Struggling with untamed Ringneck

[LilliPilli]

Hello all! I'm struggling to know whether I am able to keep an INR (Mr Wong) I adopted from my tai chi teacher.

I was told that Mr Wong is "totally tame", "loved being with people" and "could go outside on your shoulder without flying away" all of which are absolutely not true. His wings are clipped (although not very well), he only occasionally comes near me and he is terrified of hands.

I was happy to adopt a tame ringneck as I have experience with <tame> small parrots and thought I could handle a tame bird. However, after a day it became apparent he is going to need some serious training and I'm unsure if I can take the time, patience and pain of the bites if and when they do happen. I got a nibble this morning while training and it has developed into a welt!

I'm a dedicated and studious person when I commit myself to something, but given what I've researched so far, INR are really hard to train. And given what I've seen of MR Wong, he seems like he will be a challenge.

However, am I missing something? Is it simply a matter of time or do you have to have experience with taming/training to get somewhere? I'm reluctant to give him up because I know I can meet his physical needs very well - I'm upgrading him from the tiny cage he was in, feeding him a varied diet and spending a lot of time around him. If I was to give him up I would likely be giving him to relatives of my tai chi teacher who don't seem to know much about birds and from what I've heard don't have much commitment to their animals.

I'm really stuck! Any advice or guidance would be greatly appreciated as I feel so over my head but I don't want to let Mr Wong down. Thank you!

 

[Kitekeeper]

Hi,

I am glad to see your commitement to give this bird a second chance. It might not sound as much, but I am always inspired by the ones as you.

I have no experience with ringnecks, I am sure someone here will come along and have a more accurate advice. I do know that parrots in general are really very smart birds. Some scientific reports consider some big parrots ad the Amazona and African Grays as smart as a five year old child!

I guess you can expect some resistance from your Ringneck to the new environment and new person that is providing him food and shelter. Giving him a cage with more room is a very good start, but you still need to have patience to really earn his trust.

Just be gentle, talk softly and frequently and he will direct his social needs to you. Keep in mind they are very smart, have an accute perception and need to bond. Eventually he will approach you.

Good luck!