by Mary Rose-Sellers

Created on: March 22, 2008   Last Updated: August 17, 2009

A few years ago, I decided to get a pet. Something that was easy to take care of, like a bird. I went to a pet store with my daughter at the time, and I came across two love birds. They were very pretty with orange, green and blue colors. I liked them right away even though the pet store owner warned me about the female love bird. She told me that she was vicious and had already bit the head off of another small bird. That didn't stop me, even though my daughter insisted that I shouldn't get them. I liked them from the first time that I set eyes on them.

I went on ahead and purchased them along with a cage and food for them. The cage was large that stood on the floor. It was quite pretty and all white. I brought the birds and the cage home all excited that I had two love birds. I couldn't get enough of them and their beautiful colors. They were only one year old and I was told by the pet owner that they were the mating kind. I wasn't going to try and mate them, though. I was working full time and didn't have the time to prepare their cage for mating and devote time to feed their young. So, I didn't pursue it. I just let them fly in the cage, fed them, gave them water, took them out a few times and let them fly around the house. I tried tried to get them accustomed to my finger, but I had no luck in that field. As soon as both of them saw my finger peeking through the cage they would bite at it. The male one was calmer than the female and wouldn't bite as hard. The female though would bite so hard that she would draw blood. After a few months I gave up trying. I named them Koko for the female and Kino for the male. Their colors were so pretty that I took the Greek name for apricot (verikoko) the last two syllables (koko) for the female, and the Greek name for peach (rothakino) the last two syllables (kino) for the male. Their names fitted them perfectly.

The years went by, and they would chirp and mate. They would shred any piece of paper that I would put through the cage and both of them would stick them at the female's back, underneath her feathers. From what I read at the time that's how they build their nests when they are free.

Both my daughters didn't really want to have anything to do with them. They were basically my birds. They were especially upset at Koko (the female love bird), because she wouldn't let Kino do anything unless she was the first one to do it. Like eating or drinking water. She would get mad at him and chirp at him angrily till

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