Ringneck and Cockatiel

[Pommeraniac]

I have a Ringneck and a White faced cockatiel and they are best of friends through their cages. In fact as soon as I let the Ringneck out of his cage he wants to go to the Cockatiels cage immediately. He spends hours and hours on top of his cage. I have never tried putting them togther. How large of a cage would I have to have to house them together? Right now my cockatiel is in a cage that is 22 x 17 x 39 and my Ringneck is in a cage that is 26 x 20 x35. I would love to house them together since they enjoy the time together on each others cages. Can it be done safely?

Thanks,
Pommeraniac

[Pounamu]

NO, I would seriously recomend NOT to house them together, it is not safe for the cockatiel (especialy if clipped). Even though they seem fine together, you never no when an IRN is going to have a bad day. An IRN can kill a cockatiel. So please don't house them together and when they are both out of the cage, make sure they are supervised.
There was a story on this site about an IRN that killed 3 lovebirds when it was left alone, even though they were fine together when their owner was in the room.

[Lauren]

I would not house them together. Its true of even in the sweetest birds. They can harm or even kill.
Many people own different species but would not house them together. Even if they get along. You just cant take the risk.

[kyria]

I agree, do not house them together and always give them supervised play when they are out together. IRN can be very moody, it only takes a few seconds and your tiel may be a gonner.

[Lauren]

Very true, keep an eye on them. They are moody lil buggas and snap easy. I believe my Jibby killed our old neighbours budgie when he was a baby but I'm not sure because he nipped the poor things toes through the cage when we were budgiesitting once. It died a few days later when the neighbours took the bird home. Feel so bad but it happens. They need to be supervised with other birds.

[tomtalker2000]

While the majority of the comments here regarding an IRN & Cockatiel getting along are correct. There are "exceptions" to this rule. Now i have 30yrs experience in the avian field dealing with both wild & domestics. I've owned MANY species of parrots over the years and i currently have an IRN bonded with a GCC or Green-Cheek Conure and living in the same cage together. Ironically they both have remained tame with me and are often on my shoulder together. Now this is a VERY "RARE" occurrence which does not happen all the time. Most folks think that when they read a parrot behavior guide on a particular species they might be interested in. That when they get the bird it will "automatically" act that way. This can be very misleading indeed when they come to find out there bird is either an angel or a holy terror. Whatever the case opposite of what they learned from a given text book. Bottom line birds are individuals and each will react in it's own distinct manner. IRN's unfortunately often get a bad rap do to there moodiness and "bluffing stage" that they go through. Again i was lucky my male Keiko never went through such a phase and is a very sweet bird. One thing as a general rule on the species is that they are not very fond of hands. And must be worked with constantly in order to remain calmly when hands are presented to them for stepping up and down etc...I will say that this is in fact true about the species. However, it should be noted that this general rule of thumb is no different for any other species of parrot. I think over the years the IRN just got a bad stereotype if you will for not remaining as tame as some other species do. Therefore, requiring more work to stay tame and follow commands. However, this could be said for anything in life you get out of it what YOU put into it. So the bird any species for that matter IRN or otherwise should not be judged so prematurely in my opinion. If worked with they can form VERY strong bonds with there owners AND yes get along with other species. I highly recommend obtaining a hand-fed IRN over one that isn't. Your life will be MUCH easier in the long-run and again this applies to any species of Parrot.

[Skyes_crew]

Tom...my IRN has bonded to my GCC also. My IRN will preen my GCC. I don't house them together for fear of my GCC being harmed...but it is interesting that you too have a bonded IRN and GCC. They both have remained very tame with me and I can put them on one of their gyms or top of cages and they will act so cute together.