We had a 20 year old cocktail and a 1 1/2 year old IRN. We recenty lost our cocktail and are thinking about getting another bird to keep her company. We also have cats and dogs. We shut the cats in another part of the house when the birds are out. We usually have the birds out about 4 hours a day. The cocktail seemed to thrive on the presence of another bird. I don't know about the ringneck since she has always had the cocktail with her since she was about 5 weeks old. We didn't let the cocktail and IRN have any direct contact because we were afraid the IRN would snap at a let and hurt her since she was so much smaller.
We are wondering if we should get another bird and whether it would be best to get another IRN or a different species since we do not want to breed them. If we did get another species does anyone have an opinion about what species we should consider? Our IRN is very tame (she did go through a nipping stage for about a month but has out grown it.)
Hi,
Well, I think it would be a nice idea to find another bird for your ringneck. If your bird has a ring then it is a male. You did not mention sex in your listing. If there is no black/pink ring around the bird's neck then it is a girl. I am explaining this because if you do decide to get a ringneck, you will want to get the same sex. But, I have seen an older female nip at a younger hen. I think you might be better off finding a different species for a companion. But, the bottom line is how your ringneck is handling the loss of it's buddy. Perhaps, you can have a radio in the room or buy a nice mirror for it. Some say mirrors make the bird less handleable and more likely to not want to be interative with their human owner, but I have a conure that loves his buddy in the mirror! He still jumps on my shoulder and lets me pet him with no problems. He is in the same room with ten ringneck breeders. I do have to tell you I do have a male ringneck that is flirting like crazy with the conure. I am not breeding my conure. But this too happens. Your ringneck might become an even more awesome bird having your full attention. If you are afraid that it may get bored and pluck feathers get some new colorful toys and find a small radio and maybe a mirror. My conure has two cages. One for sleeping and the other for playtime. He is spoiled rotten! I never put him up. He just comes and goes inbetween his cages. Ever now and again I see him taunting the other birds. He is for the most part separated from them, but can still talk to them. Anyways, I am no expert, but I would let him be by himself for awhile. As I reflect on the addition of birds around my conure, he tolerated it just fine. He has not wanted to come out as much as he used to. He would always squak for me to come get him and ride around with me on my shoulder. It is rather nice I can get things done without the claws in my collar! He is now on my shoulder when I want him. Well, other than when I am in the bird room. He jumps on my shoulder when I go in the bird room to give treats and change food/water for the ringnecks. I think he wants to see the other birds and taunt them because he is out and they are not. That and he is extremely jealous they may get a treat he is not getting or attention! So I politely put him back on his cage. Some days it takes four or five no's! He gets the treat first, but drops it when he hears me sweet talk my other birds. Anyways, I am rattling, all of my giberish is just advice. I hope it helps you decide. On one hand if you don't spend alot of time with your ringneck, another bird will be good for it. On the other hand if it seems to be alright, I would move the second cage over for a bigger play area and spoil it rotten! Hope this helps!
Thanks for the information. Our IRN is a female. We had her DNA tested when we were afraid she might be egg bound. Turned out to be a false alarm.
I really appreciate all the information. Since we only have her out of the cage about 4 hours a day and have a separate bird room, she is alone a lot of the time. We can't keep her out as much as we would like because we have 3 cats. We always lock 2 of the up. The other one is no danger to birds. He is scared to death of them The cocktail bit his ears every chance she got when he was little.
Our cages are 4 ft. by 3 1/2 feet and 3 by 3 1/2. We would not be keeping two birds in the same cage unless it was the same species and sex and even then we would have to see how things were going to work out before we kept them together if we weren't able to watch them.
I was considering another cocktail or a conure. We have a bird tree in the living room for them to play on and we were always afraid to let the the cocktail and IRM on it together becasue Sunny (IRN) had such a powerful beak compared to the cocktail. I have only been around one conure and he was a rescue that some friends of ours had taken. He had been abused and he never really became friendly.
I have heard Conure's like Ringnecks are hard to keep tame but it doesn't sound like that is true of yours. Our local petmart has a 2 year old sun conure that has not been socialized. They said recently they have been able to get him to sit on their arms and take sunflowers out of their hand. He has been at the pet store since he was a baby. There were 4 and he bonded with the other birds but not people. All the others sold but they still have him due to his disposition. What do you think?
i recently got my 5 yr old male ringneck Raja a friend because i didnt feel i had enough time to spend with him between uni and work etc. i think ringnecks can definately be happy on their own, but they need a human buddy and lots of toys to keep them busy.
I spent alot of time deciding if i should get a mate for Raj or not, and eventually i found a baby handraised female (Sari) who had been DNA sexed and Raja was ESTATIC at having a friend. i kept them in adjacent cages for the first few weeks so that Sari wouldnt be overwhelmed by Raja's affections, and they have been living happily together since christmas.
as i type this, they have both just finished destroying a toy i gave them and are playing tug-of-war with the pieces!
does your ringneck like other birds? Raja used to spend heaps of time talking to the mirror in his cage and also had a green and red stuffed toy animal that he loved to 'court' whenever he was allowed to play with it.
i did some research and eventually decided to get a female ringneck to keep him company. i decided on another IRN rather than another type of bird because i think that is safest for the birds and they do form quite close bonds with each other. im not sure why jodie has suggested that you should get a same sex ringneck or a different species as a companion for your girl? they wont breed unless you provide them with a nesting box, and can be aggressive towards other species.
i saw this quite strongly when i was breeding IRNs. i had one hen that would attack any other bird she could get hold of. in my avairy she would bite the toes off cockatiels and budgies in adjacent flights, and even managed to catch and kill quails. she also mutilated one of my other breeding hens who had to be put down.
however, even this aggressive hen was sweet to her mate, a crippled IRN who i rescued from a lady who was trying to keep him as a pet but hadnt bothered to win his friendship (and managed to damage his wing really badly while trying to clip it, to the point that he was never able to fly)
obviously not all IRNs are as aggressive as this hen, but my point is that if they are going to be friends with another bird, i think the most likely candidate would be a member of the opposite sex.
actually after typing my long long post, my IRNs have now finished the complete destruction of the toy and Raja is courting Sari complete with head bobbing and regurgitating food. i guess that it depends on what you want from your parrot. my birds both talk, are easy to handle and like being around people. i like the fact that they get along well and keep each other entertained, but im not worried about them becoming distant from me because of two things; IRNs dont form a 'mate for life' type bond, and i handle them every day and they both adore me, even competing against each other for my attention.
well hope that didnt take too long to read and is helpful!
Thanks for the comments. We are still looking. The only ringneck I can find is a 8 month old female. She hasn't been handled and is quite wild. We may still get her.
