Green cheek, parrotlet, or ringneck?

[RyleeRae]

i am looking for a little friend. I have the opportunity to buy either a parrotlet, green cheek, or a ringneck
I think either of these could fit my lifestyle now. I go to school, and come home do homework, chores, and tv etc. so I have time. I need a bird that is relatively quiet and won’t scream a lot. Also good with kids obviously with supervision, and training.
I understand that ringnecks can be louder and green cheeks and parrotlets can be nippy.
The ringneck I could get is a beautiful greenish yellowish and is a female baby.
The green cheek is either a tourquoise cinnamon baby or trained adult yellow sided.
And I have lots of options for parrotlets.
I want a bird that I can train to do tricks, cuddle with but also can keep itself busy.
I don’t know which one would be best?
Any of you have these species and have any advice?
Thanks!!!

 

[javi]

I say parrotlet. Green cheeks in my opinion can be pests. Into everything and trust me they can be very loud. Parrotlets are not loud and just super fun. They are very active but not detructive. People are usually turned off because they are so tiny and they want a bird with more weight to them. Personally I love them

 

[Harleyandme]

Yes, birds like ringnecks are VERY loud. She sounds so cute though. I think if you want a quieter bird, get a parrotlet. My favourite type of parrotlet is a pacific parrotlet, those bright blue ones! Like the post above says, they can be super fun. What one are you leaning more towards?

 

[Harleyandme]

This is the type of parrotlet I was talking about: The bright blue pacific parrotlet, the green ones are also cute!

 

[Harleyandme]

I've done some research on parrotlets and they are so adorable (which I bet you already knew!). I found this video of a little green parrotlet chirping and singing and some more.

These videos are all good examples of showing you that they can be trained, are very sociable and super cute! Of course, not all parrotlets will be like this, but with the right training and if you spend a bit of time with your bird, i'm sure that it will be just as cute as the ones in the videos. I have never had a parrotlet before, but if you get in the experts in this area, I bet they will tell you all about parrotlets .

 

[Lodah]

Green cheeks in my opinion can be pests.

Again, that’s just your opinion and I can definitely say they are far from that! Parrots are neither vermin or pests, but sentient life forms!

On the other hand, I know a lot of humans that would definitely fit your description!

 

[finchly]

I'm with @javi and @Harleyandme -- parrotlets are awesome. BTW I thought I had posted this already so if you see it you can skip this one!

You'll hear that parrotlets bite a lot but I have not found that to be true. I just got a new one. She's to be a companion to Skittles, blue p'let.

Anyway the biting... they go through this horrid nippy phase which has to do with hormones, but if you can last through being bitten on your neck about 1 million times in a row -- tiny pinch like bites, not bloody bites -- then you end up with a darling.

My parrotlet plays peekaboo, yells his name, asks whatcha doin,



and imitates all the other birds, so it's hard to tell which bird 'just made that noise.' He does not like hands but he will take food from me, perch where I tell him, and loves to hang out on my head or shoulder.

The new one (Star) doesn't do much as she is still settling in. She turns flips to try to get Skittles attention.

 

[cosmolove]

Based on your signature and a green cheek being one of your dream birds I would go with the greenie!

Now out of the three you listed I would go for a Green cheek or parrotlet in your situation. I do believe either would make a good choice. I personally owned a greenie and they are not pests lol! Now I will say they are VERY opinionated! They often are known for their little diva attitudes. Mine loved attention but it was on his terms, if I crossed the line he most certainly told me. I'm a little bias towards greenies out of the birds you listed

 

[RyleeRae]

Thanks everyone! I think I’ve decided it’s between the parrotlet and green cheek.
But I like a lot of different things from each!!
Do either of them do better with multiple birds? Or does it not matter?

 

[RyleeRae]

I’ve read a bunch about parrotlets and they sound t
Like they are territorial?
If I wanted to add another bird later will they get territorial?
Also I have younger siblings and I don’t want them to hurt the bird if they get scared they will bite.
How can you solve the territorial part?

