IndianRingNeck.com

Hi All

I sneezed this morning and a few seconds after I did it, Charlie made a noise that I'd not heard him made before.... I turned to him and asked him if he was okay... it then dawned on me that he was imitating my sneeze ---- soooo cute! I wonder if he'll keep doing it. (Note: he wasn't sneezing, just doing his best imitation of what I sound like when I sneeze)

Ellie.

Hi Ellie,

Thats super cute of him.

Subodh

Ellie, I *beg* you to train him so you sneeze, and the animal gives you a tissue!!!!!!!!!

-MissK

lol - I would have NO idea how to do that... not to mention, I don't think I could sneeze on-demand.... and they are both petrified of tissues! lol

At the moment we are working on:
http://www.myparrotshop.com/training-to ... d_465.html

which is much harder than it looks.... I thought it wouldn't be too bad because they already know the retrive, but it's slow going.... I think Janey might almost have mastered the yellow circle... but I'll see how she goes this afternoon.

Ellie.

Haha that is so cute!

Cool puzzle.

On the subject, I have a question about sneezing...

I read somewhere that birds don't actually sneeze, they just imitate human sneezes, like in your case Ellie (too cute!)

When Bug sneezes, it's definitely the real deal. I know this because I often end up doused with parrot 'snot', which is fine because it seems to be mostly water. He particularly does this after he's had a spray bath, when he inevitably ends up with water in his nares, but he'll sometimes do it at other times as well. Do other people's IRNs sneeze like this? Or do I have the world's first genuinely sneezy parrot?

They all sneeze. Excessive sneezing can be a sign if illness. Generally there shouldn't be nasal discharge, although if he's just been playing in his water bowl, it would make sense that water would come out.

Ellie.

That's what I thought...I can't remember where I read that birds don't sneeze, but it must not have been a very credible source.

When Bug first sneezed with discharge, I wondered if he might be sick, but he's been doing it from time to time for years, so now I don't worry. He does love water, so it wouldn't surprise me if there are some water dish antics going on while I'm at work, as well as his weekly spray bath which leaves him completely waterlogged (and completely happy!)