HRiggz

New member
Feb 29, 2020
1
0
Hello all,

I'm brand new to this site..just signed up yesterday. I was hoping some of you could give me some insight on my situation. So alittle back story I grew up around birds. My mother raised cockatiels and love birds (so I'm use to bird bites ;)). I even had a conure that was a nasty little thing...the store worker even tried to discourage me from purchasing him because of his aggression, but with weeks of time and patience he became a little love bug. When I see an aggressive bird in a store my first thought is it being purchased by people who WANT a bird, but do not have the resources or time to help them...resulting in either years of neglect or that bird being sold continuously...never seeing love.

This brings me to my current situation.i have been doing about 2 years of research and I wanted either a Ringneck or a Caique. Last Wednesday my husband and I decided to stop by a small family owned pet store...just to browse around. I came across and gorgeous green Indian Ringneck and I fell in love. The owner had told me that she had purchased her from an expo, but couldn't do anything with her because of her aggression and because of that....she never left her cage. This little girl was born 3/29/19 and was sexed to determine she was infact a female. Me and my husband discussed it, because I was reluctant to take on another aggressive bird (just because I'm use to bird bites does not mean I enjoy them)...and after some serious thought I decided to purchase her. I got her home gave her a day to adjust without messing with her. The second day I opened the door to let her out...again..not really interacting...just talking to her. She was actually okay with leaving the cage (even took about a 2 hour nap on top of it the first day of being out). Friday I decided to start interacting with her by hand feeding her treats. Now here's my problem. She comes to me and will take treats from me, but constantly lunges and tries to bite me. I would not give her the ability to do so though...when she would lunge I would just walk away. Today I decided to let her bite to show her that I did not hurt and she wouldn't get a reaction from me. This girl grabbed on and would not let go!!! I tried to just let her go, but it got to the point where I just couldn't take it anymore and had to pull away. I have a feeling this is a mix of bluffing/not being handled. Can anyone give me some insight on how to handle this? She's not what I would call cage aggressive....she usually stays away from me while cleaning bowls or the bottom...it's more when she's out and comes to me...only to lash out. Any help would be greatly appreciated!!!
 

Laurasea

Well-known member
Aug 2, 2018
12,593
10,702
USA
Parrots
Full house
Welcomed to the forum.
Silverdale is our expert IRN person. Hioecwr she will drop in and give advice.

Adult IRN that have reverted to wild , ( untamed) are exceptionally difficult to retame. Though certainly people have. You can still provide an excellent life for them and enjoy them, but sometimes a more avairy type situation might be best.
 

Betrisher

Well-known member
Jun 3, 2013
4,253
177
Newcastle, NSW, Australia
Parrots
Dominic: Galah(RIP: 1981-2018); The Lovies: Four Blue Masked Lovebirds; Barney and Madge (The Beaks): Alexandrines; Miss Rosetta Stone: Little Corella
Two things I always advise with a biting bird:

(a) carry a chopstick so you can offer that and birdie can hopefully bite it instead of you
(b) offer the back of your very-tightly-closed fist for birdie to step onto (hopefully, she won't be able to get hold of your flesh.

My corella bit like mad when she first arrived. It turned out that she was simply nervous and not ready for close interaction yet. One day is not really long enough for a bird to settle in and feel totally comfortable. Why don't you leave yours in her cage for a week or so and concentrate on speaking quietly to her, singing and reading. Feed her plenty of nice treats, especially when she comes to you quietly and interacts through the bars.

You could try teaching her to target while still in the cage. Point your chopstick some distance away so that she has to climb toward it. If/when she touches the end of the stick with her beak, praise her and give a treat. Point somewhere else and repeat. Most birds learn this very quickly and it's a very useful skill for them to know.

It means that when she finally does come out of her cage, you can target her and reward her, hopefully without getting bitten. When you do reward, always take care not to offer the treat close to the bird's face. Hold it so that she has to lean a little to get it. That way, she can just reach her treat with her beak, but not your finger! This is the way I finally found a means of communicating with my bird and it made all the difference.

The other good thing, of course, is that when you're ready you can target birdie inside her cage and shut the door. No more chasings and callings and thinking about towels! :)

The main thing is, just stay calm and go very slowly at this early stage. If you decide to spend time with your bird, imagine what you want to do and then try to anticipate what she might do. That way, you can be ready with a plan of action so disaster doesn't happen. Just FYI, five minutes is quite long enough for early sessions out-of-cage. Do it several times a day if you can and if birdie behaves, then go for longer. Most birds are sick of training after ten or fifteen minutes, so always stop on a high note with a treat and a cheery 'Good bird!'

Let us know how you get on, won't you? :)
 

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