Indian Ringneck Parakeet Guide: Personality, Food, and Cost

The Indian Ringneck Parakeet is a beautiful bird and has become a trendy option for a pet. Although it is an incredibly social bird that tends to become a lifelong companion of its owner over time, it certainly isn’t the right pet for everyone due to its constant need for care and overall attention. 

But if you’re someone who can afford sparing time out of the day for your pet and in search of a fun, lively pet, then an Indian Ringneck Parrot is the one for you. This is because the training process of these birds is a lot of fun as they take a liking to good challenges and love to talk. 

Overview 

Named after an 18th Century naturalist and physician Wilhem Heinrich Kramer, Indian Ringneck Parrots have been adored for centuries by bird lovers all around the world. 

Origin and Natural Habitat: 

Otherwise known as a rose-ringed parakeet, the ring-necked parakeet is originally from India. Originating from the wild parts and urban areas of India, this parrot is found in large flocks. The name of the species is also very suggestive of their nativity. 

Apart from India, you can also find the ring-necked parakeets in many parts of the Middle East, including Pakistan and Sudan. These birds are fond of having company, so they usually go around in flocks and groups. 

Appearance

Living in farmed as well as timbered areas, these parrots are some of the most magnificent looking birds in the whole world. Going by the scientific name ‘Psittacula Krameri,’ a rose-ringed parakeet is 14-16 inches long, on average. 

The parrots come in many colors now due to selective breeding, but yellow or green is the natural and primary coloration of these birds. They are incredibly popular due to their distinctive appearances and striking looks, so much so that people immediately fall in love with them as soon as they lay eyes upon the beautiful creatures. 

The rose-ringed parakeet has a self-explanatory name. As the name suggests, there are colored rings around the necks of Indian Ringneck Parrots, but this phenomenon is limited to male birds only. The interesting part is that the females don’t really have any rings on their bodies. 

Personality and Temperament: 

Indian Ringneck Parrots are not your average pets that can be tamed with minimal attention and care. These birds are, quite literally, thirsty for attention. Their sweet side completely disappears when they’re not given the attention they believe they deserve. 

They can be extremely loyal and loving companions, but the moment you neglect them, you are in for some biters on your hands. But fret not as when they’re paid heed to, they turn out to be the sweetest and most entertaining pets around the world. 

Possessing a soft and high-pitched voice, Ringnecks often alert their owners of any danger they sense. Their instinct and the sixth sense are often accompanied by blaring noises. 

These birds tend to get bored relatively quickly, but that’s just because they are extremely smart. Unfortunately for the owners, Ringnecks’ intelligence makes them alert of their owners’ negligence towards them, and so, they resort to being destructive and petty to get even a crumb of attention. 

Long story short, these birds are extremely moody, and one needs to practically become their flock in order to make them feel as involved as possible. Play with them, give them toys, don’t leave them alone, teach them tricks – just become their entertainer. 

Lifespan 

Owning an Indian Ringneck Parakeet is a huge responsibility and serious commitment as these birds have a pretty good life expectancy rate, ranging from 20 to 30 years, on average

These birds are known to lead healthy lives and can be extremely hardy at times. Ringnecks are not some weakling pets as some of them can live up to 50 years in captivity. 

Though they are generally prone to certain bacterial infections and other diseases, these parrots can fight through almost anything and come out healthy in the end – and that’s on their hardy nature. 

This also proves to be fortunate for the owners of Ringnecks as these birds stick around for quite some time, being loyal companions and great friends simultaneously. 

Cost of an Indian Ringneck Parrot 

Indian Ringnecks, available in a bunch of variations and mutations including yellow, green, blue, albino, and pied, can be purchased as well as adopted from different avian-specialty stores, bird breeders, and pet stores around the world. 

There are a bunch of verified organizations and adopting websites where these parrots are available for different prices, mainly ranging from $250 to $1,000. However, the prices tend to go up depending on the kind of bird and organization you have chosen for your purchase. 

Too Expensive? Consider Adoption

A bunch of rescue organizations also put up these birds for adoption, where people can simply go and adopt their favorite Ringneck. 

The most well-known organizations to get a hold of the Indian Ringnecks Parakeet are Petfinder and RescueParrots.org, to name a few. Apart from these organizations, people also rescue these parrots from different locations where they are left alone and abandoned. 

Which To Buy: Hand-raised Or Adult?

As for which kind of Ringneck would make the best purchase, we would suggest going for a hand-raised bird. Hand-raised Ringnecks almost always tame fully, whereas the opposite is true for Ringnecks grown in colonies. 

Although, one thing to keep in mind when buying a hand-raised bird is to do your own research on the breeders you’re buying from. Run a necessary background check and find out how experienced and well-reputed your selected breeders are. 

You need to make sure the breeders have sufficient experience when it comes to breeding and working with the Indian Ringnecks Parakeet. If necessary, ask them to give you a tour of their breeding facilities and aviaries. 

Lastly, upon being completely sure and satisfied with everything related to the breeders, thoroughly check the bird you’ve chosen to purchase as your pet. Ensure the Parakeet displays all the indications of a healthy bird, including being active and alert and having full crops, clean feathers, and bright eyes. 

