Hello From NorCal!

[KiwiMangoMama]

Hi everybody!

Name is Krissi and I reside in the Sacramento region of California. I am originally from Germany and am happily married to a United States Soldier.

I have had birds my entire life, though I usually stuck with Cockatiels and Conures. I recently got what I thought was an Indian Ringneck (did not know much about the breed until recently) from an ad here in the local paper. After paying a large sum of money, I found out my beloved Mango was an African Ringneck by an experienced breeder in the area. Mango has a very sad past, which explains why I have no problems that I paid to rescue him from his previous living arrangement. The previous owners only fed him a diet of safflower seeds for over 2 years, they also mangled his wings to the point I think they are beyond repair. He is a sad little guy, but we are working on it!

I also am the proud Mommy of Kiwi, my turquoise Indian Ringneck who is only a few months old (we just adopted him!). He is a lover, and has already become quite attached to me as his primary owner. We purchased him from a very experienced breeder in the San Francisco area, and you could tell he was well cared for and loved dearly by the man.

I joined this forum so that I can grow and learn from experienced IR owners, I only wish to provide my two babies with all the love and care I can give!

Aside from my feathered babies, Kiwi & Mango, we have a small zoo that includes: 5 dogs, 2 cats, a snake and a fish! Don't worry though, they are all used to birds and do not try and harm them (and the snake is too small to try!).

Nice to meet everybody, very happy to be aboard!

Sincerely,
Krissi <3

[Skyes_crew]

Hi krissi and welcome. I am also married to a soldier we spent 9 years living in Germany. I loved it there. What part are you from?

Anyway, you came to the right place for info on your birds. You should take advantage of the search feature. You could be reading stuff for days lol. So sorry to here about mango. At least he has a better life now. Have you talked to your avian vet about his wings? Maybe there is something they can do to fix them. I wish you the best of luck with your birds and I hope you enjoy the forum as much as I do

[Doodlebug]

Hi Krissy, Mango and Kiwi-welcome

So sorry to hear about Mango's previous life but he's a lucky little thing to now have you to take care of him.

Lovely to hear from another animal lover-there are certainly a lot here on this forum so you're in good company.

I'm half German from my mums side, I only speak a little as we've all been brought up over in the UK and my mum decided we could learn the language later on if we wanted to so didn't press it on us which was a shame as it would've been so much easier to have grown up learning it!

Loo

[KiwiMangoMama]

Hi Skyes_Crew!

I am from Fürth, Bayern I miss it dearly, but I am loving all the new adventures I am having! What part were you guys stationed in? I am glad you guys liked living there, it definitely will leave a lasting impression! Hopefully you guys were able to go to some of the Christmas Markets, they are my favorite!

I did speak with my Avian Vet who said that everything looked fine, his wings should grow back in a year or two!? Holy Wow! He did give the option of prosthetic wings...not sure exactly how they can accomplish that, but I am unsure if I want to go that route as I believe they would have to put him to sleep. I am huge on trying to heal naturally before resorting in surgery, as of now the vet thinks I should be fine as long as we take special care to not allow him to bump the growing wings (as he can be in dire trouble if one breaks).

You are right though about this site! So much information to read, I love it! Learning is one of my passions (besides animals of course ) so I am enjoying all of the new knowledge I am gaining from this forum!

[KiwiMangoMama]

Hi Doodlebug!

Very nice to meet you! It is always nice to be in the company of other animal lovers seems like I found a place where I fit in!

Also nice to meet a fellow German! The UK is beautiful, though I have not seen nearly as much as I would have liked to. My Husband has Scottish roots so we are going to be doing a long trip to the UK in the future to get in touch with his heritage. It is definitely not too late to pick up on your German language! I am in the process of teaching my Husband, he is catching on pretty good

[Skyes_crew]

Guten tag

We were stationed in a few places. Hohenfels, vilseck, schweinfurt, and grafenwoehr. I've experienced just about every aspect of Germany I could. We've been to Weihnachtsmarkt's in about 30 different cities and towns. We've seen them put up the may pole. We've been to Oktoberfest, love fest, Berlin, and just about every country surrounding Germany. Especially loved the shopping in Poland and Prague. Heidelberg was one of my favorite cities, except for the traffic and all the one way streets lol. I think I miss the food the most. There was always a bier garten to sit and enjoy some good food. And there was a brat stand in regensburg right on the river that was there since the 1800's. they served the best brats and blaukraut. Oh and the bakereis. mmmmm. And I loved the night life. We want to go back some day, but when the kids are older. I'm glad you are enjoying California. What have you seen so far?

The prosthetic your vet was talking about was most likely imping. We were just having a conversation about it on here a couple of weeks ago if you do a search for it.

[KiwiMangoMama]

Sounds like you have been all over Germany! It is a beautiful country indeed, so much to do! The food is definitely something to miss, I basically crave good home town food from Germany daily, though I have had some pretty yummy stuff in the States too...we enjoyed "Chicago-Style" pizza from a local restaurant tonight, it was pretty tasty...though I imagine I will be working off the calories for months! I think my favorite places in Europe, outside of Germany, would have to be Italy and France! I am a total foodie though...haha...if I could just travel the world tasting food from everywhere I would be one happy girl!

We love California, there is a great deal to do here too...we have ventured all over the place too. Most notably we did the infamous PCH-1 (Pacific Coast Highway) drive...that is not for the faint of heart! Beautiful, absolutely breathtaking views and scenery...though twisty, narrow roads off of very steep cliffs over the ocean...with a lot of fog! We adore Monterey/Carmel, San Francisco and of course Lake Tahoe We just recently (last weekend) got back from a trip to San Diego and can officially say that we have visited every major city in the state...haha.

I am definitely going to search for "imping" it sounded a little crazy when our vet told us, I suppose I was not fully understanding what they were explaining. Sounded so harsh! We did attempt to allow Mango to meet Kiwi today, was not a good experience though. Mango bit and drew blood on my Husband, and then Kiwi attacked Mango (he was perched on my finger biting at him) so I guess their relationship will take some work...I am glad that I took my vets advice and bought Kiwi a separate cage now! He is on the top of my laptop helping me type this message...haha...

I did see another post on the forum about another abused ARN, sadly their bird passed shortly after they rescued him. Made me cry I really wish that people would do research before taking in pets...I just do not get why folks do not take the proper time to try and train their furry and feathered friends.

On a happier note, I am finding a wealth of information on the forum...I found a really helpful food list for IRN and Kiwi has been in heaven chowing down on cherries, carrots and apples (not so hip on Kale yet). I of course offer the same assortment of fruits/veggies to Mango every day, he is not into them quite yet, but I am going to keep on offering just in case!