 

[cosmolove]

I've never had a parrotlet so I can't speak on them. I know a lot of people who successfully have greenies alone. I personally had mine with three other birds (you can see them in my profile picture) The greenie was a lot more independent from the other birds but still interacted and cuddled with my other conure quite a bit as well. He didn't really pay any attention to my lovebirds tho. Most birds are fine alone if you're giving them enough mental and physical stimulation such as toys, foraging, etc. Each of my birds probably get 30-60 min of complete one on one time with me, really until they get tired of me and distracted with other toys and shenanigans. Now they're out of their cages a lot more than that and when they're in their cages I have them foraging a lot as well as they get their toys rotated every 1-2 weeks to keep them busy and mentally stimulated.

As far as younger siblings you'll have to teach them rules pretty early on. A greenie will voice their opinion if they get upset by biting so I had younger nieces and nephews at the time and I had to make pretty strict rules about respecting the bird. I never had a problem with them getting bit.

 

[finchly]

When I had my first parrotlet my neighbor decided to 'get rid of hers.' she brought it over and stuffed it in the cage with mine (wearing heavy gardening gloves). They did fine and bonded immediately. We were both ignorant about putting 2 parrotlets together.

My breeder told me you have to take it easy, really watch them and be sure they get along before just plopping them together. You have to put the 2 cages "wire to wire" and see if they get along. I have done this, and I'm letting Skittles out and Star has an open door but doesn't come out. Skittles is chattering up a storm at her but stands on my head instead of going near her cage.

She tried to feed him through the bars but he was having none of it.

To somewhat resolve the territorial issues, if they like each other I will let them choose which cage to go in, and if they do not choose or someone is selfish about it I will do a completely different cage, new toys, new setup. That usually prevents territorialism. And terrorists.

Someone recommended greenies for us. They meet your criteria. They're very sweet (at least the ones I know, although I've seen a lot of "my greenie bites" threads on here lately). Parrotlets are kinda feisty. I like feisty.

 

[RyleeRae]

@cosmolove I am kinda leaning toward greenies, and I want to eventually get other species later. I think my siblings would be good with the bird except for my 2 yr old brother I may just have to ban him from the bird till he gets older
What other species that I could consider?

 

[cosmolove]

One thing that we did that really helped us with our greenie is the cage we had him in was on a stand. The two year old really could barely even reach the cage at all. So when the bird was out he was usually on top of his cage playing so too high for the toddler. Then even when in the cage the bird spent most of his time towards the middle to top of the cage. So we just were very diligent to not let the toddler put his fingers in the cage. I think as far as quieter species think you have three good options. I'm super partial to lovebirds, they can be loud but my greenie was much louder than my two lovies combine. My lovebirds were a lot more go with the flow and less likely to bite. Now they do remind me of toddlers after eating all their halloween candy in one sitting. They're very silly crazy little birds! If I didn't have such a big beak size difference I'd really want lovebirds again

 

[RyleeRae]

@cosmolove yeah I have considered lovebirds, they are sooo cute! Would you keep multiple? Also can you not have greenies and lovies, at the same time?

 

[RyleeRae]

Here’s a blurry pic of the greenie I want

 

[cosmolove]

@cosmolove yeah I have considered lovebirds, they are sooo cute! Would you keep multiple? Also can you not have greenies and lovies, at the same time?

I've had them as a single and as pairs. Honestly they were fine either way. Now I will say they seems to really enjoy playing together but the two in my profile picture I got one of them first and had him alone probably a good year before I got the second. I actually had no intentions of getting a second it was a rescue situation. Then I had no plans of them moving into the same cage but eventually they just did it on their own and didn't like being apart. They were just as tame together as they were apart. Idk I think it really depends on the individual person and individual birds.

 

[RyleeRae]

@cosmolove thanks so much for answering my questions!!

 

[cosmolove]

Anytime out of all the birds I've owned my favorite is probably lovebirds. I have quite the soft spot for them!

 

[Familyof12]

Diablo is on the left and Carmen is on the right. I believe these little ones are the ones you speak of. They are beautiful and we love them very very much. Very smart. Both weigh around 30 mgs. are about 5 1/2 inches. Diablo is fully flighted, never abused and doesn't bite at all. Carmen came with both her wings and tail feathers whacked (vet said they bled and were painful), she was super abused and she used to bite.

I don't believe these little guys bite unless you are doing something wrong.