The Indian Ringneck Parrot

These remarkable, beautiful birds have been kept as pets for more than 2000 years. In their native India they were once held in very high esteem and considered to be sacred because of their amazing ability to mimic human speech. An Indian Ringneck Parrot can have a vocabulary of 250 words or more and are extraordinarily intelligent.

Often referred to as a parakeet, the Indian Ringneck can be bought in almost any color under the sun. Its natural color is pale green, with darker green wings and the males can be distinguished from the females by a distinctive black ring around the neck and a pink collar. The females also have rings but theirs tend to be very faint and they do not have the pink collar.

Since the early 1920’s Indian Ringneck Parrots have been bread in captivity and before long, color mutations from blue to pale yellow were available. The rarest is violet but with new colors emerging all the time this may change. A fully-grown adult will reach 16 inches in length and almost 7 inches of that will be tail. Females tend to be slightly shorter. They are considered to be adults at the age of three as this is when they acquire adult plumage and coloring.
Indian Ringnecks are usually expected to live for 25-30 years but evidence has shown some have reached the grand old age of 50.

These birds are very popular amongst breeders, as they seem to have no problem breeding in captivity and can produce as many as 6 eggs at a time. The eggs hatch after 24 days approximately.

The Indian Ringneck Parrot has, unfairly, received a lot of bad reports form people who have kept them as pets. They are often described as noisy and aggressive. It is true that like many other Parrots they go through a ‘moody’ adolescent phase and left alone or ignored for long periods of time they will become ‘wild’ and suspicious of human contact. If only one member of the household has contact with them they tend to treat all other humans and animals with extreme resentment. This can be avoided by the owner ensuring they have plenty of interaction with different people and other pets.
It is true that they are noisy birds but that is a characteristic of most parrots and parakeets and often the reason why they are chosen as pets. Spend some time in close proximity to one before you decide to buy!

Indian Ringnecks are very active so make sure they have plenty of room or access to a large area to fly around in. This does mean that they are less prone to weight issues and although they are generally a very healthy species make sure you buy from a reputable breeder as vigorous breeding and experimentation for color purposes can waken a bloodline.
Make sure your Indian Ringneck has plenty of toys and some wood to chew on. They have remarkably strong jaw muscles and if they cannot exercise their beaks on some wood they may use them on your furniture and have been known to cause serious damage to the sturdiest items!

It is true that they can be loud and even those bred in captivity can become feral if left without human contact, but with a little bit of forethought and training these intelligent, beautiful creatures can be very affectionate ‘chatty’ companions.