I have read a lot about Indian ringnecks and am not really looking for feedback on them because from what I have read I think the species are very different.
IRN's and ARN's share *a lot* of common personality behaviors, but they are also quite different birds. There are *MANY* ARN's that are still imported as wild caught birds. Sylphie is one. The old import bands were "round", with 3 letters and 3-4 numbers. The new import bands are "flat" with 3 letters and 5 numbers.
IRN's are also more commonly hand raised than ARN's are, which makes finding out information about them to be even more difficult. IRN's have colors, ARN's don't.
As per my sources, Sylphie was imported May of 2013, and she's been with me for 3 years. In that time frame, I have *never* seen her take a drink of water. I know she's drinking (otherwise, she'd be dead! she also fouls up the water...), but I've never personally witnessed her take a drink.
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I have had this bird for about a week now. I was told he is approximately 18 months old and that he is semi-tame (he will step up on your finger but does not like to be pet). I was wondering if anyone has experience specifically with African ringnecks because I find some of his behaviors very different compared to all the other breeds of birds I have had in my life.
Species - not breed.
And my experience is different than yours. If the information you provided is correct, that leads me to believe your bird was captive raised instead of wild caught. The not petting is typically of many ringnecks...
He is extremely quiet, he doesn't chirp or sing at all (the last owners said he would chirp a little only in the morning, but he has not at all with me yet).
Sylphie is pretty quiet, too... honestly, people don't even notice her because of how quiet she is until they see her! Or she moves! She used to be even quieter when she first came here... so I'd say that's "normal" behavior. As he settles in, he may start making more noises. If he chirped most mornings, I feel that's more noise than Sylphie has done. She does make noises, but it's uncommon and kind of rare to hear them. That said, when I temporarily housed her with cockatiels, she did make more noises then... but only to scare the cockatiels away from wherever she wanted to be... she's now housed alone.
I gave him a huge cage with multiple toys and a snuggle hut, but he just basically sits on the same perch all day moving only to eat.
As you said, it's early on...
He is very skittish and seems to be sort of scared of hands.
Will he take any treats from your hands?
I know it is early on, but what I find odd is that he is not curious about anything.. like he doesn't explore the cage and is not at all interested in anything in there; if he flies out of the cage (which is rare, I leave it open all day but he's only come out a few times) he just finds somewhere to sit and does nothing..
From my own experience, that is odd... but then again, with Sylphie, if she was out of the cage, she was constantly trying to fly through the window! I haven't even seen captive raised birds do that unless startled! For Sylphie, it was her mission to get through the window!
Since she's been here a while now, and I've moved her around a few times, she would now rather live in my walk in aviary than the smaller flight cage that I have her in... and the only reason she went back into the smaller cage is because that's where the food is.
I have the feeling that he is not interested at all in having contact with me, as if he tolerates me talking to him and being near him, but he is not curious or interested like other birds I have had.
Sounds like Sylphie... she was only interested in interacting with me because I was feeding the cockatiels by hand... when she lived with them, if the 'tiels were eating from my hands, she would fly over, scare them off, attempt to eat, but then chicken out and fly away. She never became comfortable enough to touch me on her own.
That said, once I discovered she was wild caught and not captive raised, I backed off trying to get her used to me. I'd rather find an aviary like others of her kind and place her in it since I can't release her (and she was found outside at one point in time - well, two!), but my area isn't really well known for being big on bird keeping... I'm sure there are hundreds of people who keep birds! And likewise, hundreds of people I wouldn't trust with her! I refuse to clip her wings and do not want to put her in a situation where she'll end up being clipped and force tamed. She would not be happy!
I have no doubt that if I put the effort in, I could get her more used to humans, but the fact that she's wild caught breaks my heart. I just don't see her being as happy in a pet situation than being in a flight with other ARN's.
If after a few months it doesn't seem like he is developing any interest in humans, should I just let him be wild and get him a friend of the same species? I will keep him either way I just don't know how to proceed.. like I don't want to force a bird to "play" with me if it doesn't want to. He is the only inside bird right now, all the others are in outside aviaries. He is in front of a big window though and can see birds outside.
That would be entirely up to you and how you work with him. Take a look here first and go through the threads and videos. If you want to work on getting him to come out of his shell, I recommend starting here.
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