliers and appreciate space. Mouse gets a seed mix, pellets, two mash meals daily and fresh veggies and sprouts. He has the dry stuff (seeds and pellets) available all of the time.
Lots of personality in a small package, very rewarding. Please keep us posted!
lisa
"Good judgement comes from experience. Experience comes from poor judgement."

I'm a very big fan of keeping birds flighted... it's good for them and lots of fun too. You have to work a little harder to ensure that your bird LIKES you so it will stay with you... but I think that just helps motivate us people to be more careful about how we interact with our birds.

There are a bunch of articles here at this web site which will give you some ideas on what kindsof things you need to do to maintain a good relationship with your birds. Be ready to spend lots of time with your birds though! They're social critters, they need lots of time with you, and (for many birds) lots of your direct attention.

Nate Waddoups
Redmond WA USA

thanks for the replies guys/gals. now i have a 2 year old. as you may know there not very controlable (the child not the bird lol).
am i looking for trouble? will the random yells loud noise stress the bird? by the way nate... i used to live in redmond some years ago. small world
skot

Where in AZ are you? I’m in Phoenix and can refer you to several good shops that take good care of their birds, but the downside is they never let them fledge and the wings would be clipped. It would be my preference to buy from a breeder because you could probably get an unclipped young baby for about half the price. If you’d like I’ll look around for a breeder and should be able to find one within a day or two.
Nikki

im in phx also the south west side. yes i would like to get a baby from a breeder if possible. be able to get a pair cheaper also be able to watch him/her grow :) let me know.
thanks
skot

I'm in North west phx, I'll post to my locale yahoo group for a breeder. It may take a day or two for me to get back to you.
Nikki

Skot, I found a breeder that has three babies, they are clipped but were fledged. Please email directly at phreddie48@yahoo.com and I'll put you in touch with the breeder.
Nikki

I wouldn't worry about random loud noises... parrots ARE random loud noises. The birds are more likely to be alarmed by random flailing movements though. But as long as the birds can keep their distance they'll be OK.

Do keep the birds and kids separated though unless you're right there, in case the bird bites. They're more unpredictable than cats and dogs in my opinion... it seems to me that there's more risk of painful little nips, but on the other hand there's less risk of serious bites (especially with little ones like lovebirds).

Nate Waddoups
Redmond WA USA

Hi, I'm sorry if I did this wrong, I'm new here. My love bird is Martha. She's about a year old now. I got her when she was 10 weeks old. I bought her a fluffy, little toy, that hangs on her cage, and she can go in it, and cuddle in it. Anyway, lately she has been feeding it. She regurgitates (Sorry if I spelt it wrong)on it, and she won't stop. I think she thinks it's her mate. I was wondering if this is normal, I mean I know that it is with other birds, but with her toy, it seems weird. Thanks so much for reading,
Taylor

I don't know much about lovebirds, but I have heard of lovebirds actually trying to feed their feet when nothing else is available.
I think lovebirds have a stronger need to bond than many other parrots, and also I think this time of year would be about breeding season for them.
You don't want to trigger egglaying - you might want to take that toy out if she gets too obsessed with it. Also try if possible to limit her access to dark nestlike places or nest building material like paper (many lovebirds like to tear off strips of paper to build nests).

Karen
Chico (conure) and Pippin (budgie)
WI