Louie my African Ringneck
Posted: Fri Jan 17, 2014 3:49 am
Sorry for the bad quality photos! Most of these are from my phone.
I bought Louie as a companion mostly because I was working hours from home where my Double Yellow Headed Amazon is, and I was feeling incredibly lonely. I couldn't bring my amazon because of his size, and he'd need a big cage that I just couldn't house. Plus I lived with roommates, so the sound would be unbearable for them.
I opted for a ringneck, because as a child my mother had a breeding pair of blue IRNs, whom the father and the babies died when they hatched for unknown reasons, and the female escaped years later when we took the birds outside for their daily vitamin E by learning how to unhook the cage door. We continued to see her in the wild for about three years to come, but stopped seeing her after.
After that, my mother became very sad over her ringnecks; she loved them dearly, and she stopped having birds as pets. She sold the other birds, and kept only the Amazon (because he's technically mine) That, and I LOVE how smooth ringnecks look.
Well, I was calling number on craigslist like crazy, and I could not find a single ringneck for sale. I was looking for an Indian, hoping for another blue one to maybe bring some joy into my mom as well that she might maybe see her beloved Jack and Sasha in this new baby. But I couldn't find any ringnecks.
Until I received a callback for a lady nearby who was selling baby ringnecks. While I was specifically asking for Indian ringnecks, she responded with just "ringneck parrot". Well, a trip out and money later, I came home with baby Louie at three weeks old. I handfed him and weaned him, but it wasn't until a few weeks in that I realized he was an African ringneck and not an Indian as I hoped. I thought it'd be cruel on my part to go and return little Louie back to the woman, and he was just so darn cute and little, that I completely threw the desire for an IRN out the window.
I want to think Louie is a male, but he's barely 10 months old, so I won't know for quite a while. If he turns out to be a girl, we already have the name Lulu planned for him. He dances...DANCES all day, upside down and right side up. I don't know if this is a ringneck thing or just him. He literally dances. All day. Just sits there swaying back and forth, and then hangs upside down and dances. He only does this when he's in the cage. When he's outside he's usually wandering around being a troublemaker.
Louie also tries to feed me. Every single day when I take him out he'll sit at the edge of his cage, dance a little, and then stand up really tall with his wings open and try to regurgitate food on me. Usually I pat him and pick him up before he does so he doesn't make a habit of this (I'm flattered, but I prefer he keeps his food in his crop).
Louie also talks! He is quite a fast learner (learned how to unlock the new cage within one day of being in it), and he learns new phrases every other day. He says his name, "Looie!", "Eww" "Ewwwiiie", "Little baby", "Whatdooie", "What are doing?", "Whatdat?", "Babbabababababababyyyy" (he learned that one from my amazon), kiss noises, little cat noises and a soft "Ooooooooo".
Sorry for the long text, but there's my african ringneck and his story!
I bought Louie as a companion mostly because I was working hours from home where my Double Yellow Headed Amazon is, and I was feeling incredibly lonely. I couldn't bring my amazon because of his size, and he'd need a big cage that I just couldn't house. Plus I lived with roommates, so the sound would be unbearable for them.
I opted for a ringneck, because as a child my mother had a breeding pair of blue IRNs, whom the father and the babies died when they hatched for unknown reasons, and the female escaped years later when we took the birds outside for their daily vitamin E by learning how to unhook the cage door. We continued to see her in the wild for about three years to come, but stopped seeing her after.
After that, my mother became very sad over her ringnecks; she loved them dearly, and she stopped having birds as pets. She sold the other birds, and kept only the Amazon (because he's technically mine) That, and I LOVE how smooth ringnecks look. Well, I was calling number on craigslist like crazy, and I could not find a single ringneck for sale. I was looking for an Indian, hoping for another blue one to maybe bring some joy into my mom as well that she might maybe see her beloved Jack and Sasha in this new baby. But I couldn't find any ringnecks.
Until I received a callback for a lady nearby who was selling baby ringnecks. While I was specifically asking for Indian ringnecks, she responded with just "ringneck parrot". Well, a trip out and money later, I came home with baby Louie at three weeks old. I handfed him and weaned him, but it wasn't until a few weeks in that I realized he was an African ringneck and not an Indian as I hoped. I thought it'd be cruel on my part to go and return little Louie back to the woman, and he was just so darn cute and little, that I completely threw the desire for an IRN out the window.
I want to think Louie is a male, but he's barely 10 months old, so I won't know for quite a while. If he turns out to be a girl, we already have the name Lulu planned for him. He dances...DANCES all day, upside down and right side up. I don't know if this is a ringneck thing or just him. He literally dances. All day. Just sits there swaying back and forth, and then hangs upside down and dances. He only does this when he's in the cage. When he's outside he's usually wandering around being a troublemaker.
Louie also tries to feed me. Every single day when I take him out he'll sit at the edge of his cage, dance a little, and then stand up really tall with his wings open and try to regurgitate food on me. Usually I pat him and pick him up before he does so he doesn't make a habit of this (I'm flattered, but I prefer he keeps his food in his crop).
Louie also talks! He is quite a fast learner (learned how to unlock the new cage within one day of being in it), and he learns new phrases every other day. He says his name, "Looie!", "Eww" "Ewwwiiie", "Little baby", "Whatdooie", "What are doing?", "Whatdat?", "Babbabababababababyyyy" (he learned that one from my amazon), kiss noises, little cat noises and a soft "Ooooooooo".
Sorry for the long text, but there's my african ringneck and his story!