Vocalizations and Speech of the Indian Ringneck Parakeet 

Indian Ringneck Parrots are known for being one of the chattiest species of birds. They are, without a doubt, one of the best talking pets and tend to stand out amongst others due to this extremely unique and entertaining quality. 

The parrots may take some time learning and picking up words, but once they do, they don’t stop speaking. It might be an absolute delight hearing your Ringneck utter his first few words, but prepare to brace your ears as he won’t be shutting up anytime soon. 

Once a Ringneck properly learns how to talk, there’s no going back. The voice of this bird is generally high-pitched yet soft at the same time. The ring-necked parakeets typically don’t shy away and speak as loud as they can, so don’t be surprised when your Ringneck starts speaking his heart out. 

A tip you could use while teaching your Parakeet how to speak is to make sure you don’t accidentally teach him something you might not want to hear regularly, as you would be hearing it for many years to come and as loudly as possible – being family-friendly would really work in your favor here. 

Rose-ringed Parakeets are also amazing whistlers. They tend to pick up the whistling sound quite quickly and efficiently. Though, we would suggest teaching your parrot words before whistling as they might start preferring whistling over talking and keep whistling at your lady friends. 

How to Care For an Indian Ringneck Parakeet 

These birds are extremely sensitive who are in regular need of free time away from their cage and general playtime. Depriving a Ringneck of these basic things would result in the development of irreversible neurotic disorders. 

Make sure to take care of the following primary things when owning a Ringneck. 

Diet and Nutrition: 

These birds are known for having good appetites. Just like all birds, a nutritious and balanced diet is a must for Indian Ringneck Parrots. This diet should include veggies, pellets, generally healthy foods, and fruits.

A few Lafeber foods that are full of nutrition are Premium Daily Diet, Avi-Cakes, and Nutri-Berries. Mixing and balancing all these foods in balanced quantities would keep your parrot nourished, and at the same time, he will not get bored with a regular, monotonous diet.

Chocolates and avocados are extremely harmful to Ringnecks and should be avoided at all costs. Make sure you add as many greens as possible in your parrots’ diet, along with chicken, rice, and beans, too sometimes. 

Flowers and flower nectar are also something Ringnecks generally enjoy – plant some flowers in your backyard, and you should be good to go. 

Housing: 

The housing of a ring-necked parakeet should always be kept larger than one would expect. This is because these birds have long tails and find it quite hard to accommodate themselves in compact spaces. 

However, make sure the space isn’t too big for the bird to be able to escape or accidentally get stuck. A space large enough for the Ringneck to play and hop around should be ideal. 

With Indian Ringnecks, you’ll want to always have spare toys in stock as they are extremely fond of tossing their favorite toys around. This kind of destruction shouldn’t bother you as it’s always fun to spoil your pet a little – they totally deserve it. 

Exercise: 

Ringnecks are extremely playful and active species, so they should be brought out of their cage on a daily basis for a specific period of time, the least being 3 hours every day. 

Due to their long tails and abundance of feathers and wings, Parakeets should be provided with a play area in order to stretch their wings and just play and hop around freely. 

Apart from that, we recommend providing your parrot with chewable toys as these birds have powerful jaws, which may lead to them chewing on harmful or valuable things. 

Fun Facts about Indian Ringnecks 

  • Indian Ringneck Parakeets are dimorphic birds. This means that their sexes are easily identifiable with clear, visible differences. Anyone can tell a male and female Parakeet apart as it takes no expert to differentiate between the two due to visible appearance differences. 
  • The most striking thing about their appearances is the parrots’ color. The feathers are hardly distinguishable from each other as it looks like the color is airbrushed onto the birds. 
  • These parrots can learn up to 200 words in total and are exceptionally fond of learning new things. They excel at bird tricks and take a liking to their owners, being playful and mentally challenging with them. 
  • A tip for when the Ringneck is aggressive or misbehaving is to not scold them due to their fondness of developing a lifelong fear of people. Instead, it’s best to ignore whatever the parrot did and reinforce him positively to encourage pleasant behavior moving onwards. 

Common Health Issues an Indian Ringneck Parakeet Faces 

These parrots are generally healthy birds overall, but they do tend to exhibit certain unhealthy conditions every once in a while. Ringnecks are prone to bacterial infections, Pssitacosis, Polyomavirus, and Aspergillosis. 

Apart from these primary conditions, the bird may also turn to self-destructive behavior when not properly cared for. These self-destructive tendencies mostly reflect when the Ringneck becomes severely depressed. 

The cause for depression for this bird is mainly being left alone for some time. They become dull and start plucking out their hair under this condition. Hair plucking is something they do when they’re bored, too, so your best option is never to let them get bored. 

These birds are pro fliers as they can fly just alright even after getting their wing feathers trimmed accidentally or injuring themselves a little. Hence, preventing them from flying away when outdoors should be your utmost priority. 

Conclusion 

An Indian Ringneck Paraneek is probably the best option for you if you’re looking to get your hands on a fun, loving, loyal, and generally entertaining pet. 

Just make sure you’re ready for that commitment, as you’re going to have to spare some time every day playing and just generally looking after the Ringneck. In the end, it’s all worth it, though, as these birds are some of the most loyal companions you can find.

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