This beautiful, pastel feathered bird with its obvious moustache, hails from the Himalayas, Indonesia and China. It is one of the few parrots whose sex can be visually determined. The female has a black beak while the male has a bright orange-red beak.
They are a hardy medium sized bird of about 16″ and 100 to 130 mgs in adulthood. (slightly larger than a Quaker in overall length, including the tail) and they life span is 20-25 years in a good home with good food, lots of soft wood toys, foot toys and foraging toys as well as plenty of attention from their human family.
They belong to the genus Ringneck; but are the nominate bird in their species for which there are eight subspecies which vary slightly in color and size. They are fun loving and affectionate pets, but; like the Quaker Parakeet, can be very opinionated. There food should consist of a high end, uncolored, plain pellet, mixed with a good small to medium sized parrot seed mixture and supplemented daily with brightly colored, nutritious fruits and vegetables.
They are credited with their talking ability; and are very articulate. They have a real talent for learning and whistling tunes. They are very intelligent and learn rapidly. They need plenty of cage room and multi-level perches as they love to climb and play and forage with their toys. At the very least the Aviary should be 36″ x 18″ x 24″ with no more than ½” to 5/8″ bar spacing; per bird, so you would want to increase the width and height a bit to accommodate that long tail, if you have two. Yes, they can and do screech; but, this can be kept to a minimum by staggering the height and placement of perches and toys. Keep them busy and they will be happy and a joy to share your life with.
If you have or are planning on have a Moustached Parakeet in your family, call Korey or Kim at Bird Cages Galore and they will help you choose a cage, perches and toys that will be just right for them and your home. Their cage is their home, but; your home is their home too and plenty of supervised out of cage time will make for very happy birds.