Treat/Training Advice

[Scraw760]

A few months ago I took in an older IRN. I don't know all of his backstory, but I know it includes some pretty traumatic events.

I've managed to get him to stop flying around his cage and growling when I get near, and he'll even let me put new toys in his enclosure.

However, I'm kind of stuck on going further. He doesn't take any treats from the hand except sunflower seeds (not the best I know) and sometimes a pistachio so long as it's still got the shell and is before he gets his breakfast.

I've tried all sorts of nuts, fruits and even some cereals, but he just doesn't seem to trust any of them even when they are just in his bowl.

So I figured I'd ask the experts: is there a better way to introduce treats, or maybe some good treats I should try?

 

[foxgloveparrot]

If he won't accept treats you can give him a different reward, like a toy, scritch, or to come out of the cage.
Taming link:

Indian Ringneck Taming.

Alright so hopefully this is the right area for this, but I'd like to get some advice on taming my newest IRN. I only brought it a day ago at around 6 months, so I haven't a sex for it yet. I'm hoping to tame it over time, I've already had time handling birds, and have hand raised a couple of...

www.parrotforums.com

 

[Scraw760]

If he won't accept treats you can give him a different reward, like a toy, scritch, or to come out of the cage.
Taming link:

Indian Ringneck Taming.

Alright so hopefully this is the right area for this, but I'd like to get some advice on taming my newest IRN. I only brought it a day ago at around 6 months, so I haven't a sex for it yet. I'm hoping to tame it over time, I've already had time handling birds, and have hand raised a couple of...

www.parrotforums.com

There's some great advice in there, but despite my progress, he's still pretty scared of coming outside his enclosure and doesn't really have a toy he likes yet. I'll keep working on it thoug

If he won't accept treats you can give him a different reward, like a toy, scritch, or to come out of the cage.
Taming link:

Indian Ringneck Taming.

Alright so hopefully this is the right area for this, but I'd like to get some advice on taming my newest IRN. I only brought it a day ago at around 6 months, so I haven't a sex for it yet. I'm hoping to tame it over time, I've already had time handling birds, and have hand raised a couple of...

www.parrotforums.com

 

[Newfie-N-Tx]

There's some great advice in there, but despite my progress, he's still pretty scared of coming outside his enclosure and doesn't really have a toy he likes yet. I'll keep working on it thoug

Hello Scraw760,
Your ringneck sounds an awful lot like one of our cockatiels. I actually got him because while taking a trip to a local feed store for dog food I saw a cage of cockatiels and one had been sitting puffed up in the bottom of cage by himself not interested in any of the others (ugh! they had at least 10 of them in a 2x3ft cage). I felt so bad for him looking so sad I couldn’t leave him like that. When we got him home it took me spending hours with him talking with him though the cage until finally he would take sunflower seeds(only sunflower seeds as a treat) from our hands and began to open up a bit. It took at least 6 months just to get him to do that much! So your ringneck already taking seeds from you is a really good sign that he or she is wanting to trust you! Ours doesn’t like toys either. I thought that maybe he was really young and it would change with age like our other birds but it has not


After 2 years now he sings to us and will come over to us but only in his cage. He has only ever let my husband hold him rarely and twice he’s come out and hopped on me. We leave the door open for him a few hours a day to let him have a choice but rarely does come out. Usually only if our tame female cockatiel is out. And she’s mean to him even if he’s totally in love with her!

Just take it one day at a time and learn the body language as best as you can. Each bird has different ways to tell you what they want or feel entirely unique to them. Guides online are a good starting point but I’ve found often I’ve misinterpreted certain things because of the guides. For an example our Amazons eyes only pin when he’s happy and wants his head scratched. I read not to touch them when they do it because they are upset. So at first when he would do it I’d think he was mad and wouldn’t touch the poor guy! Which would make him mad! Now I know with him it’s a friendly gesture.

I also recommend looking into target training if your ringneck will take seeds from you. I’ve found it great way to bond and learn trust with our more difficult birdy babies! They love it. It’s how I got our cockatiel to take seeds from me, now he lets me scratch his head but still won’t come out


On ringnecks. Last year when I was looking into getting a larger parrot I had my heart set on a ringneck. They are one of my favorites. I love the historical stories about them! However I learned that they have a much calmer nature and are more timid than many other types of parrots and loud usual sounds can scare them easily. Which because both my husband and I are hearing impaired(so things can get noisy unintentionally) with kids so we decided against it. The breeder I got our Amazon from had talked to me about it. They explained to me that Ringnecks can take longer than some to get used to new environments, and people even if young and handfed. So that’s something to keep in mind.

Make sure you keep sound to a minimum while you work on building your relationship. Speak softly always and keep tv or anything else turned down low.
However like all birds they are all different so some might be bothered by things others are not. You have to really watch behaviors. We have a cockatiel that is scared of bright colors! Any brightly colored toys and foods make her go crazy flapping. Our Amazon doesn’t like us wearing our glasses, I now know it’s because he communicates with eyes and needs to see ours. If I ask him to step up and forget to take them off he will just stare at me. Its little things like this that are impossible to predict and take time to figure out but makes a lot of difference.

Best of luck!