ring neck parrots (again)

Question
Hi, thank you for your last reply. We now think that the parrot may not be the age that the pet shop told us. He is a blue ring neck parrot with a pale blue ring slightly visable round his neck, the pet shop said he was 5 months? I have now read that if a ring is already appearing he could be between 2 and 3 years old. Is this true? Will he ever be a companion bird? Can they talk? Are they friendly? Is he too old to be nice? Mum has had him a month now and he still wont settle is there hope? He's stopped screaming now, but is pacing. Please advise!  Thank you.

Answer
The ring on the neck usually does not appear until the bird is sexually mature (could be as young as 1 year), but it sounds like the pet store lied (or was guessing poorly) at the bird's age. :(

Here are some articles with information on Indian Ringneck Parakeets and also about biting (so that you can try to teach him to be a nicer birdie... since these guys can be prone to biting):

http://www.featheredfamily.com/indianringneck.htm

http://www.birdsnways.com/wisdom/ww13eiv.htm

http://www.ringnecklady.net/page13.html

http://www.birdsnways.com/wisdom/ww5eii.htm

http://www.birdsnways.com/wisdom/ww12eii.htm

http://www3.upatsix.com/liz/articles/biting.html

I hope this all helps.

-Maggie