hello from Aus

[InTheAir]

Hi there,
We live on the Sunshine Coast in Australia.
I'm new to birds, I got my boyfriend a 3 month old Indian ringneck for his birthday last November. Well, realistically I took the boyfriend to look at some ringnecks at a local breeders place and the little runt chose my boyfriend and came home with us.

He is a wonderful little bird, seems to like learning tricks, puts up with the harness ( he is unclipped), doesn't mind the vet... We have socialised him with people extensively so he is comfortable with.strangers. We are planning to get him a friend fairly soon.

I'm delighted by his intelligence and enthusiasm for learning tricks, and having a parakeet is a laugh a minute!

I look forward to learning more about parrots and training from everyone here.

[janetafloat]

Welcome to the forum! Your ringneck sounds lovely, what's his name? And photos please!

[InTheAir]

Hey Janetafloat,

He is called Nila. I haven't figured out how to post pictures on here yet. I have a couple videos on YouTube of him though. http://m.youtube.com/#/watch?v=QGxjrIxRcKc i think we filmed it a couple months ago, so he's grown up a little since then.

[marie83]

Welcome to the forums, sounds like you are doing a fab job with socialising him etc.
I'm sure you already know as you sound like someone who has done their research but dont be alarmed when maturity hits and his behaviour changes, you'll get back on track easy enough by the sounds of it if you keep this training up.

[InTheAir]

Yeah, we are still waiting on this mysterious bluffing stage... He does have the occasional grumpy moment (especially if he has a late night)... He's so cute when he's grumpy and we crack up laughing, and he chills out pretty quickly. He sometimes gets a bit upset when we are changing the toys in his cage and lunges to bite, grabs your finger gently and starts licking it... He hasn't done that for a while though...

But we have had a couple friends over who are not confident with birds and moved their hand out of his reach when he was testing if it would be a safe perch with his beak... He ended up biting them quite hard after a couple tries, and i can't really blame him, I'd do the same.

Hopefully he will remain a comfortable, well adjusted bird when he matures. We do intend to get him a girl friend soon, as humans are no substitute for a birdy companion. We have been told they are less fussy and more inclined to accept a new friend while they are young, and we want a say in who his mate is...

[marie83]

Aww well I'm sure he is all cute when he is "grumpy" at the moment, he is a baby after all. I would stop laughing at these grumpy moments though as you may be accidently reinforcing the grumpiness. When he is an adult it will be a lot less cute I can assure you