Moustache, Plumheads and Princess Parrots?

Kinny

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Jul 26, 2013
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My breeder whom I get all my high quality breeding stock from is having a Clearout as he's moving to a new location and so he's offered to sell some breeding pairs to me at a discounted price.

He's currently offering the following birds:

Moustache Parrots
Malabar Parrots - coloured
Plumhead Parrots - coloured
Princess Parrots (I'm interested only in the blues and he has blues)

Question #1 - .. what do coloured Malabars and Plumheads look like? I can't seem to find any images on the internet...

Question #2 - which do you find to be the best pets? Why?

I'd like to know what each species is like. I seem to be attracted to the Moustache parrots. Any info/experience would be greatly appreciated!
 

RavensGryf

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Jan 19, 2014
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I used to have a Plumhead once. The males are gorgeous. He was pretty wild though, and never tamed down, so I gave him to a breeder. They are in the same family (Psittacula) as Ringnecks, Alexandrines, Derbyan, Moustache, Malabar...

Like Ringnecks, all Psittacula have a tendency to "go wild" easily if not consistently handled, and tamed from a young age. They're all typically "hands off" parrots. Can be fairly noisy, typically heavy chewers.

Malabar:
Malabar Parakeet (Psittacula columboides) | Parrot Encyclopedia

Plumhead:
Plum-headed parakeet - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Princess of Wales is in a different genus. Polytelis. My mom has a funny boy named Patches. Check him out in the link here.
http://www.parrotforums.com/general...882-pics-patches-princess-wales-parakeet.html

They're also a hands off specie, but they're "grass parakeets" with more of a soft voice and parakeet twitters and whistles rather than parrot calls.

All of these species have a little bit more of a tendency to be 'hands off' or easily go wild, that's why they're typically kept as aviary birds rather than house pets. Patches is a really cute and entertaining pet, but I can see from his characteristics why he'd make an excellent aviary bird.

Edit: as far as which one is the best pet, that depends on each person's opinion and what you want from a pet. :) The Psittacula keets you mentioned (Moustache, Plumhead, Malabar) will be more "parrot-like" like a Ringneck... With a hard bite, and a loud squawk, though fairly small birds.

The Princess have smaller beaks and more of a "parakeet type" personality if that makes sense. Look at my link about Patches. He's a super active little clown. Some people here have Moustsche parakeets. I haven't seen Malabar, but I guess they have them in AU :)
 
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Kinny

Kinny

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Thank you! I'm certainly becoming extremely interested in the Princess Parrots.. I have a thing for 'ground' birds.

Malabars seem to be out of the picture now, that is until/if we get a larger property one day.

Still interested in the Moustache though! My breeder says that Moustache make amazing pets when hand-raised and I trust all he says (he's very reputable and cares about all his birds and their buyers - he always gives me his best birds. Awesome guy ^^)

Plumheads seem like they'd be good aviary birds rather than pets??

Patches is ADORABLE by the way!
 

RavensGryf

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Jan 19, 2014
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College Station, Texas
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Red Bellied Parrot /
Ruppell's Parrot /
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English Budgie
A hand raised and tame Plumhead would be a nice pet probably. Just not a cuddly thing. I think they're probably similar to a Ringneck, but they're a little smaller. An Australian member here has one, and he posted that it attacked and injured his Cockatiel. Hopefully the moustache owners will see this too.

I used to see tons of Moustache parakeets in the 1990's here in US. They were really common. Now they're on the rare side. I'm not sure of the reason they went away. They're beautiful.

I saw a blue Princess at a bird store the other day. They're really mostly gray. I didn't think the baby looked very impressive, but the pics I see of adult blue ones look better. The lutino ones are pretty too.
 

Mike17

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Alex- Eclectus, Ariel- whiteface, Junior- pied, Custard-lutino, Ziggy- pearl cockatiels, Kermit- Princess parrot, Jade- Plumhead parrot, George- budgie, Coco- Rainbow lorikeet, Corey-Little Corella.
We have a plumhead (the one that attacked the 'tiel) and she's settled down a lot over recent weeks although we have her on a different shift to the 'tiel's flying time. Jade was really aggressive for a time, biting me a lot. She still hangs around some of the other birds' cages and hassles them, including Alex the eccy. As a pet, they have their moments, but I don't think they mix well with other species especially when hormonal. Our girl talks a little (indistinctly, she says "night-night' as in bedtime and "tickle-tickle". She's gorgeous to look at, and loves to fly (and they need good flight-time). I can't speak for the like species, could have similar behaviour. The Malabars are very expensive in WA (last one I saw was $880 in Perth) while the Moustaches are cheaper. I want to put our girl in an accessible aviary after I find a male. Apparently, more males come up "spare" than females so we're lucky in that regard, but they aren't common enough in WA to make the price reasonable for us. A hand-raised male might make a better pet than a female as our hen became really jealous when Zigigy the hen 'tiel started laying eggs in her cage.

As for Princesses, we have Kermit the deformed beak guy who is lovable but nutty. I think they need plenty of "hands-on" time or they get skittish. I personally don't like the blues much, the "wild colour" is for me. They're not aggressive at all, although they sometimes do "bluff attacks" which with Kermit are a joke given his deformed and non-threatening beak. Kermit, when out, spends time hanging out around the 'tiels' cages, especially lutinos.

Haven't been in here much lately, with university studies consuming my time (and brain :)).
 

RavensGryf

Supporting Member
Jan 19, 2014
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College Station, Texas
Parrots
Red Bellied Parrot /
Ruppell's Parrot /
Bronze Winged Pionus /
English Budgie
I was going to say 'Mike17' I was hoping you'd see this thread :) I'm glad you have things worked out over there now.
 

Mike17

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Outback Western Australia
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Alex- Eclectus, Ariel- whiteface, Junior- pied, Custard-lutino, Ziggy- pearl cockatiels, Kermit- Princess parrot, Jade- Plumhead parrot, George- budgie, Coco- Rainbow lorikeet, Corey-Little Corella.
Well, I got through last semester, two units including one with a lot of reading (medieval history) then embarked on some international relations but found it horrible (didn't help that there was heaps of stuff on climate change and I'm a sceptic!) so withdrew. Now have two semesters off, too late to enroll in something else this one, and taking early next year of to move to Tasmania!

As for our plumhead, she's settled right down doesn't go for other birds and doesn't bite me either.
 

miloslave

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May 17, 2010
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Mustache Parakeet - Milo
CAG - Charlie
Hi

I am curious as to which species you went with in the end? I have a Mustache Parakeet which I bragged with just the other day, lol.
 

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