IndianRingNeck.com

Hello:

I agreed to take in 2 IRNs from a teen who was headed to college and his family wouldn't take care of them, I received the birds yesterday, he told me they bit and bit hard, I have had no bites as of yet, actually the male stepped on my finger from inside the cage, I spent the afternoon yesterday taking thier cage apart to clean and there was a nesting box on the side of thier cage, as I removed it there wasn't a part to put in the open space, so I had to get my very large spare cage out and out fit that for them, he only had 2 dishes in the old cage they now have 2 food dishes and 3 water dishes, they only had 2 little toys they now have 5 toys to chew on, and a few sprigs of millet, the kid told me they didn't eat fruits or veggies or any nuts, last night I tryed some grapes and apples with them they loved them and a peanut a piece they loved that, they were kept in his room, which he didn't spend much time with them at all. He didn't seem to know alot about them, the male has a broken tail (completely broken off) this does seem to be growing back, the female seems a little scraggly to me, I am thinking with better nutrition and socialization they will come around, by last night before I put them and my conure to bed they had already seemed to be comfortable and making cooing noises, when I walked out of the room my sun conure started yelling for me and the ringnecks started yelling too, I spend a majority of my time in this room with my birds. The kid also said they never take a bath they just duck thier head in the water bowl once in a while, my sun conure takes a full bath soaking wet at least every other day, my conure loves his baths, do IRNs like to take baths? I keep reading about them to be more educated. This morning they are walking outside thier cage and eating thier breakfast of oranges, grapes, apples and a few raisens, they seem to like pistachios and peanuts, this evening I will try them with the veggie mix again see how that goes, they were not thrilled yesterday evening with it, it wil take time I am sure concidering they didn't get fresh fruits or vegs. I guess I am thier 4th owner and I will be thier last. They seem to be settling in which is wonderful, new environment, new person, new cage, they are cooing and making cute noises to each other, the male seems to be interested in my sun conure he leans over to his cage to peek at him, my sun conure has paid no attention to them, I won't let them out at the same time, not sure how the 3 of them will react to each other, maybe in time? Any helpful hints would be very much appreciated, thank you..
RaCina

RaCina

You are a very kind person for taking on these 2 IRN's!!

YES YES YES ofcourse IRNS take baths!!! Micah likes to take a bath every other day,(he would take one every day if i let him!) its just finding HOW they like the bath, Mine is afraid of running water, and deep dishes, so i put a high side plate ontop of his cage(like an actual bird bath go figure ha) and he goes to town! dunking their heads in their water dish is a clear sign they want to bathe

with the veggies maybe try cutting them in half? of leaving them whole..some are very tempramental about how their food is prepared and ofcourse if they are not used to the food they may not touch it one way but will another way if it reminds them of a food they do like.

I like to buy the steamable veggies and rice, and brown rise w/ veggies and mix them togeter, i dont heat the or cook them just defrost amd serve ! my guy loves this!
I also buy him "natures harvest" Islan trio, its a mango kiwi pinapple mix of patially dried fruit, we both snack on it=D

like you said with the right nutritian those birds will be beautiful again! and ive no doubt they will love ther new home

These two have a great appetite! They love peas, corn, green beans, lima beans, oh yea and carrot, they have tryed it all and have eaten it, as far as fruits they seem to love blue berries, grapes, oranges, apples, and pineapple so far, I am going to try some watermelon and cantalope with them too, both of them are very good eaters, I think maybe its because they have been denied these things, they love pellets too, I wish I could get my Sun conure to eat them, they eat thier seed mix and a few nuts here and there, the male's 1 wing is so badly clipped, I hope it grows back in good.. I feel so badly for these birds, they never had a specific bed time, they have done very well with a set bedtime of 8:00pm, they have settled in very well, the female now has taken an interest in my conure, he however has no interest in either of them, haha... I am going to try the large bowl on top of the cage tomorrow and see if they will bathe. Neither has bitten me, they do not really fly, they make long hops, short type of bursts, hopefully when thier feathers start growing back in nice they will be more mobile. They have started playing with the toys I put in the cage, I ordered 2 cozy huts for them so they can cuddle to them in the corners at night. So far so good...........

it sounds like they are doing very well:)
how did the bathing situation go? did you find a way they like??