Biting and lunging

BirdieLover547 · Post by **BirdieLover547** » Sun Mar 16, 2014 5:16 am

Hi
last year in September i purchased a 14 week old indian ringneck. I have a little bit of experience from when my parents owned a cockatiel but this is my first ringneck. I take him out everyday to handle and play with him. I have taught him to step up, wave, turn around, target, wolf whistle and fly to me on command. The only problem i have been having is with petting him. Everytime i got to pet him he lunged and hisses trying to bite my finger. I was thinking this could be due to bluffing but in not entirely sure. I don't wear gloves or anything but the only time he comes into contact with my hand is when stepping up onto my finger the rest of the time he lands on my arm and im usually wearing a jumper which he chews. I have been bitten quite a few times before and i just ignore it but i was wondering if there is a more effective training method. I don't understand why he does not like being petted as i used to do it when i first got him and he just would sit and fall asleep and nothing has happened since then to scare him.he doesn't appear scared of me as he is constantly flying and landing on me. Also he has recently started dropping his food in his water and i was wondering how i can prevent this from happening and if there is a reason he is doing it. Any advice you could give me will ne much appreciated

AJPeter · Post by **AJPeter** » Sun Mar 16, 2014 2:07 pm

Your bird is no longer a baby and has grown up does the lunging and biting take place inside HIS cage?

BirdieLover547 · Post by **BirdieLover547** » Sun Mar 16, 2014 3:13 pm

Both inside and out. He is quite territorial but this also happens outside the cage whenever i try to touch him he lunged forward and hisses at me.

InTheAir · Post by **InTheAir** » Sun Mar 16, 2014 3:21 pm

Hi birdie,

A lot of indian ringnecks don't like being patted. It's just how they are.

About the other biting, there is generally a reason a bird bites. It is best to look at what happened before the bite and afterwards to get a clear idea.
For example, my bird bit me last week. She was playing in my hair and seemed to be tangled up., I reach over quickly to try to untangle her, she pinned her eyes, made a funny noise and then bit me. I removed my hand.
In this example, I have invaded my birds personal space by moving my hand quickly and unexpectedly to touch her. She gave me a very clear warning that my hand was upsetting her.
When she still seemed tangled in my hair, I talked to her, moved my hand carefully towards her and she let me untangle her foot. Then she promptly got herself tangled up again

If I had been more careful the first time, she wouldn't have felt threatened and wouldn't have bitten me or even if I had responded to her warnings (pinning eyes and growling) by removing the offending hand she wouldn't have bitten me.

Regards,
Claire

BirdieLover547 · Post by **BirdieLover547** » Sun Mar 16, 2014 3:31 pm

I had read that they weren't the cuddliest of birds haha but he seemed to like it before. His eyes start pinning before i go to touch him and he starts lunging so i back off then i did try again but went slower and he seemed to take to it better. I thought it was maybe something i have done before but there's nothing i can think of that appeared to have upset him before. Iv seen other ringnecks take to being petted but i guess its just due to the individual bird

InTheAir · Post by **InTheAir** » Sun Mar 16, 2014 4:17 pm

Baby birds usually put up with stuff they don't like much more adults. When they get to a certain age they will just decide they don't need to put up with that anymore.

I hope you have read up on sexual behaviour and parrots. When someone thinks they are innocently stroking a parrot, the parrot can be getting the wrong idea and think that they are hitting on it. Not so good.

BirdieLover547 · Post by **BirdieLover547** » Sun Mar 16, 2014 4:35 pm

yeah i researched a lot before getting my ringneck so i know where and where not to pet him to avoid that misunderstanding haha. Im not too worried that he doesn't like being petted because i realised before i bought him he probably wouldn't be that kind of cuddle bird. It just seems like everytime he sees skin he bites it. I usually dont let him climb up my arm too far incase he bites my ear or my face he is still pretty inquisitive so tends to chew just about anything

InTheAir · Post by **InTheAir** » Sun Mar 16, 2014 4:47 pm

It's nice to hear you've done your homework.

I am guessing you mean he bites skin non aggressively?

BirdieLover547 · Post by **BirdieLover547** » Mon Mar 17, 2014 12:22 am

He doesn't lunge and hiss like he does when i go to touch him but he still bites my skin pretty hard. He was on my arm once before and he bit the inside of my arm and i just stood still and didn't say anything but it got worse and he started to bite harder until my arm was bruised

InTheAir · Post by **InTheAir** » Mon Mar 17, 2014 2:33 am

That sounds like being beaky. I'm not really sure about the correct way to address it. When my girl started beaking my fingers I'd just start playing with her beak gently and we have a game of gentle beak wrestling. If she gets too rough I say "ouch" and she seems to be very careful now. She goes around the house beaking everything she comes into contact with, it's pretty amusing.
A little warning though, if you try that don't make your reaction too exciting. She chomped my bfs ear really hard once and elicited a scream and waving arms, she was straight back on his shoulder to try again. After a few tries where he didn't go mental, she realised that it wasn't actually a magic button to get funny noises out of him and gave up.

That's my whole experience with that, but I have read about the method below and it makes sense to me. Only to have birdie on you for short periods of time. If he usually beaks you 5 seconds after he lands on you, let him stay for 4 seconds, praise and reward him and then take him to his play stand. As he gets into the habit of sitting on you without removing chunks of flesh, you can increase the time. You can reward him with little foot toys or treats.
If you want him to stay on you longer, keep his back busy with toys, but the toys need to be more fun than chewing skin...

Good luck with it.

kiwi16.10 · Post by **kiwi16.10** » Wed Mar 19, 2014 12:53 am

Hi.I'm new to the forum.I have a 4 months IRN namely Kiwi-healthy and happy bird.sometimes he/she climbs up my shoulder and stare at me with innocent look.kiwi makes cute cries and try to give kisses on lips (I often do kisses on its beak) then he just take a small piece of my skin (cheek) and pinch it.it really hurts then he stares back
.is it some kind of cuddle or he just pinching me??

AnthonysnOr · Post by **AnthonysnOr** » Thu Apr 10, 2014 7:04 am

This is very much common sense...
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No uploading or drawing obscene content.
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