I need help..

Ciel

Member
May 4, 2019
40
10
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Indian Ringneck, Macaw
Hey guys.
As many of you guys may know, I got my indian ringneck in April
When i got her she was clipped (i didnt want her to be), it was easier to handle her and she wasn’t aggressive at all (she had cage aggression though), she’s always been anti social though

Her wings grew back and she can fly, but now she aggressive and I don’t know why
She has always HATED physical contact, from sitting on your shoulder to scritches , she even hates showers
But she does this odd thing, i sometimes get close to her cage and she automatically jumps on my arm (so i’m not forcing her to) but starts biting me like CRAZY. Someone told me i shouldnt flinch and just take it but she draws blood every time and i don’t know why :(

She usually also just flies away after a couple minutes

I don’t know what to do. Her cage is always open and she is never inside of it except for when she is eating. She always just sits at one spot doing nothing and I feel bad. Whenever I take her from the spot she just flies back, I often take her outside and she just flies back inside.. We have a garden full of trees but she isn’t interested at all. I bought her so many toys she doesn’t touches. She is not interested in any humans and hates interacting with us, she doesn’t mind us being around but isn’t interested.

When I hand feed her she doesn’t bite me and is gentle etc, but then again at random times when I simply point my arm she comes on it and bites me hard, like extremely hard

I don’t know what to do, I hand feed her, I’ve spend months just being close to her and reading and singing to her, or just being calm and leaving her be, I tried training with her but I think I just have to accept the fact she won’t be a social bird and things won’t get much better, I just feel bad for her because she seems so lonely even though she doesn’t like it when we’re around

She doesn’t play with her toys neither reacts to music, I just think she’s a special case

I was thinking of getting an companion bird for her... not because i don’t have time and love for her, but because she just isn’t interested in humans

And do you guys think it’s bad that her cage is always open? (except for at night when i put her to sleep)
 
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Ciel

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May 4, 2019
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10
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Indian Ringneck, Macaw
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Her cage is big and has toys, everyone tries to interact with her.. she isn’t being neglected etc either
 
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Ciel

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May 4, 2019
40
10
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Indian Ringneck, Macaw
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I’m considering to stop the free roaming and start all over again and keep her in her cage most of the day and then start all over.. like put my hand on the cage every day until she gets used to it, handfeeding through the cage, etc and limit her time out but wouldn’t that be cruel since she is used to always being outside?
 

Laurasea

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Aug 2, 2018
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Hi I'm going to link some articles I really like that I think you can find helpful stuff.

I think I would just limit her in the morning ( maybe) and see if her drive for out of the cage time helps. But then I would go ahead and let her out late morning or lunch time as per normal....

Ringneck are especially difficult to tame. I will also link some stuff from our ringneck expert Silver Sage and her avairy page.

This one has lots of great stuff, I'm not a fan of clicker training, but it might work for you.
https://lafeber.com/pet-birds/stress-reduction-for-parrot-companions/

This one covers lots of behaviors, including biting further down on the article
https://lafeber.com/pet-birds/bird-behavior/

So you think your bird hates you..
https://petcentral.chewy.com/think-your-pet-bird-hates-you/


On my Ornithology thread page ten I have several articles dealing with fearful parrots.
http://www.parrotforums.com/general...hare-discuss-scientific-articles-parrots.html

You can go to Silver Sage Avairy yourself and check out lots of great stuff on ringnecks. But I'll link two articles.
http://www.silversageaviaries.com/tamingyourringneck-1

http://www.silversageaviaries.com/new-page-2

I hope you will take the time to read every single link I gave you as well as visit page 10 of ornithology thread and read the several articles I linked in fearful, misunderstood parrots. They definitely contain information that will be helpful for you. Please keep your thread active and update us on what works for you or didn't work for you, it's do important to share these stories.

And rember it's going to take time, dedication, and patience. It took me a year to turn my Quaker Penny around , and she still needs help with confidence and self choice, and recovery from being mentally shut down from abuse and neglect.
 
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Laurasea

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Aug 2, 2018
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Also remember they aren't toys if she isn't playing with them. Otherwise they are just cage decorations. You might need to tweak the type of toys, or foraging, or stuff to destroy. You might need to work on teaching how to play, and reward interaction with toys. Toys have to be rotated out if the cage and replaced with new ones to keep interested. Then you can rotate the old ones in again after a month.

My GCC isn't big on toys. But I read that GCC really like to untie knots. So I tried that , and a big yes ! She lives to untie knots!

My rescue was terrified of toys. So I gave her treats for sitting by toys, then treats for touching toys. As she is a plucker, I found toys that appealed to her like that. Big fringe of paper, little dangle things.

