How's an alexandrine parrot as a pet?

'Ello all! If you did not read my introductory post, I am a teenager considering getting a small species of parrot a few years down the road. I like the appearance of the ring necks and especially like the alexandrine ring neck, but how are they as pets? Any notable pluses or minuses compared to other small or medium sized parrots?

If you search under 'Alexandrine', you'll find quite a number of posts addressing your question in detail. As an Alex owner, I think they're gorgeous and quite the most wonderful parrots ever. They do not like to be touched, though, and are very headstrong and wilful when it comes to doing naughty things like chomping on network cables and phone lines. The bills are huge and bite is in proportion to the bill. But then, of course, every parrot will bite from time to time and you must just expect that. LOL!

If your life circumstances will be changing over the next few years, the addition of a very needy parrot (and Alexes are needy!) will add to your stress significantly. You can't just leave them in their cage after the honeymoon is over - you must spend at least a few hours with them every single day, or they'll develop the usual isolation disorders.

I think you're extremely wise to be asking these questions now and thinking about it before you make a purchase. You're the only one who can determine whether you'll be able to devote the time, money and effort to a bird and I wish you luck in your decision whichever way it goes.

What are you looking for in a bird?

I have one, I use him in an educational program. He's fine with being touched and held by multiple people, although he has just now entered adolescence and is being a bit nippy. I have decided to temporarily retire him from the program while continuing to work him through his nippy phase.

He IS a chewer. He destroys toys very quickly, I wind up spending more money in toys for him than for my raven, who gets bored very easily. So far he has destroyed the charger for my computer, two phone chargers, and the vacuum cord. He can rip them in half a second, before you notice that he has them.

He does require a lot of time, but I have other birds that require more time than him so in my opinion, he isn't "that bad". But I don't want to give anybody the false impression that they don't need a lot of time devoted to them.

On the plus side, he's friendly, isn't loud, gorgeous, and he loves to play.

Guess an Alex might not be the best then...I was hoping to get the parrot out for several hours of the day, but was also hoping that the parrot could be adaptable for the occasional day where that was not possible. Any somewhat less needy (and more pro touch) parrots out there that would fit the bill?

(By the way, the few years I mentioned was to allow me to get my own apartment and to be settled before getting the bird. Speaking of which...might be a good idea for the parrot to be somewhat quieter than an Alex.)

Like I said, my Alex is pretty pro touch. We have had him in classrooms with grabby kindergartners on up, and he's been fine until adolescence, which is normal in any bird. I suggest you meet a couple of Alexandrines and judge for yourself. Remember, every bird is different.

What do you think about an Indian Ringneck? You could meet a few of those, too.

I'd like to check those out also. I admit, the small size reduces the 'wow' factor somewhat, but if they would be more suitable then that would not be too high a price to pay.

Joshaeus said:

Guess an Alex might not be the best then...I was hoping to get the parrot out for several hours of the day, but was also hoping that the parrot could be adaptable for the occasional day where that was not possible. Any somewhat less needy (and more pro touch) parrots out there that would fit the bill?

(By the way, the few years I mentioned was to allow me to get my own apartment and to be settled before getting the bird. Speaking of which...might be a good idea for the parrot to be somewhat quieter than an Alex.)

Click to expand...

I'll put my .02 for poicephalus. Quiet, likes to be cuddled (at least mine do) and are good at self entertaining when you're busy as long as you provide them with lots of toys and for parrots they are VERY quiet. A lot of people recommend them as apartment birds.

PS....if you don't think IRNs have "wow" factor you've been missing out on the many mutations they come in

Have you looked into Conures at all? My two conures have been lovely apartment birds. Not very loud, they can entertain themselves for the most part but they will interact with me and Kiwi cuddles with me when she's out of her cage. Something to think about.
They might be somewhat small in size(depending on the conure/IRN) But they definitely make up for it in personality and unique-ness in my opinion.

I guess those are options, yes..in fact, they look like rather good options. Thanks for suggesting them. Any others come to mind? And by conure, am I correct in assuming you mean the Pyrrhura conures, rather than the Aratinga species?

(By the way, no offense to the IRN was intended...I was just saying that they were smaller than an alexandrine, and thus somewhat less impressive even though they are just as colorful).

Yeah aratinga can blow your ear drums, probably not the best for an apartment

I have a White Eared Conure and a Pineapple Green Cheek Conure. I'm not sure which category they fall in to but I would say Pyrrhura, as they don't blow my ear drums out.. hehe.
I also had a sun conure in an apartment once. The volume wasn't the bad part, it was the constant shrieking that was the problem. I'm sure plenty of people have had sun conures in apartments with no problems, but mine just wouldn't do it.
Jenday's aren't bad, either. But of course like any conure they do have the potential to be loud.

I've lived in 3 apartments with an alexandrine and haven't had any issues.