Indian Ring Neck Parakeet! (plz read)

[pretty_bird8]

Hi, I'm April, I'm 14 years old. I'm purchasing an Indian Ring Neck Parakeet from a friend who raises birds (lovebirds, budgies, ring necks ect.) It is priced at $150.00 for a hand raised/fed baby. This will be my first bird for a pet and I am really looking forward to it. I have been doing ALOT of research on this particular species of bird and I was wondering if ANYONE has any tips on what to feed, what to watch out for, how many toys ect. I've been going to this ladies house who's raising these birds to get used to the baby I will get and so it will get used to me. I'm a student in high school and I also wanted to know if the bird will be agressive towards me even if I handle it before and after school as much as possible (will that be enough play time for him). Please reply, i need some advice!!!

[dlaura]

Hi April,
Welcome to this site - there are a lot of experienced bird people here and I am sure you will get many replies. I am a recent member and am learning a lot from everyone here!

There is another young girl, Jenny, who has helped a lot of us and I believe she is your age. You probably will not hear from her this week as she is away at music camp.

I do not have any experience with the type of bird you are getting. However, you are starting out right by visiting your bird and bonding with it. I hope you are getting to handle the bird and beginning to teach things - such as up-up - which is generally the command used to get the bird to step up from the perch and onto your finger. Upon bringing your bird home if it should start to become agressive - you would say "no bite" and return it to the cage for about 5-10 minutes.

As far as toys, maybe start out with 2 to 3 so you don't overwhelm your bird. You can also weave white paper towel thru the cage bars - birds usually love to play and pull these apart. If you search back thru some of the postings at this site you will be able to gather web sites that sell toys and others which sell parts to make them and suggestions on how to make your own bird toys.

You should probably start misting your bird and giving baths right away. I was remiss on doing this in beginning with my goffin and she still hates baths.

Bye for now. Be sure to post any other ?s or concerns you have here.....as everyone is very helpful!

[birdgirl]

HI welcome to the site I'm Courtney and I'm 15. first of all I would like to say you can never have to many toys!! do you have a play gym or climbing tree?? I'm so happy that some people think before they buy I didn't know a thing about Budgies before I got my first bird I was to busy reading about greys to care about any other birds. you will be a great pet human

[birdygirl]

Don't forget a small bowl with lots of foot tys.

[JSimko]

All parrots can make great pets. My parakeet was not handfed, and is a very sweet bird. She is finger tame and is also potty trained. A bird should eat fruits, veggies, meats, seeds, and nuts. There are a couple of things they cannot have so be sure to do pleanty of research.

[dlaura]

What a great thought - " a small ball with lots of foot toys.

Thanks birdygirl!

[parrotboy]

What i do is i have a few toys in at a time so they have more room in the cage! but i change them regulary and re-arrange them this way they neva get bored. I have a hand tame Ringneck but when i brought it was in a little wooden cage with no toys and bored like hell!! but now he hardly ever goes in his cage! he justs walks around the house lookin for me! and when im on the computer he stands next to the screen lookin at the pictures and whispering in my ear!!

Also he luves foot toys!! i get these little wooden square things from the pet shop which are wooden blocks with hole in them with nuts in!! he shreds them and its so fun watching!

[Amanda]

I agree with you parrotboy. I have tons of toys for my birds but I don't put them all in the cage at once. What I do is rotate the toys around. Every month, their cages gets rearranged ... new toys and perches. My lovebird seem to love the change. :) My Pionus is still a baby and so I don't change her cage as much as I do with my luvies cage.

[Mrs.Birdy]

Parrotboy and Amanda:

I need some new ideas to get Marcel (Pionus) more interested in his toys. I have several and he never seems to want to play with them. I try to rotate them often.

Snickers (tiel) loves to pick the dried corn off the little cobs on her toys, but once they are done, she doesn't like to play with the wooden beads or rope, just likes the cobs. Do you know where I can find replacement dried corn cobs?

My budgies are real toy lovers....swings, tiny 4 sided mirrors, rope toys, bells, etc. They are so cute to watch when playing.

[Amanda]

MrsBirdy, sometimes the pet stores sell dried corncobs for rodents ... maybe you can give those to Marcel? I haven't tried to give Rio or Bijou those but thought about it once.

