Ring Necked Parakeet

Ring Necked Parakeet

The Ring Neck also known as the Indian Ring Neck is a beautiful bird with it's colours ranging from bright yellows, greens, and blues, to albinos. It does have a reputation of being nippy and difficult to tame but this is not true in many cases. The Ring Neck Parakeet like most parrots and parakeets are intelligent and require stimulation. 

In the  adolescent phase the young parakeet suddenly turns into a aggressive little  monster who does resemble your sweet angle of a few days ago. This is the "bluffing" phase, it is a time of biting, lunging and hissing. A little like a rebellious teenager. The "bluffing" phase starts when the parakeet is about four months and lasts till he is about a year. This phase has given the Ring Neck it's bad name but if you handle it right it will be less traumatic for both you and the parakeet.

This "bluffing" phase could be due to hormonal changes within the parakeet or it just could be for dominance, so handle your parakeet like would a rebellious teenager. Ignore the behavior but not the parakeet. During the bluffing stage aggression in any form must be dealt with properly, otherwise your Ring Neck will keep this behavior. 

Here are some tips to remember when your parakeet is going through this phase:

1.  Shouting, yelling, shaking, or spraying the bird with water is not a good          remedy, he only sees it as you making a loud noise so he has to be                louder. Rather give a stern "NO!" Have a disapproving tone that will let          your parakeet know you are not happy with his behavior.

2.  Do not meet aggression with aggression, by hitting him, he does not know      that you hit him out of reaction to his behavior. This will make your                parakeet  frightened and mean bird.

3.  This last tip is a harder to do, when he bites your first reaction is to pull          away, this teaches him that biting get a reaction. Some experts say                that you must push into a bite, this teaches them that biting gets him            nowhere.  

Who me!? Never, I don't bite, and say that again and will rip your finger off

Female Ring Necks do not have the facial and collar bands, and that is how you can tell the difference between the two sexes.

The Diet Of The Ring Neck

They are not fussy eaters, and like it's fellow parrots it enjoys a large variety of food sources. In the wild they have a wide selection of food such as fresh fruits, seeds, blossoms and will even eat dandelion leaves if nothing else is available.

As their diet is in the wild so should their diet be in your care. They eat seeds, pellets, apples, grapes, kiwis, pears, mangoes and oranges. You can give them any fruit, just make sure to cut it up and never give the core or seeds to them as some fruit seeds are toxic to them.

You can give them peanuts and pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds but take into consideration that these are high in oil and therefore should rather be given as a treat and not a meal.  Your Ring Neck also requires protein but not a lot, so this must be given sparingly, once a week a chunk of chicken or turkey is just fine, but remember to remove the leftovers as soon as they have had their fill.

Do NOT give your parrot avocado, raw cabbage, onions, eggplant, persimmons, mushrooms, any green parts of tomatoes or potatoes and rhubarb leaves. 

Follow these guidelines and your Ring Neck will live a full and happy life, all 20 years of it.

Here is a cute video of a blue Ring Neck who likes what he sees in the mirror.

Taken from YOUTUBE