Species Name:  Red Belly Parrots

Latin Name: Poicephalus rufiventris

 Origin: Natural Habitat is the savannahs of Eastern Africa,  Ethiopia, Somalia, Kenya and Tanzania.  They live in the brush and feed off the acacia fruit and baobab trees, avoiding thick foliage

Size:  Average length is 8 1/2 inches

Weight: 115 - 155 grams

Clutch size: 3-5 eggs

Number of Clutches per year: 2

Incubation: 26 days

Fledging age: 7 - 9 weeks

Average (healthy) weaning age: 12-14  weeks

Reproduction Maturity - 3 + years

Expected life span in captivity: 25 +

Description:   Males are very striking with a brilliant red/orange belly, neck and forehead, gray on the back with olive in their wings, lime green stockings on their legs.  The irises of their eyes are red.    Females are light gray and light gray washed with pale orange and green on the belly.  As babies the males have a lot of their adult colours.  Females can fool you.  Some may be their adult gray tones as babies,  some may carry the beautiful red/orange of the males (just not as brilliant ) that will be lost when they mature.

Sexual Dimorphism: Yes.  To have complete accuracies as babies they should  be DNA'd. Some females tend to carry the male tones as babies.

Sleep / Light Requirements:  10-12 hours of natural sunlight.  Full spectrum lighting is very beneficial.    10-12 hours of non-interrupted sleep.   If they share a family room with the family, invest in a cage cover to cover them for the evening. 

Cage Requirements:  Should be spacious with 1 1/2 times wing span. Ideally we would recommend 30 x 24, 1/2 to 5/8 inch bar spacing with horizontal bars to encourage climbing and  ensure lots of movement and activity. You could go with a smaller cage, especially if the bird is out of the cage a lot.  Cage bottoms can be lined with newspaper and should be changed daily.  A thorough cage cleaning and disinfection should be done weekly.

FEMALE RED BELLY AT THREE MONTHS

Cage / Play Stand Locations:  Away from such dangers as hot stoves, kitchen fumes,  fans, direct sunlight, cold temperatures, predators.  We encourage play stands to allow family interaction, play / free time away from confinement of cage. 

Perches/swings:  Sandy perches and swings keeps toe nails and beaks in top condition.  Our Poicephalus love to have swings in their cages.    Cholla perches are a lightweight perch and  stimulate forging activity and provide comfort and irregularity.  Rope perches / boings / swings are excellent to prevent pressure sores. These also offer amusement and are easily positioned in cage or out.  Manzanita perches  provide smooth comfort, irregularity and are easily cleaned.  Practically indestructible with natural shapes. Apple/maple/dragonwood are good sources of  natural perches.   1 inch to 1 1/2 inch diameter.  Offering at last three selections of perches will prevent potential foot problems.

MALE RED BELLY BABY AT 3 MONTHS

Additional Toys: Should consist of foot toys, ropes, balls,  wood chew toys, acrylic toys may be offered,  educational, forging, destructible, swings, orbits, atoms, climbing ropes, jolly balls are a great hit.   Rotate toys on a weekly basis, checking all toys for safety and loose ends when rotating and cleaning. 

Bath:  Large shallow bowls/dishes for bathing should be offered on a regular basis. Hahns love water!  Misting will also be appreciated and should be done 3-5 times a week to encourage preening and good feather condition. 

Water:  Fresh water at least twice daily if a bowl is used. Can be easily trained to use a water bottle

Diet should be varied.  Good quality seed mix, nuts, vegetables, fruits, pellets, bread, rice, corn, beans, eggs, vitamins/minerals, etc.   A varied diet will also provide some "fun" times as they enjoy playing with their food and throwing it around for you to pick up!  See our Section on Nutrition for information on foods.

Behavior

Personality: The most independent of the poicephalus family I find and would not recommend them for busy families with small children, unless well supervised.  Very outgoing.  But in the same breath they can also be very affectionate and gentle.  Excellent comedians that love to show off.  They are a very quiet bird as are most members of the poicephalus family.

Sociability:  These birds are extremely social and will often show off for company, letting everyone know what new words, whistles, and phrases they have added to their vocabulary;  Red-Bellied Parrots are very interested in anything they can do with their humans. They enjoy toys with bells, and will ring them to get your attention. They are extremely acrobatic  and will show off  by dangling upside down off of the roof of their cage, perch, rope, they really don’t care where, often by only one toe!  I do believe their favorite position while playing is upside down!  The next would be turning themselves inside out.   They love looking out the windows. I have orbits and gyms hung in the windows in my babies room as they would spend hours just gazing out the window and napping there.    Any moving object outside will have their immediate interest.  They love soft pine wood to chew up, but I don’t find them to be nearly as destructive with their toys as senegals and brown heads.  Foot toys are a big hit, the more the better.  We keep stainless steel buckets in the babies cages full of foot toys. Very social birds.  As with many other parrot species, be careful  of the one person bond syndrome and socialize them at a young age with all family members and friends. 

Pet Quality: Excellent, when hand fed and hand raised.

FEMALE RED BELLY

Family Companion: I would not recommend for children.

Biting / Nippy Behavior:  Can tend to be nippy. 

Noise level: Ideal apartment companion as noise is very minimal. 

Talking or Mimicking ability:  Excellent.  These guys can pick up complete phases and sentences, no problem.  Males tend to be more chatty than females. We have a male and a female, Arbie and Muffin, whom both have quite an extensive vocabulary.  They sound like “Donald Duck on helium!”.  Also excellent in the whistling dept. 

Independence:  We teach our babies independence early on, but red belly's have an independent streak all their own!   We find the males more so than the females.   We have found females need to love their snuggles more.  The lady in the picture above is our breeder female Rosa. She adores attention, laying in the palm of our hand, snuggling, head scrinches.   Our biggest problem with her, is keeping her IN the cage at feeding  and cleaning times!