My other Quakers like foot toys, or things they can carry around. As well as things they can destroy. EllenD recommend givi them old papper back books to tear into! Man do they love that!! They also love to pull things into the cage. So have stuff they can work at to pull through the bars.
Observe, and find what really tweaks her brain and work off that.

S Google search seems that bells, noise makers and dangling things off leather strips has big appeal to ringneck parrots. Also if she likes millit you can thread it through toys , or put into things she really has to work at to get out.

I'm not above irritating the crap out if my birds , lol, I hang stuff so it's just at face level right above their favorite place to sit!
 
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Ciel

Member
May 4, 2019
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10
Parrots
Indian Ringneck, Macaw
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Also remember they aren't toys if she isn't playing with them. Otherwise they are just cage decorations. You might need to tweak the type of toys, or foraging, or stuff to destroy. You might need to work on teaching how to play, and reward interaction with toys. Toys have to be rotated out if the cage and replaced with new ones to keep interested. Then you can rotate the old ones in again after a month.

My GCC isn't big on toys. But I read that GCC really like to untie knots. So I tried that , and a big yes ! She lives to untie knots!

My rescue was terrified of toys. So I gave her treats for sitting by toys, then treats for touching toys. As she is a plucker, I found toys that appealed to her like that. Big fringe of paper, little dangle things.

My other Quakers like foot toys, or things they can carry around. As well as things they can destroy. EllenD recommend givi them old papper back books to tear into! Man do they love that!! They also love to pull things into the cage. So have stuff they can work at to pull through the bars.
Observe, and find what really tweaks her brain and work off that.

S Google search seems that bells, noise makers and dangling things off leather strips has big appeal to ringneck parrots. Also if she likes millit you can thread it through toys , or put into things she really has to work at to get out.

I'm not above irritating the crap out if my birds , lol, I hang stuff so it's just at face level right above their favorite place to sit!

Thank you for the links and your comments! I’ve tried every toy I could think of and the ones she touched were the shredding toys, I sometimes hand her straws and the tops of water bottles she likes to chew on. She doesn’t really spend a lot of time in her cage, she rather searches for the highest spot like a window or the top of the fan (that is ofcourse always off), in every room she searches for the highest spot.

I now give her treats when she steps up on my arm, so she is too busy eating instead of biting me :D she sometimes, RARELY, lets me carefully pet her head but she dislikes it and often flaps her wings as a “back offl sign. Today I played some Indian Ringneck videos and she came FLYING towards the phone and her eyes started pinning, and she expanded her wings as a sign of excitement and i’ve never seen her react that way with us, her eyes never pin with us except for when she is mad... it was like i was seeing a new bird, she also started pushing her neck in and looking upwards, this made me a bit sad and i think i should get her a companion bird now, she always gets so happy and excited when i play her videos and those are the only times she gets excited, she is just not interested in us at all
 
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Ciel

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May 4, 2019
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10
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Indian Ringneck, Macaw
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I have read a good deal about the difficulty in retaking IRN's once they lose trust for people, I'm no expert, but it certainly is a commonly held belief that they are among the most difficult birds to tame when once they go wild.

She is very difficult indeed. She’s been brought up in a pet store with bad conditions, and rehomed a couple times, i don’t want to give up on her because i know if i rehome her again it’ll be too much for her and they won’t give her the proper care and freedom as we do, (where i live they don’t know much about taking care of pets in general) so i’m staying patient and will keep trying
 

GaleriaGila

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Laura, you're an angel for all those citations. Wheelsie, I do agree.

Ciel, I do hope you keep your bird, flaws and all. My own darling is pretty doggone awful, by most reasonable standards (as I have often chronicled) but he's my doggone awful bird, and the wonderful/horrible magic that is The Rickeybird is, well... it's enough for me.

Good luck!
 

wrench13

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Welcome. Read all you can by our member SilverSage, who probably has the best insight into the mind of Indian ringnecks.
 
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Ciel

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May 4, 2019
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Indian Ringneck, Macaw
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Laura, you're an angel for all those citations. Wheelsie, I do agree.

Ciel, I do hope you keep your bird, flaws and all. My own darling is pretty doggone awful, by most reasonable standards (as I have often chronicled) but he's my doggone awful bird, and the wonderful/horrible magic that is The Rickeybird is, well... it's enough for me.

Good luck!

I’ll definitely keep her, I just want to make sure she’s actually happy - i don’t need the “perfect cuddly” bird but i don’t want her to be lonely
 
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Ciel

Member
May 4, 2019
40
10
Parrots
Indian Ringneck, Macaw
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Welcome. Read all you can by our member SilverSage, who probably has the best insight into the mind of Indian ringnecks.

I read his articles which helped me a lot x
 

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