IndianRingNeck.com

I have not been a parrot-mommy very long, but in my brief time and hours of research it seems to me there is quite a bit of debate on these two topics... well, at least the mirror part.
Some have argued that you should not give your single bird a mirror because it will make the bonding process harder. There have been hazy rumors of birds getting "too attached", guarding their toys and ignoring or outright attacking their owners. I know that initially I was hesitant to give Snow a mirror because of those kinds of stories.

But I have found, much to my surprise, that a mirror can be a wonderful toy - especially for a single bird who (lets face it) will probably be left to his own devices more than we would wish. Since giving Snow his mirror , he's seemed to be a much more well-adjusted bird - much less nervous, both around me and in new places we travel to. The one thing I HAVE noticed, as far as our bond is concerned, is that Snow treats his mirror as "another member of the flock". He has times where he will give attention to his mirror, and times where he will give attention to me... and just like any family type relationship, I've had to learn to respect that. It's not to say I completely ignore him because he has a mirror... I am just mindful of when he wants to interact with me and when he wants "the mirror's" company.
Obviously every bird is going to be an individual, and no doubt there will be birds that guard their toys - in which case, obviously a mirror be removed. But I have not found that bonding with him is necessarily any harder than it was before he had the mirror. In short, don't discount a mirror just because it is a mirror.

Of tomatos, I will say one thing: buyer beware! They seemed to have caused liver toxicity in my bird.
About 4 months ago, I had to take a trip and left Snow with a friend. The friend had watched after him many times before without any incidents, she is very knowledgeable about birds and is retired so out-of-cage time at her place is always supervised. But this last time I came back from my trip to find a very sick bird indeed. His urine/urates had turned very dark green and he had a lot of other signs that indicate severe liver problems (shaking, depression, inappetence and new feathers were very brittle). I asked her if Snow might have gotten into anything or if she'd been feeding him anything different and the only thing she said was that she found out he loved tomatos. By the time I'd gotten him to the vet, his urine/urates had already started to return to normal, but he was still very depressed and it's taken this long for the rest of the signs to get less.
Obviously I can't guarantee he didn't get into anything else while he was at the friend's house... but she is so knowledgeable that I kind of doubt it could've been anything other than the tomatos she was feeding him.

One thing I know: Snow will be on a tomato-free diet from now on.

That's some interesting experiences. Tomato plants and unripe fruit are toxic to mammals and birds. I believe they can affect the liver, among other things. Ripe fruit is considered safe to feed in moderation, it is not particularly valuable from a nutritional perspective. My avian vet has told me it is safe to feed ripe tomatoes in moderation, so I'm very interested in more information on this. What is your bird's base diet? How old is your bird?

I have read that ringnecks need to be handraised to be tame, I have one that was raised in an aviary and she is tame, she is as easy to handle as some hand raised birds i have met, so I don't believe that. There is quite a lot of stuff on the Internet that I don't believe regarding parrots, most notably the "bluffing phase".
I have met a ringneck that has an unhealthy relationship with a mirror though, completely obsessive. My hen beats up the bird in the mirror if we don't cover it when she is in the bathroom. Our male gets a bit too excited by his reflection... every bird is different and it should be assessed on a case by case basis whether a mirror is appropriate.

The reason I have and will not give Sanjay a mirror,, is because it can inhibit talking, this happened with every budgie my late mother owned. Tomatoes are a definite no no, they are members of the night shade family, and I have never had wild birds touch my outdoor grown ones, the colour itself is a warning signal to birds and wild animals. I read somewhere that they shouldn't be fed to pet birds because of their "acidity", but your post proves there is more to it than that. A human can speed up liver healing with milk thistle, I did this myself when prescribed Diclofenic damaged my liver, but I would check the plant is safe to give the bird first.

Yes, I read the same thing about tomatos possibly being too acidic and that they should only be fed in moderation... which was why (and I should have said) I only fed them as a very rare treat. And until he went to this friend's house, he never had a problem with them... I suspect that she must have been feeding him a tonne of tomatos because he literally goes nuts for them. And it was mid-summer then, so I also kind of doubt they were green.

Snow is about a year-and-a half now. He gets a couple of handfuls of Harrisons High Potency Fine (10 g, if I want to be nerdy about it) and a rotation of carrot, apple, broccoli, spinach, capsicum, orange and any other fruit/veggies I feel in the mood to buy when I'm at the grocery (checking that they're safe for birds beforehand, of course!). I've been trying to figure out ways to get more protein in his diet, because that's probably the ingredient that "evaporates" most quickly out of pelleted feeds... He doesn't seem interested in scrambled egg or cooked strip-meat (unseasoned stir-fry).

I had also had budgies for a number of years before I got him... but complicated family relationships meant that I wasn't able to spoil them as fully as I am currently doing to Snow. It's been a new adventure for me and I love every day of it. Sanjay, your comment on mirrors was interesting because I haven't really paid much attention to the development of his speech... I don't really care that he ever talks, but he seems determined to anyway. He loves to tell me "good night" when he's tired and thinks I should turn out the light, he laughs when he wants a bath and he's repeated a few embarrassing phrases from lyrics he's heard on the radio. He can't whistle a lick, though.

Rocky used to go to his sleep perch and turn his back to me. I don't keep him up so late anymore.....

Sanjay did that just once, my daughter phoned and I over ran his bedtime. They love their routine. I give him morsels of cooked chicken, and he loves hard boiled egg, or a morsel of paneer cheese for protein, oh, and a morsel of fish, which he likes.

My Alex Hen Billie has a mirrow 2 foot square and she talks to her relfection more than she talks to me, she makes no attempt to feed her reflection. I have never tried to feed her tomatoes, but she does not like red or black fruit or veg