Possessive behaviour.. what to do

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jenlucy
Posts: 2
Joined: Mon Jun 08, 2009 9:39 pm

Possessive behaviour.. what to do

Post by jenlucy »

i recently adopted a 5 year old male ringneck. He seemed ok when i picked him up. He was very friendly but finger shy. He does step ups onto the back of your hand as long as you don't point...

I have had him for about a month. I gave him space to adjust and he was quite sweet. I got a few bites when he startled but otherwise he was nice.

He appears to have settled in and he is not nice to spend time with (just and fyi, i have had parrotlets and cockatiels and experience with larger parrots...)
He loves shiny objects. This was ok at first but he started getting aggressive towards me and would charge me for coming near his "precious" with his beak gaping and eyes pinned. After several nasty, unprovoked bites, I removed mirrors, coins, his bell, in short anything with a shiny surface. However, he pursues them still. For example, I went in the other room to use my iron. He followed me and saw me ironing and dive bombed it. I placed the iron on the board face down and tried to remove him from the room and he kept trying to run around my hand to love the (very hot) iron. I received several nips but managed to remove him by giving him his bell for a bit. He was very aggressive when I came into the other room.

In the absence of his "precious" he has now fallen in love with my toes. I have tried wearing shoes, he rips them apart very quickly. He bites my socks. I have tried letting him be and ignoring him. He has regurgitated on my toes and yesterday he planted his rear end on my foot and I had to remove him. The worst of it is, he tries to chase the rest of me away, not realizing I am one with my toes (despite his best efforts to separate us).

Further, he seems to prefer male company, which would be fine except I have very few male friends and those who come over are not very comfortable with parrots, particularly because I have a number of significant bruises on my forearms and legs and bite marks on my hands...

Has anyone successfully dealt with a male ringneck with these issues? I do my utmost not to react but frankly, I don't think he cares. I am getting in the way of his true love. Is it mating season? Does mating season stop????

Please help!

Removing my foot is not and option. :?
SkyBaby
Posts: 361
Joined: Sun Aug 03, 2008 11:56 am
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Post by SkyBaby »

Oh wow. I can't say I've ever delt with a ringneck with that issue, but I did have a parrotlet that did that exact same thing, except she wasn't in love with any part of me. The only toys I bought her didn't have bells on them or mirrors. She'd still go crazy, just not as crazy. She's drawn blood on a few occasions. Getting her a mate helped with that. There are some birds that just aren't meant for the pet world and would prefer life as breeders in aviaries.

Skye charges me all the time. He never bites my fingers though only the toy I'm holding. Good luck!
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U.S Marine
Posts: 610
Joined: Sun Dec 21, 2008 11:55 pm
Location: U.S.A

Post by U.S Marine »

Ha ha ! He dive bombed it!

You got a funny character, try and see
if its just mating season. I think it starts
in spring. If you can get a female for him
but make sure you put her in different cage.
jenlucy
Posts: 2
Joined: Mon Jun 08, 2009 9:39 pm

Post by jenlucy »

yeah... it would be funny except that I am certain he is going to get squashed. he is constantly at my feet and that makes me extremely uncomfortable. I am going to try to the usual stuff (clipping wings, lowering his cage, 12 hours of light etc.) for a few weeks to see if it improves his behaviour.

hehe.. my female parrotlet was a monster and I completely loved her. She only bit me if she was jealous (like if I was typing she would remind my fingers that they were supposed to be providing her with constant scritches). She drew blood once in a long while on me but was extremely aggressive towards everyone else, particularly if I was around.

Adopting birds is always a bit tricky but I have not had a problem like this one to date. If he doesnt' calm down in a month or so I may try to find a breeder who wants an extremely amorous blue IRN. I am sure there's a nice little hen out there who would find his antics very appealing.
U.S Marine
Posts: 610
Joined: Sun Dec 21, 2008 11:55 pm
Location: U.S.A

Post by U.S Marine »

You should give it another shot until
the end of summer(August)
wishkah lady
Posts: 10
Joined: Thu May 01, 2008 2:49 pm
Location: Western Washington State

Post by wishkah lady »

Have you tried to get him a stuffed animal that he could love? Mine loves his stuffed green frog and will climb all over it and he gives it his very special attentions.

See if that works and i hope it does. But as others have said, he would also make a good breeder too. There is a perfect place for him, you just have to find out where that is. Keep us posted.
~~~ Pauline - IRN mommy to Indy -short for Indiana Jones, the adventurer!
yrael
Posts: 1
Joined: Mon Jun 29, 2009 5:15 am

similar issue

Post by yrael »

i have recently re-homed a female indian ringneck of whose age im not sure. She is extremely possesive and jealous of anything that has my attention other than her, and proceeds to destroy said object/person/pet promtly.
She steals my food as im making it as well as other things that interest her.
She tries very hard to sneakily murder my pet tiel, and if im not cuddling her she removes pieces of ear,neck,arm etc.
How can i teach her to not be so violent or demanding?
She is very well fed and gets plenty of attention and has numerous toys of different varieties to play with, but prefers to sit on my shoulder and coo and trill and get under her wings stroked.
I get bitten when i stop cuddling her and turn my attetion to something else.
pleaseeeee help me
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