how do I get my ringneck to let me touch him

[missycjx]

I have a 2 year old ringneck boy named Balloo. I have had him for about 3 months. He talks, will land on me, take food from my hand and sit on my hand ect but he will not let me stroke him or touch him with my fingers and hands. Occasionally he will let me touch and smooth his beak but that's it. He looks genuinely offended when I try to touch him and flies off or worse give a hefty peck.
Anyone have any ideas on how to further tame him?

[JimHcctx]

try treats in the palm of your hand. first open, until he gets the idea where they are, then with fingers curled a bit, then curled a bit more. Force him to brush against you vice you doing all the work. Make him realize the hand is a good thing. You can do this with palm up and with palm down on your chest, first make him climb under the open hand to get a treat on your chest. then lower the hand until he is crawing under it to eat. Then curve your fingers downward a bit. etc Just go slow, the rubbing will eventually turn into a comforting feeling. This may or may not work, the more relaxed you are, the more relaxed he will be too. Also, clipping goes a long way to initially work with a bird if he is too flighty, but really once you have the treats in hand, its only a matter of time.

[missycjx]

Great idea. Thank you very much!

[missycjx]

Oh and just one more thing: Is there any way to discourage him from biting since he does pack quite a punch when the mood takes him?

[JimHcctx]

This will not work for you. I am a big guy and have very strong hands, so I tried it and it did work, but its not a relationship builder nor is it going to get you the results you seek.

I read a post a few years ago that said "Ringnecks are very smart, if you hold them and let them bite you, after a few days of trying, they give up when they realize they are not getting what they want out of it." Sure enough, I had to try... I held a few ringnecks in my closed hand for an hour or so at a time and let them chek on the entire area between the tip of my thumb and the tip of the index finger. (reminded me of getting a tattoo). Sure enough, I could get them to stop biting after a few days of them not getting anywhere. But they certianly dont want to come around after that either.

With wings clipped, work on your stick training a few times a day for 50-75 step-up's each time. As you progress, shorten the stick length getting less stick between you and the bird, always staying it;s comfort zone. Praise and treat and end each session with lots of praise and a good treat. After a time, move to stick and finger, use the stick to ward off bites, then finger and finger. People dont always see the benefit of stick training to limit bites unless you are dealing with amazons or macaws. Between this and the ideas I alreayd provided you, he should eventually build enough trust issues to easy off the hard bites at least. Good luck!

[missycjx]

Thank you. So just to be clear: even though he is already tame enough to sit on my hands I still do the stick training everyday?
And I just let him bite me so he gets to know that he wont get what he wants out of it and gives up? (I hope I have some fingers left at the end of this lol)

[ellieelectrons]

Thought I'd offer my ideas too.

The stick training is a good idea but be careful not to chase your bird around with the stick if it doesn't step up. I did that when I was trying to get Janey to step up consistently and I gave her a phobia of sticks. Every time she would see one she'd get angry and start attacking it!

I have quite a different approach to biting which involves trying to understand why the bird bites and try to not put myself in that position again. It's based on an article I read called "respecting the bite". You can see the start of the article here:
http://www.parrotmag.com/home/77/396-re ... g-the-bite

I've emailed the author to see if I can repost the entire article but am waiting on her permission before I do so.

Also, FYI, some IRNs may never like to be touched. You can keep trying to get him/her comfortable with it but you may need to accept that he doesn't like it at some point. I'd prefer to have a bird that I don't touch than one that hates it but "puts up with it" because it knows there is no use in resisting. I hope that makes sense.

Ellie.

[missycjx]

Hi Ellie,
Yes that does make a lot of sense actually.
I look forward to seeing the article you mentioned as at the moment he can be quite unpredictable. He likes to "give kisses" but the other day when he leaned forward as though he wanted to give a kiss and my father let him he bit his lip really hard and actually drew blood. He frequently tends to have a go at my father and yet also my father is his favorite! Strange. I try and take notice of when his pupils are contracting but its not always an exact science lol

[mattcoffs]

With my bird, when she was bluffing/biting i first had to learn what the bite meant. A parrot only has one way to tell you to back off if you don't know their body language and that's to bite you. I worked on the principal that if the bite was for no reason, and just out of pure bluffing i would give her a "time out." Ten minutes in a covered cage in a quiet room by herself. This soon curbed the biting problem, so much so that she learned to push my hand away with her beak rather than bite when she didn't want to comply... Sometimes i thought she was biting but it turned out she was just climbing around and it felt like a bite. There's different degrees. I only give a "time out" is my bird draws blood now, for example.

In light of recent events with my bird though, i'm not sure how effective this method would be if your bird doesn't strive for your company. I guess what i mean is, at the present my bird's manner has changed dramatically and she might actually love the time out... I guess it's all relative to your relationship.

There's so many schools of thought, from totally ignoring the bite so the bird realises it gets them no-where, to time outs alone etc etc... You should never hit your bird, or shout at it.
I have pushed mine away from me sometimes when she's decided to go on a bite frenzy just for fun (gently, and calmly mind you) just to let her know it's not a tolerated activity.... I don't know!

Good luck though! I guess if you figure out what she loves and reward her with that when she is behaving the way you would like, that's a step in the right direction.... Hope that helps!

[ellieelectrons]

Barbara Heidenreich kindly posted the biting article on her blog. Thanks Barbara.

http://goodbirdinc.blogspot.com.au/2012 ... -bite.html

Ellie.