Normal? Ringneck Nips at Other Ringneck's Toes

[skunkmonkey]

I have two Indian Ringnecks. Rio is a 5yr old female, and Maui is 1yrs old (unknown gender, I'm guessing boy due to behavioral differences). Up until now, they never played together. Maui had zero interest in Rio, and only wanted to play with humans. Lately Maui has begun showing interest in playing with Rio. We allow them to play together on the floor when Maui asks for it, so that they can easily run away if they feel the need. They are both clipped.

Rio constantly flirts with Maui, and he mostly tolerates it, and will experiment with flirting back a little, but mostly he just wants to play follow the leader, or explore together. I've noticed that when Rio comes close to Maui and flirts with him, sometimes he will nip (not too hard) at her toes. I'm not sure whether I should be discouraging this behavior, or just allow them to sort it out themselves as long as no one is getting hurt. What are your thoughts, is this normal, and should I allow it?

 

[DonnaBudgie]

I have two Indian Ringnecks. Rio is a 5yr old female, and Maui is 1yrs old (unknown gender, I'm guessing boy due to behavioral differences). Up until now, they never played together. Maui had zero interest in Rio, and only wanted to play with humans. Lately Maui has begun showing interest in playing with Rio. We allow them to play together on the floor when Maui asks for it, so that they can easily run away if they feel the need. They are both clipped.

Rio constantly flirts with Maui, and he mostly tolerates it, and will experiment with flirting back a little, but mostly he just wants to play follow the leader, or explore together. I've noticed that when Rio comes close to Maui and flirts with him, sometimes he will nip (not too hard) at her toes. I'm not sure whether I should be discouraging this behavior, or just allow them to sort it out themselves as long as no one is getting hurt. What are your thoughts, is this normal, and should I allow it?

Nipping at toes means "stay away" from what I understand. I'd be careful and always supervise when theyre together out of their cages.

 

[skunkmonkey]

Thanks. That's what I kind of figured. I just wasn't sure since he'll nip at her toes one second and then copy her wing-flirt back at her a second later. We'll continue to keep a close eye on them. They seem to be fast friends though. I'm definitely relieved since that was the main reason we bought Maui. We wanted a play friend for Rio, but we knew that was a crap shoot.