Ringneck attacking her foot

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sassay100
Posts: 1
Joined: Sun Nov 24, 2013 12:31 am

Ringneck attacking her foot

Post by sassay100 »

Hi, I bought an 8 month old female Indian Ringneck on Saturday and she was fine and settling in. All day Saturday She sat on my shoulder and was whistling to me in my ear and now she is biting my ear when she is n my shoulder and when i try to pick her up she bites me really hard and snaps at me...
But the thing that i am worried about the most is she attacks her foot (she curls up her foot and smashes her beak against it) i dont know if she is doing it to get my attention or she is itchy or angry.
Does anyone have any suggestion or advice

Her name is Tango...
zentoucan
Posts: 151
Joined: Thu Oct 03, 2013 10:45 pm

Re: Ringneck attacking her foot

Post by zentoucan »

Hello sassay
is tango tame?
who did you buy tango off?
is tango drawing blood from her foot?

while there are different types of training.
I suggest that you use clicker training. you will need a clicker and a T perch.
first put about five types of food on a plate, this can be a sunflower seed, corn kennel, pine seed , a cluster of millet and a piece of apple.
give tango access to the plate and watch which food tango eats first. this will be most likely tango's favorite food.
when you have establish this, use this food as a training treat only. if for example tango likes sunflower seeds then use this food for training.
next; the clicker
the clicker is the bridge that you use to communicate with your bird.
while tango is in her cage offer the training treat, when tango takes the training treat click the clicker at that precise time. this teaches tango that food and the click go together. ( see B.F. Skinner)
do this for 5 to 15 minutes prior to giving tango breakfast and again at dinner.
when Tango is coming to you willingly, start using the T perch. this can take a couple of days
you might need to use a stick to place tango onto the T perch if she is still biting
once on the T perch keep the method you have being using.
when she becomes comfortable with your hand then you can start to try and get tango to step up onto your finger.
put the clicker into your hand ( depends if your left or right hand) but also put the training treat in the same hand between your thumb and finger.
with your other hand. make a pistol with your hand and hold your finger in a horizontal position parallel to the perch.
show tango the training treat and at the same time slowly move your other towards the T perch and keep it at the same height as the perch. don't force tango to step onto your finger as you could get bitten.when tango takes the training treat click the clicker at that precise time. but keep your hand with the pistol at the T perch. when you offer the next training treat hold it out far enough for tango to step onto your finger to take it. do expect to get bitten.
Redzone
Posts: 108
Joined: Sun Jan 13, 2013 2:27 am

Re: Ringneck attacking her foot

Post by Redzone »

zentoucan wrote: do expect to get bitten.
Why?
zentoucan
Posts: 151
Joined: Thu Oct 03, 2013 10:45 pm

Re: Ringneck attacking her foot

Post by zentoucan »

because she is already biting now.
InTheAir
Posts: 2040
Joined: Sat Jan 12, 2013 4:24 pm

Re: Ringneck attacking her foot

Post by InTheAir »

Attacking her foot sounds very worrying. Is she doing any damage to it? Is it always the same foot? Does she favour it or limp at all?

As far as handling her, I suggest you learn about her body language and behaviour. Parrots are very complex creatures and dislike being forced to do anything. Biting can be avoided in quite a lot of situations by understanding and respecting what the bird is telling you.
It is never a wise idea to have a bird on your shoulder if it doesn't step up reliably and bites! When you have established a good relationship with Tango, you can reconsider the shoulder thing.
I recommend you have a good read through websites like http://www.goodbirdinc.com, http://www.behaviorworks.org and, if you want to start clicker training, http://www.clickertraining.com/library? ... kpctnavbar. I also recommend buying the dvd on body language from good bird inc.

I think reading through those websites will give you a much better understanding of training and behaviour than I can write, and allow me time to get my work done today :wink:. If you search the term "biting" on this forum you will also find lots of suggestions on how to avoid getting bitten.


Happy reading!

Claire
Doodlebug
Posts: 319
Joined: Tue Jul 16, 2013 7:14 am
Location: Suffolk, UK

Re: Ringneck attacking her foot

Post by Doodlebug »

I agree with Claire.

Is she chewing on her foot, breaking the skin? Sometimes they do this when they have mites. If you think this might be the case, are you registered with a vet?
Loo :)
Skyes_crew
Posts: 1946
Joined: Thu Feb 28, 2013 12:49 pm
Location: Hawaii

Re: Ringneck attacking her foot

Post by Skyes_crew »

I agree with Claire and loo. We just took in a foster B&G who was doing this and he wound up having burrowing mites. Please take your girl to the vet. Mites are not something you want to let sit. It can lead to self mutilation and feather plucking. Once she has a clean bill of health, her personality may become more docile. Also consider that breeding season is approaching.
I am owned by my birds...and I wouldn't have it any other way :D

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