Rio loves preening toys so I have a couple of them hanging in her cage. She also loves to untie knots so I have a toy that is made of leather string and it has beads, piece of wood and shell on it. She loves to work the knots out of the leather string and watch each bead, wood, and sea shell fall to the floor.:D Maybe Marcel would go for this kind of toy? Also, the swing that I put in Rio's cage is made of cotton rope and she loves to go on the swing and preen the ends of the cotton that is sticking out. I also noticed that Rio loves everything colorful ... so I bought some of those plastic links. I hang different things at the bottom of the links to make it interesting for her. Sometimes I hang a baby spoon at the bottom and Rio uses that as a foot toy, sometimes I use a baby rattle and she loves to hold the rattle with her foot and listen to the noise. I hope these suggestions will work for Marcel ... :)

[Mrs.Birdy]

Oh I love the idea of baby toys like the rattle.....I will go out today and get some for Marcel...I think he may enjoy those I hope.

Yes, Marcel likes the plastic links very much...it's about the only toy he will play with. SNickers loves the dried corn on cob....I will buy more for marcel if I can find some around here.

[Amanda]

MrsBirdy, if Marcel is a little reluctant to play with some toys, maybe if you dab a little bit of peanut butter on the toys, it might entice him to start playing. Sometimes I put a little bit of peanut butter on the baby spoon hanging from the plastic links and Rio loves it!

[birdygirl]

I put sunflower seeds on Sophie's toys to get her used to them. she tries to get the seed and plays with the toy during the same time. She learns that the toy is fun.

[Jenny]

Hi April! Now that I'm back from camp I can post again. Congratulations on getting a ring-neck! What are you planning to feed it so far? As far as toys, I don't think you can have too many, though you can certainly have too many at a time. If you have quite a few in with your bird at once, it may get overwhelmed and end up ignoring most of them. On the other hand, if you just have two or three in the cage at a time, it will be more interested in playing with those. Definitely though buy many more toys than three to start with, and you can rotate them out daily or weekly. My birds all have little food dishes filled with small "foot toys" such as plastic links, large beads, wooden blocks with sunflower seeds stuck in the middle, whiffle balls, etc., which they really enjoy. You asked about your bird being agressive- no, I don't think he will be. If you went without a day playing with him, that could possibly happen. Some species of parrots will remain tame even if they aren't held daily (though they should be), but ringnecks aren't like that for the most part. If you spend quality time in the morning and after school playing games with him, training him, sharing meals, etc., then you shouldn't have a problem. Like DSimko mentioned, you should make sure he knows "step-up" very well. One question, do you have a climbing tree for him? If you are busy with homework or something and don't have one-on-one time for him, then it would be helpful to have a climbing tree nearby that he could play on and watch you from. On the subject of dried corn cobs, they usually sell them at wild bird centers if you can't find them at a petshop (where they'll likely be overpriced).

[dlaura]

Hi April,
I see you and Jenny have connected - that's great.

Thanks Jenny for explaining in more length about the toys. In my mind I was thinking of having 2 to 3 toys in cage at a time and switching out - but I realize that I did not make that clear.

Welcome back from camp - it is nice to see you back on the board!

Diane

[Jenny]

I was pretty sure that's what you meant... :)

[dlaura]

Yes, that is what I meant.

[parrotboy]

My mum brought my ringneck (chip) a colourful acrylic toy for x`mas! he hated it so one day i took him out of the room and re-arranged his toys!! then on the new toy i put some nuts and seeds on it!! he forgot that a few month ago he hated that toy and jumped on it trying to eat the seeds!! he then got addicted to hitting the colourful shapes and climbing over it!! etc! now its his favourite!!

But with some birds if they hate a toy they hate it and wont touch it!! end of story! best thing to do is give it away or get a refund!!

[Jenny]

My birds are pretty picky about toys, but it's great having six birds because usually if I buy a toy, I can find at least one who will like it so it's not a waste!

[JSimko]

Three of our four birds play with toys, the fourth and oldest is a very serious bird. He has never played with anything. Very calm and relaxed, he will sit in a hand for hours if allowed to. He also has quite an attitude, if angered he bites hard and when aggitated about something, he will sharpen his beak before biting. Our green cheek conure thinks that he is the boss, and has an attitude to match his opinion. He is always out of the cage and has a blast with us, but just will not play with toys.

[dlaura]

Just to Clarify - our green cheek will sometimes use biting to communicate with us and we can decide to put up with it or not.

I for one (mom) will return Einstein to his cage if he bites me and I let him know who is boss. Last night he took an aggressive posture with me and I held up my hand and asked if he wanted to be returned to the cage..........he backed off and behaved. Of course he will fight me when he realizes he is headed back to the cage - but I succeed in returning to cage. I have been consistent in this and it is rare that I will be bitten when I offer a finger for up-up.

