Urgent advice needed for baby ringneck

[SaintSoup]

Hey all, I just got a hand reared Indian ringneck a week ago (3 months old) Its not aggressive, but when it's on me, it will just reach down casually and chew on my skin and draw blood. Is this normal for ringnecks? I've had other parrots but I assumed with it being hand raised it wouldn't do this. I do my best to not react and put him back and ignore, but I'm getting scared as it also tries to randomly chew on my face. I also keep toys on hand to offer it instead. Have I bought off a terrible breeder?

 

[ctwo]

That seems normal for an IRN. You can probably tame him and he could become a good companion. Try the articles here starting with the second and last.

Home - Silver Sage Aviaries

 

[SailBoat]

Building a Trust Based Relationship is needed whether the Parrot is hand raised or Parent raised as you are relatively new in your Parrots life and with all young one's they are going to push the boundaries.

The concept of not reacting while the Parrot is slowly chewing your arm or face off has alway confused me. This likely due to the reality that the response is a segment of a larger training tool. The complete tool includes setting the Parrot down, Stating No, no or No Bite, or like term. Then Turing your back to the Parrot and either stepping away or just standing there, back to the Parrot. This turning away is for about 1 minute and also part of the steps. Since Parrots have a very limited attention span, one needs to reengage after that minute.

It is important to understand that Parrots explore the world around them with their beak! With that reality in place, along with the above, one also want to insert Bite Pressure Training. Here, one accepts the need for the Parrot to test /explore surfaces including your skin, but control the amount of pressure then are using. This will allow for the Parrot to grab your finger as it is falling. Everyone is safe and no boundaries are cross.

Just a bit of confusion to the process...

 

[shanc21]

I think the reason for ignoring is because Parrots like drama. They are loud themselves and if you have a loud response - they don't necessarily see it as a bad thing but they enjoy that they got a reaction. What you want to prevent is having a big noticeable reaction that they will think is fun - they don't realize it's a bad reaction. A big reaction may inadvertently reinforce the behavior and cause them to repeat it. I doubt that your baby ringneck is trying to hurt you - he's just exploring. But I agree with the other poster, that in addition to a no drama reaction, you also want to put them down and turn your back momentarily. Since they are attention driven, this reaction will not reinforce the behavior. They don't want to lose your attention. If drawing blood consistently makes them lose your attention (without a big dramatic reaction), then they will stop doing it, because they want your attention.