Taming Ka

[Snowe]

I felt I was making so much progress with Ka until the kid incident, Ka still obviously hasn't gotten over it. He/she still lunges whenever hands are in sight. When you turn to walk away from the cage, lunge. When you approach the cage just to talk, lunge. The only time Ka won't lunge right away is if he/she knows you have a treat and then Ka is very gentle about taking the treat. Other than that, Ka is just irritated. I've opened the cage door for Ka to come out on her/his own but Ka doesn't have any interest in leaving now. He/she used to be eager to scramble out of the cage and explore =\ I'm getting extremely discouraged with Ka. When Ka was purchased they said he/she was "Between 1 and 2 years old" so if when I get Ka DNA sexed and he/she is female, who knows how old Ka really is. Maybe I should have purchased a baby from a breeder I feel bad about wanting to give up on Ka since he/she was in a horrible pet shop when I first saw him/her. Tiny cage in a questionable place and labeled as a blue quaker -.-; I couldn't let a beautiful bird stay there any longer.

Oh and about the lunging, Ka won't actually bite. Just the lunging and if you persist, quick strikes with his/her beak with no pressure. At least Ka isn't bloodthirsty it seems, just scared. Will my bird ever stop being scared?

[Kiki22]

Are you sure he/she is scared and not just bluffing? They do go through a phase of that and it can last anywhere from a couple of days to a couple of months.

[ellieelectrons]

Hi Snowe

One thing I know about IRNs is that the relationship is always evolving. It can be distressing if it's not evolving in the direction that you want it to. However, the positive side of this is that it's not stuck there and it can evolve in the other direction. I suggest that for a while you keep trying to interact with your bird using food rewards (like you've mentioned) to get her to want to do what you want her to do. What I'm saying is that for now EVERY time you go to interact with your bird (when you walk up to the cage, when you open the cage door, etc.), do it with treats. Once you've one her back again, you may be able to back off with the treats. Make sure the treats are really small so that she won't fill up on them too quickly.

The lunging is definitely trying to communicate something to you. It could be that she is scared but it could also be excitement, boredom, etc. For example, when my husband walks into the room our Janey will generally lunge at one of the hanging toys in her cage because she is excited.

If you haven't done it already, I would also recommend increasing the amount of food she gets through foraging. I found this really helpful with our Janey. Here are some links on foraging:
http://www.indianringneck.com/forum/vie ... 01&p=69400
http://www.indianringneck.com/forum/vie ... =4&t=13466
http://www.parrotenrichment.com/ - this site has some free ebooks to download

Good luck, let us know how you get on.

Ellie.

[Snowe]

So far Ka has been interested in foraging toys but I admit I'm not very creative though after reading your suggested sites, Ellie, I have a few more ideas now Thank you. We did buy a toy from Petsmart a while ago that had a bunch of shredable/chewable rings and balls all over it tied together with leather strips. I took the entire thing apart and my Caique loves destroying the rings while Ka enjoys taking apart the balls to get the treats inside of it. My lutino ringneck is really shy and prefers to just talk to his angry birds jingle ball. It's so cute to see him make all sorts of noises and gestures to a little green pig face haha. Ka has been exercising her wings for the last few weeks now. When I got her, her wings were butchered with ALL her wing feathers trimmed - I felt so bad for her, she dropped like a rock - we moved her to a smaller cage. Now I've put her in the big flight cage we have and she LOVES hanging on the side and flapping her little heart out. After a good wing exercise, she'll climb back to the top and make her "happy" noise. I really want to tame Ka and I have read that it may be harder if she's flighted but I don't have the heart to take her flight from her after what that pet shop did to her wings. I'm looking to buy a better cage for Ka, one with a playtop area so she can hang out if she feels like venturing out of the cage. I refuse to give up on my little blue bird, her colors are gorgeous!

Side question: Ka has developed little black feathers between her eyes but so far no sign of a ring. Is there still a chance Ka is female?