Einstein is a sweet bird most times.........but like any two year old they will try and get away with whatever they can.

In conclusion, Einstein is not really a terror - mostly he is a lover. All of our birds are great - just different personalities.

['too crazy]

[QUOTE][i]Originally posted by JSimko She is finger tame and is also potty trained.


I was unaware you could potty train a bird. PLEASE, share how you do that!!!

[JSimko]

In response to potty training. You will notice after a little while that, when the bird has to go it will usually do something that looks kind of like squatting. When this occurs use those few seconds to hold the bird over the garbage can then say its' name and tell it to poop. When it goes make a fuss about it, give it lots of praise for doing so. You will find that they also can only hold it for short periods of time when younger and you should be able to time it pretty accurately. Do this for as long as it takes, however it will not take long since birds learn so quickly. Mine took only 2 days. Also to be sure that it won't be affraid to go in the cage, after you train it to follow the poop command order it to poop while in the cage and if obeyed take the bird out and let it know it was good. I have found it a lot easier to train a bird than a dog.

['too crazy]

Thanks! I'm gonna give it a try.

[JSimko]

Let me know if you are successful. I think you will be pleasantly suprised by how quickly they pick it up.

[Mrs.Birdy]

Jason: Do you think Marcel is too old to potty train. He's 3.5 yrs. old. I may want to try it too.

[JSimko]

He is not too old, throughout their lives birds have to learn new things and can handle it. I thought from previos discusions that you were already going to try it.

[Jenny]

Speaking of carpet protectors... What do you all use? Currently I've just been covering every square inch of "bird territory" with newspaper, though you can imagine how tacky that looks! I'd love to find something easy to clean and attractive that i could put under their cages and playgyms that isn't too expensive. That's great about Gizzy and his potty-training progress! :)

['too crazy]

I got my carpet protector at kmart for $7.00. A carpet protector is a clear piece of plastic with "nubs" underneath to hold it in place. My cockatoo likes to throw his food so this works well for me as I just sweep it up. In the case where something sticks and dries on (like a banana etc.) it wipes up with a wet cloth. And since it's clear, you can still see your carpet. The tray sounds like a good idea too!

[Jenny]

Great ideas-thanks! I saw some clear blue plastic sheets at a birdstore that were really nice, but they cost $50 a piece!!! Glad to hear there are cheaper alternatives that work just as well if not better. My dad bought some clear plastic sheeting at a yard supply store that was about 3ft X 12 ft. which I layed down under all the cages for awhile, but it kept getting big wrinkles in it and wouldn't stay flat.

['too crazy]

Make sure when you get it you buy the thicker one. The thinner one is a little cheaper but I think you may have a wrinkle problem with that too. Also when you buy it, it's rolled up. I just laid it on the deck and the sun warmed it up and it flattened right out.

['too crazy]

I just went to a web site called birdibib.com. The "bibs" are trays like you can get with the more expensive cages. And the prices seem pretty reasonable. I have a cage with the trays attached and it works great. When I get a new cage for my cockatoo, if it doesn't have the trays I will probably order them, although I'll still need the carpet protector because he loves to throw food! lol Just thought I'd mention it.

[Amanda]

Speaking of carpet/floor protectors and "bibs" for the cages ... I have a question for Pionus owners. Do you find that you need to place a carpet/food protector under your Pi's cage or do you use the "seed protectors" that comes with the cage? Just wondering because I have not had to place anything under Rio's cage or have the need to attach the "bibs" or "seed protectors/catchers" that came with her cage. I'm wondering if this is because Rio is still young and she hasn't started throwing her food around yet.

[Jenny]

'Too Crazy- I will check them out! One of my conure's cages which is the largest came with the built-in seed catcher, but he just perches on it and poops with his tail over the edge so although it catches his food messes, it doesn't help much with the other ones! :)

[crazeemama]

I also use the clear see thru type of carpet protectors that is sold in the rolls i have a double width for TY and Riki's cage as these are the largest . It is inexpensive and last for quite a few years before needing replacing.
I also used it in my previous house - the ketchen was carpeted so i had this clear stuff in front of the sink, range and fridge. really helped with the mess there too.

[parakeet]

hi, i've got a couple of ring necks one indian and one african, i'm no expert but they love the parrot mix (the one with sunflower seeds in) they also love peanuts (but they have to be in the shell, they like to shell them themselves) most fruit (they adore apple) and they like cabbage (raw) brocolly (raw) they and i have also been told NO salt & NO sugar it can harm them. hope this helps a little, Parakeet.