Getting a new IRN soon

[pennythepenguin]

Hi all,
We are getting a IRN in a few days (we are really excited!!) He will be about 7 weeks old and has been handfed... we will be continuing to handfeed him.

I am getting a little nervous though because I read a lot of people that their IRN's bite. Is this true for all IRNs regardless if they are hand tame? I only have experience with tiels as far as other birds go... ours are total sweethearts and we handraised them since they were 2 weeks old. Is it possible to have a nice IRN or is he going to bite me no matter what?? I am prepared for that possibility, but just wondering what to expect lol

Also, how can I encourage him to play with toys? Will he pick this up by himself? I have a lot of stuff ready for his cage.. and I bought him a puzzle type toy but I'm not sure if I should give him that yet.. I mean he isn't even 2 months old so maybe I should wait??

Ok thank you for any advice or suggestions you can give me..

[Shane7285]

Hi

congrats on becoming a new owner, what colour are you getting?

I am the same as you, all I kept reading was about how bad IRN's are as pets, mainly from people who don't have one themselves. If you spend time with them they will be less likely to bite, however, I still think that you should expect it from a bird that it might sometimes nip. Sometimes it will just be a nibble though, it just depends. Mine is 6 months old, and he doesn't really bite, sure he has a nibble occasionally, but sometimes he is just testing with his beak, he has only ever broken the skin once.

I have a friend with an IRN and he spend a lot of time with it when it was younger, and his bird is very good. It is now 3 years old, and has probably only bitten him twice in that time, and never broken skin.

As for toys, I would suggest putting a couple in the cage, it will eventually play with them, IRNs are very inquisitive birds.

Regards

Shane

[pennythepenguin]

Thanks for replying, we are getting a green male. We have been looking for a baby IRN for almost a year now and finally we found a breeder within a reasonable distance. We figured it would be easier to have a friendly bird if we got a fairly young one.

That's good, I don't mind nibbling but hopefully he won't try to take a chunk out of our hands on purpose I just got worried because I was reading a lot on the internet recently and found people saying that they bite often... but I doubt it will be a real issue if we socialize him as well as possible. I am really excited to get him & what are the chances that he would get along with my tiels?? Or, at least tolerate them to some extent... as in not wanting to rip their feet off. Of course I would never trust them alone or in the same cage together... just wondering if I would be able to keep their cages in the same room.

[Shane7285]

Hi

I think it depends on the bird again. Some IRNs can get along with them. I know mine won't, he doesn't even like the other IRN's I have introduced him to. You should be able to keep the cages in the same room, after quarantine period, but I would suggest different out of cage times. Even though their beaks don't look that big, they can do some real damage. You could also have them out at the same time, and just watch them closely to see how they go.

The main thing to watch is their body language also, and the eye pinning. This can give you a warning of when they have had enough.

Regards

Shane

[smallworld]

HI & congratulations on your new bird Nah IRNs are not all that bad, they're stubborn though but once you get to know them, you get to know their nice side

[Melika]

I second the above- getting on with the 'tiels will depend upon your parrot. My Hane will go after my 'tiel very aggressively but My sister's IRN is more afraid of the 'tiel than anything and just keeps his distance. She (the 'tiel) doesn't care much for the IRNs either!

After bluffing (which comes in various degrees of biting to just bluffing a bite) I can't say I've had any bites from Hane. Even in bluffing he never really bit me and he has never drawn blood. When he doesn't want to come out or is being snotty I just walk away and try again later when he calms down. The hardest part for me was learning to recognize when he just didn't want to come out. I'm used to dogs- and they have no choice. A bird is so not a dog.

My sister's bird, however, did bite her HARD during bluffing. But she also reacted to any bites by yelling at him. He still does not like being petted. I'd say if you do get a bite, try not to react. Just go away and calm down. Birds like it when we act out, seems to amuse them. Little buggers. ^^

We started out IRNs in a smaller cage (weaning cage basically) until we were sure they could climb around very well (just in case they fell it wouldn't be far) and they had already begun to play with their toys in there. Then they moved to their big cages with more toys. Try to get as many different textures as you can and chew friendly things. Each bird will have their favourite textures or types of toy. Hane loves leather and straw/palm leaf toys, Tsume craves thin pieces of wood to destroy. Best to get a wide variety and see what happens. He can play with the puzzle toy, it won't hurt him.

Oh, and ours don't really like the colour red. They didn't used to play with red toys. We don't really know why, but I've heard that from some other IRN owners too. Would be interesting to see what your little one thinks of the colour. They still LOVE LOVE LOVE green!

[Shane7285]

Hi

Mine seems to not be bothered by red. I keep the milk bottle caps for toys, after washing them out of course. Most of these are red, some are yellow, but he likes destroying them all the same. I even give him some egg & biscuit mix in a red bottle cap, and he doesn't hesitate to pig it down. So as you say I guess it depends on each bird.

Another good toy I made that he loved was paddle pop sticks you can buy heaps of them, and they like to chew on them and destroy them as well.

Melika, does Hane untie the knots in the leather?

Regards

Shane

[Melika]

Definitely, Shane, Hane loves to untie the knots. I retie all the granny knots into [figure] eight knots and put two in each piece of leather if I can. It takes him a lot longer to untie those and gives him more of a challenge. When he unties them, I can just tie them back up again! Sometimes I'll tie things to the toy as well, like a spray of millet so he hangs around munching on that.


Ours would fly away when we had red shirts on, that's how we found out. And Hane refused to play with a red swing I bought him. Tsume didn't mind the swing though.

[pennythepenguin]

Thanks everyone. We finally got him! He is really sweet and he likes to lean his head against me and sleep that way while I scratch his head Umm the only thing is that after we feed him, he perches on my fingers like normal but then he sort of chews on my fingers. Doesn't really hurt much...yet... but is this a baby thing or a serious issue?? He's not trying to hurt me but I think he just wants something to chew on... cause he also chews on my shirt when I hold him sometimes.

Also is it true that it's bad to let the bird sit on your shoulder??? That it makes him think he is dominating or something. I want to put the bird on my shoulder so I can walk around with him sometimes but I don't want to do anything wrong with him :\

I am trying to post a few pics of him.. don't know if it will work

[Shane7285]

Hi there

what a little cute ringneck you have there.

In regards to the chewing, sometimes they chew to test out things, there beak is like our hands. Also, he may just want to rip something up. Try having a destructible toy there for him when he chews on you or the shirt to distract him. A nice cheap one is plastic milk bottle caps. They love to chew and rip them apart, just wash them first, and take out the little white thing inside if it has one.

Not sure about the shoulder thing, I have heard that before, maybe someone with more experience can chime in on this one.

Regards

Shane

[pennythepenguin]

Thanks!!! We love him already. Today when we fed him he wasn't chewing on our hands at all.. and I snuggled him afterwards and he didn't try to chew anything. He is really a sweetheart..

[Melika]

There's nothing really wrong with shoulders, it has to do with the bird.

Mine is nippy when he's on the shoulder and will pull hair out, but my sister's will just sit there and ride. After seeing what a bird's beak can do to a face, I've decided to never have a shoulder bird myself.

The most important thing, IMO, is that the bird is willing to get off your shoulder when you put your hand up to remove him.